The feeling
The rasa of disgust — the instinct that says no, not this.
The old word for it
Bībhatsa
What it means
The ancient meaning
Bībhatsa was considered essential to a complete emotional register on stage — a well-told story needed to be able to repel an audience as precisely as it could move them.
The modern feeling
It's the flinch at cruelty. It's the recoil that shows up before your reasoning does, telling you something is wrong before you can explain why.
Have you ever trusted a feeling of aversion before you could put into words what was wrong?