नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)
Natyashastra of Bharata Muni with Hindi Commentary (Vol 1)
भरत मुनि / आचार्य अभिनवगुप्त द्वारा
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enjoyment, is said to constitute the Graceful Style (XXII. 47ff). It is proper to the Erotic and the Comic Sentiments.
From a careful examination of the foregoing descriptions one will see that the Styles, excepting the Graceful, are not mutually quite exclusive in their application. On analysing the description of different types of play given in the Nāṭyaśāstra it will be found that the Nāṭaka, the Prakaraṇa, the Samavakāra and the Īhāmṛga may include all the Styles in their presentation, while the Ḍima, the Vyāyoga, the Prahasana, the Utsṛṣṭikāṅka, the Bhāṇa and the Vīthī, only some of these (XX. 88, 96). Hence one may call into question the soundness of the fourfold theoretical division of the Styles of presentation. But logically defective though this division may appear, it helps one greatly to understand the prevailing character of the performance of a play as it adopts one or more of the Styles, and gives prominence to one or the other. It is a variation of emphasis on these, which is responsible for giving a play the character of a drama (including a dramatic spectacle), an opera or a ballet. Considered from this standpoint, dramas or dramatic spectacles like the Nāṭaka, the Prakaraṇa, the Samavakāra and the Īhāmṛga may, in their individual Acts. betray the characteristics of an opera or a ballet. The Prahasana, an one Act drama to be presented with attractive costumes and dance, may however to some extent, partake of the nature of a ballet. The Ḍima, the Vīthī, the Bhāṇa, the Vyāyoga and the Utsṛṣṭikāṅka are simple dramas devoid of dance and colourful costumes.
III. Literary Structure of the Drama :
1. Ten Types of Play
The Nāṭaka. To understand the literary structure of the Hindu drama, it will be convenient to take up first of all the Nāṭaka which is the most important of the ten kinds of play described in the Nāṭyaśāstra¹.
(a) Subject-matter and division into Acts.
The Nāṭaka is a play having for its subject-matter a well-known story and for its Hero a celebrated person of exalted nature. It describes the character of a person descending from a royal seer, the divine protection for him, and his many superhuman powers and exploits, such as success in different undertakings and amorous pastimes; and this play should have an appropriate number of Acts (XX. 10-12).
As the exploits of the Hero of the Nāṭaka have been restricted to his success in different undertakings including love-matters, it is a sort of 'comedy', and as such it can never permit the representation of the Hero's defeat, flight or capture by the enemy or a treaty with him under compul-
¹ NS. ignores the Uparūpakas. For these see SD. NL. and BhP. etc.
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sion. Such a representation would negative the subject of the play which is the triumph or the prosperity of the Hero. But all these except his (the Hero's) death, could be reported in an Introductory Scene which may come before an Act. The presentation of the Hero's death was for obvious reasons impossible in a comedy.
The first thing that attracts the attention of reader on opening a Nāṭaka, is its Prologue (sthāpanā or prastavanā). But according to the Nāṭyaśāstra this was a part of the Preliminaries (pūrvaraṅga) and was outside the scope of the play proper (V. 171). That famous playwrights like Bhāsa, Kālidāsa and others wrote it themselves and made it the formal beginning of their dramas, seems to show that they made in this matter an innovation which as great creative geniuses they were fully entitled to.
But unlike the Greek plays the Hindu Nāṭakas are divided into Acts the number of which must not be less than five or more than ten (XX. 57). These Acts, however, are not a set of clearly divided scenes as they usually are in modern western compositions of this category. An Act of the Hindu drama consists of a series of more or less loosely connected scenes² which due to its peculiar technique could not be separated from one another. It has three important characteristics.
(i) Only the royal Hero, his queen, minister, and similar other important personages are to be made prominent in it and not any minor character (XX. 18). This rule seems to be meant for securing the unity of impression which has been referred to before.
(ii) It is to include only those incidents which could take place in course of a single day (XX. 23). If it so happens that all the incidents occurring within a single day cannot be accommodated in an Act these surplus events are to be reported in a clearly separated part of it, called the Introductory Scene (praveśaka) where minor characters only can take part (XX. 27, 30). The same should be the method of reporting events that are to be shown as having occurred in the interval between two Acts (XX. 31). Evidently these latter should be of secondary importance for the action of play. But according to the Nāṭyaśāstra these should not cover more than a year (XX. 28). This allowance of a rather long period of time for less important events occurring between two Acts of a Nāṭaka was the means by which the Hindu playwrights imparted speed to the action of the play and compressed the entire plot distributed through many events over days, months and years within its narrow frame-work suitable for representation within a few hours.
