Abstract
Research on Internet memes continues to be largely rooted in Euro-American theories of digital culture and semiotics, while the existing body of Indian meme research remains largely empirical and descriptive, focusing on political satire and “results” of memes without a grounded interpretive theory of the ways in which Indians interpret memes. This paper fills that gap by suggesting rasa theory and its related concept of the sahṛdaya (literally, one who has heart), described in Bharata Muni's Natyashastra as the central theory for analyzing meme reception and virality in India. Meme theory (Shifman, 2014), the theory of visual culture studies (Mirzoeff, 2009) and the theory of semiotics (Barthes, 1972) have also been taken in as complementary but secondary tools. The Panchatantra and the folk visual tradition of Patachitra are presented as conceptual parallels that illustrate the same logic of prepared, participatory reception, rather than as historical predecessors of the meme. The framework is then elaborated on the concept of brand identity arguing that a brand meme works only if the consumer is similarly prepared for it, which is backed by a brand narrative theory (Escalas, 2004; Kapferer, 2008) and empirical Indian study on meme marketing (Sharma, 2018). The paper ends by reflecting on the limits of this contribution and suggests directions for future research.