Indian ritual performances, which have continued from the distant past to the present day, are one of the main branches of Indian art and enjoy a worldwide reputation. Considering that there is a holistic view of all human activities in the background of tradition, this research aims to reread the interface between religion and art by referring to Vedic texts. What is borrowed today from holy books like Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa as the text of traditional Indian dramas is actually the retelling of religious myths in the form of narratives that in the past contained sacred concepts. Therefore, it can be said that the art of ritual performances in the world of tradition has been the reconstruction of the same myths and the revival of the same sacred concepts. But what turns such performances and narrations into a ritual act is the soul of the sacrifice, as one of the most significant and key religious concepts in the Vedas; So it can be said that The Vedic religion is instructions about how to perform the act of sacrifice. The word sacrifice in the Sanskrit language is equivalent to yajña; Yajña has the same root as Yashan, Yashtand Yasna in the Avesta language, and it is the same as the word “ Jashne “ in modern Persian as well as Jashn in Gujarati. Yesna is equal to Yazišn and sometimes êzšn in Pahlavi. The root of these words, Yaz and Yas, means to worship through sacrifice and prayers performed in front of the fire. In the book Sir Akbar Upaniśad, Darashkoh considered the root of the word Yajña to be the same as Yaj, which means sacrifice and sacrificer, and Yajña (jajn/ yajn) means to sacrifice for others.
Initially, sacrifices were material, involving humans, animals, and plants. However, with the emergence of the Upaniśads, these sacrifices transformed from physical offerings to spiritual ones, as seekers aimed to draw closer to God by sacrificing their souls. The junction of the act of sacrifice and art in its ritual meaning lies right at this point.
This article attempts to expand the concept of sacrifice from the perspective of Vedic religion, to read it from the place of artistic experience, especially traditional performances. Therefore, first, the position of the sacrifice in the Vedic religion and the connection between it and the festival is described, and then the evolution of the concept of rase in the Indian ritual performance is examined. An attempt is made to reread the semantic and conceptual similarities between the two. This article aims to answer the question of the relationship between the show and the concept of rase as one of the Indian aesthetic principles and the act of sacrifice. What are the commonalities between how the participant seeks pleasure in the show and the perception of performing a religious act, especially the sacrifice, for the seeker?
The reason for choosing performance art from among the types of art is that according to the ancient scriptures, ritual performance is the main place of appearance of rase; The principle that forms the basis of the formation of all kinds of art in traditional Indian thought. The process of creating and perceiving an artwork based on Hindu thought has two basic principles: First, sādṛśya, which means the harmony of the content and form of the artwork with the eternal forms, and the purpose of the artwork is defined in sādṛśya, which means true similarity and no lack or caste. In other words, sādṛśya explains the process of creating a work of art based on ruling principles. The second principle is called rase, which means taste and extract, but in the beautiful thing, it focuses on and discusses the process of aesthetic impact and emotions resulting from seeing the work of art in the mind and spirit of the observer. The importance of rase is based on ancient Indian texts. The purpose of creating and performing a ritual performance is to generate rase in the participant (observer).
The important point is that there is a correspondence between man and the creator (the principle of Atman/Brahman) in Indian thought. This correspondence can also be seen between man and the altar. In the Indian performance, there is the same correspondence between the venue of the show, the body of the actor, and the body of the audience. It is as if there is a correspondence between the temple and man.
The necessity of this correspondence between the body and the temple is that any prayer that takes place outside should also occur inside. The place of this event is the heart. In fact, in Vedic thought, external perceptible rituals are the only means of support for reflection and observation, which make it possible to know reasonable things through perceptible things. Therefore, the act of sacrifice is not only an act on the outside, but it can be considered an inner and mental act by nature. Concluding from what has been said, it can be concluded that the act of sacrifice establishes a link between the material and spiritual worlds. On the one hand, the subject of the sacrifice is transferred from the worldly (impure) realm or position to the sacred realm or position, and on the other hand, a connection is established between the human body and the spiritual world through the heart. This is the same connection between the world of laukika (in the sense of tangible knowledge) and the world of alaukika (The metaphysical realm / the intelligible realm), which is recreated differently in the art of drama. In Indian thought, rase provides the possibility of connecting the world of Leo with the world of alaukika, and utilizing that connection, established at the beginning of the world according to mythological traditions and separated due to some reasons, is re-established. In other words, it expands from a meaning in the material world to a meaning in the immaterial and divine world.
Among other findings of this research, is that the act of sacrifice, as the main Vedic teaching, is also reflected in the art of drama. This research tried to categorize this reflection in eighteen cases. Also, the art of Indian performance in a ritual sense is different from what is meant by this word today, and like other ritual activities, it has an ultimate goal, which is the action to reach Mokśa (freedom) under the law of Dharma. Therefore, the performance of Indian religion is a kind of religious act rooted in the importance and function of the sacrifice in the Vedic religion, and rather than looking for aesthetic achievements, it seeks to create a feeling in the participant. The perception of rase is only achieved if, in addition to knowing the principles of execution of the victim, he believed in the principles governing it and watched it with the presence of his heart. The presence of a heart is rooted in the belief in ancient Vedic wisdom.