Text 4.7

तत्र रस-स्वरूपम् आह,

tatra rasa-svarūpam āha,

Among the rasa-ādis, he mentions the nature of a rasa,

kāraṇāny atha kāryāṇi sahakārīṇi yāni ca |
raty-ādeḥ sthāyino loke tāni cen nāṭya-kāvyayoḥ ||4.27||
vibhāvā anubhāvās tat kathyante vyabhicāriṇaḥ |
vyaktaḥ sa tair vibhāvādyaiḥ sthāyī bhāvo rasaḥ smṛtaḥ ||4.28||

kāraṇāni—causes; atha—and; kāryāṇi—effects; sahakārīṇi—assistants; yāni—which [causes, effects, and assistants]; ca—and; raty-ādeḥ—which starts from rati (affection); sthāyinaḥ—of a sthāyi-bhāva (the foundational mood); loke—in the world; tāni—they; cet—if; nāṭya-kāvyayoḥ—in a drama and in poetry; vibhāvāḥ—vibhāvas; anubhāvāḥ—anubhāvas; tat—then; kathyante—are named; vyabhicāriṇaḥ—vyabhicāri-bhāvas; vyaktaḥ—manifested; saḥ—that [sthāyī]; taiḥ vibhāva-ādyaiḥ—by those ones, beginning from vibhāva; sthāyī bhāvaḥ—a sthāyi-bhāva (the foundational mood); rasaḥ—technical relishment; smṛtaḥ—is remembered (is known from the tradition of poets).

If they occur in a drama or in poetry, the concepts known in the world as causes of, effects of, and assistants of a sthāyi-bhāva such as rati (affection) are called vibhāvas (stimulant factors), anubhāvas (bodily reactions), and vyabhicāri-bhāvas (transient emotions). A sthāyi-bhāva implied by them, vibhāva and so on, is called rasa (aesthetic delight).

loke raty-ādeḥ sthāyinoyāni lalanodyāna-prabhṛtīni kāraṇādīni tāni yadi kāvyādau nibadhyante tadā tac-chabda-vācyatāṃ hitvā vibhāvanādi-vyāpāravattvād alaukika-vibhāvādi-śabda-vācyāni bhavanti. sa ca sthāyī sādhāraṇyeṇa pratītais tair abhivyañjitaḥ sabhyānāṃ vāsanātmanā saṃsthitas tenaiva sarva-hṛt-saṃvādī carvaṇaika-prāṇo vibhāvādi-parāmarśāvadhi-jīvito bahir antaś ca parisphuran sarvāṅgam ivāliṅgann ānanda-sindhum ivāvagāhayan vigalita-vedyāntaro’laukika-camatkāra-kārī śṛṅgārādiko rasaḥ smaryate.

If they are literarily constructed in poetry or in a drama, the causes—such as a young woman (a viṣaya) and a nice little park (an uddīpana)—the effects, and the assistants of a sthāyī such as rati give up those designations and become literally expressed by the words vibhāva, anubhāva, and vyabhicāri-bhāva, which are otherworldly since they are imbued with the functions beginning from vibhāvanā.

And that sthāyī, manifested (vyaktaḥ = abhivyañjitaḥ) by them, which are perceived by means of generalization (sādhāraṇya) (4.9), was fully in place in the minds of cultured persons due to the nature of their predisposition. A rasa, such as śṛṅgāra-rasa, is remembered (smṛtaḥ = smaryate) only by means of that (the nature of the predisposition).^[1]

Rasa (rapture) fully speaks to the heart, its sole life force is the relishment, and it has life up to the limit of a cogitation about the vibhāvas and so forth. While highly vibrating both outside and inside, as if it were embracing all the limbs, and as if it were causing an immersion in an ocean of bliss, the rasa, because of which all else that is known fades away, generates otherworldly astonishment.

Commentary:

In Mammaṭa’s system of rasa, which mostly follows Bharata Muni’s methodology, rati is only a type of sthāyi-bhāva (4.37-38; 4.43-47). In Rūpa Gosvāmī’s system, however, rati is a synonym of sthāyi-bhāva and of bhāva-bhakti (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.3.24) (Durgamasaṅgamanī 1.2.293; 1.3.1).

The above text refers to two explanations of the term rasa. The first explanation, in the sūtra, is that a sthāyi-bhāva accompanied with appropriate vibhāvas, anubhāva, and vyabhicāri-bhāva is called rasa (aesthetic delight), in the sense that the sthāyī has become relishable. The second explanation, in the last paragraph of the elaboration, is that rasa means “rapture” (full-fledged relishment). This second usage of the term rasa as well is in the scope of a rasa such as śṛṅgāra. Later, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa refers to that double usage (7.163). In other contexts, the term rasa means “relishment”, without any regard for a sthāyi-bhāva, i.e. there is no consideration of āśraya and viṣaya. Therefore, when the word rasa is used to denote a sthāyī, it is a technical term which signifies that the sthāyī is relished, according Pratīhārendu-rāja.^[2] And when it means “rapture”, it is a another type of technical usage peculiar to poetics: Experiencing this rasa is the goal sought by readers of poetry.

