Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c86.27

v2.c86.27

A new turn was given to the theory by Rūpa Gosvāmin's *Ujjvala-nīla-maṇi*, which attempted to deal with *rasa* in terms of the Vaiṣṇava idea of *ujjvala* or *madhura rasa*, by which was meant the *śṛṅgāra rasa*, the term *ujjvala* having been apparently suggested by Bharata's description of that *rasa* ¹⁶. The *madhura rasa*, however, is represented not in its secular aspect but primarily as a phase of *bhakti-rasa* (*madhurākhyo bhakti-rasaḥ*, i 3); for according to Vaiṣṇava theology, there are five *rasas* forming roughly the five degrees of the realisation of *bhakti* or faith, viz., *śānta* (tranquility), *dāsya* (servitude or humility, also called *prīti*), *sakhya* (friendship or equality, also called *preyas*), *vātsalya* (parental affection) and *mādhurya* (sweetness). The last, also called the *ujjvala rasa*, being the principal, is termed *bhakti-rasa-rāṭ* ¹⁷ and constitutes the subject-matter of the present treatise.