The Concept of Sahrdaya

The meaning of Rasa is that which is ‘aswadayogaya’ i.e. which can be relished or enjoyed by drinking. In daily life ‘Rasa’ means juice oressence. When any ‘Rasa’ or juice is consumed, along with filling the stomach, it gives pleasure to the consumer. The tongue can experience the pleasure in six ways. They are also called ‘Rasas’ i.e. which are relishable (Sadrasas). Likewise a different kind of ‘Rasa’, the aesthetic pleasure or emotion gives bliss which is ‘Brahmananda Sahodara’ i.e. almost equal to ‘eternal bliss’. This is called ‘Rasananda’. This Rasa which gives bliss to the mind can also be experienced in nine different shades of media. One can be a sweet juice, another can be sour and each one different from another. The taste may vary, but there is no difference in the enjoyment.

In Western aesthetics, we don’t find a term equivalent to Rasa. They have the concept of aesthetic emotion, passion and sentiment which are close to the Rasa Theory of Indian aesthetics. But they were not established, the way the Indian Rasa theory was.

Descartes discussed much about ‘organ of emotion’ and the mechanism how the emotions arise inan individual, giving the details of the physiological changes, the heart beat, blood circulation etc. He differentiated primary (six in number) and dependent emotions also. He said that the soul lies in the heart as the aesthetic emotion is experienced by the soul and the physiological change is seen in the heart beat and blood circulation. According to him, emotions have external signs. The nine principle signs he mentioned can be compared to the Anubhavas proposed by Bharata. The British philosopher Bruke proposed that; aesthetic experience is an immediate emotive experience called passion. The emotions are six. The German aesthetician Leibnez said that there are various levels of aesthetic experience. They are sensory, emotive, intellectual and spiritual. This theory is closer to the spiritual status given to Rasa by Indian aestheticians. According to him, there is an aesthetic faculty, ‘taste’ which is a means to experience. The word ‘taste’ seems to be very close to the idea of ‘Rasa’.

Hegels’ theory of aesthetic emotion is very close to the idea of Abhinava Gupta. His theory is in consonance with the upanishadic idea expressed in the sentence. “RasoVaisah”. He discussed the basic or persisting emotions, which can be compared to the ‘Sthayi’ Bhava of Bharata. Like Abhinava Gupta he also discussed the universality of the eight emotions.

Indian aestheticians discussed extensively about Rasa, its number, bhavas and its origin. Though we see the word Rasa in Rig Veda, it was not used in the same sense. Bharata used ‘Rasa’ in aesthetic sense for the first time. He gives the origin of Rasa as the union of the Vibhava, the characters, anubhava, the feelings that follow, i.e. the behaviour, Sancharibhava-[Vibhavanubhava Sancharibhava samyogat rasanispathihi]. For ‘Somyoga’ and ‘Rasanispathi different aestheticians gave different interpretations. Bhatta lollato interpreted that Rasa originates in the characters or the actors who enact the roles. “Sri Sankuka interpreted that it originates by anumiti i.e. inference. Bhattanayaka discusses extensively and says that, as it is the audience, or the reader who is enjoying the pleasure, the Rasa originates in the spectator or the reader. This theory was accepted by many.

Now the question arises how the spectator or samajika experiences the Rasa?

A small child of three or four years watches a romantic scene. He will not respond or react to it as an adult will do. That means the same emotion or Rasa will not originate in all the audience. Even the reader or the spectator should have some qualities to experience the Rasa in its real sense. The capacity to experience a Rasa is attained by ‘vasana’, according to Abhinava Gupta.

Here vasana means the impressions deep rooted in the human mind unconsciously. When one knows what is romance, then only he can relish the emotion of love i.e. Sringara.

The reader or the spectator in whom, the Rasa originates is called ‘Sahrdaya’. Who is Sahrdaya? All the samajikas are not sahrdayas.

The word sahrdaya means a person having the similar thinking and similar feelings as the author of the text or drama. While creating a character, the author will have some emotions in his heart which are recollected in tranquility. So, the ideal spectator should have the similar mind or the mind of same wave length as the author to enjoy any literary work. This may be called as ‘sympathetic’ i.e. having similar feelings.

Is it possible for anyone to have a similar feeling as the other? The answer is ‘yes’. The human nature is like that. The Indian philosophers of different schools gave different interpretations, but the truth is one, that feelings for all human beings are the same. At the level of experience there may be a change. For example, a child while playing hurts his finger. The on looker unconsciously shakes his hand. Though the onlooker was not hurt he could feel the pain mentally. To arouse the above feeling one can act as if he is hurt.

Suppose there is a good music or dance. When a lover of music or dance is exposed to it, he responds immediately and involves completely. External sign like waving the head or tapping to the rhythm can be seen. We see small children getting up and tapping to the tune.

The same way so many other feelings can be felt, experienced or enjoyed or relished by the onlooker, without involving himself directly in the act. This type of enjoyment is ‘Rasananda’. When the hero is separated from his beloved, the pain and sorrow is unbearable. But if the same situation is enacted on the stage or described in a poem, the samajika, or the reader relishes the sorrow, likes to see or read it more and more to enjoy. The origin of poetry in Sanskrit literature was due to this very fact of sympathy. When one bird in the loving pair was killed, the other bird experienced the sorrow. The emotion, pathos, was aroused in the on-looker, Valmiki. Valmiki did not experience the pain of separation personally. But he could experience the pain in similar way the bird did. Here Valmiki was the ‘sahrdaya’.

Experience of joy inother’s suffering does not mean that the on-looker or samajika is a sadist. Here the reader places himself in the place of vibhava, i.e. the characters like Rama or Juliet and experience the same feeling. To experience that the samajika should know what love and separation are. A person who knows this ‘lokadharmi’ and experiences it as ‘natyadharmi’ is sahrdaya. In the process of experiencing the similar feeling as the character, the Samajika becomes one with the character eliminating his ‘self and the character. This is called ‘sadharanikarana’ or universalisation. This is termed as tadatmya identifying himself with the character. The word Sahrdaya means, the person whose heart (the origin of all the finer feelings and emotions) responds identically when exposed to the same experience. This common feeling which is innate in all human beings which becomes the ground for responding in the same way makes a samajika a sahrdaya. While defining the common man i.e. the man Ananda Coomara Swamy might have taken this character into consideration.

Both the Indian and Western aestheticians expressed the same opinion about the Rasa or aesthetic emotion being originated in Sahrdaya or the reader though the former gave a philosophical approach and the latter a physiological approach.