Below are 100 exam-quality MCQs (with answers) for Unit 4 — Art & Aesthetics (UGC-NET Performing Arts).
They cover Bharata’s Rasasūtra, the elaborations by Lollata, Śaṅkuka, Bhaṭṭanāyaka, Abhinavagupta, the elements of Rasa (Sthāyī, Vyabhicārī/Sañcārī, Sāttvika, Vibhāva, Anubhāva), definitions/purposes/elements of art, Performance Studies basics, and major Western theories (Imitation/Catharsis, Imagination, Beauty, Communication, Utility), plus formalism and institutional theory.
Use them for timed practice and revision.
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The Rasasūtra formula in Nāṭyaśāstra states that rasa arises from the combination of:
A) Nāyaka + Nāyikā + Bhāva
B) Vibhāva + Anubhāva + Vyabhicāribhāva
C) Śabda + Rūpa + Artha
D) Abhinaya + Ranga + Gana
Answer: B -
In Nāṭyaśāstra, Sthāyībhāva refers to:
A) A temporary emotion
B) The stable dominant emotion underlying a rasa
C) External expression like tears
D) Theatrical costume
Answer: B -
Vyabhicāribhāvas (or Sañcārī bhāvas) are:
A) Transitory emotions supporting the dominant emotion
B) The permanent mental states producing rasa
C) Types of stage properties
D) Musical scales
Answer: A -
Which of the following is NOT a Sāttvika response?
A) Tears
B) Tremor
C) Dance steps (nṛtta)
D) Blushing
Answer: C -
Alambana-vibhāva in Rasa theory denotes:
A) The environment stimulating emotion
B) The object or person on whom emotion rests
C) The comic relief in a play
D) The final rasa experienced
Answer: B -
Uddīpana-vibhāva is:
A) The hero’s dialogue only
B) The external stimulants or exciters that intensify emotion
C) The concluding benediction
D) The actor’s costume
Answer: B -
Anubhāva signifies:
A) The cause of emotion
B) External manifestations or consequences of emotion (gestures, speech)
C) The stage-house architecture
D) The play’s script
Answer: B -
How many principal rasas did Bharata enumerate originally?
A) Six
B) Eight
C) Nine
D) Ten
Answer: B -
Which rasa was added later and is often ascribed to later commentators like Abhinavagupta?
A) Śṛṅgāra
B) Vīra
C) Śānta
D) Hāsya
Answer: C -
Which commentator emphasized Rasa as an experience primarily located in the spectator (bhāvakatva)?
A) Bhattalollata
B) Śaṅkuka
C) Bhaṭṭanāyaka
D) Bharata Muni
Answer: C -
Bhattalollata is best known for which stance on Rasa?
A) Rasa exists only in actor’s mind
B) Rasa is the manifested emotion—centred on the actor/character
C) Rasa is purely linguistic
D) Rasa is social utility
Answer: B -
Śrī Śaṅkuka’s approach to rasa emphasized:
A) The spectator’s spiritual liberation
B) Rasa as representation prompting recognition (anukaraṇa/anumāna)
C) The role of costume only
D) Imitation of nature strictly
Answer: B -
Abhinavagupta’s major contribution to Rasa theory is:
A) Denying the existence of Sāttvika bhāvas
B) Universalisation (sādhāraṇīkaraṇa) of emotions and Rasa as bliss (ānanda)
C) Limiting rasas to six only
D) Replacing rasa with moral didacticism
Answer: B -
Which commentator argued that Rasa is a spiritualized aesthetic pleasure akin to self-realisation?
A) Bhattalollata
B) Śaṅkuka
C) Bhaṭṭanāyaka
D) Abhinavagupta
Answer: D -
The sahr̥daya is:
A) The actor’s costume designer
B) The sensitive spectator capable of tasting rasa
C) A type of rasa
D) A theatrical instrument
Answer: B -
Sāmānya abhinaya refers to:
A) Pictorial, decorative enactment
B) Generalised, codified expressions of emotion
C) Internal involuntary signs
D) Stage architecture rules
Answer: B -
Citrabhinaya is best described as:
A) Everyday realistic movement
B) Pictorial, ornamental, tableau-like expression used for spectacular effect
C) Vocal training methods
D) Costume stitching technique
Answer: B -
Which of these is NOT one of the four types of abhinaya in Indian dramaturgy?
