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

Abstract

Traditional Indian aesthetic theory (Kumar 2010; Pollock 2016; Shwartz 2006) 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) through Krishnamoorthy's (1979) 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.

Keywords:

• Rasa theory
• Natyashastra
• Kathakali acting
• intercultural
• mirroring

Notes

1 Neuroscientist Dr V.S. Ramachandran’s idea of pain ‘as an opinion on the organism’s state of health rather than a mere reflexive response to an injury’ (Ramachandran and Blakeslee 1998, p. 54) helps frame the state of health of a properly functioning Kathakali body, as one of pleasure.

2 The thesis titled ‘Locating the “Sociopsychophysical” in One-on-one Kathakali Actor Training: Reconciling the “Old Social” with the “New Social” in an Australian Context’ (Raina 2018) offers the idea of the ‘sociopsychophysical’ as its original contribution to knowledge.

3 Initiated by Stanislavsky’s work with yoga (Tcherkasski 2016), ‘western’ actor training’s engagement with the ‘eastern’ arts, has been for a variety of objectives – ‘body mind integration’ (Zarrilli 2004, 2009, 2011), creating an actor’s ‘scenic presence’ (Barba 1995), ‘systems of signs’ (Growtowski 1968). An offering of the actor’s rasa is neglected.

4 Research in neuroscience suggests there exists a ‘mirror mechanism’ in the human brain integrating the observation and imitation of motor actions (Gallese 2009, p. 520).

5 Beryl Drusilla de Zoete was an English ballet dancer and critic researching South Asian dance and acting traditions. With Walter Spies, she collaborated on Dance and Drama in Bali (de Zoete and Spies 1937).

6 Kathakali was created in the seventeenth century by a Kerala royal Kottayyam Thampuran using his soldiers, who belonged to the nair caste.

7 Macbeth: As told by the Weird Sisters by Zen Zen Zo Performer. Venue: City Hall Brisbane, VIII World Shakespeare Congress. Director: Steven Mitchell Wright.

8 I am following here the Kathakali actor training methodology wherein the hands, the feet, and the face are trained separately and then integrated through mirroring the teacher’s actions.

9 Working within a theoretical framework of ‘embodiment’ (Csordas 1990, p. 94), my use of the word ‘body’ includes the mind, and may be understood as an integrated body/mind.

10 When the able student begins to perform well, the teacher, as spectator, takes pleasure. This symbiotic relationship deepens the bond. Such a student may receive the teacher’s blessings.

11 Asian practitioners have responded to Shakespeare’s works for reasons as varied as talking back to empire, celebrating intercultural theatre, and negotiating identity in a multicultural world (see William Peterson’s interview with Ong Ken Sen 2014).

12 Kathakali’s performative gestures are directed towards the actors on stage, as well as for the audience. The aesthetic pleasure is then for both.

13 Theyyam is a form of deity possession, performed in the temples of, and by the lower untouchable castes. Less formally structured, it leaves the performer freer to interpret and improvise the performative moment.