13. HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS 15

HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS 15

through which the actor works himself up to a certain emot- tional pitch and consequently shows the signs, which are natural to an emotion. Thus, the word "Vibhava" stands for the dramatic situation, which is not the cause but only a medium, through which emotion arises in the actor. But emotion in the specta- tor is due to identification with the hero. Vibhava is so called, because it arouses emotion in1 a manner quite differ- ent from that, in which emotion arises in actual life.

Two ASPECTS OF VIBHĀVA. Emotion always has an objective reference. It can arise only in the presence of an external stimulus. As every thing exists only in some place and at a certain time, spatial and temporal factors are distinguished from the object as such. Accordingly Vibhava is represented to have two aspects (i) Alambana, the object, which is primarily responsible for the arousal of emotion, on which emotion depends for its very being and which is its mainstay : and (ii) Uddīpana, the environment, the entire surrounding, which enhances the emotive effect of the focal point, the object which primarily stimulates emotion. If we recall to our minds the scene from the Abhijnana Sakuntalam, in which love in Dusyanta is represented to arise for the first time, the distinction between two aspects of Vibhava will become clear. Dusyanta isin the neighbour. hood of Kanva's hermitage. He sees Sakuntala, accompa- nied by her two friends, watering the plants of hermitage garden. She asks one of her friends to loosen the breast. cover of bark, which, she complains, has been too tightly tied by the other. The other immediately retorts in a befitting manner : "Why do you find fault with me, when

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16 CHAPTER I the fault lies, not with me, but with your rising youth ?" Here Śakuntala, who has been brought to focus by the aforesaid talk and becomes the object of love of Dusyanta, is the Alambana Vibhava and the entire forest scene with beautiful hermitage garden at its centre and pleasant breeze, gentle sun-shine and the sweet companions, which off-set her beauty and make it more bewitching, are Uddīpana Vibhāva. ANUBHĀVA. All the physical changes, which are consequent on the rise of an emotion and are in actual life looked upon as the effects of emotion, are called Anubhavas, to distinguish them from the physical effects of emotion which arise in real life. They are called Anubhavas, because they communicate the basic emotion to the characters, present on the stage, or make known the nature of emotion in the hero, as also because they make the spectator experience an identical emotion (Anubhāvayati). The physical changes and movements, which follow the rise of an emotion, are of two kinds (i) voluntary and (ii) involuntary. There are some movements and changes, which are definitely willed by the person in emotion, which are wilful expressions of emotion, such as the movement of eyes and eyebrows, which spring from the intention of the person, swayed by emotion, to communicate it to others. But there are other changes and movements, which automatically follow the rise of emotion, such as change of colour, horripilation and blush etc. The voluntary physical changes are called simply Anubhavas; but the involuntary ones are called Satvikabhavas. The former can be produced by an effort of will even though the emotion, with which they are supposed to be causally connected, may not be present in the heart. They, therefore,