Glossary of Sanskrit terms

Glossary of Sanskrit Terms
�bh�sa आभास	a 'semblance' - hence ras�bh�sa is a 'semblance of rasa'. However, the term does not signify 'illusion' in the compound �bh�sav�da.
avabhtha अवभृथ	a purifying ritual bath undergone by the royal d�kshita at the end of the Azvamedha sacrifice
avaidika अवैदिक	literally 'non-Vedic'. Though often bearing names of the highest Vedic pedigree, the vid�shaka 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 d�kshita.
bhrng�ra	'jar' presented by Varuna to the theater, and carried by the vid�shaka during the jarjara-prayoga.
Brahm�	Vedic god of the Totality, who presented the kutilaka to the theater. Since the vid�shaka alone bears the kutilaka, the 'great brahmin' clown would primarily represent Brahm� (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.
d�kshita दीक्षित	'consecrated' state of yajam�na. When the pre-classical sacrificer received his 'consecration' (d�ksh�), he regressed into the evil, impure, embryonic realm of the god Varuna (represented by the jumbaka). The deformed vid�shaka represents the sacrificer in his d�kshita aspect.


Ganesha गणेश	elephant-headed Hindu god with traits similar to the vid�shaka: fondness for modakas, big-bellied (mahodara), presided over by OMk�ra, crooked-trunk matching the clown's kutilaka.
h�sa	the worldly emotion (sth�yi-bh�va), underlying the aesthetic sentiment of humor (h�sya), that expresses itself through smiling or laughter. H�sa is not a 'simple' unitary emotion but a binary structure constituted by the mutual neutralization of two opposing emotions.
h�sya	aesthetic counterpart to h�sa, loosely translated as 'humor'. Just as the distinction between laughter and humor is often blurred in Western discourse, so is opposition between sth�yi-bh�va and rasa more problematic in the case of the h�sa/h�sya 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 (s�tradh�ra) in the p�rvaranga.
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 vid�shaka, based on his resemblance to the jumbaka, for that of a scapegoat.
k�ma	love/lust and desire in general. K�ma is also the first and most basic of the 'legitimate goals of life' (purush�rtha) sanctioned by Indian culture, and is associated in theater with erotic sentiment (zrng�ra-rasa).

kutilaka	crooked (kutila) stick carried by the vid�shaka, which is the present of the god Brahm� 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 vid�shaka 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
n�yaka	'hero' or chief male protagonist of the Sanskrit play, who is said to be 'protected' by Indra.
n�yik�
Omk�ra
purush�rtha
p�rva-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 (sth�yi-bh�va). Rasa is enjoyed impersonally without any purposive attitude. There were eight canonical rasas in Hindu theater to which the ninth, the sentiment of tranquility (sh�nta) was later added
ras�bh�sa	'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 (h�sya). The classic example is the semblance of shrng�ra from R�vana's love for S�t�.
sambhoga	'love-in-union' (as opposed to 'love-in-separation'). Treatment of shrng�ra 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, S�nkhya, Ved�nta, etc., aiming to 'purify' Consciousness would fall under sankoca.
Sarasvat�	Vedic goddess of learning, assigned as protector of the heroine (n�yik�) by the N�tya-Sh�stra. Mythologically, however, she's wife of Brahm� (not of Indra, protector of the n�yaka) and is associated with the sacred hetaera.

shrng�ra	erotic sentiment corresponding the worldly emotion of love (rati).
sth�paka	assumes s�tradh�ra's role to introduce the play.
s�tra-dh�ra	'stage-manager'
trigata	'three men's talk'.
Varuna	Vedic god of the underworld (and night-sky), rival to Indra. Kuiper identified the vid�shaka with Varuna on account of his resemblance to the deformed Varuna-jumbaka �and his bearing the bhrng�ra in the jarjaraprayoga.
vid�shaka	deformed clown of the classical Sanskrit theater, who provokes laughter through mostly stereotyped formulas. His name (from the root vi-d�sh) derives from the abusive, contrarying, deforming nature of his speech.
vik�sa	'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.
v�th�	'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 sabh�.
v�thyanga	'element (anga) of the v�th�' - thirteen such elements are defined by Bharata, to be subsequently defended and illustrated by Abhinava from romantic genres. Though the v�th� itself had disappeared, it seems to have left its imprint of round-about speech on the other genres.
yajam�na	sacrificer, who performs the yaj�a 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.