(iii) An Act should not include the representation of events relating to feats of excessive anger, favour and gift, pronouncing a course, running
¹ See note 2 in IV. below.
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away, marriage, a miracle, a battle, loss of kingdom, death and the siege of a city and the like (XX. 20, 21). The purpose of this prohibition was probably that, when elaborately presented in an Act, these might divert much of the spectator's interest from the line of the principal Sentiment which the play was to evoke and might therefore interfere whith the unity of impression which it was to make.
(b) Explanatory Devices
(i) The Introductory Scene. It has been shown before how the Hindu playwrights divided the entire action of the Nāṭaka into two sets of events of which the one was more important than the other, and how they represented in its Acts the important set, whereas the less important ones were reported, whenever necessary, in an Introductory Scene giving one the idea of the time that intervened between any two Acts. This Scene is one of the five Explanatory Devices (arthopakṣepaka) which were adopted by the playwright for clarifying the obscurities that were liable to occur due to his extreme condensation of the subject-matter.
The other Explanatory Devices are as follows: The Intimating Speech (cūlikā), the Supporting Scene (viṣkambhaka) the Transitional Scene (aṅkāvatāra) and the Anticipatory Scene (aṅkāmukha).
(ii) The Intimating Speech. When some points [in the play] are explained by a superior, middling or inferior character from behind the curtain, it is called the Intimating Speech (XXI. 108).
(iii) The Supporting Scene. The Supporting Scene relates to the Opening Juncture only of the Nāṭaka. It is meant for describing some incident or occurrence that is to come immediately after (XXI. 106-107).
(iv) The Transitional Scene. When a scene which occurs between two Acts or is a continuation of an Act and is included in it, relates to the purpose of the Germ of the play, it is called the Transitional Scene (XXI. 112).
(v) The Anticipatory Scene. When the detached beginning of an Act is summarised by a male or a female character, it is called the Anticipatory Scene (XXI. 112).
(c) The Plot and its Development
The Plot or the subject-matter (vastu) of a Nāṭaka may be twofold: "The principal" (ādhikārika) and the "incidental" (prāsaṅgika). The meaning of the principal Plot is obvious from its name, and an incidental Plot is that in which the characters acting in their own interest incidentally further the purpose of the Hero of the pricipal Plot (XXI. 2-5).
The exertion of the Hero for the result to be attained, is to be represented through the following five stages (XXI. 8): Beginning (ārambha), Effort (prayatna), Possibility of Attainment (prāpti-sambhava),
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Certainty of Attainment (niyatāpti) and Attainment of the Result (phalaprāpti). These five stages of the Plot have five corresponding Elements of the Plot (XXI. 20-21) such as, the Germ (bīja), the Prominent Point (bindu) the Episode (pātākā), the Episodical Incident (prakari) and the Dénouement (kārya). Besides these aspects of the action and the Plot of the Nāṭaka, the elaboration of the latter has been viewed as depending on its division into the following five Junctions which are as follows: the Opening (mukha), the Progression (pratimukha), the Development (garbha), the Pause (vimarśa) and the Conclusion (nirvahaṇa).
And these have been further subdivided and described to give detailed hints as to how the playwright was to produce a manageable play including events supposed to occur during a long period of time.
Kālidāsa's Śakuntalā and Bhāsa's Svapna-vāsavadattā are well-known examples of the Nāṭaka
The Prakaraṇa. The second species of Hindu play, is the Prakaraṇa which resembles the Nāṭaka in all respects except that "it takes a rather less elevated range". Its Plot is to be original and drawn from real life and the most appropriate theme is love. The Hero may be a Brahmin, merchant, minister, priest, an officer of the king or a leader of the army (XX. 49-51). The female characters include a courtezan or a depraved woman of good family (XX. 53)³. But the courtezan should not meet the Hero when he is in the company of a lady or gentleman of high family, and if the courtezans and respectable ladies must meet on any account they are to keep their language and manners undistorted (XX. 55-56). From these and other features, the Prakaraṇa has been called a bourgeois comedy or comedy of manners of a rank below royalty.
