Concepts of Rasa and Darshan
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Added on 2020-04-21
Concepts of Rasa and Darshan
Added on 2020-04-21
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Running Head: ANTHROPOLOGY ESSAYAnthropology EssayStudent NameCourse Code
1ANTHROPOLOGY ESSAYIntroductionThe roots of Indian music and art are deep and its origin can be taken from the Vedas andUpanishads itself which have a proper spiritual and scientific meaning. The concept of Rasa anddarshan are derived from the Vedas which have elaborated them and made them an integral partof life of the Vedic people. As it is known India is the fountain of culture and many conceptshave been taken from its mythological and Vedic literature which are now seen and applied inmodern context (Bhattacharya 2017). The following essay discusses the concepts of Rasa anddarshan which are said to be the arts of performance and spectatorship specific to Indian cinemawhich is also called Bollywood. The following essay comprises of detailed discussion aboutRasa which is the basic essence of everything which maybe food devotional songs danceperformance or theatre acting. The essay also comprises of analysis of Darshan which is the artof spectatorship and is also termed to be the art of getting viewed and viewing a performance.Ithas been observed that the dance and song performances in the contemporary Bollywood moviesare derived from the concepts of Rasa and Darshan which makes it the foundation stone of everyart practice applied in the contemporary Bollywood (Bhushan 2017).There is no doubt that theconcepts have been modified and have evolved according to the demands of the spectators but itis also true that the basic fundamentals of art performances remains the same.RASAThe concept of Rasa is an ancient one it is very simple what is misinterpreted andmisunderstood by many entities of global art. Rasa is described as something which is tastedwith enjoyment. If anything gives pleasure by watching tasting or doing then that phenomena iscalled Rasa. In many texts it has been described that in the preparation of food to make it tastythe cook puts many spices and condiments which makes the food enjoyable in the same way
2ANTHROPOLOGY ESSAYRasa is something which when added to a performance gives pleasure to the spectator (Eck1985). When eating a food item a person feels different tastes of the ingredients and There comesa sense of satisfaction in the same way sensitive spectators who have the idea of the art and whoknow how the performance should be done enjoy different emotions and expressions which areconveyed through words and gestures by the actors on a stage or on a film screen. According toIndian ancient texts on arts and performance Rasa has been described as the juice or the essenceof an art which was later change to flavor which a spectator feels when he gets connected withthe art performance.Rasa has been mainly described as the feeling and the sense of psychological andphysiological nature which is invoked for the characters that are performing and it is believedthat the spectators develop a sense of sympathy and attraction towards the actors who areperforming (Gupta 2017). Rasa is generated through physical movements which are specificallysome gestures that create mental and physical sensations among the spectators. In Indiantheatrical industry especially in the Natyashastra, combination of skillful movements, quality ofthe voice and expressions when taken collectively give a proper structure to the Rasa.These arethe ingredients which makes the concept of Rasa holistic can give a proper meaning to it. Butmixing all these ingredients does not give proper justification to the Rasa (Haq 2017). There is aneed of a sensitive spectator who can experience the flavor of Rasa and that spectator should beknowledgeable and a connoisseur of the respective art which is performed. Again the mixing ofthese ingredients of Rasa should be in a proper way which is mentioned in the ancient text ofIndian art and culture performance.It was debated that the actors who are performing on the stagecannot experience Rasa. It was clarified that to experience Rasa there should be a spectatorwhich must be at a certain distance from the stage so that an aesthetic feeling can be developed
3ANTHROPOLOGY ESSAYin the mind of the spectator who can completely see the entire art performance without whichRasa is incomplete (Jain 2003). It is difficult to understand the mind of the spectator when heexperiences Rasa as there is a sense of ecstasy and a sense of meta self which is created by thecolorful lucrative scenes which are shown on the stage which creates a feeling of euphoria in themind of the spectator.RASA and Contemporary BollywoodThe concept of Rasa came from the literary work known as Natyashastra written byBharata Muni which is a scripture of the science of drama which has been adopted for thepurpose ofEntertainment.It is evident that the entire Indian cinema is based on the concept ofexperiencing every aspect of Rasa. All the Indian cinemas are made in such a way that itsspectators experience the display of every minute figment of Rasa which makes the performancein the Indian cinema in synchronization with the concept of Rasa (Kapur 1990). The actors of theIndian cinema have a tendency to express their emotions which are to make a connection withthe minds of the audience and each character is structured in such a way that it portrays theconcept of Rasa. Every dance performance or an emotional or violent scene have an impact onthe minds of the spectators which creates the sense of Rasa which is written in theNatyashastra.There are 8 rashes in total which collectively aims to give the character of thecinema deep meaning which appeals to the story line of the cinema in context with theperformance of Rasa (Mahadevan and Jain 2017).The rasas have a very prominent role in theIndian cinema which give a meaning to the performances of the characters. Shringara is aboutthe beauty faithfulness devotion and love which is always a prominent role given to the femalecharacter of the cinema. Veer Rasa signifies the courage, vigor, strength and pride and is trait ofa proud and chivalrous hero and its character is given to the male lead actor in the cinema.
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