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Navarasa- The Nine Moods

March 10th, 2008 by Anjali

Learning Navarasa is an important session for a student of dance. Here the teacher explains about different facial expressions, how and when it is used. It is the
most exciting session for the students to make funny faces. Imagine a mother busy in the kitchen and her child spills a bottle of oil on the floor. Guess what will
be the feeling like. In my case it is surely going to be Raudra. And then followed by a Tandava.

Coming back to my point, so What is Navarasa ?

Rasa is about human state of mind. Its about what the mind feels and the expression of the feeling thereafter. In the Bharatas Natyashastra, Rasa is an emotion
experienced by the audience created by the facial expression or the Bhava of the actor. In indian classical dance it is referred to as Rasa-abhinaya.

Mr V.P Dhananjayan in his book called A Dancer on Dance says Rasa means that which is being tasted or enjoyed. Hence the word Rasika is employed to
denote connoisseurs. Now, the question might be asked whether Rasa comes from Bhava or Bhava from Rasa. Bhava means, that which becomes (bh00, bhav,
i.e., to become), so Bhava becomes Rasa. But Rasa does not become Bhava. There is also this complementary effect on the dancer or actor.

Every Rasa corresponds to a particular Bhava. The Natyshastra has carefully described the Bhavas used to create Rasa. The following table states the nine
moods (Navarasa) and the corresponding Bhava. Every Rasa is identified with a specific colour for the use in performing arts.

<

RASA BHAVA MEANING COLOUR

Pale
Shringar(Erotic) Rati Delight Light
Green

Hasya Hasa Laughter White

Hasya Hasa Laughter White
(Humorous)

Karuna
Shoka Sorrow Grey
(Pathetic)

Raudra
Krodh Anger Red
(Terrible)

Pale
Veera (Heroic) Utsaha Heroism
Orange

Bhayanaka
Bhaya Fear Black
(Fearful)

Bibhatsa
Jugupsa Disgust Blue
(Odious)

Adbhuta
Vismaya Wonder Yellow
(Wonderous)

Shanta
Calm Peace White
(Peaceful)

I would like to share a beautiful video on Navarasa by kalamandalam Shailaja. Note how every muscle of the face is moved to express the emotion.
 Navarasas Video - Nine moods, facial expressions, classical dance of In

In the article, Navarasa in Indian classical Dance Forms, Shubhasini Padmanathan has explained every Rasa. She says Sringara Rasa originates from the love or
romance. This love emotion involves, two types one is Samyoga, and other is viyoga. Samyoga means the union of two lovers. Viyoga means the emotion which
arises out of separation.

In another article written by V.P Dhananjayan he says Sringara is Beauty or Saundarya. Beauty is that which attracts the mind or appeals to a particular
penchant of the mind. That is love; love is not just Rati the amorous attitude. There can be love between a child and its mother, between friends, between a
teacher and disciples and of course love towards God.

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Related Posts:
1. The cause and effect of Rasa
2. Abhinaya in Dance
 3. Alarippu
4. Abhinaya in Dance (Part 3)

YARPP

Tags: bharata natyam Bharatanatyam Bharatnatyam Bhava facial expression. Navarasa Nine moods Rasabhinaya

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39 responses so far

1 madhurani Apr 15, 2008 at 11:02 pm

hello!!! i am so glad because i found your website and its helping me so much. thanks thanks thanks i feel very attracted to this type of dance. my
friends and i are common known as hare krishna, and in some festival in the temples we make some devotional dances but we feel that we need so much
help.
i am now traying to arrange a new dance for the little girls of our comunity for nrsimhadev festival coming soon. your webpage is helping me so much.
with this dance i am very worry if we make any mistake using the wrong mudras.
well i am following you, thanks again

namaste
madhurani didi
sri chaitanya saraswat math
venezuela, south america

2 madhurani Apr 15, 2008 at 11:12 pm

i have a question by the way when the girls dance the people say that their faces look very serious and inexpressive, they dont show emotions actually
their faces look frozen, how can we get better?
and another think can we smile? or show slightly our teeth?

madhurani didi

3 Anjali Apr 16, 2008 at 6:01 am

Thanks Madhurani Didi for your kind words.

One thing you can do is explain to the dancers the meaning of the lyrics so that they know what they are dancing on. Also show them some basics of
facial expressions like Anger, sorrow, wonder etc. Kids will really enjoy this session. Secondly a simile can do great wonders to a simple dance. Let them
smile as they are comfortable. I wish you good luck. Hare Krishna.

4 nimashi Dec 16, 2008 at 8:34 pm

it is really help full i needed this things to write my exam and i thank for this

5 Anjali Dec 17, 2008 at 4:45 pm

Thank you Nimishi. Good luck !!!!

6 Priyanka Jan 24, 2009 at 3:21 am

Thanks!!!

7 Deepthi Jan 27, 2009 at 1:59 am

Hi,

This is a very good website. I love bharatanatyam and am about to learn it at the age of 27 :).

your website is very informative. Thank you so much for your efforts.

