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Buddhism and Literature in South Asia
Week 4: Indian Buddhist Drama
Overview of Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to Buddhist Literature, Jātaka
Tales
Week 2: Indian Buddhist Sūtra Literature
Week 3: Life story of the Buddha in Indian poetry
Week 4: Indian Buddhist Drama
Week 5: Buddhist Inspirational poetry
Week 6: Buddhist Biography and Hagiography in
Tibet
Week 7: Modern Buddhist Biographies: the 14th
Dalai Lama’s Autobiography
Week 8: Buddhist-inspired fiction in the 20th
century
Traditional Indian six-fold classification
of “literature”(belles lettres)
A. Drama (nāṭaka) – Such as Handsome Nanda
B. Ornate epic (sargabandha “poetry [divided into]
chapters or cantos”, also called mahākāvya “great ornate
epic”) Such as Life of the Buddha
C. Compositions in verse (anibaddha or muktaka “isolated
stanzas”, and khaṇḍakāvya “short poems (without chapterdivision)
D. Mixed forms (campū)
E. Biography (ākhyāyikā “report” usually dealing with living
or recently deceased persons)
F. Novel (kathā “fictitious story” – admitted as subsection of
ākhyāyikā)
--From Michael Hahn, “The Buddhist Contribution to the Indian Belles
Lettres” (455–471)
What do we know about early
Sanskrit Drama?
• Like with Sanskrit poetry, most of what we
know about early Sanskrit plays is through
examining the plays themselves.
• We also have one 4th-century treatise on
drama: Bharata’s Treatise on Drama
(Naṭyaśāstra)
• Many treatises on drama have been
written since. But we will only look at two
others: Bhānudatta’s Bouquet of Rasa and
River of Rasa
‘Sanskrit’ Drama
How did Sanskrit playwrights approach
drama?
How did it differ from poetry?
→ Primarily composed in Sanskrit, but
included other ‘prakrit-s’ (regional
languages) as well
→ Composed of a mix of formal poetry
(kāvya) and prose = campu
‘Rasa’, or how Literature Creates
Emotion
• For Sanskrit plays, emotionally efficacy is
measured formally (by poetic theorists) by
how well the play adheres to the very
precise guidelines known as rasa theory
• Rasa is not the same as the emotion a
reader (or listener) experiences from
simply watching or listening to a play. It is
a formal classification based on specific
features found in the poem.
The history of ‘Rasa’ theory
• The foundational work on emotion and its use
and evocation in poetry is in Nāṭyaśāstra of
Bharata (written 3rd-4th century CE, but revised
up until 9th ).
• The author, Bharata promoted theory of literary
representation that reduced human emotions to
set of 8 “waves”
• These 8 aesthetic emotions are called “tastes”
(rasas). This analogy based on the idea of
taste—meaning that there is a physical
component (what we feel) and blending of
complex tastes and aesthetic moods evince.
How do you evoke ‘rasa’ (taste) in
drama?
• The basic ingredient for rasa is a “stable” or
primary emotion (sthāyi-bhāva) to which what are
called [1] “underlying factors” (ālambana-vibhāva)
such as moonlight or swinging earrings, [2]
“transitory feelings” (vyabhicāri-bhāva) such as
longing, worry, shame, and [3] “physical reactions”
(anubhāva) such as perspiring or weeping are
added.
• A “stable” emotion, when fully developed or
matured by these factors turns into a rasa!
• Such transformations were originally thought to
come about in the main character of poem or drama.
However, on the contrary, rasa theory arose to
enable literary analysis to grasp how poetry fixes
emotions and makes them more permanently more
perceptible.
The 8 stable ‘emotions’
(bhāva)
Corresponding 8 ‘moods’
(rasa)
Desire (rati):
Erotic rasa (śṛṅgāra)
Humor (hāsa):
comic rasa (hāsya)
Grief (śoka):
Sorrowful rasa (karuṇa-rasa)
Anger (krodha)
Furious rasa (raudrasya)
Energy (utsāha)
heroic rasa (vīra)
Fear (bhaya):
Fearsome rasa (bhāyanaka)
Revulsion (jugupsā):
Disgusting rasa (bībhatsa)
Wonder (vismaya)
Amazing rasa (ādbhuta rasa)
Description of the Stable Emotions
• The sources of rasa-s are emotions (bhāva), etc.
Where ‘emotion’ is defined as a transformation
conducive to rasa.
• These transformations are of two sorts:
internal and bodily. Internal is of two sorts:
stable and transitory (sthāyī and vyabhicārī)
• →Within this framework, emotions are both
mental and physical!