A) Āṅgika
B) Vācika
C) Sāttvika
D) Nāṭyika
Answer: D -
Āhārya abhinaya deals with:
A) Vocal modulation
B) Costume, makeup, ornaments and stage décor
C) Internal emotions only
D) Dance technique exclusively
Answer: B -
One of the eight principal Sāttvika bhāvas is:
A) Laughter
B) Lip movement
C) Perspiration due to inner emotion
D) Hand gestures only
Answer: C -
In the rasa formation, the spectator’s detachment combined with empathy that allows enjoyment is called:
A) Catharsis
B) Sahr̥daya response
C) Identification
D) Imitation
Answer: B -
The process of “sādhāraṇīkaraṇa” refers to:
A) Making emotions particular to the character
B) Universalising emotions so they are not tied to individual actors
C) Stage lighting techniques
D) Musical accompaniment style
Answer: B -
Which Indian aesthetician equated rasa-ānanda with a near-spiritual bliss beyond ordinary pleasure?
A) Bharata Muni
B) Bhattalollata
C) Abhinavagupta
D) Śaṅkuka
Answer: C -
In modern Performance Studies, Richard Schechner’s concept of “restored behavior” means:
A) Spontaneous, unrepeatable action only
B) Behavior learned from life that is stored and then reactivated as performance
C) Only ritual enactment in temples
D) The original unaltered ritual practice
Answer: B -
Victor Turner’s concept of “liminality” in performance studies denotes:
A) Complete closure of ritual
B) The transitional, in-between phase where transformation can occur
C) The actor’s rehearsal space
D) The audience’s seat allocation
Answer: B -
Which Western philosopher is most associated with the “Imitation” theory of art?
A) Kant
B) Plato and Aristotle
C) Dewey
D) Croce
Answer: B -
Aristotle’s concept of catharsis primarily refers to:
A) Moral teaching only
B) Purging/purification of pity and fear through theatrical experience
C) Pain relief in surgery
D) An aesthetic object’s beauty
Answer: B -
Kant’s view of aesthetic judgment emphasizes that it is:
A) Determined by desire and utility
B) Disinterested and based on the free play of imagination and understanding
C) A form of imitation only
D) Always moralistic
Answer: B -
Coleridge’s distinction of primary and secondary imagination highlights:
A) Only the play of social institutions
B) The creative power of imagination where secondary imagination reshapes nature into art
C) That imagination is inferior to reason
D) The technical skills of actors
Answer: B -
Hegel saw art as the sensuous manifestation of:
A) Nature only
B) The Absolute Spirit or Idea
C) Practical utility
D) Institutional decisions
Answer: B -
Croce argued that art is primarily:
A) Moral instruction
B) Intuition and expression — an immediate form of knowledge
C) A copy of nature
D) A social function only
Answer: B -
Tolstoy defined art as:
A) Mimesis of nature
B) Communication of feeling from artist to audience — sincerity being crucial
C) A display of technique alone
D) An institutional classification
Answer: B -
John Dewey’s “Art as Experience” argues that:
A) Art is an isolated object divorced from life
B) Art arises from heightened, integrated experiences involving doing and undergoing
C) Art is only imitation
D) Art must be beautiful to qualify as art
Answer: B -
Marxist aesthetics primarily treats art as:
A) Purely formal qualities for contemplation
B) Reflective of social and economic conditions and potentially a tool for social change
C) A method for spiritual liberation only
D) A purely institutional designation
Answer: B -
Bertolt Brecht’s epic theatre aimed to:
A) Encourage emotional absorption and catharsis
B) Alienate the audience to provoke critical reflection (Verfremdungseffekt)
C) Entertain without message
D) Emphasize classical unity of time and space
Answer: B -
Clive Bell’s “significant form” focuses on:
A) Narrative content and political message
B) Formal relations of line, colour, and composition that provoke aesthetic emotion
C) Institutional status of objects
D) Moral utility of art
Answer: B -
The Institutional Theory of Art holds that:
A) Objects are art if they imitate nature well
B) Art status is conferred by the art-world institutions and conventions
C) Only museums can create art
D) Art must be useful socially
Answer: B -
Which theory most strongly supports the dictum “art should instruct and inspire social change”?
A) Formalism
B) Institutional theory
C) Art as Utility (including Marxist aesthetics)
D) Beauty theory
Answer: C -
The term “disinterestedness” in Kantian aesthetics means:
A) Lack of interest in art by the spectator
B) Pleasure in an object without desire for possession or practical use
C) Art must be political
D) Audience apathy
Answer: B -
Which Western view is closest in spirit to Bharata’s Rasa theory (transformative aesthetic pleasure)?
