Concept
Rasa (aesthetics)
Overview
In Indian aesthetics, a rasa (Sanskrit: रस) literally means "juice, essence or taste." It is a concept in Indian arts denoting the aesthetic flavour of any visual, literary or musical work that evokes an indescribable feeling in the reader or audience. It refers to the emotional flavors/essence crafted into the work by the writer or a performer and relished by a 'sensitive spectator' or sahṛdaya, literally one who "has heart," and can connect to the work with emotion, without dryness.
Rasas are created by one's bhava (one's state of mind).
The rasa theory has a dedicated section (Chapter 6) in the Sanskrit text Natya Shastra, an ancient text on the arts from the 1st millennium BCE, attributed to Bharata Muni. However, its most complete exposition in drama, songs and other performance arts is found in the works of the Kashmiri Shaivite philosopher Abhinavagupta (c. 1000 CE), demonstrating the persistence of a long-standing aesthetic tradition of ancient India. According to the Rasa theory of the Natya Shastra, entertainment is a desired effect of performance arts but not the primary goal. Instead, the primary goal is to transport the audience into another, parallel reality full of wonder and bliss, where they experience the essence of their consciousness and reflect on spiritual and moral questions.
Although the concept of rasa is fundamental to many forms of Indian arts, including dance, music, theatre, painting, sculpture, and literature, the interpretation and implementation of a particular rasa differ between different styles and schools. The Indian rasa theory is also found in the Hindu arts and Ramayana musical productions of Bali and Java (Indonesia), but with regional creative evolution.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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Other methods of deliverance from evil are in the excessive acts of penance performed by the Indians, to which a retreat within themselves is added. Now when the Indian thus internally collects himself, and retreats within his own thoughts, the moment of such pure concentration is called Brahma, the one and the clearly supersensuous state, which the understanding calls the highest possible existence. When this is so…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Rasa is.
The object is then called beautiful; and the faculty of judging by means of such a pleasure (and, consequently, with universal validity) is called Taste. For since the ground of the pleasure is placed merely in the form of the object for reflection in general--and, consequently, in no sensation of the object, and also without reference to any concept which anywhere…
Immanuel Kant, Kant's Critique of Judgement
States what Rasa is.
The ancient teachers define _avyaktam_ as the “equilibrium of the three forces,” one of which is called _Sattva_, the second _Rajas_ and the third _Tamas_. _Tamas_, the lowest force, is that of attraction, a little higher is _Rajas_, that of repulsion, and the highest is the control of these two, _Sattva_, so that when the two forces, attraction and repulsion, are held in perfect control, or balance, by the…
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Part II
States what Rasa is.
Philosophers who discussed Rasa (aesthetics)
Related ideas
- Agastya
- Bhagavata Purana
- Bhartṛhari
- Abhinavagupta
- Hinduism
- India
- Vedas
- Bhakti
- Bhashya
- Adi Shankara
- Vishnu
- Brahma
- Aesthetics
- Shaivism
- Sanskrit
- Sutra
- Shiva
- Advaita Vedanta
- Brahmana
- Taittiriya Upanishad
- Rigveda
- Krishna
- Ramayana
- Indian literature
Place in the tradition
Part of Aesthetics.