Śūdraka's Mṛcchakaṭika and Bhavabhūti's Mālatīmādhava are well-known examples of the Prakaraṇa.
The Samavakāra. The Samavakāra is the dramatic representation of some mythological story which relates to gods and some well-known Asura, who must be its Hero. It should consist of three Acts which are to take for their performance eighteen Nāḍikās (seven hours and twelve minutes).⁴ Of these the first Act is to take twelve and the second four and the third two Nāḍikās only. The subject-matter of the Samavakāra should present deception, excitement or love, and the number of characters allowed in it are twelve. And besides this, metres used in it should be of the complex kind (XX. 63-76).
³ Wilson who did not see the N.Ś. said, "We may however observe to the honour of the Hindu drama that the parakīyā or she who is the wife of another is never to be made the object of dramatic intrigue, a prohibition which could sadly have cooled the imagination and curbed the wit of Dryden and Congreve (Select Specimens of Hindu Theatre, Vol. I. p. xiv).
⁴ See H.H. Wilson, On the Dramatic System of the Hindus, Calcutta, 1827, p. 16.
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No old specimen of this type of drama has reached us. From the description given in the Nāṭyaśāstra it seems that the Samavakāra was not a fully developed drama, but only a dramatic spectacle on the sasis of a mythological story. It naturally became extinct with the development and production of fulfledged literary dramas such as those of Bhāsa and Kālidāsa.
Īhāmṛga. The Īhāmṛga is a play of four Acts in which divine males are implicated in a fight over divine females. It should be a play with well-ordered construction in which the Plot of love is to be based on causing discord among females, carrying them off and oppressing [the enemies], and when persons intent on killing are on the point of starting a fight, the impending battle should be avoided by some artifice (XX. 78-82).
No old specimen of this type of play has been found. From the description given in the Nāṭyaśāstra it seems that the Īhāmṛga was a play of intrigue, in which gods and goddesses only took part.
The Dima. The Dima is a play with a well-constructed Plot and its Hero should be well-known and of the exalted type. It is to contain all the Sentiments except the Comic and the Erotic, and should consist of four Acts only. Incidents depicted in it are mostly earthquake, fall of meteors, eclipses, battle, personal combat, challenge and angry conflict. It should abound in deceit, jugglery and energetic activity of many kinds. The sixteen characters which it must contain are to include different types such as gods, Nāgas, Rākṣasas Yakṣas and Piśācas (XX 84-88).
No old or new example of this type of play has reached us. It seems that like the Samavakāra this was a dramatic spectacle rather than a fulfledged drama. With the advent of literary plays of a more developed kind, it has naturally become extinct.
Vyāyoga. The Vyāyoga is a play with a well-known Hero and a small number of female characters. The events related in it are to be of one day's duration. It is to have one Act only and to include battle, personal combat, challenge and angry conflict (XX. 90-92).
Bhāsa's Madhyama-vyāyoga is a solitary old specimen of this type of play.
Utsṛṣṭikāṅka. The Utsṛṣṭikāṅka or Aṅka is an one-act play with a well-known plot, and it includes only human characters. It should abound in the Pathetic Sentiment and is to treat of women's lamentations and despondent utterances when battle and violent fighting have ceased, and its Plot should relate to the downfall of one of the contending characters (XX. 94-100).
Bhāsa's Urubhaṅga seems to be its solitary specimen. This type of play may be regarded as a kind of one-act tragedy.
The Prahasana. The Prahasana is a farce or a play in which the Comic Sentiment predominates, and it too is to consist of one Act only.
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The object of laughter is furnished in this, mainly by the improper conduct of various sectarian teachers as well as courtezans and rogues (XX 102-106).
The Mattavilāsa and the Bhagavadajjukīya are fairly old specimens of this type of play.
The Bhāṇa. The Bhāṇa is an one Act play with a single character who speaks after repeating answers to his questions supposed to be given by a person who remains invisible, throughout. This play in monologue relates to one's own or another's adventure. It should always include many movements which are to be acted by a rogue or a Parasite (XX. 108-110). The Bhāṇas included in the collection published under the title Catur-bhāṇī seem to be old specimens of this type of play.