A) Institutional theory
B) Formalism (significant form)
C) Aristotle’s catharsis and certain idealist notions of aesthetic bliss
D) Marxist utility theory
Answer: C -
According to Bhaṭṭanāyaka, the term bhāvanā implies:
A) The actor’s costume design
B) The imaginative universalisation that enables spectator to enjoy rasa
C) A stage property
D) A type of music used in drama
Answer: B -
Which commentator primarily located rasa in the external performance (manifestation) rather than the spectator’s inner experience?
A) Bhaṭṭanāyaka
B) Abhinavagupta
C) Bhattalollata
D) Śaṅkuka
Answer: C -
The 33 vyabhicāribhāvas are important because they:
A) Define the stage layout
B) Support and colour the Sthāyībhāva in generating rasa
C) Are musical ragas
D) Are costume categories
Answer: B -
Which element is NOT part of Bharata’s Rasa formula?
A) Vibhāva
B) Anubhāva
C) Vyabhicāribhāva
D) Prakaraṇa
Answer: D -
The “taste” or “experience” of rasa by the connoisseur is often termed:
A) Rasa-kala
B) Rasa-anubhava
C) Rasa-vritti
D) Rasa-laya
Answer: B -
In Performance Studies, “performativity” (as developed by scholars like Austin and Butler) refers to:
A) Only theatrical performance in a theatre building
B) The idea that certain social acts produce or constitute identity by being performed repeatedly
C) Costume design only
D) The act of improvisation exclusively
Answer: B -
Which Western aesthetician argued that genius breaks existing rules and creates new forms through imagination?
A) Croce
B) Coleridge
C) Kant
D) Hegel
Answer: B -
The concept of Ma in Japanese aesthetics is best described as:
A) Overly busy stage action
B) The meaningful space or pause that gives shape to art
C) A type of mask
D) The chorus in Noh theatre
Answer: B -
Who among the following emphasized the role of empathy (Einfühlung) in aesthetic experience?
A) Vischer and Lipps (German aesthetics)
B) Marx
C) Brecht
D) Croce
Answer: A -
In Indian aesthetics, the involuntary physical markers like tears and pallor are categorized as:
A) Vibhāvas
B) Anubhāvas (Sāttvika bhāvas)
C) Vyabhicāribhāvas
D) Sthāyībhāvas
Answer: B -
The term Rasa etymologically means:
A) Colour
B) Taste or essence
C) Sound
D) Movement
Answer: B -
Which theory would prioritize the “work’s social background” in interpretation?
A) Formalism
B) Marxist / social theory of art
C) Aesthetic formalism (Bell)
D) Institutionalism
Answer: B -
The aesthetic quality of “unity in variety” is a principle associated with:
A) Formalist aesthetics and classical theories of beauty
B) Marxist aesthetics exclusively
C) Institutional theory only
D) Performance Studies only
Answer: A -
Which of the following is a critique of Aristotle’s catharsis concept from later aesthetics?
A) It overemphasizes the social function of art
B) It reduces the aesthetic experience to mere emotional purge, ignoring cognitive and spiritual dimensions
C) It ignores imitation entirely
D) It denies suffering any role in art
Answer: B -
In Rasa theory, dramatic abhinaya aims to:
A) Make the actor indistinguishable from the character in life
B) Communicate bhāvas aesthetically to produce rasa in the spectator
C) Provide realistic mimicry alone
D) Emphasize props over emotion
Answer: B -
The idea that art is defined by “the art world” and its institutions helps explain which phenomenon?
A) Why every object is automatically art
B) Why some everyday objects were reclassified as art (e.g., readymades)
C) How to make art more beautiful
D) None of the above
Answer: B -
Which aesthetic position holds that an artwork’s moral content is irrelevant to its aesthetic value?
A) Moralism (art judged by morals)
B) Autonomism/Formalism (art judged by aesthetic form)
C) Institutionalism
D) Marxism
Answer: B -
The term “Anukūla” is not central to modern Western aesthetics; in Indian aesthetics, the rough equivalent of appreciative disposition is:
A) Sahr̥daya (sensitive spectator)
B) Abhinaya only
C) Vibhāva alone
D) Rasika
Answer: A -
Which thinker argued that art’s greatest function is to reveal the Idea (the spiritual truth) through sensuous form?
A) Kant
B) Hegel
C) Tolstoy
D) Dewey
Answer: B -
Which of the following is characteristic of formalist criticism?
A) Emphasis on socio-political context
B) Close attention to formal properties (structure, form, technique) of the artwork
C) Emphasis on artist’s biography only
D) Institutional endorsement only
Answer: B -
Which theory would most readily accept abstract art as genuine art?
