Shiva's dance at sundown: Implications of Indian aesthetics for poetics and rhetoric

Abstract

In Indian aesthetics, the term rasa denotes both the mood of a poetic work and the state of awareness which permits auditors to behold the mood. The foremost influence on traditional Indian drama and poetry, the theory of rasa merits study by communication scholars on three grounds. First, it reveals how traditional Indian philosophy gives rise to standards for composing and auditing drama and other performances. Second, rasa theory and Aristotelian poetics embrace different goals and methods; comparing them can shed light on the nature of poetics and rhetoric. Third, communication scholars can further develop rasa theory by applying it to texts and performances outside the Indian culture, and by exploring its influence on auditors’ daily lives.