Nine feelings, given a name centuries before we needed one.
Each one is its own world — click through to see what it opens up.
Śṛṅgāra
Love, longing, beauty
The rasa of love and attraction — not only romance, but the pull toward anything beautiful.
Hāsya
Laughter, mirth, delight
The rasa of laughter — from a private smile to helpless, shared laughter.
Karuṇa
Compassion, grief
The rasa of compassion and grief — feeling something on behalf of someone else.
Raudra
Fury, righteous anger
The rasa of anger — not petty irritation, but the fury that rises when something sacred is violated.
Vīra
Heroism, courage, resolve
The rasa of courage — the steadiness to act when acting is hard.
Bhayānaka
Fear, dread
The rasa of fear — the body's oldest, fastest reaction.
Bībhatsa
Disgust, aversion
The rasa of disgust — the instinct that says no, not this.
Adbhuta
Wonder, astonishment
The rasa of wonder — the sense of the world being larger than you expected.
Śānta
Peace, stillness
The rasa of peace — not the absence of everything else, but the calm that comes after moving through it.