In addition, the word rasa is commonly used as a synonym of sthāyi-bhāva in a strict sense. Thus a person might say “hāsya-rasa” when what is meant is only hāsa (the sthāyi-bhāva of hāsya-rasa). This usage is even seen in authoritative works; Ānanda-vardhana wrote: rasān rasayitum, “to make the rasas relishable” (Dhvanyāloka 3.44), which Abhinavagupta explained as “to make the sthāyi-bhāvas relishable.”^[3] In bhakti, relishment exists in any sthāyi-bhāva: svayam āsvāda-svarūpaiva ratiḥ, “Rati has the same nature of relishment” (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.3.5).

In the last paragraph of his elaboration, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa summarized Mammaṭa’s paraphrase of Abhinavagupta’s disquisition on rasa. Abhinavagupta mentioned vibhāvanā and the other functions in his commentary on Nāṭya-śāstra.^[4] The explanation is as follows. In the etymological definitions of vibhāva, anubhāva, and vyabhicāri-bhāva, specific functions are attributed to them. Those functions are given the names vibhāvanā and so forth.

Viśvanātha Kavirāja calls them vibhāvanam and the like. He expounds:

vibhāvanādi-vyāpāram alaukikam upeyuṣām |
alaukikatvam eteṣāṃ bhūṣaṇaṃ na tu dūṣaṇam ||

ādi-śabdād anubhāva-sañcāraṇe.^[5] tatra vibhāvanaṃ raty-āder viśeṣeṇāsvādāṅkuraṇa-yogyatānayanam, anubhāvanam evam-bhūtasya raty-ādeḥ samanantaram eva rasādi-rūpatayā bhāvanam, sañcāraṇaṃ tathā-bhūtasyaiva tasya samyak cāraṇam.

““The fact that vibhāva, anubhāva, and sañcāri-bhāva, which have obtained the otherworldly functions called vibhāvana, anubhāvana and sañcāraṇa, are otherworldly is a proper embellishment of the theory. It is not objectionable.”

“Among the functions, vibhāvana brings a sthāyi-bhāva to a state of being fit for a sprout of a relishment in a special way (vibhāvanam = viśeṣeṇa bhāvanam = viśeṣeṇa āsvādāṅkuraṇa-yogyatānayanam). Immediately afterward, anubhāvana causes that sthāyi-bhāva, which has become such, to be felt as the form of a rasa (anubhāvanam = samanantaraṃ bhāvanam). And sañcāraṇa fully and properly makes that sthāyi-bhāva, which has turned out in that way, progress (sañcāraṇam = samyak cāraṇam)” (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 3.13).

The terms vibhāvanā and so on are used to explain the functioning of Suggestiveness. Rūpa Gosvāmī reiterated the above without referring to those functions (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.5.87-89).

Govinda Ṭhakkura comments on Mammaṭa’s kārikā: “Only a sthāyi-bhāva characterized by Suggestiveness (vyakta = vyakti-viśiṣṭa), i.e. by a relishment, is a rasa.”^[6]

Viśvanātha Kavirāja elucidates Mammaṭa’s definition: taiś ca vibhādādyair vyaktaḥ vyañjitaḥ sthāyī bhāvo bhāvyate vāsyata iti vyutpattyā vasanātmatayā sahṛdaya-hṛdayānandano rasaḥ, […] vyakto vyaktī-kṛta eva rasaḥ.

“A sthāyi-bhāva which is implied (vyakta = vyañjita)^[7] by vibhāvas and so on and which gives bliss to the heart of a connoisseur—inasmuch as the sthāyī is of the nature of a predisposition (sthāyi-bhāva ≈ vāsanā), by the derivation, bhāvyate vāsyate, “A bhāva is that which is made to be infused [in oneself], i.e. it is caused to stay”^[8] —is a rasa. […] A sthāyi-bhāva that has been caused to become manifest (vyaktaḥ = vyaktī-kṛtaḥ eva) is a rasa” (Kāvya-prakāśa-darpaṇa 4.28).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa is the only commentator on Kāvya-prakāśa to take the word smṛta (remembered)in that sense. His interpretation excludes the very first experience of a rasa. In addition, a rasa is not a remembrance proper, rather it is an experience that sprouts from the predisposition. Viśvanātha Kavirāja says the word smṛta signifies that the knowledge was handed down by the line of poetical rhetoricians such as Ānandavardhana: smṛto dhvani-kārādibhir āmnātaḥ (Kāvya-prakāśa-darpaṇa 4.28). Abhinavagupta writes: na cāsau carvaṇā pramāṇāntarato jātā pūrvaṃ, yenedānīṃ smṛtiḥ syāt, “It is not that the relishment occurred before, from some other means of cognition, by means of which there could be a remembrance at this time” (Locana 1.18). Paṇḍita-rāja Jagannātha concurs: na ca smṛtiḥ, tathā prāg-ananubhavāt (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM edition p. 24). Viśvanātha says there is some sort of remembrance, but it is a shadow of a cause since it originates from the predisposition: yac ca “saṃskāra-janyatvād rasādi-buddhiḥ smṛtiḥ” iti kecit. tatrāpi pratyabhijñāyām anaikāntikatayā hetor ābhāsatā. (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 5.4)

