Notoraj N A Polash’s “Bangarashayan Rasa Theory”
Not a Rejection of the Nine Rasas, but an Exploration of Jatra’s Invisible Spectrum of Aesthetic Experience
Notoraj N A Polash
For a long time, one question has deeply occupied my thoughts: Can the aesthetic experience of Jatra be fully explained within the framework of the classical Indian theory of the nine Rasas (Navarasa)?
There is no doubt that Navarasa represents one of the most powerful and historically significant systems of Indian aesthetics. Shringara, Hasya, Karuna, Raudra, Vira, Bhayanaka, Bibhatsa, Adbhuta and Shanta encompass a vast field of human emotions and aesthetic experiences.
However, when we attempt to analyse certain distinctive aesthetic experiences found in the long folk tradition of Bengali Jatra—such as relationships, social life, collective experience, sacrifice, patriotism, popular consciousness and self-awakening—a broader analytical framework may become necessary.
It is from this sustained observation, study and reflection on Jatra texts, performance practices, songs, dialogue, music, folk life and audience experience that a proposed aesthetic model has emerged: “Bangarashayan Rasa Theory.”
This theory is not an opposition to Navarasa. Rather, its fundamental proposition is:
“Not a rejection of the nine Rasas, but an exploration of Jatra’s invisible spectrum of aesthetic experience on the foundation of Navarasa.”
The Theoretical Significance of the Term “Bangarashayan”
The term Bangarashayan may be conceptually understood through three components:
Bangla + Rasa + Ayan
Here, Bangla refers to the life, folk traditions, collective consciousness, language, culture and historical experiences of Bengal.
Rasa refers to aesthetic experience.
Ayan refers to a pathway of analysis, movement and realization.
Thus, Bangarashayan may be defined as:
A proposed aesthetic methodology for analysing the origin, movement, transformation and audience experience of aesthetic sensations expressed through the life of Bengal and the art of Jatra.
A Proposed New Definition of Rasa
In Bangarashayan Rasa Theory, Rasa is not regarded merely as an emotion or feeling.
Rather:
“Rasa is the distinctive aesthetic experience savoured within the consciousness of the audience through the integration of determinants, acting, speech, music, bodily expression, visual elements, movement and interpersonal relationships in an artistic performance.”
In other words, Bhava and Rasa are not identical.
Bhava is an essential constituent in the creation of Rasa. Rasa is the aesthetic transformation of Bhava and the resultant experience actually savoured by the audience.
This distinction constitutes one of the fundamental premises of Bangarashayan Rasa Theory.
The Rasa Equation of Jatra
Bangarashayan proposes the following functional sequence for the emergence of Rasa in Jatra:
Vibhava → Emergence of Feeling → Expression through Acting and Artistic Media → Rasagati → Emergence of Rasa → Rasa-svada → Response of Consciousness
This process is particularly significant in Jatra.
Jatra integrates dialogue, song, music, bodily acting, folk language, stage movement and direct communication with the audience. Together, these elements may generate a distinctive aesthetic experience.
It is this integrated nature that provides Jatra with a unique field for aesthetic analysis.
The Proposed Architecture of the Eighteen Rasas
Bangarashayan Rasa Theory proposes that eighteen Rasas may be organised into three broad Rasa Mandalas.
First Mandala: The Fundamental Human Rasas
These nine Rasas constitute the classical foundation of Indian aesthetic theory:
Shringara — Love and attraction
Hasya — Humour and laughter
Karuna — Sorrow and compassion
Raudra — Anger and fury
Vira — Courage and heroism
Bhayanaka — Fear and terror
Bibhatsa — Disgust and moral revulsion
Adbhuta — Wonder and amazement
Shanta — Peace and tranquillity
These form the foundational Navarasa Mandala.
Second Mandala: Relational and Social Consciousness Rasas
The following seven categories are proposed as an expanded analytical framework for experiences of human relationships, social values and collective consciousness:
Bhakti — Devotion
Vatsalya — Parental or nurturing affection
Sakhya — Friendship and companionship
Viraha — Separation and longing
Tyaga — Sacrifice and self-renunciation
Pratibad — Protest and resistance
Deshaprema — Patriotism and love of homeland
These categories are proposed not as historically established equivalents of the classical Navarasa, but as expanded analytical categories within Bangarashayan.
Third Mandala: Folk Life and Consciousness
Lokaja — The aesthetic vitality of folk life
Chaitanya — Awakening of consciousness
Here, Lokaja represents the aesthetic pulse of ordinary people’s lives and collective existence, while Chaitanya represents the deeper human and spiritual realization that may emerge from such experience.
Ten Analytical Criteria for Each Rasa
Bangarashayan Rasa Theory does not propose accepting a Rasa merely by assigning it a name.
