A meal near Kakkanad, Kerala.
Vocabulary
| rasa | rasāyaṇa | lazzat |
| rasika | adab | commensality |
| prasāda | ucchiṣṭa | caste |
| vaṛna | jāti | affect |
Session 03: What is taste?
We begin our journey through the senses with the most celebrated sense in South Asia: taste! What is ‘taste’? Does it lie in the object that we eat or drink, or does it lie in our subjective experience of that object? How many tastes are there? What does it mean to have ‘good taste’?
During Tuesday’s class session we will discuss concepts of how taste work, bringing in concepts from ayurveda, yunānī medicine, rasāyaṇa-śāstra, and popular beliefs and practices. We will also discuss the history of thinking about food and commensality in South Asian societies.
Readings:
- Keune, Jon. “Chapter 4: The Complications of Eating Together.” Shared Devotion, Shared Food: Equality and the Bhakti-Caste Question in Western India. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. pp 103-127.
- Ghassem-Fachandi, Parvis. “On the political use of disgust in Gujarat.” South Asian History and Culture, 1 (no. 4), 557-576.
Session 04: Refining taste.
What does it mean to ‘have good taste’ or to ‘develop a taste’ for something? In this session we will investigate classical works of literary and dramatic theory as well as philosophy and religion in order to understand how peoples of South Asia have used gustatory concepts to understand the experience of art, literature, performance, and God. We will reflect on what it means to ‘train’ one’s tongue, to appreciate complexity, and to have ‘refined’ tastes.
Readings:
- Awliya, Nizamuddin. Morals for the Heart (Fawa’id al-fu’ad). Translated by Bruce Lawrence. New York: Mahwah, 1992. Selections.
- Jamal Elias. “Chapter Five: Beauty, Goodness, and Wonder.” Aisha’s Cushion.
- Pollock, Sheldon. A Rasa Reader: Classical Indian Aesthetics. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. “1.1. The Basis of Rasa Theory in Drama.” pp. 47-55.
Other materials:
- Kabir. “Rāma rasa…” (poem)
- Biharilal. “Tantri nād…” (poem)
- Mirabai. “Main sāṁvare ke raṅg rācī…” (poem)
- Prahlad Singh Tipanya. “Rang mahal mein…” (recording)
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. “Chap tilak.” (recording)