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 chapter-division)

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?

• Which, if any, are more dominant?

•Erotic rasa

•Comic/humor rasa

•Sorrowful rasa

•Furious rasa

•Heroic rasa

•Fearful rasa

•Disgusting rasa

•Amazing rasa

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 well-

trained 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