Ishika Paul

Professor Renish G. Abraham

Indian Classical Literature

15 October 2019

ROLE OF RASA IN KALIDASA’S ABHINJANA SAKUNTALAM

According to the Natyaveda, a “nataka‟ should be a representation of both virtue and vice. It aims

to bring to the audience a sense of tranquillity ,almost of the level of meditation. A drama should not

leave the audience unduly disturbed and agitated. Production of “rasa‟ is one of the main functions

of drama. Kalidasa’s Abhinjana Shakuntalam is a repository of the various rasas from the Sanskrit

dramatic tradition.

Rasa maintains perfect harmony between the performers and the spectators. It is not simply the

physical or metaphysical sense of the term. Rather,it is the depth of delightful experience emerging

from a work of art. The followers of the rasa-school call rasa as the atma or the soul of poetry.

The various rasas prescribed in the Natyashastra include: Sringara (the erotic), hasya (the comical),

karuna(the pathetic), raudra (the furious), vira (the heroic), bhayanaka (the terrible),bibhatsa (the

loathsome), adbhuta (the marvellous) and santa(the calm).Correspondingly, there are nine basic

emotions - sthayibavas i.e. rati, hasya, Soka, krodha, utsaha, bhaya, jugupsa, vismaya and Santa.The

four vrttis are closely related to the principal sentiment. They are kaisiki for ipigara and karuna,

sattvati for vira, arabhati for raudra and bibhatsa. Bharati vrtti is used in santa and adbhuta, and is

also common for all.

The realisation of aesthetic bliss of rasa is the highest purpose of Sanskrit drama .It can arouse and

promote moral consciousness in the spectator . Sanskrit drama is intended to achieve harmony out

of chaos and produce rest out of uneasiness.

In each successive acts and scenes of the play Abhinjana Sakuntalam,the characters play their roles

through a variety of bhavas but the dominance of rati,shoka,utsaha, and vismaya make the play

more receptive. Hence at successive acts , the well informed audience experiences heightened

emotions and rasas that are a combination of rati (love) and karuna. Simultaneously, vira and

adhbuta rasa also play their subservient role.

Separation of Sakuntala from her beloved creates imbalance in the environment influencing the

emotional response of the audience. Her longing for her husband (which involves the soka bhava)

moves the audience toward the karuna rasa and once she reunites with her king Dusyanata,

harmony is restored and the audience experiences extreme delight.It suggests that every object and

meaning has an emotional effect which diverts the human mind with its experience and controls the

heart and mind of humans. The theory of Rasa has become very important as literary theory, which

has a connection with human experience and that which is strongly rooted in reality.“Rasa” - a

Sanskrit word which suggests ‘juice’ or ‘essence’, denotes an essential mental state when specific

emotions are evoked in the minds of people while reading, watching or hearing such works of art.

When a person listens, watches or reads any kind of work there is a process in his mind which

continuously goes through and evokes such feelings which have different emotions, this is ideally

considered as “Rasa”. There are nine Rasas:

1] Srngara- used to denote love, attraction, mainly represented by evoking Lord Vishnu

2] Hasya- used to denote laughter, mirth and comedy, mainly represented by evoking Lord Ganesha

3] Raudra-used to denote fury, mainly represented by Rudra

4] Karunya- used to denote compassion and tragedy, mainly represented by Yama

5] Bibhatsa- used to denote disgust, mainly represented by evoking Lord Shiva

6] Bhayanaka-used to denote horror and terror, mainly represented by evoking Goddess Kali

7] Vira- used to denote the heroic mood, mainly represented by evoking Lord Indra
8] Adbuta-used to denote the feeling of wonder, mainly represented by evoking Brahma

9] Shanta- used to denote peace and tranquillity, mainly represented by evoking Vishnu

Bharatmuni has presented his theory of Rasa in the Natyashashtra saying that ,“No meaningful idea

is conveyed if the “rasa” is not evoked”. Further, he adds that every drama, especially in the Sanskrit

dramatic tradition has a goal to evoke such aesthetic experience in the mind of the audience. It is a

kind of realization of beauty and art to the mind and awareness towards joy. He has given two terms

to experience the rasa, first is which we can taste or flavour (asvadya) and the second is the well

established dominant mood (sthayibhava). The dominant mood can be created by different bhavas

and abhinayas.The title “Abhijnanasakuntalam” means ‘pertaining to the token-recognized-

Sakuntala’, so the literal translation of the title could be of Sakuntala who is recognised by a token.

Kalidas has presented three main Rasas in this work, Srngara (Love), Karunya (Compassion), and

Shanta (peace). Six of the other Rasas also persist but the concentration of Kalidas is more upon the

main three.

1.The first one is Srngara Rasa, in the starting of the epic poetry; it is about an entry of the Dushyant

who is very handsome as the God of love, Kamadev. The description of the beauty of Sakuntala has

described in this couplets by Dushyant,

Her lower lip has the rich sheen of young shoots

Her arms the very grace of tender twining stems

Her limbs enchanting as a lovely flower

Glows with the radiance of magical youth

Here he has clearly presented his views and description of the appearance of Sakuntala in her

clothing and how he perceives it. He continuously praises Sakuntala and observing her beauty, the
description of beauty in words like this evokes the emotion of love in the mind of the reader. Further

he adds the compliment that she is not from earth because her beauty is heavenly. If a reader is

reading the work, he of course will try to imagine the beauty of Sakuntala and it will evoke the

attraction and an emotion of love in his mind. This is an experience of Srngaram Rasa.The erotic

sentiment is usually associated with bright, pure, beautiful and elegant attire. Bharata has divided

this sentiment into two type, samyoga and vipralamba. Samyoga is the rasa of union and

vipralamba is that of separation. The determinants of samyoga sringara rasa are the blooming

seasons like spring, rich ornaments, full bloom flowers, company of intimate fellows etc.