Each Rasa should be analysed through at least ten criteria:
Name of the Rasa
Fundamental emotion
Sthayi Bhava or central emotional disposition
Vibhava or determinants
Anubhava or expressive manifestations
Sanchari Bhava or supporting/transitory emotions
Rasagati or movement of the Rasa
Expression through Jatra acting
Role of song, music and stagecraft
The audience’s ultimate aesthetic response
Through these criteria, the eighteen Rasas cease to be merely a list and become a comparative aesthetic-analytical methodology.
The Distinctiveness and Movement of the Rasas
- Shringara Rasa
Core: Love and attraction.
Rasagati:
Attraction → Introduction → Affection → Desire → Union/Separation → Resolution
In Jatra, song, gaze, dialogue, bodily expression, melody and scenes of separation may serve as important vehicles of Shringara.
Audience response: Aesthetic appreciation of love.
- Hasya Rasa
Core: Humour.
Rasagati:
Incongruity → Amusement → Laughter → Psychological release
Hasya may have an additional functional role in Jatra: Rasa transition.
After an intense emotional sequence, humour may provide temporary psychological relief and prepare the audience to receive the next Rasa.
- Karuna Rasa
Core: Sorrow.
Rasagati:
Loss → Helplessness → Pain → Tears → Empathy
An important proposition here is that the highest point of Karuna is not necessarily crying; rather, it may be empathy.
- Raudra Rasa
Core: Anger.
Rasagati:
Injustice → Resentment → Anger → Explosion → Resistance
The aesthetic power of Raudra lies in generating emotional intensity against injustice.
- Vira Rasa
Core: Courage.
Rasagati:
Crisis → Decision → Struggle → Self-control → Victory/Sacrifice
Vira Rasa may generate an aesthetic experience of courage, determination and the will to struggle.
- Bhayanaka Rasa
Core: Fear and terror.
Rasagati:
The Unknown → Apprehension → Anxiety → Terror → Existential Crisis
In Jatra, sound, silence, lighting, darkness, pauses and sudden transitions may become powerful vehicles of Bhayanaka.
- Bibhatsa Rasa
Core: Repulsion.
Rasagati:
Inhumanity → Repulsion → Disgust → Moral Rejection
Bibhatsa need not be restricted to physical disgust. Moral degradation and ethical repulsion may also constitute its subject matter.
- Adbhuta Rasa
Core: Wonder.
Rasagati:
The Unknown → Curiosity → Wonder → Discovery → Fascination
Folk legends, mythology, supernatural elements and imaginative scenes may provide powerful fields for Adbhuta.
- Shanta Rasa
Core: Tranquillity.
Rasagati:
Conflict → Realization → Acceptance → Self-restraint → Peace
After prolonged conflict and psychological transformation, Shanta may emerge as a mature aesthetic experience.
The Nine Proposed Expanded Rasas
10. Bhakti Rasa
Core: Reverence and surrender.
Rasagati:
Faith → Reverence → Attraction → Surrender → Spiritual experience
Bhakti is not being declared here as a historically equivalent category to the classical Navarasa. It is more cautiously proposed as an expanded analytical category within Bangarashayan.
- Vatsalya Rasa
Core: Affection and nurturing love.
Rasagati:
Affection → Protection → Care → Fear of separation → Self-sacrifice
Its central principle may be expressed as:
“To value another’s existence above one’s own.”
- Sakhya Rasa
Core: Friendship and mutual trust.
Rasagati:
Introduction → Trust → Bond → Mutual support → Companionship
Its ultimate audience experience may be expressed simply as:
“I am not alone.”
- Viraha Rasa
Viraha is one of the most significant proposed expansions within Bangarashayan.
Core: Separation.
Rasagati:
Separation → Emptiness → Memory → Waiting → Longing → Inner realization
If Viraha is to be established as an independent Rasa rather than a subdivision of Shringara, its distinctive Vibhava, Anubhava, Rasagati and audience experience must be demonstrated through further research.
- Tyaga Rasa
Core: Self-sacrifice.
Rasagati:
Crisis → Inner conflict → Decision → Renunciation → Magnanimity
Its ultimate aesthetic experience may be described as the grandeur of self-sacrifice.
- Pratibad Rasa
Core: Awakening against injustice.
Rasagati:
Injustice → Awareness → Questioning → Protest → Desire for change
The distinction between Raudra and Pratibad is particularly important.
Raudra is centred on anger; Pratibad is centred on the consciousness of change.
- Deshaprema Rasa
Core: Consciousness of homeland.
Rasagati:
Land → Identity → Memory → Love → Responsibility → Sacrifice
Deshaprema here does not refer merely to a political slogan. Rather:
Land + People + Language + History + Culture + Memory = Consciousness of Homeland
- Lokaja Rasa
Lokaja is proposed as an important category for understanding the distinctive aesthetic character of Jatra.
