16. HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS 19

HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS 19

VYABHICĀRIBHĀVA. Vyabhicaribhavas are transient emotions. They are so1 called, because they come as it were face to face with the spectator in the course of æsthetic experience of various kinds. Inspite of the fact that they are mental states, they appear as it were embodied, when they are acted out by means of various types of acting in a befitting situation. They are called Vyabhicarins for another reason also. That is, they bring the different Rasas as if it were face to face with the spectator. For, when a transient mental state is acted out in a befitting manner in a befitting situation, there remains no doubt about the basic mental state, from which the transient one springs. The presentation of basic mental state in terms of the transient emotion and involun- tary and voluntary physical changes in an appropriate situation, raises the Sthayin from being a mere matter of inference and brings it as it were directly before the spectator. For, inference is inference only so long as it is drawn from the perception of any one of the three (1) cause (2) effect and (3) concomitant. But when all the three are distinctly present and perceived, the inference ceases to be inference and borders on direct perception in so far as the element of doubt, which is ordinarily associated with it, disappears, because2 of the multiplicity of evidence. It may be pointed out here that the word "brings" (Nayati) is used in the present context, not in its literal, but only in conventional sense, just as in the case of the state- ment "Sun brings the day".

STHĀYIBHĀVA. The reason why an emotive state of mind is called Sthayin (persisting or basic) may be stated as follows :-

1. A. Bh., Vol. I. 356-7. 2. A. Bh., Vol. I. 285.