Rasa Beyond Language: Awadhi Emotion and Its English Literary Voice

Abstract

The theory of rasa occupies a foundational position in Indian aesthetic thought, where literature is understood primarily as an experiential and affective process rather than a purely linguistic or representational act. Unlike Western literary traditions that often prioritize form, structure, or psychological realism, Indian aesthetics places emotional realization at the center of artistic engagement. Rasa refers not merely to emotion as depicted in a text but to the aesthetic relish experienced by the reader or spectator when emotion is universalized and contemplatively absorbed. This theoretical framework becomes particularly significant when examining vernacular literary traditions such as Awadhi, a language that has historically served as a powerful medium for devotional expression, oral narration, and collective emotional participation in North India. Awadhi literature, especially within the Bhakti tradition, foregrounds emotional immediacy, ethical simplicity, and spiritual intimacy. Its literary forms evolved within a predominantly oral culture, where poetry and narrative were meant to be heard, sung, and shared rather than silently read. Emotion in Awadhi texts is therefore inseparable from voice, rhythm, repetition, and communal memory. Love, devotion, sorrow, compassion, and surrender are not presented as individual psychological states but as shared modes of being that invite the reader or listener into an affective relationship with the text. The emotional register of Awadhi is thus deeply embedded in cultural practice and lived experience, making it resistant to purely linguistic translation. Indian English writing, on the other hand, emerges from a complex historical trajectory shaped by colonial education, Western literary models, and postcolonial negotiation. English entered India as a language of power, administration, and rational discourse, often positioned in opposition to vernacular languages associated with emotion, tradition, and orality. This historical contrast has led to a persistent assumption that English is inherently inadequate for expressing indigenous emotional sensibilities such as rasa. Indian English literature has frequently been evaluated through Western aesthetic criteria, further reinforcing the perception that vernacular emotional depth is lost when writing shifts into English. This research paper challenges that assumption by arguing that rasa is not confined to linguistic structure and does not disappear when Awadhi emotional sensibility is articulated in English. Instead, rasa migrates across language through memory, narrative voice, ethical orientation, and cultural imagination. Indian English writing, particularly when produced by writers deeply rooted in vernacular cultures, becomes a space where Awadhi emotion is not translated in a literal sense but reconfigured through transcreation. The emotional force of Awadhi survives not through lexical equivalence but through affective resonance, narrative empathy, and aesthetic continuity. The paper proposes that Indian English should be understood not as a foreign or emotionally sterile medium but as an indigenized literary language shaped by multilingual consciousness.  Ultimately, this paper contributes to broader debates on language, emotion, and literary authenticity in Indian literature. It suggests that evaluating Indian English writing solely on the basis of linguistic origin overlooks the deeper aesthetic processes through which emotion survives and transforms. Awadhi rasa, far from being silenced in English, acquires a new literary voice that speaks across languages while remaining rooted in indigenous emotional experience. In this sense, rasa truly exists beyond language, sustaining its vitality through aesthetic adaptation and cultural memory.