Rasa revisited as the Kathakali actor's taste of aesthetic pleasure

Abstract

Traditional Indian aesthetic theory (Kumar 2010 Kumar, P., 2010. Natyasastra of Bharatamuni. Vols. 1–4. New Bharatiya Book Corporation. [Google Scholar]; Pollock 2016 Pollock, S., 2016. A Rasa Reader. Permanent Black.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Shwartz 2006 Shwartz, Susan. L., 2006. Rasa: Performing the Divine in India. Columbia University Press. [Google Scholar]) defines rasa as a knowledgeable audience's taste of aesthetic pleasure, and bhava as the actor's performance of embodied emotional states. This conventional interpretation of an aesthetic theory first articulated in the Natyashastra suggests the actor does not experience pleasure or rasa, and by implication, the actor's craft is primarily in the service of the audience's pleasure. If, on the other hand, the actor does taste rasa, as evidenced by Pollock (2016 Pollock, S., 2016. A Rasa Reader. Permanent Black.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) through Krishnamoorthy's (1979 Krishnamoorthy, K., 1979. Studies in Indian Aesthetics and Criticism. Mysore Printing and Publishing House. [Google Scholar]) interpretation of the Natyashastra, then, contrary to the conventional understanding, a transfer of this ability from guru or master practitioner to learner, is at the heart of its actor training pedagogy. To transfer this very specific skill full ability, the master practitioner's actions need to be imitated precisely and not interpreted. The dominant western academic narrative of Kathakali's imitative pedagogy represents it as “mimicking”, a quality for low, and specially not of the high arts. A renegotiating of the idea of mimicry with a more complex and nuanced “mirroring,” offers up fertile conceptual ground for an investigation into its offerings of rasa. Practice-led research conducted by the practitioner researcher as part of his doctoral thesis exploring the teaching of Kathakali in Australia, offers original theoretical and practical insights into a transfer of rasa from master practitioner to learner, at the site of intercultural actor training.

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