• First, a stable emotion (sthāyī bhāva) is
defined as one not displaced by other emotions
whether similar (stable) or dissimilar
(transitory)→It is considered stable when (a) it
subordinates other emotions, (b) it is not yet
displaced by others, or (c) it is dominant over all
others
The 8 stable ‘emotions’ (that produce
rasa)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Desire (rati): Can arise from seeing, hearing, or remembering
Humor (hāsa): produced by incongruity of speech or dress meant for
amusement.
Grief (śoka): produced by separation from cherished object and is
emptied of all desire. When the object of affections is dead and yet hope
remains it is not grief (it is instead the erotic rasa). However grief can
also apply to frustrated erotic (vipralambha-śṛṅgāra) because appears as
one of the components
Anger (krodha): produced by act of disrespect, etc that one finds
disagreeable
Energy (utsāha) : produced by any one of: valor, munificence, or
compassion (saurya-dāna-dayā). Heroic (vīra) can be either of those 3
(yuddha-vīra, dāna and dayā).
Fear (bhaya): produced by a transgression or gruesome sound or
creature, etc.
Revulsion (jugupsā): produced by disgusting sight, sound, or memory
Wonder (vismaya): produced by marvelous sight or memory. When in
the case of erotic or other rasa-s, the mental transformation resulting
from marvelous sight, etc is subordinate it is called the erotic, etc rasa.
When this is dominant, it is the Wonder(ful) rasa
Description of the Factors
(vibhāva)
• Factors (vibhāva) are of 2 sorts→
underlying (ālambana-vibhāva) and
stimulant (uddīpana-vibhāva).
• The underlying factor is the thing or
person that underlies the rasa coming
into being.
• The stimulant factor stimulates a rasa.
Stimulant Factors (uddīpana-vibhāva)
• For erotic (śṛṅgāra) rasa→time of year, garlands, and
ornaments, moon, presence of close friends, listening to
music, outings to parks.
• For comic/humor (hāsya)→ornaments askew, grotesque
behavior or costumes
• For Sorrowful rasa (karuṇa-rasa)→loss of beloved,
curse, hardship, jail, misfortune. (also loss of kin)
• For raudrasya-rasa (furious rasa)→ Attack by arms,
swords, hideous wounds, etc. (also sight of one’s enemy,
etc)
• For heroic rasa (vīra)→intentness of unleashing energy
without despondency, pride or confusion.
• For fearful rasa (bhāyanaka)→ferocious roar, seeing
ferocious creatures, going to battlefield. transgression
against guru or a king→produces fear of a secondary sort.
• For disgusting rasa (bībhatsa)→ sight of something
disgusting; foul smells or tastes. Sometimes also simply the
act of hearing or remembering unpleasant things.
• For amazing rasa (ādbhuta rasa)→ hyperbolic speech or
special efforts of extraordinary act.
Description of the Physical Reactions
(anubhāva)
• The “physical reactions” are that which shows a rasa being
reacted to (by characters in the play), that make a rasa an
object of reaction. Since rasa is experienced internally,
external manifestations are needed to see it
• Rasa is defined as a fully matured stable emotion.
• Things such as sidelong glances can be either factors or
stimulants depending on whether they show rasa being
reacted to or if they are objects of perception.
• When these side-long glances are observed, they bring
about the mental transformation and are thus then
considered stimulant factors
• Four kinds of Physical reactions
–
–
–
–
Voluntary (kāyika): shaking of arms, etc
Mental (mānasa): joyfulness, erep of 4 armed vishnu, etctc
Costume-related (āhārya):
Involuntary (sāttvika): goosebumps, etc.
Physical reactions for the rasa-s
• For śṛṅgāra rasa→clear eyes, bright face, smiles, gentle words,
joyfulness. sidelong glances, shaking arms, etc.
• For hāsya (comic) rasa→ distorted speech, disfigured limbs,
disordered clothes.
• For karuṇā (pitiful/sorrowful) rasa→ sighs, weeping, fainting,
lamentation, beating breast, etc. BhD adds sad face, raving,
pallor, etc.
• For raudra rasa (furious)→ shaking head ringing with mult
blows, pounding fist. knitting brow, gritting teeth, biting lips, etc.
• For vīra (heroic) rasa→ boldness, heroism, steadfastness,
energy, audacity and magnificence, statements laden with double
meanings.
• For the bhayānaka (fearful) rasa→ quivering of hands, feet,
eyes, head, and all limbs; parched lips, palate and throat; pallor,
goosebumps, a breaking voice, etc.
• For bībhatsa rasa (disgusting)→ ryes rolling in ones head,
covering eyes or nose, indistinct footfalls. physically recoiling,
spitting, etc
• For the ādbhuta (amazing) rasa→ eager touching or grasping,
cries of “oh!” or “Bravo!”, by quivering or stammering or breaking
voice. unblinking staring, goosebumps, etc
Involuntary Physical Reactions
• There are 8 involuntary (sattivika)
physical reactions common to all the
rasa (mood)-s.