The Vīthī. The Vīthī should be acted by one or two persons. It may contain any of the three kinds of characters superior, middling and inferior (XX. 112-113). It seems to be a kind of a very short one Act play. But one cannot be sure about this ; for no specimen of this type of play has come down to us.
2. Diction of a Play
(a) The Use of Metre. One of the first things to receive the attention of the Hindu writers on dramaturgy was the importance of verse in the dramatic dialogue. They discouraged long and frequent prose passages on the ground that these might prove tiresome to spectators (XX. 34). After giving a permanent place to verse in drama the Hindu theorists utilized their detailed knowledge of the structure of metres which varied in cæsura as well as the number and sequence of syllables or moras in a pāda (XV. 38ff., XIV. 1-86), for heightening the effect of the words used, by putting them in a appropriate metres. In this respect they framed definite rules as to the suitability of particular metres to different Sentiments. For example, the description of any act of boldness in connexion with the Heroic and the Furious Sentiments is to be given in the Āryā metre, and compositions meant to express the Erotic Sentiment should be in gentle metres such as Mālinī and Mandakrāntā, and the metres of the Śakkarī and the Atidhṛti types were considered suitable for the Pathetic Sentiment (XVII. 110-112). In this regard the Hindu theorists, and for that matter, the Hindu playwrights anticipated the great Shakespeare who in his immortal plays made "all sorts of experiments in metre".
(b) Euphony. After considering the use of metres the author of the Nāṭyaśāstra pays attention to euphony and says, "The uneven and even metres which have been described before should be used in composition with agreeable and soft sounds according to the meaning intended.
The playwright should make efforts to use in his composition sweet and agreeable words which can be recited by women.
A play abounding in agreeable sound and sense, and containing no
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obscure or difficult words, intelligible to the country people, having a good construction, fit to be interpreted with dances, developing Sentiments........ becomes fit for representation to spectators" (XVII. 119-122).
(c) Suggestive or Significant names. Another important aspect of the diction was the suggestive or significant names for different characters in a play. It has been said of Gustave Flaubert that he took quite a long time to find a name for the prospective hero and heroine of his novels, and this may appear to be fastidious enough. But on discovering that the Hindu dramatic theorists centuries ago laid down rules about naming the created characters (XIX. 30-36), we come to appreciate and admire the genius of the great French writer.
(d) Variety of languages or dialects. The use of Sanskrit along with different dialects of Prakrit (XVIII. 36-61) must be ascribed to circumstances in the midst of which the Hindu drama grew up. The dramas reflect the linguistic condition of the society in which the early writers of plays lived. As the speech is one of the essential features of a person's character and social standing, it may profitably be retained unaltered from the normal. Even in a modern drama dialects are very often used though with a very limited purpose.
IV. The Ancient Indian Drama in Practice
1. Occasions for Dramatic Performance
The Hindu drama like similar other forms of ancient art and poetry seems to have been of religious origin, and it developed probably out of dances and songs in honour of a deity like Śiva who in later times came to be styled the great dancer-actor (naṭarāja). As time passed, the dance with songs gradually assumed the form of regular dramatic spectacles, and the range of subjects treated was extended beyond the legends connected with the exploits of a particular deity. It is just possible that this development of the religious aspect came in course of time to be partially arrested, and plays began to be composed more with a purely secular character. And this change considerably loosened its original connexion with the popular deities. Possibly due to this the Hindu drama in the historic period of its career, is found to be acted sometimes for moral edification as in the case of the Buddhist plays, sometimes for the aesthetic enjoyment of the elite as in the case of Kālidāsa's works, and sometimes in honour of a deity as in case of one of Bhavabhūti's plays. In spite of various uses, the Hindu drama unlike its modern counterparts did possibly never become an ordinary amusement of everyday life. It was mostly on special occasions like a religious festival, a marriage ceremony, a king's coronation, a friend's visit that dramatic performances were held (I. 269; AD. 12-14). But among all these occasions religious festivals
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were the most common for the performance of drama. It was natural that on such occasions the drama was a popular entertainment as well, the public being then in a holiday mood.