Core: The vital pulse of people’s lives.
Rasagati:
Soil → Labour → Life → Relationships → Celebration → Sorrow → Laughter → Collectivity
Lokaja does not mean merely “rural.”
It refers to the aesthetic vitality found in the everyday existence of ordinary people—their labour, relationships, celebrations, sorrows, laughter and collective existence.
- Chaitanya Rasa
Chaitanya may be proposed as the philosophical summit of the eighteen-Rasa framework.
Core: Awakening of consciousness.
Rasagati:
Experience → Questioning → Self-inquiry → Realization → Awakening → Human transformation
If, after watching a Jatra performance, an audience member returns home carrying a new question about life, society, humanity or existence, the possibility of Chaitanya Rasa has emerged.
“Rasagati”: A Fundamental Concept of Bangarashayan
One of the most important proposed concepts of Bangarashayan Rasa Theory is Rasagati, or the movement of Rasa.
Conventional Rasa analysis often asks:
“What is the emotion?”
Bangarashayan proposes adding another question:
“How does the Rasa emerge, how does it transform, and where does it reach its aesthetic culmination?”
This movement is Rasagati.
For example:
Karuna:
Loss → Pain → Tears → Empathy
Raudra:
Injustice → Resentment → Anger → Resistance
Pratibad:
Injustice → Awareness → Question → Protest → Desire for Change
Chaitanya:
Experience → Question → Inquiry → Realization → Awakening
Therefore, every fundamental Rasa should possess its own distinctive trajectory or Rasagati.
The “Rasa Identity Test”
Bangarashayan does not seek to recognise an emotion as an independent Rasa merely by giving it a separate name.
Any proposed new Rasa should pass at least seven tests:
- Distinct Sthayi Bhava
Does it possess its own central emotional disposition?
- Distinct Vibhava
Are the causes or determinants of its emergence sufficiently different from those of existing Rasas?
- Distinct Anubhava
Does it possess recognisably different modes of external expression?
- Distinct Rasagati
Does it have its own movement from emergence to culmination?
- Distinct Aesthetic Experience
Does the audience experience a fundamentally distinguishable aesthetic response?
- Distinct Jatra Expression
Can it be independently expressed through dialogue, song, acting, music, movement and stagecraft?
- Non-Redundancy
Can it be demonstrated that the proposed Rasa is not merely a deeper form, subcategory or combination of an already existing Rasa?
If these criteria cannot be satisfactorily demonstrated, the emotion should not automatically be established as a new Rasa.
Could There Be a Nineteenth Rasa in the Future?
Bangarashayan does not close the door to this possibility.
Its position would simply be:
“Prove it.”
If someone proposes a nineteenth Rasa in the future, that proposition should demonstrate:
a distinct Sthayi Bhava;
distinct Vibhava;
distinct Anubhava;
distinct Rasagati;
distinct audience experience;
fundamental differences from the existing eighteen Rasas; and
a distinctive mode of expression within the language of Jatra.
Thus, Bangarashayan is not intended to be a closed theory. It is proposed as a testable, revisable and research-oriented aesthetic framework.
This openness may strengthen the theory by allowing future scholarship to challenge, refine or expand it.
Rasa and the Combination of Rasas
The existence of eighteen Rasas does not mean that they are eighteen completely isolated emotional experiences.
Rasas may interact, overlap and combine with one another.
For example:
Shringara + Viraha = Love intensified by separation
Karuna + Tyaga = The sorrow of self-sacrifice
Raudra + Pratibad = Social resistance
Vira + Deshaprema = Struggle for the homeland
Bhakti + Chaitanya = Spiritual awakening
Lokaja + Hasya = Humour rooted in everyday life
Therefore:
“The number of fundamental Rasas may be defined, but the possibilities of their interaction, combination and artistic expression are potentially infinite.”
Four Functional Levels of the Eighteen Rasas
For analytical convenience, the eighteen Rasas may also be viewed through four functional levels.
Experience
Shringara, Hasya, Karuna, Raudra, Bhayanaka, Bibhatsa and Adbhuta
Action
Vira, Tyaga and Pratibad
Relationship
Bhakti, Vatsalya, Sakhya and Viraha
Consciousness
Shanta, Deshaprema, Lokaja and Chaitanya
This classification is not an alternative to the primary eighteen-Rasa architecture. It is a supporting analytical method for understanding the functions and interrelationships of the Rasas.
The “Rasa Cycle” of Jatra
The aesthetic experience of a complete Jatra performance may move from one Rasa to another.
