Bhavas

(“states”) In Indian aesthetics the
bhavas are a set of nine states considered the most basic unadulterated emotions: sexual excitement, laughter, grief,
anger, energy, fear, loathing, wonder,
and peace. To these nine bhavas correspond the nine rasas (“tastes”), or
moods transmitted by various types of
artistic expression: the erotic, comic,
compassionate, cruel, heroic, terrifying,
loathsome, marvelous, and peaceful.
Although these bhavas and rasas clearly
correspond to one another, there is an
important difference between them. A
person’s emotive states come and go in
response to circumstances that are often
beyond one’s control. Because such naturally occurring emotions usually cannot be sustained, they are generally not
objects of aesthetic satisfaction. This is
not true in the case of rasa, since mood
can be artificially generated by an artistic endeavor. Any particular rasa can
thus be sustained and satisfying. The
single most dominant aim in all the
Indian arts, therefore, is to create such a
mood or moods for the audience.