Summary Notes: Sthayibhava-s and Rasa-s according to the Natya Sastra and Related Writings



Author: John Emigh 

The Sanksrit theatre was a vital and sustained tradition of theatre that remained vital for well over 1000 years (2000 if one includes Kutiyattam) and has had a strong impact on modern genres of performance in India. According to the Natyasastra, ascribed to Bharata Muni (usually dated around the 2nd century BC but dates range from 5th century BC to 2nd century AD!), psychological states or feelings (bhava-s) are compounded of determinants (sensory cues, vibhava-s) and their consequents (psycho-physical symptoms, anubhava-s); i.e. these states or feelings (bhava-s) are occasioned by a combination of external and internal causes or cues. The Nataysastra notes 8 durable (stable) psychological states, which it terms sthayibhava- s, in addition to 33 complementary (or transitory, variable) psychological states and 10 sattvika states.* In the theatre, an empathetic system involving actors and audience is suggested. While other psycho-physical cues may also be involved, each sthayibhava realized by the actor and portrayed by means of appropriate abhinaya-s (a communication or showing forth of meaning by voice, gesture, facial expression, the use of music, or the use of face painting and costuming), elicits – not the bhava itself– but a complementary sentiment, termed a rasa, in the audience. (Rasa is also commonly translated as mood or sentiment and, more literally, indicates a "tasting" based on prior experience with the bhava that is recognized as being portrayed).

Thus, the Natyasastra presents a remarkably comprehensive semiotic system, as well as a subtle understanding of empathy in the theatre. It also notes that, though one can describe the system in terms of the ideal audience member (a rasika), different members of the audience will take away different meanings in accordance with their pre-dispositions (contrast with Aristotle’s positing of a uniform reaction in the audience when he discusses “catharsis”). 

Below are the sthayibahava-s and their corresponding rasa-s. 

sthayibhava
love (lust) (rati) -- merriment (hasa) -- sorrow (grief)(shoka) -- anger (krodha) -- energy (utsaha) -- fear (bhaya) -- disgust (jugupsa) -- wonderment (vismaya) -- 

rasa
the erotic (sringara)
the comic (hasya)
the pathetic (karuna)
the furious (raudra)
the heroic (vira)
the terrible (bhayanaka) the odious (bibhatsa) the marvelous (adbhuta)
Cf. more recent lists compiled
                              --by Bloch, Ekman, etc.; and 18th C acting manuals in the West
Later commentators on the Natyasastra in India (especially Abhinavagupta, 10th C CE) noted that, while different plays or acts within plays will emphasize different bhava-s and rasa-s, plays that have an ideal blending of the various psychological states yield a state of tranquility, with the corresponding rasa of the peaceful (santa) : this is, note, a state of fullness, not of emptiness as suggested by Aristotle's somewhat parallel notion of catharsis though some commentators (eg. Martha Nussbaum, Fragility of Goodness)
suggest that catharsis could be better understood as achieving “clarification” or “distillation.”
In the 15th to 17th centuries CE, as new, regional traditions of theatre emerged that were more explicitly linked to religious beliefs and practices, the emphasis shifted from santa rasa as a secular, personal experience of art to bhakti – often explained as rasa experienced as devotion. 

*Note: the sattvika states are more physical in nature; they are listed as paralysis, perspiration, paralysis, trembling, weeping, change of color, horripilation, change of voice, and fainting. It is in contemplating these that the system of determinants and consequents emerges most clearly.

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