Glossary of Sanskrit terms

Glossary of Sanskrit Terms
âbhâsa आभास	a 'semblance' - hence rasâbhâsa is a 'semblance of rasa'. However, the term does not signify 'illusion' in the compound âbhâsavâda.
avabhtha अवभृथ	a purifying ritual bath undergone by the royal dîkshita at the end of the Azvamedha sacrifice
avaidika अवैदिक	literally 'non-Vedic'. Though often bearing names of the highest Vedic pedigree, the vidûshaka is often labeled a being 'outside the Veda' because of his transgression of brahmanical norms. The 'extra-Vedic' Bhairava offers the same paradox of being the pre-classical dîkshita.
bhrngâra	'jar' presented by Varuna to the theater, and carried by the vidûshaka during the jarjara-prayoga.
Brahmâ	Vedic god of the Totality, who presented the kutilaka to the theater. Since the vidûshaka alone bears the kutilaka, the 'great brahmin' clown would primarily represent Brahmâ (rather than Varuna as claimed by Kuiper)
brahmodya	contest of ritual enigmas held during certain Vedic sacrifices. These enigmas, which constituted the original brahman, expressed, explored, challenged and extended the esoteric correspondences between inner experience, the ritual activities and the macrocosmic world.
dîkshita दीक्षित	'consecrated' state of yajamâna. When the pre-classical sacrificer received his 'consecration' (dîkshâ), he regressed into the evil, impure, embryonic realm of the god Varuna (represented by the jumbaka). The deformed vidûshaka represents the sacrificer in his dîkshita aspect.


Ganesha गणेश	elephant-headed Hindu god with traits similar to the vidûshaka: fondness for modakas, big-bellied (mahodara), presided over by OMkâra, crooked-trunk matching the clown's kutilaka.
hâsa	the worldly emotion (sthâyi-bhâva), underlying the aesthetic sentiment of humor (hâsya), that expresses itself through smiling or laughter. Hâsa is not a 'simple' unitary emotion but a binary structure constituted by the mutual neutralization of two opposing emotions.
hâsya	aesthetic counterpart to hâsa, loosely translated as 'humor'. Just as the distinction between laughter and humor is often blurred in Western discourse, so is opposition between sthâyi-bhâva and rasa more problematic in the case of the hâsa/hâsya pair.
Indra	king of the Vedic gods, during whose annual banner (dhvaja) festival, Bharata is said to have first enacted the Sanskrit theater. As Kuiper notes, this would have associated the theater to the cosmogonic struggle between the gods and the demons (asuras) at the end of the year.
jarjara	banner-staff presented by Indra to the theater. The jarjara is carried by the assistant to stage-manager (sûtradhâra) in the pûrvaranga.
jarjara-prayoga
jumbaka	deformed brahmin scapegoat, representing the evil aspect of Varuna, who took on the impurities of the royal sacrificer and of the entire community while standing in a pool of water during the avabhrtha ritual. Kuiper took the role of the vidûshaka, based on his resemblance to the jumbaka, for that of a scapegoat.
kâma	love/lust and desire in general. Kâma is also the first and most basic of the 'legitimate goals of life' (purushârtha) sanctioned by Indian culture, and is associated in theater with erotic sentiment (zrngâra-rasa).

kutilaka	crooked (kutila) stick carried by the vidûshaka, which is the present of the god Brahmâ to the theater. Often assimilated to a serpent and to evil (crookedness) in the plays, the upraised kutilaka is often used to 'ward off' symbols of sexual desire.
modaka	rounded sweet-meat that the vidûshaka hankers after in practically every extent Sanskrit play. This gluttony (and several other traits) is also shared by the elephant-headed god Ganesha. The modaka represents Soma
nâyaka	'hero' or chief male protagonist of the Sanskrit play, who is said to be 'protected' by Indra.
nâyikâ
Omkâra
purushârtha
pûrva-ranga	'preliminaries to the stage (ranga) performance' - these rather obscure rituals, increasingly reduced with the secularization of the stage and the audience, served to introduce the play proper. Some of the items (e.g., jarajaraprayoga) offer insights into the ritual origins of theater.
rasa	'flavor/taste' and, more technically, the aesthetic counterpart of worldly emotion (sthâyi-bhâva). Rasa is enjoyed impersonally without any purposive attitude. There were eight canonical rasas in Hindu theater to which the ninth, the sentiment of tranquility (shânta) was later added
rasâbhâsa	'semblance of rasa' - when inappropriate elements are introduced into the evocation of a particular rasa, what results is only a semblance of that rasa, and culminates in the comic sentiment (hâsya). The classic example is the semblance of shrngâra from Râvana's love for Sîtâ.
sambhoga	'love-in-union' (as opposed to 'love-in-separation'). Treatment of shrngâra that depicts the various nuances of the mutual enjoyment of the lovers as opposed to the pangs of separation felt by one in the absence of the other.
sankoca	'contraction' or 'retraction' - Trika technical term referring to the separation of Consciousness from its objects and superimposed qualities. The 'ascending' spiritual techniques of Yoga, Sânkhya, Vedânta, etc., aiming to 'purify' Consciousness would fall under sankoca.
Sarasvatî	Vedic goddess of learning, assigned as protector of the heroine (nâyikâ) by the Nâtya-Shâstra. Mythologically, however, she's wife of Brahmâ (not of Indra, protector of the nâyaka) and is associated with the sacred hetaera.

shrngâra	erotic sentiment corresponding the worldly emotion of love (rati).
sthâpaka	assumes sûtradhâra's role to introduce the play.
sûtra-dhâra	'stage-manager'
trigata	'three men's talk'.
Varuna	Vedic god of the underworld (and night-sky), rival to Indra. Kuiper identified the vidûshaka with Varuna on account of his resemblance to the deformed Varuna-jumbaka and his bearing the bhrngâra in the jarjaraprayoga.
vidûshaka	deformed clown of the classical Sanskrit theater, who provokes laughter through mostly stereotyped formulas. His name (from the root vi-dûsh) derives from the abusive, contrarying, deforming nature of his speech.
vikâsa	'expansion' - Trika technical term for the spiritual process opposed/complementary to sankoca. Refers to the universalization of Consciousness so as to assimilate all of objectivity including the most impure and negative elements.
vîthî	'riddle-play' - one of the extinct genres of Sanskrit drama, it seems to have been a comic exposition of riddles by a single person or a enigma-contest by two opponents. It would probably have found its roots in the ritual brahmodya and the verbal contests of the sabhâ.
vîthyanga	'element (anga) of the vîthî' - thirteen such elements are defined by Bharata, to be subsequently defended and illustrated by Abhinava from romantic genres. Though the vîthî itself had disappeared, it seems to have left its imprint of round-about speech on the other genres.
yajamâna	sacrificer, who performs the yajña officiated by the Vedic priests. The sacrificer par excellence was the king, the terrestrial counterpart of Indra, king of the gods. The hero of the Sanskrit drama, who bore Indra's present (the jarjara staff), represents the sacrificer.