Part 2g - Rasa (7): Bībhatsa or the sentiment of disgust

Bībhatsarasa is that where, the sthāyibhāva is jugupsā or aversion. It is alleged by the mythologists to be blue-coloured and to have Mahākāla i.e. an awful form of Śiva as its presiding deity. The stinking flesh and fibre and fat are regarded as its ālambanavibhāvas, while therein, the presence of worms etc. are treated as uddīpanas. Again, spitting, averting of the face, closing of the eyes etc. are its anubhāvas and bewilderment, epilepsy, agitation, sickness, death etc. are regarded as vyabhicāribhāvas in connection to Bībhatsa.^[1]

Maṅkhaka uses the sentiment of disgust in the descriptions of battle between the army of the gods and the demons. In canto XXIII, in the verse, viz. astraṃ ca palaṃ^[2]......, vāsaḥ kṛttibhirāsava^[3].…., asṛksrotaḥ protasthala^[4]…..., also, in canto XXIV, in the verses viz. raktaiḥ sindūritamavirato^[5]….., saṃnaddhānāmapi parikaraṃ^[6]…., viśvaṃ bāspaṃ^[7]….., pakvānāmapyanavadhimatā^[8].…., etc., there are the descriptions of disgustful scenes of burning of the corpses of the demons. Again, in some verses, there is the combination of the sentiments of disgust with that of erotic. Therein, presented the disgusting scene of dead bodies at the one place and at another, after death, the union of them with divine nymphs has been nicely amalgamated, in the verses, viz. tridivayuvatirudyat^[9]......, vīro’riśastragaladasra^[10]….., etc. Moreover, there is a scene of devouring of dead bodies of elephants, massacred in the battle, by the Rākṣasas in the verse, viz. vāsaḥ kṛttibhirāsava^[11]….. The Rākṣasas, with all their family members, happily enjoyed, ate those dead bodies, drank the blood. It reminds similar instances of Bībhatsarasa, delineated in Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇa’s Veṇīsaṃhāra, in the conversation of Vasāgandhā and Rudhirapriya, in Act III, where they rejoiced over the corpses in the great battle of Kurukṣetra. Along with these, Maṅkhaka gives reference of flowing of blood in streams, from the dead bodies of soldiers also in the verse, asṛksrotaḥ protasthala^[12] …...

This way, Maṅkhaka employs the sentiment of disgust in his poem, yet with a view to intensity the effect of the heroic sentiment.