Another fact about the dramatic performances of the Hindus was that these were sometimes held in the form of contests (XXVII. 21-22, 71, 77-79). Different groups of actors vied with one another for the popular appreciation, and reward for their skill in the particular art. This drama, however does not seem to have been a regular feature of the Hindu, as was the case with that of the Greeks, and theatrical troups gave, however, performance usually for money without any spirit of rivalry towards others, and were paid by the rich people or the different guilds.
2. The Time of Performance
Except in the midnight or at noon or at the time of the Sandhyā prayers, the Hindu dramas could be performed almost at any part of the day or of the night. But this does not mean that any play could be produced at any allowable time during the twentyfour hours. Though at the command of the patron the Director of a theatrical party could overlook strict rules in this regard, the time of performance was to be regulated according to the nature of the subject-matter of the individual play. For example, a play based on a tale of virtue was to be performed in the forenoon ; a performance which was rich in instrumental music, and told a story of strength and energy, was to be held in the afternoon, and a play which related to the Graceful Style, the Erotic Sentiment, and required vocal and instrumental music for its production, was to be performed in the evening ; but in case of plays which related to the magnanimity of the Hero and contained mostly the Pathetic Sentiment, performance was to be held in the morning (XXVII. 88-99).
Though in the modern times dramatic performance is mostly held in the evening, the ancient Indian rules regarding the assignment of a play of a particular type to a particular part of the day or of the night need not be considered queer in any way. On the other hand, they appear very much to have been based on a proper understanding of the ever-changeable nature of human personalities. Even if a play based on a tale of virtue or of woe, when properly presented on the stage, could be appreciated at any time, it had better chance of impressing the spectator in the forenoon or in the morning, when after the night's sleep and rest, he could be the most receptive in regard to these Sentiments. That a play including a story of energy and strength can better be assigned to the after-noon is to be explained on the assumption that on taking rest after meals at the completion the morning's activities, one becomes psychologically more competent to appreciate stories of strength and energy presented on the stage. In a similar manner, a play with love as its principal theme (i.e. with
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the Erotic Sentiment) may be more effectively presented on the stage in the evening, when after the day’s work, one is naturally inclined to enjoy the company of his dear woman, be she his wife or the hetaera.
3. The Playhouse or the Theatre
The Nāṭyaśāstra describes various types of playhouse, and their different parts have been mentioned to some extent in detail. But in the absence of evidence the like of which has been copiously available in case of the Greek theatre, it cannot be said how far the ancient Indian plays were peformed in specially constructed theatres. It may be possible that only the kings and very wealthy people owned playhouses constructed according to the Nāṭyaśāstra, while dramatic spectacles meant for the common people were held in the open halls called the Nāṭ-mandir (Nāṭya-mandira) in front of the temples, or in a temporarily devised theatre under the cover a canopy, as in the case of the modern Bengali Yātrās which seem to have some resemblance and connexion with the ancient Indian Nāṭya described in the Śāstra. One remarkable feature of the playhouses described in the Nāṭya-śāstra is that they are of a very moderate size, the largest among them (meant for mortals) being only thirtytwo yards long and sixteen yards board, capable of accommodating about four hundred (400) spectators. This is in sharp contrast with the Athenian theatre which sometimes held as many as fifteen thousand (15,000) people.
The comparative smallness of the ancient Indian theatre was a necessary consequence of the pecular technique of the dramatic production. For in a larger playhouse the spectators could not all have heard delicate points on which depended in no small measure the success of a performance. The inordinately large Athenian theatre was not much handicapped in this respect, for the Greek drama depended on a considerably different technique.
The Nāṭyaśāstra describes three main types of playhouse : oblong (vikṛṣṭa), square (caturasra) and triangular (tryasra). These again might be the large, medium or small, wlth their length respectively as one hundred and eight, sixtyfour, and thirtytwo cubits. This gives altogether nine different varities of theatres, viz. (i) the large oblong, (ii) the large-square, (iii) the large triangular, (iv) the medium oblong, (v) the medium square (vi) the medium triangular, (vii) the small oblong, (viii) the small square and (ix) the small triangular. These nine types can also be measured in terms of daṇḍas instead of that of cubits. This will give us eighteen different diamensions of playhouse. But the Nāṭyaśāstra is silent about the use of the playhouse measured in terms of daṇḍas, and the playhouse of the largest type measuring 108 cubits in length have been prohibited by the Śāstra for the mortals. And it has been mentioned before that a playhouse more in area than thirtytwo yards long and sixteen
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yards broad has been prescribed for them. 'This should be divided into three parts : (i) the tiring room (nepathya) (ii) the stage (raṅgapīṭha or raṅgaśīrṣa) and (iii) the auditorium (raṅgamaṇḍala). Of these the tiringroom would be at one end of the theatre and would measure sixteen yards by four yards. On the two sides of the stage there should be two Mattavāraṇīs each occupying an area of four yards by four yards and having four pillars. Thus the area to be occupied by the seats of spectators would be twentyfour yards by sixteen yards.