A) Strict imitation theory
B) Formalism and significant form theory
C) Only institutional theory
D) None
Answer: B -
The process by which a spectator feels the emotion of the character while remaining aware it is art (detached empathy) is essential to:
A) Rasa theory (sahr̥daya experience)
B) Only Plato’s critique
C) Institutional theory
D) None of the above
Answer: A -
Which commentator is associated with explaining Rasa in terms of recognition or cognition (anumāna)?
A) Bhaṭṭanāyaka
B) Śaṅkuka
C) Bhattalollata
D) Abhinavagupta
Answer: B -
The concept that art provides “pleasure in the perception of form” rather than usefulness is central to:
A) Utilitarian aesthetics
B) Kantian and idealist aesthetics (beauty theory)
C) Marxist aesthetics
D) Institutional aesthetics
Answer: B -
Which aesthetic theory prioritizes the artist’s sincerity and clarity of feeling as determinate of artistic value?
A) Tolstoy’s communication theory
B) Kantian disinterestedness
C) Clive Bell’s formalism
D) Institutional theory
Answer: A -
The “alienation effect” (Verfremdungseffekt) aims to:
A) Deepen emotional immersion for catharsis
B) Prevent passive absorption and encourage critical reflection in the audience
C) Make performances more decorative
D) Return theatre to ritual purity
Answer: B -
Which of the following is a weakness frequently noted in institutional theory of art?
A) It neglects historical and social contexts
B) It may allow arbitrary objects to be called art based on institutional endorsement alone
C) It denies any role for form
D) It dismisses all modern art
Answer: B -
The term “esthetic distance” refers to:
A) Geographical distance from the theatre
B) The psychological space that allows the spectator to appreciate art without being overwhelmed by immediacy
C) A form of stage choreography
D) None of the above
Answer: B -
Which aesthetic perspective would most likely argue that beauty is an objective property discoverable by analysis?
A) Formalism/Idealism
B) Institutionalism
C) Pragmatism
D) Marxism
Answer: A -
The notion that everyday acts (greeting, ceremonies) can be analyzed as performances belongs to:
A) Classical aesthetics only
B) Performance Studies
C) Institutional theory only
D) None
Answer: B -
Which Western thinker stressed that art’s role is to produce “aesthetic experience” that unifies emotion and intellect?
A) Kant
B) Dewey
C) Brecht
D) Marx
Answer: B -
The practice of “sādhāraṇīkaraṇa” helps the spectator by:
A) Making emotions highly personal and idiosyncratic
B) Generalising emotions so the spectator can relish them aesthetically
C) Eliminating Sāttvika bhāvas
D) Focusing on stagecraft alone
Answer: B -
Which aesthetic theory emphasizes the historical, class-based determinants of artistic forms?
A) Formalism
B) Marxist aesthetics
C) Kantian aesthetics
D) Institutionalism
Answer: B -
“Significant form” as a criterion would valuate which of the following most highly?
A) An artwork’s political message regardless of form
B) The formal arrangement (line, colour, rhythm) that produces aesthetic emotion
C) Institutional reception alone
D) The artist’s biography only
Answer: B -
Who argued that the aim of tragedy is to arouse and then purge pity and fear?
A) Plato
B) Aristotle
C) Kant
D) Croce
Answer: B -
Which theory would treat a “readymade” (found object declared art) as art if the institution endorses it?
A) Imitation theory
B) Institutional theory
C) Beauty theory
D) Marxist aesthetics
Answer: B -
The Indian concept of Sāttvika bhāvas corresponds to which Western idea?
A) Formalism’s interest in form only
B) Physiological or embodied responses studied in psychology of art (involuntary bodily reactions)
C) Institutional endorsement
D) Artistic genius only
Answer: B -
The role of imagination in Coleridge’s aesthetics primarily is to:
A) Reproduce nature exactly
B) Synthesize and reshape sensual material into new artistic forms (secondary imagination)
C) Deny the need for training
D) Make art moral instruction only
Answer: B -
According to Dewey, the value of an art object is best judged by:
A) Its institutional provenance
B) The quality of aesthetic experience it affords (integration of experience)
C) Its capacity to mimic nature
D) Its adherence to classicism
Answer: B -
The term anubhāva and the Western concept of “expression” in aesthetics are related how?
A) Completely unrelated
B) Both deal with outward manifestations of inner states (gesture, voice, tone)
C) One is physical and the other metaphysical, so no relation
D) They are opposites
Answer: B -
Which theory of art stresses the artist’s intention as central to meaning?
