MOST IMPORTANT CONCEPT

OF INDIAN TRADITIONAL
AESTHETIC THEORY

PHILOSOPHY GIVEN BY
BHARATA IN
‘NATYASHASTRA’
Karuna Rasa
Shringara Rasa
Veera Rasa
Hasya Rasa
Bhayankara Rasa
Vibhatsa Rasa
Adbhuta Rasa
Raudra Rasa
Shanti Rasa
 THE COMPASSIONATE

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS
Considerate,
Sadness,
Sorrow, Misery,
Pathos
Grief

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
Light Grey (White, Background 1, 15%)
KARUNA RASA
 THE EROTIC

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS
Love, Fondness, Passion, Enchantment,
Yearning, Infatuation, Idolatry,
Tenderness Narcissism, Seduction

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
Purple (Purple, Accent 4)
SHRINGARA
RASA
 THE HEROIC

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS

Valour Courage, Bravery,

Gallantry

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
Light Green, (Olive Green, Accent 3,Lighter 80%)
VEERA RASA
 THE COMIC

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS

Laughter, Humour Wit, Hilarity

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
White (White, Background 1)
HASYA RASA
 THE TERRIFYING

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS
Anxiety,
Fear Apprehension,
Intimidation

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
Black (Black, Text 1)
BHAYANKARA
RASA
 THE DISGUSTING

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS

Aversion Dislike, Loathing,

Repugnance

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
Blue
VIBHATSA RASA
 THE AWESOME

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS

Surprise Disclosure, Blow,

Astonishment

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
Yellow
ADBHUTA RASA
 THE WRATHFUL

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS
Anger, Vengeance, Fury, Temper, Ire,
Arrogance Frenzy

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
Red
RAUDRA RASA
 THE PEACEFUL

KEYWORDS SYNONYMS
Serene, Quiet,
Calm Tranquil,
Composed

ATTRIBUTED COLOUR
White (White, Background 1)
SHANTI RASA
 ARCHITECTURAL
RELEVANCE OF THE
NAVRASA THEORY
 GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
ELUCIDATION EXAMPLE

•Closed courts
•Introverted planning
•Rendering the aura with a
sense of relaxation
Nalakettu , India
(traditional Kerala home with a
quadrangle in the centre)
 GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
ELUCIDATION EXAMPLE
•Erotic environment
•A house near a water body,
like a pond; a large number
of mango and other fruit-
bearing trees in the vicinity
The Taj Mahal, Agra, India
 GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
ELUCIDATION EXAMPLE

•Architecture that
champions a noble cause
•Could almost border on
arrogance

The Southern India Gopuram

Sculpture
 GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
ELUCIDATION EXAMPLE
•Experienced in an
abnormal variation from the
usual.
•Emotions arising out of
exaggerated confusion, irony
Kappal Matha Church in Uvari,
or even pain Tamil Nadu, India
 GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
ELUCIDATION EXAMPLE

•An edge-of-a-cliff situation.

•An illustration could be a
building constructed on a
cliff and its glass balcony.

Prabalgad Fort, Padaghe,

Maharashtra, India
 GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
ELUCIDATION EXAMPLE
•Synonymous to a sickening
distaste or dislike; deep
aversion and repugnance.
•Incidental architecture born
more out of some freak Infosys, Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park,
Hinjawadi, Taluka Mulshi, Pune,
accident. India
 GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
ELUCIDATION EXAMPLE
•Contortion in the built
form of any kind will invoke
such emotions.
•Any architecture that plays
on scale and the human Orange County, Ahinsa Khand 1,
Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, Uttar
proportion. Pradesh, India
 GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
ELUCIDATION EXAMPLE

•An office of an adamant

NGO fighting social evil
would perhaps justify such
emotions.

Antilia, Mumbai, Maharashtra,

India
 GENERAL ELUCIDATION

•A culmination of all these eight aforementioned moods

together.
•It would be easier for the architect to work on Peace or
Shanti as an individual entity rather than a sum of parts.
 RASAS AND THEIR
WESTERN ARCHITECTURAL
COUNTERPARTS
Corresponds to KARUNA RASA
Jean-Marie Tjibaou
Cultural Centre,
Noumea, New
Caledonia
It sought to make a
tribute to a culture
based on respect for its
history and traditions,
past, present and
future, as well as its
sensitivity.
 Corresponds to SHRINGARA RASA
A fine example of Art
Nouveau, a stunning
staircase designed by
Victor Horta

The dry and unnuanced

eroticism of art nouve-
au is evident in its
serpentine iconography
and richly seductive
colours.
Corresponds to VEERA RASA
Record shattering
hero :the Burj
Khalifa, Dubai,
United Arab
Emirates

The tower was to be a

symbol of the triumph
of the modern west
and also of a masculine
heroism
 Corresponds to HASYA RASA

Duck House,
Flanders, New York,
USA

Classical features in a
playful way.
Corresponds to BHAYANKARA RASA
The Research
Institute for
Experimental
Medicine

Unadorned and rough-

cast concrete was used;
adding to its
unfortunate reputation
for evoking a bleak
dystopian future.
 Corresponds to VIBHATSA RASA
‘Deconstructing the
Churches’ is a series
of photo collages

Part of a larger series

of photos, these images
visually deconstruct
parts of the real world
that we normally think
of as stable.
Corresponds to ADBHUTA RASA
The Palace of
Justice, Milan
(designed by
Marcello Piacentini)

Characterised by
Monumental austerity
and abstract formalism
one is left in awe of it
and doesn’t quite know
what to make of these.
 Corresponds to RAUDRA RASA
Port House,
Antwerp's Port
Authority

It’s impossible to be
indifferent to a building
that looks like a giant
spaceship, or an artist’s
rendering of a
meteorite, or a kind of
riff on a giant barnacle.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Emotions in architecture have been there since time immemorial,
be it in Western thought or Indian.
Papers have been written by Hernan and Mastandrea in 2009
and Droog and de Vries in 2009 on emotions in architecture in the
Western orientation.
Both have stated that there are four types of Aesthetic Emotions
However, the Indian aesthetic theory states that there are nine
types of emotions in their Navarasa Theory, which is a
refinement and a far more elaborate expression.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Several Indian architects like Raj Rewal and Charles Correa
have made references to the Rasas but none have very
consciously used them in their design development.

This discussion on Navarasa Theory may provide an idea to the

young future designers to use these theories and produce
architecture which will be in the realms of Classical Art as it has
been used by ancient Indian dancers, musicians and artists.
“You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these
materials you build houses and palaces. That is construction.
Ingenuity is at work.
But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good, I am
happy and I say: "This is beautiful." That is Architecture. Art
enters in”. (“Le Corbusier - Wikiquote,” n.d.)