Some Aspects of Rasa Theory

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 84

The Rasa Theory in Relation to All The Fine Arts
P. N. VIRKAR
Before proceeding to consider the relation of the rasa-theory to the various fine arts, we have to see which portion of that theory is relevant to : our present purposes and which arts fall under the head 'Fine Arts'.
'The rasa-sūtra of Bharata has been accepted by all to be the basis of the rasa-theory. It is not necessary here to explain the different terms used in the rasa-sútra. It will be enough to remember that rasa is something experienced by the rasika and that the experience is a highly delightful one. The rasika gets such an experience on reading an excellent poem or on witnessing a first-rate dramatic performance. That poem or that performance is to be .' regarded as excellent or first-rate which has the power to give such a delightful experience to the rasika.
Now when is it that a poem comes to possess this power to give a rasaexperience? It is, in the first place, only when the poet or the dramatist strains every nerve to delineate in his own way some feeling (bhava) through his work. This bhāva may be a sthayž bhava or any other bhāva. It is only when one feeling or the other is delineated in a poem that it looks as if it were full of life. Then alone would it be capable of touching the heart of the spectator or reader.
But will it be enough for a poet merely to delineate a feeling or merely to rouse it in the heart of the reader? Of course not. That way so many happenings in life are capable of giving rise to some feeling or the other in a person's mind. Getting some money would make him happy. Winning a prize, a mishap in the family, the sight of a serpent or that of filth by the side of a road may generate some sort of a feeling, whether mild or intense, pleasant or unpleasant. Similar may be the condition of the spectator if he were to see a street accident, a smile on the face of a child, etc.
The rise of every feeling is not, of course, pleasant and even if it happens to be pleasant, the pleasure derived will be 'laukika' or worldly and never 'alaukika' or higher than merely worldly, and cannot, consequently, be called a rasa.
But an extra-ordinary or super-worldly joy will of necessity arise on witnessing a play of a high order or reading a poem of a similar level, provided, of course, that the spectator or reader is a rasika. Now, why should it be so? What is there in an excellent poem or a first rate dramatic performance that we do not come across in any incident in actual life! It is, of course, the exquisite beauty which a poem or a play happens to possess. Such beauty in a poem or play serves to give an 'alaukika' delight, to a rasika.
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