A) Institutional theory exclusively
B) Intentionalist approaches in hermeneutics and communication theory (Tolstoy’s emphasis on sincerity)
C) Formalism only
D) Marxist aesthetics only
Answer: B -
The critique that art should be judged by its social function rather than formal beauty comes mainly from:
A) Formalists
B) Marxist and utilitarian perspectives
C) Kantian idealists
D) Clive Bell’s formalism
Answer: B -
Which of the following is true about Abhinavagupta’s notion of aesthetic experience?
A) He equated it with mere entertainment only
B) He saw it as a kind of spiritual insight producing bliss (ānanda) through rasa
C) He denied the role of the spectator entirely
D) He restricted rasa to religious ritual only
Answer: B -
The “play of the faculties” in aesthetic judgment (Kant) involves:
A) Only the intellect, excluding imagination
B) Both imagination and understanding in a harmonious interplay perceived as pleasurable
C) Physical exercise only
D) Institutional validation only
Answer: B -
Which of these approaches would most likely highlight the role of museum and gallery systems in defining art?
A) Marxist aesthetics
B) Institutional theory of art
C) Formalism
D) Rasa theory
Answer: B -
Which theory is most challenged by abstract art that lacks representational content?
A) Institutional theory
B) Imitation (mimesis) theory
C) Formalism
D) Communication theory
Answer: B -
The idea that the aesthetic experience can be morally uplifting and educational is championed by:
A) Tolstoy, Dewey and utilitarian thinkers (art as social/ethical function)
B) Clive Bell only
C) Institutionalists only
D) None
Answer: A -
Which term best captures Abhinavagupta’s view of rasa as ananda (blissful awareness)?
A) Catharsis
B) Sahr̥daya’s taste of universalized emotion
C) Imitation of life
D) Institutional declaration
Answer: B -
Performance Studies as a discipline emphasizes:
A) Only classic theatre texts
B) Interdisciplinary study of all forms of performance, ritual, and social enactment
C) Only formalist art analysis
D) Only museum practices
Answer: B -
The “open concept” of art (Weitz) implies that:
A) Art has a fixed, closed definition
B) The concept of art is flexible and evolves with practice and usage
C) Art is only functional
D) Art is always imitative
Answer: B -
Which Western aesthetic view most aligns with Bhaṭṭanāyaka’s emphasis on imaginative generalisation (bhāvanā) producing rasa?
A) Kantian formal disinterestedness
B) Romantic/Coleridgean emphasis on imagination reshaping reality
C) Institutional theory
D) Marxist critique
Answer: B -
Which of the following would be a primary focus of formalist criticism?
A) Social function of the artwork
B) Close analysis of form—line, rhythm, balance, organization—over content
C) The artist’s socio-economic background
D) Institutional validation only
Answer: B -
The Rasa Adbhuta corresponds to which vyabhicāri or sthāyī-feeling?
A) Vismaya (wonder)
B) Rati (love)
C) Shrama (fatigue)
D) Krodha (anger)
Answer: A -
The Rasa Hāsya emerges from which Sthāyībhāva?
A) Rati
B) Hāsa (mirth)
C) Śoka
D) Krodha
Answer: B -
Which aesthetic framework would most likely study political rallies, protests, or rituals as performances?
A) Formalism exclusively
B) Performance Studies and cultural studies approaches
C) Institutional art theory only
D) Kantian aesthetics only
Answer: B -
The practice of sādhāraṇīkaraṇa makes characters’ emotions accessible to all by:
A) Making them entirely idiosyncratic and personal
B) Generalising or universalising emotions so spectators can taste rasa
C) Removing all emotions from the performance
D) Focusing only on music
Answer: B -
Which Western theorist emphasized the artist’s role as communicator whose sincerity determines the work’s value?
A) Clive Bell
B) Leo Tolstoy
C) Kant
D) Hegel
Answer: B -
A student analyzing the outward gestures that convey inner emotion in performance (e.g., tears, pallor) is studying:
A) Vibhāvas only
B) Anubhāvas and Sāttvika bhāvas
C) Stage directions only
D) Institutional conventions only
Answer: B -
Which of the following statements best reflects Abhinavagupta’s position?
A) Rasa is an objective feature located solely in the actor’s display
B) Rasa is a universalized subjective experience producing aesthetic bliss for the sahr̥daya
C) Rasa is irrelevant to spiritual life
D) Rasa is primarily economic exchange
Answer: B -
In summary, which pairing correctly links a Western theory with its core claim?
A) Imitation — Art as free play of imagination
B) Formalism — Art’s value lies in social utility
C) Communication (Tolstoy/Dewey) — Art transmits emotion/creates experience between artist and audience
D) Marxist aesthetics — Art is purely about beauty only
Answer: C