A possible trajectory may be represented as:
Lokaja Life → Shringara → Viraha → Karuna → Raudra → Pratibad → Vira → Tyaga → Deshaprema → Bhakti → Shanta → Chaitanya
This is not a compulsory formula.
Rather, it is a proposed model of the possible movement of aesthetic experience within a Jatra narrative.
Here lies one of the important propositions of Bangarashayan:
Jatra does not merely make the audience feel; it may also create the possibility of transforming the audience’s consciousness.
What Does “Completeness” in Jatra Mean?
The proposal of eighteen Rasas does not mean that every Jatra pala must contain all eighteen.
A particular Jatra pala may achieve aesthetic completeness when the Rasas appropriate to its narrative, characters, conflicts, environment and artistic purpose develop naturally, proportionately and effectively.
Therefore:
One Pala ≠ A Mandatory Collection of Eighteen Rasas
But:
The overall Rasa Theory of Jatra = An Expanded Analytical Spectrum of Eighteen Rasas
This distinction is an important academic refinement within Bangarashayan Rasa Theory.
Proposed Research Methodology
To strengthen the theory through future scholarship, three principal research approaches may be adopted.
- Textual Research
Texts of ancient, transitional and modern Jatra palas may be examined to identify the presence, function and movement of different Rasas.
- Performance Research
Researchers may observe actors’ speech, bodily expression, songs, music, movement, stage arrangements and direct interaction with audiences.
- Audience Research
Audience responses to particular scenes, songs, characters and performances may be studied through interviews, questionnaires, observation and comparative analysis.
Such research may help determine whether each of the eighteen proposed Rasas possesses sufficient distinctiveness to justify its analytical status.
Core Research Hypotheses
Hypothesis One
Navarasa is capable of explaining many fundamental emotional experiences within Jatra.
Hypothesis Two
Not all distinctive life experiences represented in Jatra may be captured with equal analytical clarity within the classical nine-Rasa framework.
Hypothesis Three
If Bhakti, Vatsalya, Sakhya, Viraha, Tyaga, Pratibad, Deshaprema, Lokaja and Chaitanya demonstrate distinctive Rasagati and aesthetic experience, they may reasonably be modelled as expanded Rasa categories within Jatra aesthetics.
Hypothesis Four
The distinctiveness of a Rasa should be determined not merely by its name, but through an integrated consideration of its Sthayi Bhava, Vibhava, Anubhava, Rasagati and audience experience.
The Five Fundamental Principles of Bangarashayan
Principle 1
Bhava is not Rasa; the aesthetic culmination of Bhava is Rasa.
Principle 2
Rasa originates in Vibhava, is expressed through acting, expands through music and reaches fulfilment through Rasa-svada.
Principle 3
Every fundamental Rasa must possess its own distinctive Rasagati.
Principle 4
The number of fundamental Rasas may be defined, but the possibilities of their combination and expression are potentially infinite.
Principle 5
A new Rasa must be established not by naming it, but by demonstrating its distinct aesthetic existence.
Bangarashayan Rasa Theory in One Sentence
The entire theory may be expressed in one sentence:
“Bangarashayan is a proposed aesthetic theory that builds upon the classical foundation of Navarasa and seeks to analyse the broader aesthetic experiences of Jatra—including folk life, human relationships, social consciousness, sacrifice, patriotism and awakening of consciousness—through an expanded framework of eighteen Rasas.”
The Central Declaration of Notoraj N A Polash’s “Bangarashayan Rasa Theory”
“Navarasa as the Foundation — Eighteen Rasas as the Full Spectrum of Jatra’s Aesthetic Experience.”
Not a rejection of Navarasa—
but an exploration of Jatra’s invisible spectrum of aesthetic experience on the foundation of Navarasa.
The Rasa of Jatra is not merely a list of nine emotional categories. It is a multidimensional aesthetic journey through human life, relationships, struggle, sacrifice, soil, homeland and consciousness.
The theoretical organisation of this multidimensionality is what Bangarashayan proposes through its framework of eighteen Rasas.
This is not presented as a final or immutable declaration. Rather, it is a proposed framework for research, debate, critical examination and future development in aesthetic theory.
If another Rasa is proposed in the future, Bangarashayan will not close its doors.
Instead, it will ask that the proposed Rasa undergo the test of distinctiveness.
Because the strength of a theory lies not only in the number of answers it provides, but also in its capacity to confront new questions and examine itself.
Bangarashayan is therefore not a closed door—it is a door to inquiry.
The long tradition of Bengali Jatra, its folk life, human relationships, social struggles, consciousness of homeland and deeper dimensions of human awakening contain a vast and multidimensional field of aesthetic experience.
The attempt to understand that experience within a systematic theoretical framework is the central proposition of “Bangarashayan Rasa Theory.”
Notoraj N A Polash
President
Cultural Harmony
and
Bangladesh
