Indian aesthetics

The theory of rasas still forms the aesthetic underpinning of all Indian classical dance and theatre, such as Bharatanatyam, kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Kudiyattam, Kathakali and others.

[citation needed] The primary purpose of this text is to refine the literary concept dhvani or poetic suggestion, by arguing for the existence of rasa-dhvani, primarily in forms of Sanskrit including a word, sentence or whole work "suggests" a real-world emotional state or bhāva, but thanks to aesthetic distance, the sensitive spectator relishes the rasa, the aesthetic flavor of tragedy, heroism or romance.

In the tenth century, it was still struggling, and Abhinavagupta mentions bhakti in his commentary on the Natya Shastra, as an important accessory sentiment of the shanta rasa, which he strove with great effort to establish.

However, just as shanta slowly attained a state of primacy that it was considered the rasa of sasas, bhakti also soon began to loom large and despite the lukewarmness of the great run of alankarikas, had the service of some distinguished advocates, including Tyagaraja.

[citation needed] Bharata Muni enunciated the eight rasas in the Nātyasāstra, an ancient Sanskrit text of dramatic theory and other performance arts, written between 200 BC and 200 AD.

This addition had to undergo a good deal of struggle between the sixth and the tenth centuries, before it could be accepted by the majority of the Alankarikas, and the expression "Navarasa" (the nine rasas), could come into vogue.