Rasa

Rasa is a mood, a bliss of emotions, an essence or sentiment that is evoked by a combination of poetry, action and/or gestures. As Robert Goodwin puts it in the introduction of “Sakuntala”, “the aesthetic enhancement of emotion that produces rasa results from a subtle mix of the appropriate objective correlatives of the basic emotion….”

Throughout Sakuntala, at least to the point where I’ve read (Act 3), King Dusyanta’s reaction to first meeting Sakuntala and to falling in love with her had me going through that feeling of rasa. He speaks so admirably, eloquently and immensely high of her.

“A blossom yet unsmelt, a tender shoot unpinched, a gem uncut, untasted, fresh-fermented honey wine, the fruit of proper actions still-intact- a beauty without fault or flaw.”