The tiring room (nepathya) was the place in which the actors and the actresses put on the costumes suited to the different roles, and from this place, the tumults, divine voices (daiva-vāṇī) and similar other acts proceeded. This part of the theatre was separated from the stage by two screens over its two doors, Between these two doors the members of the orchestra (kutapa) were to sit and the direction facing them was to be considered conventionally the east.
4. The Representation
To understand the technique of representation of the Hindu drama one must remember that it avoided stark realism and gave utmost scope to imagination and fancy. The one unmistakable evidence of this is the total absence of any painted scenery from the stage. This is but a negative side of it. If the Hindus avoided bringing in any kind of artificial scenery, they made positive efforts in communicating the meaning of the drama and calling forth the Sentiment (rasa) in the spectators through suggestive use of colour in the costume and make up of the actors and rhythmic movements of many kinds which have been summed up in their theory of four representations (abhinaya) such as aṅgika, vācika, āhārya, and sāttvika (VI.23).
(a) The Physical Representation
Among these, the āṅgika should be discussed first. This consists of the use of various gestures and postures of which the Nāṭyaśāstra gives elaborate descriptions. Different limbs have been named and their manifold gestures and movements described, with various significance attached to each one of them (VIII.-XII). For example, the head has thirteen different gestures which are as follows :
Ākampita : Moving the head slowly up and down.
Kampita : when the movements in the Ākampita head are quick and copious. (Uses) : The Ākampita head is to be applied in giving a hint, teaching questioning, addressing in an ordinary way (lit. naturally), and giving an order.
The Kampita head is applicable (lit. desired) in anger argument understanding, asserting, threatening, sickness and intolerence.
Dhuta and Vidhuta : A slow movement of the head is called the
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Dhuta and when this movement is quick it is called Vidhuta. (Uses) : The Dhuta head is applicable in unwillingness, sadness, astonishment, confidence, looking side ways, emptiness and forbidding.
The Vidhuta head is applied in an attack of cold, terror, panic, fever and the first stage of drinking (i. e. intoxication).
Parivāhita and Udvāhita : when the head is alternately turned to two sides it is called the Parivāhita, and when it is once turned upwards it is known as the Udvāhita. (Uses) : The Parivāhita head is applicable in demonstration, surprise, joy, remembering, intolerence, cogitation, concealment and [amorous] sporting.
The Udvāhita head is to be applied in pride, showing height, looking high up, self-esteem and the like.
Avadhuta : When the head is once turned down it is called the Avadhuta. (Uses) : it is to be applied in [communicating] a message involking a deity, conversation and beckoning [one to come near].
Añcita : When the neck is slightly bent on one side the Añcita head is the result. (Uses) : It is applicable in sickness, swoon, intoxication anxiety and sorrow.
Nihañcita : when two shoulders are raised up with the neck bent on one side the Nihañcita head is produced. (Uses) : It is to be used by women in pride, Amorousness (vilāsa), Light-heartedness (lalita). Affected Indiffirence (bibboka), Hysterical Mood (kilakiñcita). Silent Expression of Affection (moṭṭāyita), Pretented Anger (kuṭṭamita)¹ ; Paralysis (stambha) and Jealous Anger (māna).
Parāvṛtta : when the face is turned round, the Parāvṛtta head is the result. (Uses) : It is to be used in turning away the face, and looking back and the like.
Utkṣipta : when the face is raised up the Utkṣipta head is the result. (Uses) : It is used indicating lofty objects, and application of divine weapons.
Adhogata : The head with the face looking downwards is called the Adhogata. (Uses) : It is used in shame, bowing [in salutation] and sorrow.
Parilolita : when the head is moving on all sides, it is called Parilolita. (Uses) : It is used in fanting, sickness, power of intoxi-ation, possession by an evil spirit, drowsiness and the like.
