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Rasa, in the Nāṭyaśāstra (नाट्यशास्त्र)

This is Bharata's account of rasa (रस) and bhāva (भाव), the sixth and seventh adhyāyas (अध्याय). A rasa (रस) is what the spectator tastes. A bhāva (भाव) is a state that brings that taste about. The sentence that joins them is the rasa (रस) sūtra (सूत्र), at the sūtra (सूत्र).

One verse is one sitting. The numbering is this pāṭha (पाठ) of the Nāṭyaśāstra (नाट्यशास्त्र). The sixth adhyāya (अध्याय) runs to 83, with the starred lines the file marks off, and the seventh runs to 121, again with its starred lines. The Abhinavabhāratī (अभिनवभारती) is Abhinavagupta's commentary. These sittings are the verses.

The eight, and the ninth

• 6.15 names eight: śṛṅgāra (शृङ्गार), hāsya (हास्य), karuṇa (करुण), raudra (रौद्र), vīra (वीर), bhayānaka (भयानक), bībhatsa (बीभत्स), adbhuta (अद्भुत). 6.17 names the stable feeling of each.
• 6.39 says four of them give rise to the other four. 6.42 and 6.44 give each a color and a deity.
• The lines 6.82*1 through 6.82*5 are bracketed in this pāṭha (पाठ). They name śānta (शान्त), and 6.82*5 says the knowers of drama have seen nine. 6.83, outside the brackets, says eight. Both sentences stay.

Why a hearing moves

The sūtra (सूत्र) says a rasa (रस) comes to completion from the coming together of determinants, consequents, and passing states. 6.33 says people of judgment taste the stable feelings with the mind. 7.7 says a meaning that answers the heart pervades the body as fire pervades dry wood.

6.27 and 6.28 name the four instruments: string, drum, solid idiophone, and flute. Śārṅgadeva (शार्ङ्गदेव)'s Saṅgītaratnākara (सङ्गीतरत्नाकर) builds song, instrument, and dance on nāda (नाद). Sangeet Yatra is the practice of that śāstra (शास्त्र) at the instrument, and a rāga (राग) there is kept with a dominant rasa (रस) and a time of day. This chapter does not set those hours. It gives the rasa (रस) its stable feeling, its color, and its deity. The rooms meet in the word rasa (रस).

What the two chapters do

• 6.1 through 6.14. The sages ask what makes a rasa (रस) a rasa (रस), and Bharata gives the short list of the whole theatre.
• 6.15 through 6.45. The eight, the stable and passing states, the sāttvika (सात्त्विक) states, then the tasting and the four that give rise to four.
• 6.46 through 6.83. Each rasa (रस) in turn, and the bracketed śānta (शान्त).
• 7.1 through 7.8. What a bhāva (भाव), a vibhāva (विभाव), and an anubhāva (अनुभाव) are, and why the stable state is the king of the states.
• 7.9 through 7.121. The stable states one by one, then the thirty-three passing states, then the eight sāttvika (सात्त्विक) states.