Opsara’s4 earthly similitude, the Hindu mind showed once more that wonderful mythopoeic penetrativeness which is as unerring and admirable in its way as the Greek mythopoeic felicity and tact.Sri Aurobindo
Early Cultural Writings
(1890 — 1910)
Part Two. On Literature
The Poetry of Kalidasa
Vikramorvasie. The Characters
Vikramorvasie. The Characters [5]
We see then the appropriateness of the Hetaira as a material form into which the vague idea of sensuous beauty in the world might run.
For the charm of the Opsara1 even when working on the plane of the mind, is still vital and sensational; it does not belong to the more rarefied regions of the spirit.
Now vital and sensational charm in seeking its fulfilment demands that the pursuit of sensuous beauty shall be its sole object, that it shall be without check as without any sideglance or afterthought; it does not seek to be immoral, but simply rejects all moral tests; it recognizes no law but the fulfilment of its own being.
This is the very spirit of the Hetaira.
The beauty of nakedness sculptured, painted or shaped into words, is not immoral; but the moment we apply the test of morality, it becomes clear that we must either rule it out as not belonging to the world of morality, or rule out morality itself for the moment as not belonging to the world of beauty, which is essentially a world of nakedness in the sense that dress there is an occasional ornament, not a necessary covering — not because there is any essential opposition between them but because there is no essential connection or necessary point of contact.
The ideals of all the plastic and sensuous arts fall within the scope of the Opsara2; she is actress, songstress, musician, painter.
When they arose from the waves, neither the gods nor the demons accepted them; accepted by none, they became common to all; for neither the great active faculties of man nor the great destructive recognize sensuous delight and charm as their constant and sufficient mistress, but rather as the joy and refreshment of an hour, an accompaniment or diversion in their constant pursuit of the recognized ideal to which they are wedded.
Moreover sensuous beauty has a certain attraction and splendour which seem to some minds finally and occasionally to most, fairer and brighter than that other ideal which by daily occupation with it, by permissibility and by sameness, grows stale for some, fades into homeliness and routine for others and preserves its real undying, unageing and unforsakeable freshness and delight only to the few constant and unswerving souls, who are the elect of our human evolution.
In all this the idea of the Opsara3 coincides with the actuality of the Hetaira.
In choosing the Hetaira therefore for the Opsara’s4 earthly similitude, the Hindu mind showed once more that wonderful mythopoeic penetrativeness which is as unerring and admirable in its way as the Greek mythopoeic felicity and tact.
Earlier edition of this work: Archives and Research: A biannual journal.- Volume 5, No2 (1981, December)
1 A&R, 1981 No 2: Apsara
2 A&R, 1981 No 2: Apsara
3 A&R, 1981 No 2: Apsara
4 A&R, 1981 No 2: Apsara’s