136. 156 CHAPTER III

156 CHAPTER III

in the mouth of the stage-manager in the introductory scene of his Abhijñāna Sakuntala. "My mind has been forcibly "carried away" by your beautiful song, like king Dusyanta by a swift-running deer." The psychic effect of such an introductory procedure is obvious. The music at the beginning draws the oscilla- ting attention of the audience to the stage and fixes it there. The appearance of the stage-manager prepares the audience to receive what is coming, as a work of art (i) by giving rise to the necessary attitude; (ii) by making a habitual set ready to react to the situation that is arising; (iii) by telling the essential nature of what is before, namely, that the presented is not a fact of the ordinary world but that it is an artistic fact, and (iv) finally by removing all possible affections of conscious- ness by an interesting musical performance.

III. FROM SELF-FORGETFULNESS TO IDENTIFICATION. Æsthetic experience at the second level is essentially an experience of a basic mental state which, being affected by situation etc., is different from what it is in its purity. It is due to empathic reaction through identification. But idantification consists in the merging of one's individuality into that of another and so in having another's emotive experience. Let us, therefore, analyse the process of identification.

PROCESS OF IDENTIFICATION. The presentation of the plot begins, when the æsthete is at the level of self-forgetfulness, which has been brought about through an appeal to æsthetic senses. The æsthete sits charmed by what has been presented to his eyes and ears. Thus, when the hero appears in the midst of 'an extremely interesting situation, with his artistic external