[2]:

ete ca śṛṅgārādayo nava yathā-yogaṃ catur-varga-prāpty-upāyatayā tad-itaraparihāra-nibandhanatayā ca raty-ādīnāṃ sthāyināṃ navānāṃ bhāvānāṃ yaḥ paripoṣas tad-ātmakāḥ, atas tathā-vidhena rūpeṇāsvādyatvād āsvāda-bheda-nibandhanena tāntrikeṇa rasa-śabdenābhidhīyante. nirvedādau tu tathā-vidhasyāsvādyasyābhāvāt pravṛtti-nimitta-bhedanibandhanasya tāntrikasya rasa-śabdasyāpravṛttiḥ (Laghu-vṛtti 4.3).

[3]:

rasān iti, rasyamānatā-sārān sthāyi-bhāvān rasayituṃ rasyamānatāpatti-yogyān kartum (Locana 3.44).

[4]:

… adhunā tair evodyāna-kaṭākṣa-dhṛty-ādibhir laukikīṃ kāraṇatvādi-bhuvam atikrāntair vibhāvanānubhāvanā-samuparañjakatva-mātra-prāṇaiḥ ata evālaukika-vibhāvādi-vyapadeśabhāgbhiḥ prācya-kāraṇādi-rūpa-saṃskāropajīvanākhyāpanāya vibhāvādi-nāmadheya-vyapadeśyaiḥ… (Abhinava-bhāratī 6.32).

[5]:

Śeṣarāja Śarmā glosses anubhāva-sañcāraṇe as: anubhāvana-sañcāraṇe (Candra-kalā 3.13).

[6]:

vyaktaḥ sa iti, vyaktiś carvaṇeti paryāyaḥ. sā ca viśeṣaṇam. tathā ca vyakti-viśiṣṭa eva sthāyī rasaḥ (Kāvya-pradīpa 4.28).

[7]:

The verbal root is añj[ū] vyaktau (to manifest).The optional forms vyañjita and vyaṅkta are made when n[um] is not deleted—the verbal root añj[ū] optionally takes [ṭ]i—whereas the participle vyakta is obtained by the rule: ani-rāmetāṃ viṣṇujanāntānām uddhava-na-rāma-haraḥ kaṃsārau (Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa 343) (anid-itāṃ hala upadhāyāḥ k-ṅ-iti, Aṣṭādhyāyī 6.4.24). The same verbal base (vi + añj) forms the word vyañjanā (Suggestiveness).

[8]:

Viśvanātha Kavirāja’s explanation of bhāvyate as vāsyate is an echo of this passage by Bharata Muni: “bhāvā iti kasmāt. kiṃ bhavantīti bhāvāḥ kiṃ vā bhāvayantīti bhāvāḥ” ucyate, vāg-aṅga-sattvopetān kāvyārthān bhāvayantīti bhāvāḥ. bhū iti karaṇe dhātus tathā ca bhāvitaṃ vāsitaṃ kṛtam ity anarthāntaram. loke’pi ca prasiddham. aho hy anena gandhena rasena vā sarvam eva bhāvitam iti, tac ca vyāpty-artham, “Is bhāva made in the causative sense or not? The answer is: The bhāvas are so called because they infuse [into the spectators] the meanings of the poetry which are endowed with speech, with bodily movements, and with sattva (the vibrations, i.e. the vibes, the constituent part of a sāttvika-bhāva and of an anubhāva). The verbal root bhū is used in the causative. For instance, the words bhāvita, vāsita, and kṛta are synonymous. It is well-known even in common parlance: One would say, “Everything is infused by this scent,” or “Everything is infused by this liquid.” That word bhāvita (infused) has the sense of vyāpti (pervasion, diffusion, infusion)” (Nāṭya-śāstra 7.1). The modern verbal root is bhū prāptau (10A) (to obtain). A famous usage of the word bhāvita is: kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā matiḥ, “Consciousness imbued with kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa” (Padyāvalī 14) (Caitanya-caritāmṛta 2.8.70).