• Because stable emotions and transitory
feelings are internal they are not
properties of the body!
8 involuntary physical reactions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Paralysis (stambha): property of the body→ obstruction of ambulatory
movement. Factors: joy, passion, fear, sorrow, depression, wonder, and
anger
Sweating (svedo): Factors : remorse, joy, shame, anger, fear, fatigue,
pain, distress, fainting, etc
Horripilation (romāñca): hair bristling as a result of some
transformation. Factors : cold, an embrace, joy, fear, anger
Breaking voice (svarabhedo): Factors : anger, fear, joy and
intoxication
Trembling (vepathu): in discourses on aesthetic feeling, it is defined as
quivering of the body or any part of (i.e. not twitching); Factors : joy
fear, etc.
Pallor (vaivarṇya): change in natural coloring as result of some change
in mental state. Factors : confusion, fear, anger, cold, heat, and
exhaustion;
Weeping (aśru): Factors : joy, vindictiveness, smoke, grief, fear,
yawning, cold, and unblinking staring
Absorption (pralaya). Obstruction of all bodily motion. Factors :
longing, passion, etc. undivided attention to something out of those
emotions which causes inability to move.
So what’s the takeaway?
• In Sanskrit drama (and later in Sanskrit
poetry), emotion is classified not by the response
of the audience, but by whether the content of
the play adheres to a formal categorical system,
known as rasa-theory
• For an aspect of drama to count as rasa, it must
have one of the 8 (or 9) corresponding stable
emotions (bhāva-s) associated with it. The
sustained intensification of a stable emotion
within the play is what produces rasa
• There are a variety of options for characters and
situations to displaying these ‘moods’ and
‘emotions’: factors can be bodily and internal (of
the character), scenery in the play, etc.
Rasa in Handsome Nanda
• Which among the 8 moods do you see
present in this story?
•Erotic rasa
•Comic/humor rasa
•Sorrowful rasa
•Furious rasa
•Heroic rasa
•Fearful rasa
•Disgusting rasa
•Amazing rasa
• Which, if any, are more dominant?
Nanda’s motivation’s
• Based in desire (erotic)!
• He is tricked by the Buddha, who uses
Nanda’s desire-based motivation to
convince him to become a monk
• When Nanda misses his wife and wants
to leave the monastery, the Buddha
again tricks Nanda by showing him
beautiful celestial nymphs!
Recall the Buddha’s motivations for
pursuing the path…
He sees three (or four) signs:
1st sign: Sickness (the Buddha sees a sick
person)
2nd sign: Old age (the Buddha sees an old
person)
3rd sign: Death (the Buddha sees a corpse)
(an optional 4th sign: the mendicant)
Conversion narratives in Handsome
Nanda
• In early stages of conversion, Nanda
portrayed as a wild, rutting elephant; in
later stages, he is depicted as a welltrained war elephant
• In some portions, Nanda is portrayed as
a “sick man”—whose primary affliction
and symptom is ‘passion’. Medical
metaphors!
Ashvaghosa’s use of Skill-in-means
If this is a Buddhist play, designed to
convey some Buddhist moralistic ideas,
why use these dramatic and poetic
ornaments?
• As the author himself tells us at the end, the
real purpose of the poem, as we are told in the
last two verses, is not to entertain us, but to
bring us tranquility!
• Poetry as medicine: Dramatic mood and poetic
sensibilities used as a bribe for the readers!
Just as the Buddha tricked Nanda, the author
is trying to trick us!
Skill-in-means in Buddhism
• Upāya, expedient means, is a term used
in Mahayana Buddhism to refer to an aspect of guidance along
the Buddhist Paths to liberation where a conscious, voluntary
action is driven by an incomplete reasoning around its direction.
• Upāya is often used with kaushalya ("cleverness");
• upaya-kaushalya meaning "skill in means".
• Upaya-kaushalya is a concept emphasizing that practitioners
may use their own specific methods or techniques that fit the
situation in order to gain enlightenment. The implication is that
even if a technique, view, etc., is not ultimately "true" in the
highest sense, it may still be an expedient practice to perform or
view to hold; i.e., it may bring the practitioner closer to the true
realization in a similar way. The exercise of skill to which it
refers, the ability to adapt one's message to the audience, is of
enormous importance in the Pali Canon.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upaya
Overview of Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to Buddhist
Literature, Jātaka Tales
Week 2: Indian Buddhist Sūtra Literature
Week 3: Life story of the Buddha in Indian
poetry
Week 4: Indian Buddhist Drama
Next Week: (Week 5) :
Buddhist Inspirational Poetry