The eyes are similarly to have different kinds of glances according to the States (bhāva) and Sentiments (rasa) they are to express. The eyeballs too are liable to similar changes to creat impressions of different feelings and emotions, and so have the eyebrows, the nose,
¹ For the definition of all these terms together with the preceding ones see NŚ. XXIV. 15, 18-22.
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the cheeks, the chin, and the neck. The hands, however, are the most important limbs in the making of gestures. Gestures and movements of hands fall into three classes, viz. single (asaṁyuta), combined (saṁyuta) and dance hands (nṛtta-hasta). Single-hand gestures and movements relate to one hand only, while combined hands to both the hands. The following are examples of the three kinds of hand gestures :—Patāka (single hand) : The fingers extended and close to one another and the thumb bent. Añjali (combined hand) Putting together of the two Patāka hands is called the Añjali. Caturasra (dance-hand) : The Kaṭakāmukha hands held forward eight Aṅgulis apart [from each other] on one's breast, the two shoulders and elbows on the same level. Besides these gestures, the hands have varied movements which are characterised by the following acts : drawing upwards, dragging, drawing out, accepting, killing, beckoning, urging, bringing together, separating, protecting, releasing, throwing, shaking, giving away, threatening, cutting, piercing, squeezing and beating(IX. 161-163).
From the foregoing discussion about the gestures it is apparent that their uses fall into two different categories, viz. realistic and conventional. Of these two types, the gestures used conventionally far outnumber those of the other kind. But this should not appear strange. For the ancient Indian dramatists and theatrical producers were fully conscious of the limited scope of realism in arts of various kinds, and hence they conceived action as something very closely allied to dance. This demanded that while moving on the stage with or without uttering any word, the actors should gesticulate rhythmically, to impart grace and decorative effect to their figure. For this very purpose another set of gestures called Dance-hands (nṛttahasta) are also to be used. As their name implies these hands were exclusively to be used in dance, but for reasons mentioned above they were sometimes utilized at the time of declamation or recitation. The lower parts of the body down to the feet are also to be similarly used. Among these, the feet are the most important. On them depend the different movements of the entire body as well as the various standing postures. The movements of the feet are of three kinds, viz. ordinary gait, Cārī and Maṇḍala, Of these, the Cārī is a simple movement of the feet (XI.) while Maṇḍala, is a series of such movements considered together (XII.) During the stage fighting the two combatants are to move with Cārīs and Maṇḍalas in accompaniment with suitable music. And the gait is very valuable for the representation of different roles. In this matter too convention plays a very considrable part. The Nāṭyaśāstra lays down elaborate rules about the width of footsteps and the tempo of the gait for different characters according to their social position, age, sex, health and feeling as well as the peculiar environments in which they might be placed (XIII. 1-157).
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(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
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figures of the performers. And these, the wall and the screens, possibly did not contain anything other than the usual decorative designs. This simplicity in the character of the scenic apparatus was a nacessery concomitant of the peculiar technique of the Hindu drama, and its cause may be looked for in its early history. The introduction of magnificent scenery appears to be a later development in the history of drama. Similarly the back scene of the Shakaspearean stage consisted of a bare wall, and anything in the way of spectacular effect was created by the movements and grouping of actors
The production of an impression by means of painted scenery would have been alien to the taste of the ancient Hindus who were more or less conscious of the limitation of realism in their various arts. In order to make the spectators visualise the place and time of the dramatic story in hand, the Hindus had a different device. Numerous descriptions of place and time composed in rhythmic prose and verse, which are scattered over the classical Hindu plays, served very efficiently indeed the purpose of painted scenery. When properly read or sung, these passages very easily created an illusion of the place or the time described. The elaborate description of Vasantasenā's magnificent reisdence in the Mṛcchakaṭika was calculated to call up vividly its picture before the mind's eye. The same thing may be said of the grand description of the Daṇḍaka forest in the Uttararāmacarita. This device of making a scene lively, has been utilized by Shakespeare also. In appreciation of his very beautiful description of place and time, one critic says "The plays are full of such descriptive passages as can nullify the achievements of decorators and mechanics." It has already been mentioned that in the Shakespearean stage too painted scenery was unknown.
