Rasaesthetics

Where in the body is theatricality located? What is its place? Traditionally in Western theatre, the eyes and to some degree the ears are where theatricality is experienced. By etymology and by practice a theatre is a "place of/for seeing." Seeing requires distance; engenders focus or differentiation; encourages analysis or breaking apart into logical strings; privileges meaning, theme, narration. Modern science depends on instruments of observation, of ocularity: telescopes and microscopes. Theories derived from observations made by means of ocular instruments define the time-space continuum. From super-galactic strings on the one hand to molecular and subatomic wave particles on the other, we "know" the universe by "seeing" it. See = know; know = see; speed = space; distance = time; diachronicity = story.

But in other cultural traditions there are other locations for theatricality. One of these, the mouth, or better said, the snout-to-belly-to-bowel--the route through the body managed by the enteric nervous system--is the topic of this essay. The snout-to-belly-to-bowel is the "where" of taste, digestion, and excretion. The performance of the snout-to-belly-to-bowel is an ongoing interlinked muscular, cellular, and neurological process of testing-tasting, separating nourishment from waste, distributing nourishment throughout the body, and eliminating waste. The snout-to-belly-to-bowel is the where of intimacy, sharing of bodily substances, mixing the inside and the outside, emotional experiences, and gut feelings. A good meal with good company is a pleasure; so is foreplay and lovemaking; so is a good shit.

The Poetics and the Natyasastra

Aristotle's Poetics and Bharata-muni's Natyasastra, a Sanskrit manual of performance and performance theory, occupy parallel positions in European and Indian performance theory (and by extension, throughout the many areas and cultures where European-derived or Indian-derived performing arts are practiced). Both ancient texts continue to be actively interpreted and debated, theoretically and in practice. Both are at or near the "origins" of their respective performance traditions, both have evoked "after-texts" or "counter-texts" aimed at enhancing, revising, or refuting their basic principals.

But similar as they are in some ways, the two texts differ profoundly. Aristotle was an historical figure (384-322 B.C.E.), the author of many key philosophical texts affecting, even determining, Western thought in various fields as far-ranging as the physical sciences, politics, social thought, aesthetics, and theology. The Macedonian-Greek philosopher's writings have been actively debated for nearly two-and-a-half millennia. He specialized in dividing knowledge into knowable portions; he formulated the syllogism. Bharata-muni is a mythic-historical figure, the name of the author or compiler of a very detailed compendium concerning the religious-mythic origins and practices of natya, a Sanskrit word not easily translatable, but reducible to dance-theatre-music. The precise date of the NS remains in question--scholars have placed it anywhere from the sixth century b.c.e. to the second century c.e. Exactly how much of the NS was the work of one person and how much the lore of many will probably never be known. Bharata-muni, whoever he was, if he was at all, wrote only the NS.

Furthermore, the NS is a sastra, a sacred text authorized by the gods, full of narration, myth, and detailed instructions for performers. The Poetics is secular, focused on the structure of drama, and dependant on the logical thinking its author helped invent. The Poetics is so laconic, running in English translation about 30 pages, that some believe it to be lecture notes compiled by Aristotle's students after his death rather than the philosopher's own finished work. The NS takes the form of an extended disquisition (345 pages in the Rangacharya translation) by Bharata in answer to sages who asked him to explain natya. Bharata begins with the story of how natya came about, what its proper subjects are, and for whom it was made. ¹ Then he goes...