Consequents in the erotic sentiment which is to be represented on the stage are the clever moment

of the eyes, eyebrows, soft and delicate moment of the limbs, sweet and pleasant words etc. The

consequents vipralampa sringara rasa are indifference, fear, jealousy, fatigue, anxiety, yearning,

drowsiness, dreaming, awakening, fainting, death and other such conditions.

2. Second is Hasya rasa (Laughter, Mirth and Comedy) which has been expressed by the characters

like Vidushaka and friends or sakhis of Sakuntala. With their way of talking and humour they

succeed in generating laughter in the audience. By the end of the first three chapters Sakuntala and

Dushyant are in love with each other, and wish to get married . In the starting of the fifth chapter,the

poet entertain the readers with the song by the wife of Dushyant and he replies to his wife by saying

that she has smartly cheated him with hatred. Especially the presence of Vidushak always evokes

laughter in the story. The sentiment is represented by the consequents such as the throbbing of lips,

the nose, and the cheek, opening the eyes wide or contracting them, perspiration, colour of the face.

3. The first three chapters of the book have sentiments of comedy and Sringara rasa but from the

fourth chapter there is a starting of Karunya Rasa. In this chapter, they both get married and the

guardian of Sakuntala, Kanva comes to know about the love marriage of his daughter. Sakuntala

being in thoughts of Dushyant, fails to notice the quick-tempered or kshiprakopi sage, Durvasa at her

doorstep. This is the very first time tragedy occurs in the play and it continuous further when she
goes to the love of her life, Dushyant and tries to make him recall his memory that she is his wife but

he does not accept her and continuously blames her. Finally her own guardian also blames her and

Sakuntala is abandoned by all the people around her. This is the one of the most tragic parts in the

story.

4. In the story, the Bhayanak rasa has not been evoked as much as others have been, but it is

evident when, after the curse of Durvasa, Sakuntala goes to the kingdom of Dushyant and meets

him. He denies to accept her as his wife and at that time ,both talk to each other in a satirical way

and taunt each other. Subsequently, the atmosphere of the court becomes horrible as Dushyant

taunts Sakuntala by calling her a very smart woman who is using her beauty to win him over.

5. The Vira rasa (Heroic mood) first appears in the description of Dushyant and secondly it appears

when he is called by the rishi Kanva to save his ashram from devils and giants. But the exact

experience of Vira rasa can be done in seventh and the last chapter of the book, when Matali enters

the story. Here Matali has given the description of the strength of King Dushyant:

Once before paradise was rid of thorns, the Titans

By the fierce claws of godhead descended lion-like

Now, once again it is freed by your smooth streamlined arrows

For Hari to savour his pleasures in peace.

This succeeds in re-establishing the dhirodhatta character of Dushyanata and arouses the feeling of

utsaha in the heart of the audience.

6.The adhbuta rasa(wonder) first appears in the curse of Durvasa, when Sakuntala seems lost in the

memory of her beloved, Dushyant and does not reply to the most powerful rishi and with anger he

curses her, telling her that the person whom she is thinking about will forget her. But when friends

of Sakuntala go behind Durvasa to stop him and ask for the retrieval of the curse on the poor girl-

child, , he returns and says that he won’t be able to take his words back but he could make its effect
light with blessing her that if she will give such sign of love to his husband he will recognise her. This

whole incidence has a very wonderfully experienced by the reader in the way of how interestingly

everything happens. Another incident of wonder is when Dushyant is ready to keep Sakuntala in his

palace till the birth of baby, but Sakuntala has been taken away to heaven by some womanly shadow

and she disappears. On his way to heaven with Indra ,his victory also expresses wonder and The

incident of locket by the son of Dushyant and Sakuntala is also a kind of wonder.

7. SHANTA RASA-The santa rasa has been presented in almost all the chapters in one or the other,

the description of an atmosphere of ashram is quite peaceful and in the end of fourth chapter when

Sakuntala is going to her husband’s house his father like guardian feels peace that Sakuntala is now

happy with his family and it’s her new beginning in life. In the end of the story when Sakuntala gave

the sign of love, the ring to Dushyant he remembers his love and Sakuntala and its happy ending,

that scene also gives an experience of peace and make readers happy. The love of both has been

stated at the ashram of Kanv on earth, and after tiding over all the problems the family is now

staying in the ashram of Marich rushi in heaven .

In conclusion, Abhijnanasakuntalam by Kalidas has very effectively presented the

experienced all the emotions of human life. Love, peace, wonder, anger and tragedy are the most

important part of human life and Kalidas has appropriately presented all these emotional feelings in

the part of Mahabharata with some changes in plot.

.
 WORKS CITED

1. Bhattacharya, P. “Indian Dramatics-Natyashastra and Abhigyanshakuntalam.” Academia.edu,

www.academia.edu/9207335/Indian_Dramatics-Natyashastra_and_Abhigyanshakuntalam

2. Forshaw, Tristan A. “Abhinava's Aesthetics Of Rasa.” Academia.edu,

www.academia.edu/15108007/Abhinavas_Aesthetics_Of_Rasa.

3. Kumar, Ravi. “Rasa Theory-Shakuntala.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 11 Dec. 2013,

www.slideshare.net/ravikumarnet/rasa-theoryshakuntala

4. Dace,Wallace.”The concept of Rasa in Sanskrit Dramatic Theory.”