A Reflection on the Aesthetics of Indian Music, With Special Reference to Hindustani Raga-Sangita

Like in any other heteronomous art-forms, the practitioners of Indian music and dance ( Bharatiya Sangita ) aim at expressing emotions and creating the aesthetic or the “beautiful.†Indian thinkers and musicologists have gone a step further in declaring that Indian classical music ( Raga-Sangita ) is the most appropriate means for attaining aesthetic experience and delight, and the most suitable pathway, if not, downright, short-cut, toward self-realization or realization of the Ultimate Reality or Truth. Thus, aesthetics and spirituality make up the very woof and warp of the Indian arts, in general, and Raga-Sangita , in particular. Raga-Sangita is, thus, considered a spiritual exercise ( nada sadhana ) to attain salvation ( moksha ) through sound. This conceptual article reflects upon and sheds light on the Theory of Rasa, as propounded in Indian Aesthetics, and attempts to make an assessment of it in relation to Hindustani Raga-Sangita . Through this theory, the author examines and explains the different causes leading to an aesthetic experience, referred to as “out-of-this-world†( alaukika ). In doing so, he also brings to light the possible pitfalls which both the performer and the listener should avoid.