3. Rasa or the sentiment

Rasa is the principal element of poetry. In other words, rasa is the life of a poem. According to Bhāmaha, even śāstra when admixture with rasa becomes sweet just as the bitter medicine is made sweet by sugar-coating.^[1] In daily life also, rasa or flavour originates from the combination of different species, so as the rasa in poetry comes from the combination of many bhāvas.

In the Nātyaśāstra (Nātyaśāstra), Bharata defines rasa thus—

vibhāvānubhāvavyabhicārisaṃyogādrasaniṣpattiḥ.^[2]

The definition indicates that rasa is the outcome of amalgamation of the vibhāva, the anubhāva and the vyabhicaribhāva.

In the Sāhityadarpaṇa, Viśvanātha Kavirāja defines rasa thus—

vibhāvenānubhāvena vyaktaḥ sañcārinā tathā/
rasatāmeti ratyādiḥ sthāyibhāvaḥ sacetasāṃ//^[3]

“When in a composition, the permanent moods like love etc. get suggested by vibhāva, anubhāva and sañcāribhāva, it gets the status of a rasa.”

The vibhāva that is mentioned in the definition, is of two kinds-ālambana and uddīpana. Ālambana vibhāva means the person or persons with reference to whom the emotion is expressed and in uddīpana vibhāva circumstances are responsible in arousing emotion. Anubhāva refers to bodily gestures of the emotion and the vyabhicāribhāva is the series of various transient emotions like anxiety, sweating etc. that is visible in love. For example, in the drama Abhijñānaśakuntalam (Abhijñānaśakuntalam) of Kālidāsa, Duṣyanta falls in love with

Śakuntalā in the beautiful hermitage of sage Kanva. Here, Śakuntalā is ālambanavibhāva who arouses love in the mind of Duṣyanta for her and the beautiful surrounding of the hermitage is the cause for arousing emotion in the mind of Duṣyanta which is called uddīpanavibhāva. She looks Duṣyanta with her side glances which reflect her emotion towards Duṣyanta. Thus, aesthetically developed mental state or emotion may be called sentiment or rasa. In literature, nine rasas are accepted. They are as follows-śṛṅgāra, hāsya, karuṇa, vīra, bhayānaka, vībhatsa, adbhuta and śānta. In poetry, rasa exists depending upon the actions of the heroes and the heroines and other characters of the work.

Viśvanātha Kavirāja, in the Sāhityadarpaṇa, remarks that without rasa, a literary piece cannot be called a poem. He remarks thus -vākyaṃ rasātmakaṃ kāvyaṃ.^[4] But, in case of satirical works, rasa, in the true sense, sometimes may not be present. Literary accuracy from the standard of their forms of kāvyas is not, of course to be expected in satire.^[5] Satire is a unique type of literary form in which vices and follies are exposed. In satire, a satirist makes criticism of absurdities he observes. Generally, a satirist employs various devices to bring into focus all the shortcomings and loopholes of the society. Among the devices, humour is one. Some scholars are of the opinion that satire is one of the shades of humour.^[6] In satire, generally, humour is used as a means to ridicule the object, but not to arouse mere pleasure or fun. According to William Le Miller, humour is absolutely the best method of exposing folly and piercing shams and attacking foibles.^[7] According to some other scholar, humour is meant to blow up evil and make fun of the follies of life.^[8]

The nearest synonym word for humour in Sanskrit is hāsya. In the Nātyaśāstra, Bharata first of all gives importance to humour or hāsya. Among the nine rasas, hāsya is one. According to Indian poetics, hāsya produces amusement through one’s own or another’s distorted shapes, words, dresses and gestures etc. In Sanskrit literature, generally the character of Vidūṣaka is depicted to evoke laughter. Bharata classifies hāsya into two types-ātmastha (self centred) and parastha (centred in others). Lee Siegal equates laughter at oneself with humour and laughter at another with satire.^[9]

Kṣemendra in his satirical poems namely the Kalāvilāsa, the Deśopadeśa and the Narmamālā has not introduced heroes and heroines but depicts the common people with all their frailties. Kṣemendra uses humour and sharp remarks in criticizing the absurdities. Here, humour is not aroused due to incongruities of dresses and gestures. In the satirical poems of Kṣemendra, humour comes out of satire and it is not the typical comic relief as is observed in Sanskrit dramas and kāvyas. His humour is original and of high taste. Kṣemendra believes that the shortcomings brought to the notice humorously do not annoy anyone as well as people stay away from engaging themselves in vices as they feel ashamed of being ridiculed. In the Deśopadeśa, he himself mentions that in the guise of humour he wants to give some advices to the people who are infected by arrogance, deceit and such other shortcomings.^[10] In the Narmamālā also, he himself mentions that he has composed the poem to narrate the misbehaviour of bureaucrats and many others with a hope of providing laughter for the good of the people.^[11] In the Kalāvilāsa also he mentions that the poem is full of jokes, charming with arts which brings about smiles.^[12] It has been earlier mentioned that Kṣemendra has not chosen heroes and heroines like other traditional Sanskrit works, but he adopts different technique. Therefore, there is not met with conventional elements for producing different rasas. These types of works are not available in rhetorics and hence there is no prescription regarding rasa to be employed in this type of kāvya. In the satirical poems of Kṣemendra, different rhetorical devices are applied to arouse humour. First of all, Kṣemendra uses pun. Puns are instrumental to producing ‘essential incongruity’ which is the key to satire.^[13] In different places of his poems, Kṣemendra applies pun. For example, the very first verse of the Narmamālā is a good example of pun.

