Question

In Indian Aesthetics, what is the term for the emotional dispositions of characters in a literary work?

• A. Bhakti
• B. Varna
• C. Bhava
• D. Kama

Answer 1

Answer:

C. Bhava

• Bharata Muni introduced the concept of Rasa, the aesthetic experience or emotional flavor evoked in the audience.

• He identified eight primary Rasas, each corresponding to a dominant emotion (Sthayi Bhava).

• A ninth Rasa, Śānta Rasa, was added later by Abhinavagupta.

• The significant contribution of this historic work is the theory of ‘Rasa’ which can be understood as a dynamic experience between the artist (the creator), the artistic expression (the work of art), and those who receive it (the audience).

• The artist experiences an emotion and is so overwhelmed by it that he seeks a medium with which to express those feelings.

• The spectator or the audience viewing the artists’ work receives this emotion through the artist’s medium and thus experience the same emotion felt by the creator.

• The extent to which the viewer experiences the emotion felt by the creator, depends on both the creator’s sensibility in presenting the work and the viewers’ cultural training to receive it.

• According to Bharata, “Rasa is so called because it is capable of being tasted (asvadvate).” A particular state of mind gives rise to an aesthetic relish which emerges from the combination of various emotional factors.

• According to him, “Just as well-disposed persons while eating food, cooked with many kinds of spices, enjoy (asvadayanti) the tastes, and attain pleasure and satisfaction, so the cultured people taste the dominant states (Sthayibhavas) as they observe them being represented by an expression of the various states with words, gestures and temperament and derive pleasure and satisfaction.”