IhAmRga-drama and the question of identification and aesthetic experience

[Narahari Rao]

At 13:05 22.09.1999 +0200, you wrote:
>One of the main purpose of the Sanskrit Drama is to produce aesthetic
>experience. A presuppostion is that the spectator is able to identify
>him/herself with the hero/artist. However, in some of the drama types like
>IhAmRga, the hero is a divine being. How is the identification supposed to
>take place when the hero is a God, for example Rama(saving Sita)?
Perhaps the answer is to replace 'God' with 'god'. In the purAnic conception
gods share the same faculties as human beings  with perhaps sometimes those
faculties being more powerful. Perhaps the word 'Deva' therefore should not
be translated as 'God'. Gods including Vishnu are depicted as being capable
of anger and desire. In this at least the purAnic conception bears
similarity to the Greek rather than the Semitic conception.
Narahari