नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

LXI

(b) The Vocal Representation

The second means of theatrical representation consists of the use of speech. It relates to the proper musical notes (svara) voice registers (sthāna), pitch of vowels (varṇa), intonation (kāku), speech-tempo (laya) to be used in reciting or declaiming a passage for the purpose of evoking different Sentiments (rasa) in the spectators. For example to call forth the Comic and The Erotic Sentiments a passage should be recited with the Madhyama and the Pañcama notes, and for the Heroic and the Marvellous Sentiments the Ṣaḍja and the Ṛṣabha would be the suitable notes.

To call a person staying at a distance the voice should proceed from the head register (śiras) and when he is at a short distance it should be from the chest (uras), and for calling a man at one’s side the voice from the throat register (kaṇṭha) would be proper (XIX. 43).

For any speech with the Comic and the Erotic Sentiments the prevailing pitch would be Udātta (acute) and Svarita (circumflex) while in the Heroic, the Furious and the Mervellous Sentiments it should be Udātta and Kampita.

In the Comic and the Erotic Sentiments the speech-tempo should be medium, in the Pathetic slow, and in the other Sentiments a quick tempo is appropriate (XIX. 59).

Besides the above aspects of speech, close attention was to be given in observing rhythm and cadence. And the metrical character of any passage in verse was to be fully expressed in its recitation or declamation. For this propose the Nāṭyaśāstra devotes nearly two full chapters (XV, XVI) which discuss prosody and allied topics.

(c) The Costumes and Make-up

One important element in theatrical representation now-a-days is the various stage appliances such as, painted scenery, costumes and make-up. However able the actors and actresses might be in delivering the speeches assigned to their roles, without being placed against properly painted scenery and without having proper costumes and make-up, by their acting and delivery alone they cannot create that kind of stage-illusion which is necessary for the success of a dramatic production. But in the ancient Indian stage there was no painted scenery. Hence the actors had to depend a great deal upon costumes and make-up. By the term Āhāryābhinaya the Hindu theorists understood these two items (XXIII).

Though painted scenery is considered indispensable in the modern theatre, the ancient Indians having a considerably different conception of the drama, did not require its aid for the production of a play. The wall that separated the tiring room (nepathya) and the stage (raṅgapīṭha) together with the screens covering the two doors connecting the stage and the tiring room, served as the back-ground to show off to advantage the