The verse is as follows—

yenedaṃ svecchayā sarvaṃ māyayā mohitaṃ jagat/
sa jayatyajitaḥ śrīmān kāyasthaḥ parameśvaraḥ//^[14]

In the verse, the wicked Kāyastha official is mockingly eulogised comparing with the supreme lord. Lord Śiva is also ridiculed by comparing with a fallen Kāyastha. Lord Śiva is brought by the author from the venerable position to a lower category. The unsuitability of the comparison evokes humour.

Another example of pun from the Deśopadeśa may be mentioned here. The verse is as—

follows-vidvānsādhuśabdovismṛtaliṅgo napuṃsakaprakṛtiḥ/
aviditasakalasamāso’satsu sadā dvandvameva jānāti//^[15]

In the verse, the author makes use of pun to describe a Paṇḍita or a scholar who knows nothing. Kṣemendra describes that the words of Paṇḍita are incorrect, his knowledge of grammatical gender is nil and he knows only neuter gender. He does not know any complete compounds; even among his wrong ones, he always knows only dvandva or quarrel among bad and wicked people. In the verse, the incongruity evokes humour.

In the works, the social position of the characters and their unsuitable behaviour evoke humour. For example, in the Narmamālā, the ignoble behaviour of the Kāyasthas and their position in the society as a high up government official is mismatching, which has a humourous effect. Moreover, a śramaṇikā is a respectable mendicant but acts as a go between for the lovers. A guru is venerable for all in the society but is a storehouse of the evil deeds. A celibate brahmin is respectable in the soctety but always keeps relationship with unchaste women. Kṣemendra compares him to the god of love.^[16]

Besides these examples, a few more examples are given below which arouse humour.

First of all, Kṣemendra mentions of the astrologer who calculates the movements of the stars but he himself is unaware about his wife’s love affair with another man. The verse runs as follows—

gaṇayati gagane gaṇakaścandreṇa samāgamaṃ viśākhāyāḥ/
vividha bhujaṅgakrīḍāsaktāṃ gṛhiṇīṃ ca jānāti//^[17]

The alchemist himself is bald, his head lookes like a copper pot (tāmraghatopamaśīrṣo), but gives assurance to people that he is able to make their hair grow.  The verse runs as follows—

tāmraghatopamaśīrṣo dhūrto hi rasāyanī jarājīrṇaḥ/
keśotpādanakathayā khalvāṭāneva muṣṇāti//^[18]

The physician roams treating disease, but he does not know basic medicine and symptoms of disease as set forth in the work of Caraka. The verse is as follows—

hṛdayavihīno dhūrtaḥ saṃgraharahitaḥ sa vañcako vaidyaḥ/
vakti na doṣān doṣī carakaścarakaṃ na jānāti//^[19]

A father of a young girl wishing her to be married with a rich old man, consoles her that her proposed groom has attained old age untimely. This description also evokes humour. The verse is as follows—

akāle jarayā putri vyāpto’yaṃ dhanināṃ varaḥ/
iti vṛddhaḥ pitā brute tanayāmaśruvarṣiṇīṃ//^[20]

A teacher teaches the child how to write, but he himself is unaware about the entire alphabet. The verse is as follows—

labdhapraveśastāmeva dhyāyan dhūrtaḥ papāṭha saḥ/
jānannapi lipiṃ sarvāmoṅkāramlikhacchanaiḥ//^[21]

The prostitute is compared with a saint, who prays god Śiva for a place in heaven. The verse is as follows—

prasiddhāyatane veśyā kṛtvā liṅgārcanavrataṃ/
mahāśveteva niryāti śaivalokajigīṣayā//^[22]

The guru is much heavy in everything but is lacking in the knowledge given by god Śiva. The verse runs as follows—

ākāreṇa gururguruśca vacasā kausīdyamaurkhyairgururmeḍhreṇātigurustathāsyakuharaśmaśrūdarasphigguruḥ
veśyākāminiyogivañcanaguruḥ sadvṛttaśūnyo guruścitraṃ sarvaguruḥ śivoditamahāśikṣāsu nityaṃ laghuḥ//^[23]

The astrologer knows nothing but goes to treat jaundice with the help of mantras mixed with astronomy. The verse is as follows—

iti sādhāraṇajñānamantravaidyakamiśritaṃ/
jyotiḥ śāstraṃ vigaṇayan yo muṣṇāti jaḍāśayān//^[24]

Wicked one declares himself to be a yogī, gives amulates to women everywhere on the street for securing pleasure in love making, but he himself is unaware of basic knowledge of science of love. The verse runs as follows—

vaśyākarṣaṇayogī pathi pathi rakṣāṃ dadāti nārīṇāṃ/
ratikāmatantramūlaṃ mūlaṃ mantraṃ na jānāti//^[25]

Kṣemendra makes a bit of humour when he says that Kali is melted and becomes the ink of Kāyastha’s pen which takes one to the hell as the river Gaṅgā takes one to the abode of god. The role of the Gaṅgā has been exquistitely contrasted with that of the Kāyastha; one leading to absolute peace in the heaven and the other reminding of all pains in hell.

