125. 144 CHAPTER II1

144 CHAPTER II1

D. (vii) In every situation there is a habitual set to react. And because it is the determining factor of all the varying psycho-physical responses to the subsequent changes in the situation, it is called basic mental state, technically Sthāyibhava.

Thus the æsthetic object as a configuration is made up of four principal constituents, (i) the situation with a focus, (ii) the mimetic changes, (iii) the transient emotions and (iv) the basic mental state. (Vibhāva, Anubhāva, Vyabhi- cāribhāva, and Sthāyibhāva).

THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF THE ÆSTHETIC OBJECT AS REVEALED BY PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. In order to ascertain the essential nature of the æsthe- tic object through psychological analysis, one has to look at it either from the point of view of the artist or from that of the spectator, who possesses æsthetic susceptibility (Sahrdayatva). Further, while judging the æsthetic object from the former point of view, both the internal and the external aspects of the presentation have to be taken into account. For, the presentation consists, not only of what appeals to the eyes and the ears, the emotive situation and the mimetic changes, but also of the transient emotions, which cause the latter, and the basic mental state, which directs all psycho-physical reactions to the emotive situa- tion. In fact the internal aspect, consisting of the transient emotions and the basic mental state, is more important than the external, because the æsthetic experience depends more on the realisation of the former through em- pathic reaction than on the perception of the latter.

The Indian writers on dramaturgy have acknowledged that dramatic presentation to be the best which represents a well known event. Let us, therefore, consider the basis