8 NIKKI Dec 14, 2009 at 4:11 am

I am a student of bharatnatyam.and i really need it..it is very nice.Thank You

9 varsha Dec 15, 2009 at 4:21 pm

hello Ur attempt of giving detail is appreciated If ur interested in giving a detail for a documentary pls mail me I like to make documentary and i
dont do it for a business Its my passion

10 s.navanesan Dec 16, 2009 at 8:36 pm

nice expressions

11 Anjali Dec 17, 2009 at 11:19 am

@varsha, thanks. Interesting to know about your passion. Any documentaries you can share to have a look at. Also let me know what I can do for this.

12 vaishali Jun 8, 2010 at 4:50 am

Dear Sir,

I want know all the nine expressions in navarasa for the NO expression.

Thank you,
Siyamala

13 rupasree Jun 19, 2010 at 7:46 am

Hi Madam,

I am bharathanatyam learning student. I have learned navarasas from this website,

Please I want know about chetuvedha abhinayas. Please helpme

Regards,
Rupa

14 Nash Dec 21, 2010 at 10:25 pm

its been resource full and worth spending time. thank you very much. i

15 Shawoni Fernanado Jan 18, 2011 at 3:47 am

Im a bharathanatya student who lives in Sri Lanka.It was fantastic.My best wishes for the improvement of this website.
16 Bharatanatyam dancer A photo shoot | www.anrbstudios.com Feb 13, 2011 at 1:00 pm

[] Heres a shot featuring all the 9 rasas(moods). If you want to know more about the different moods go through this page []

17 susan Jun 19, 2012 at 3:07 am

thxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx online bharatnatyam . we had a holiday homework to write about a dance and u helped me.

P.S. Do you function in america 2 ?

Susan Richards
Las Vegas , United States Of America

18 Anjali Jun 22, 2012 at 12:01 pm

@Susan, Yes we are based out of Chicago. Good to know the site helped you

19 Kyle Fernandes Jul 11, 2012 at 10:53 am

Hi,it was amazing to learn as im a contemporary dancer but i loved the idea of helping dancers learn about its bases so well it was really nice reading the
prescribed formulation on Navarasa.
Thank you,
Kyle Fernandes

20 Bineesha Jul 17, 2012 at 3:13 am

Could you please let me know if there are different eye brow movements in Bharathnatyam? If so what are they and could you give some photographs or
illustrations of the same

21 aruna Sep 1, 2012 at 5:22 am

hi anjali ,

You are doing an extrodinary work . I would really love to hear the sloka.
Could you please help me to find the sloka for Navarasa with the music?

Aruna

22 Traditional Indian Dancing: Bharatanatyam | Nayana's Blog Nov 3, 2012 at 2:51 pm

[] so as to understand how the Adavus related to story telling. We use these dance steps, coupled with Navarasa, to recite the []
23 sukhjeet Dec 19, 2012 at 7:08 am

too good

24 shreyashi shome Apr 6, 2013 at 10:47 am

its really very good to see a site with cultural flavours. i love dancing and i am a patron of bharatnatyam. thank you very much, the site managers to start
such a unique site which would be helpful to everyone. i can have a broader knowledge about bharatnatyam which are really very interesting to read.

25 shreyashi shome Apr 6, 2013 at 10:51 am

i am glad that i found this site

26 suryadev Jul 11, 2013 at 8:26 am

this helps me to finish my dance project or i will get scoldings from my miss . thanks a lot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

27 amreenstar Jul 11, 2013 at 8:29 am

thank you anjali

28 Chandni Jul 30, 2013 at 6:46 am

Plz suggest me sm songs for bhayanaka rasa for annual function

29 Colonel Kuldip Kochhar Aug 6, 2013 at 12:44 pm

Beautiful & gorgeous display of all the Rasas. Thoroughly enjoyed the intricate display of emotions through bringing about facial changes.

30 vismaad Aug 17, 2013 at 10:03 am

very explanatory and useful, helped me in my dance projects as well. thanks a lot!!!!

31 P.George Thomas Oct 12, 2013 at 10:43 am

Explained very well

32 pooja shri Nov 13, 2013 at 9:43 pm

i thank for this because it is useful for my poject

33 Angela Mar 22, 2014 at 1:29 pm

Hi
Thank you very much it is really helpful my daughter enjoyed it actually she had been learning bharatnatyam from the age of 13.
Thank You!!!!
Hare Krishna!!!!!

34 Shanika Mar 31, 2014 at 9:09 pm

First of i must thank for you.because it is verry importan my Visharada part 01 exam

35 sandoshkumar k a Sep 19, 2014 at 4:04 am

it is an experience, wonderful. congratulations to the artist. very good performance.

36 Supriyaram Oct 28, 2014 at 10:22 pm

thanks for making our tradition live long life for ever and ever and ever

37 Niranshi Gomes Dec 7, 2015 at 8:14 am

Hello! this web site is so helpful to us.

38 Mahi Dec 28, 2015 at 10:37 am

Oh its really helping me out one day before my exam in finding some more informations . Nice website !!!

39 sazal chaudhary Nov 22, 2016 at 6:03 am

i like to do dance

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