Here, the reference to Kali and Heaven generates delight of humour. The verse is as follows—

kaliḥ prayāto dravatāṃ maṣīrūpeṇa tiṣṭhati/
yathā svargapradā gaṅgā tathaiṣā narakapradā//^[26]

In the works, the employment of different names and epithets also arouse humour. Kṣemendra often gives names which are humourous and also epithets to the characters. For example, in the Narmamālā, the names of the servants of Kāyastha officials, who are mentioned by Kṣemendra as demons evoke humour. The names of them are-Banner of Hypocrisy (dambhadhvaja), Honest (niṣprapañca), Hunter (lubdhaka), Mine of the Pen (kalamākara), Niddle Mouth (sūcīmukha), Secret Paper (bhurjagupta) and Refuse of the Earth (mahīmaṇḍa). They have also another eight followers whom Kṣemendra designates as Piśāca. The names such as Heat (upatāpa), Thunderbolt (vajratāpa), Pitcher (parigha), Door Breaker (dvārabhañjaka), Falling Star (dhūmaketu), Monkeyfaced (kapimukha), Belly Piercer (kukṣibheda), House Torcher (gṛholmuka).

Moreover, in the works, humour is aroused when the wicked one is compared with mortar (ulūkha) and monkey (markaṭa). A Kāyastha official is compared with a vampire (piśāca) and a buffalo (mahiṣa), the tradesman is compared with a rat (mūṣakā) and market ghoul (haṭṭapiśāca), the bawd is compared with a ghoul without nose (cchinnanāsā piśācī), the old bridegroom is compared with worn-out lute (jīrṇavīṇa) etc. The epithet like samayadevatā etc. for śramaṇikā also arouses humour as the śramaṇikā is treated as devi not for her virtues but for her ability in arranging women for lustrous man.

In the conclusion, it may be said that, satirical work as a genre is a later development in Sanskrit literature and as a result the criteria of these types of works are not available in rhetorics and hence, there is no prescription regarding rasa to be employed in this type of kāvya. At the same time, it is also not mentioned whether rasa is a must in this type of kāvya. Because, it can also be said that these type of Kāvyas contain a flavour of scriptures (śāstra); since the objectives of such compositions is to impart some kind of ethical or moral lessons to the reader in an indirect way.

Hence, it will not be improper to accept the inclusion of these satirical works into a special class of kāvya, while considering the comments of Daṇḍin that even the absence of a few elements of a kāvya can be considered as belonging to a particular genre—

nyūnamapyatra yaiḥ kaiścidaṅgaiḥ kāvyaṃ na duṣyati/
yadyupātteṣu sampattirārādhayati tadvidaḥ//^[27]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

svādukāvyarasonmiśraṃ śrāstramapyupayuñjate/
prathamālīḍhamadhavaḥ pibanti kaṭu bheṣajaṃ// Kāvyālaṃkāra ,V.3

[2]:

Nātyaśāstra , V, p.292

[3]:

Sāhityadarpaṇa , III.1

[4]:

ibid., I.3

[5]:

Clifford, James L., Eighteenth Century English Literature, p.18

[6]:

Upadhyaya, Prof. Vachaspati, Proceedings of World Sanskrit Conference, Vol.1, Part-II, p.88

[7]:

Feinberg, Leonard, The Satirist: His Temperament, Motivation and Influence, p.27

[8]:

ibid., p.19

[9]:

www.escholarship.org

[10]:

3. hāsena lajjito’tyantaṃ na doṣeṣu pravartate/
janastadupakārāya mamāyaṃ svayamudyamaḥ// Deśopadeśa , I.4

[11]:

api sujanovinodāyombhitā hāsyasiddhyai/
kathayati phalabhūtaṃ sarvalokopadeśaṃ// Narmamālā , III.113

[12]:

kelīmayaḥ smitavilāsakalābhirāmaḥ/
sarvāśrayāntarakalāprakaṭapradīpaḥ// Kalāvilāsa , X.42

[13]:

www.escholarship.org

[14]:

7. Narmamālā , I.1

[15]:

Deśopadeśa , VIII.41

[16]:

9. Narmamālā , III.36

[17]:

Kalāvilāsa , IX.6

[18]:

ibid., IX.9

[19]:

Deśopadeśa , VIII.34

[20]:

ibid., VII.5

[21]:

Narmamālā , II.38

[22]:

Deśopadeśa , III.41

[23]:

Narmamālā , II.112

[24]:

ibid., II.87

[25]:

8. Kalāvilāsa , IX.14

[26]:

Narmamālā , I.29

[27]:

Kāvyādarśa , I.20