Longing.

 New word.

 “Proṣita-patika Nāyaka” (प्रोषित-पतिक नायक), this belongs to the classical Indian theory of Nāyaka–Nāyikā bhāva, especially in Sanskrit poetics and Nāṭyaśāstra traditions.

However, the more familiar term is Proṣita-bhartṛkā Nāyikā — प्रोषितभर्तृका नायिका.

Proṣita-bhartṛkā Nāyikā

She is the woman whose husband or beloved has gone away to a distant place, leaving her behind. Her defining emotion is viraha — separation.

Her state may include:

remembering the absent beloved,

longing for his return,

counting the days,

anxiety about his safety,

preserving the memories of their time together,

finding little joy in things she formerly enjoyed.

This is one of the beautiful ways Indian aesthetics explores love through separation. The physical absence of the beloved does not diminish love; in poetry, it can actually make the inner experience of love more intense.

And there is a fascinating devotional dimension

The same idea can be transformed from human love into bhakti.

The Gopikās longing for Krishna after His departure from Vṛndāvana can be understood through the aesthetics of viraha-bhakti. Here, separation itself becomes a means of experiencing the Divine more intensely.

That gives us a lovely thought:

When the beloved is present, the eyes see him.

When the beloved is absent, the heart sees him everywhere.