There being no scenery of any kind in the Hindu theatre which made no effort at realism, the spectators were required to use their imagination to the utmost. The demand on the spectator's imagination made by the ancient Indian producers of plays was further testified by their rules of conventional Zonal division (kakṣā-vibhāga) of the stage (XIV. 1-15). Some of these are as follows :
A Zone might change with the actor walking a few steps over the stage.² Any ancient Hindu play will furnish numerous examples of this convention. For example in the first Act of the Śakuntalā the king appears for the first time at a distance from Kaṇva's hermitage, but shortly afterwards he enters it by simply taking a few steps over the stage, looking around and saying. "This is the entrance of hermitage and let me enter it".
By the same kind of convention the inside and outside of a house was
² Due to this kind of convention, scenes of the Hindu plays were not clearly separated as they are in a modern drama. This puzzled F. Hall who says :
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simultaneously presented.³ The rule relating to this was as follows : According to the Zonal division, those who entered the stage earlier should be taken as being inside [a house] while those entering it later are known to be as remaining outside it. He who enters the stage with the intention of seeing them (i.e. those entering earlier) should report himself after turning to the right. To indicate going to a distant locality one is to walk a good few steps over the stage and to indicate going to a place near by, a short walk only is needed, while a walk of medium duration will indicate going to a place of medium distance, But in case a person leaves one country and goes to a distant land, this is to be indicated by closing the Act in which such an event occurs, and mentioning again the same fact in an Explanatory Scene at the beginning of the next Act.
An example of some of these conventional rules occurs in the ninth Act of the Mṛcchakaṭika where Śodhanaka appears first as being at the gate of the court of justice and enters it by making a pantomimic movement; then again he goes out to receive the judge and re-enters, the courtroom after him by simply walking over the same stage. And when the judge has started work, Śodhanaka again goes out to call for the complainants. This going out also consists of actually walking a few steps over the stage.
Though painted scenery was not in use in the Hindu theatre objects like hills, carriages, aerial cars, elephants etc, were represented on the stage by suggestive models (pusta) of these. According to the Nāṭyaśāstra the model works were of three kinds, viz. sandhima which was made up of mat, cloths or skins, wrapping cloth, or other materials wrapped round something, and vyājima which was a mechanical contrivance of some kind From Dhanika, the commentator of the Daśarūpa (II. 67-58), we learn about a model-work of an elephant for the production of the Udayanacarita, and the Mṛcchakaṭika owes its name to the toy cart which plays an indispensable role in the story.
(d) The Temperament
The fourth or the most important means of representation is the Temperament (sattva) or the entire psychological resources of a man (XXIV), The actor or the actress must for the time being feel the States that he or she is to represent, and only then will the Sentiments related to them follow. This kind of representation was indispensable for giving expression to various delicate aspects of men’s and women’s emotional nature.
So far as is known, Hindu dramas have always been parted into acts; but never have they had scenes. It is somewhat to be wondered at, that the Hindus, with their inordinate love for subdivision, should have left those uninvented. (Introduction to Dasarūpa, pp. 28-29.
³ See note 2 above.
V. Literature on the Ancient Indian Drama
1. The Early Writers
Śilālin and Kṛśāśva. Pāṇini (circa 500 B.C.) refers (IV. 3.110-111) to the Naṭasūtras of Śilālin and Kṛśāśva. As the works of these two authors have perished beyond recovery we are not in a position to have any exact idea about their contents. But Lévi and Hillebrandt have taken them to be manuals for actors (naṭa) though Weber and Konow have considered these to have been sets of rules for dancers and pantomimists, and Keith has accepted their view. Konow further thinks that the treatises of Śilālin and Kṛśāśva were absorbed in the body of the Nāṭyaśāstra (ID. p. 1)
2. The so-called sons of Bharata
After Śilālin and Kṛśāśva come the writers whose names have been included in the list of the one hundred sons of Bharata, given in the extant version of the Nāṭyaśātra. (I. 26-22). Among these Kohala, Dattila (Dhūrtila), Śālikarṇa (Śātakarṇa), Bādarāyaṇa (Bādari), Nakhakuṭṭa and Aśmakuṭṭa have been referred to and quoted by later writers as authorities on dramaturgy and histrionics. Besides these, Vātsya and Śāṇḍilya have been named as authorities on drama by some writers. Such references and quotations are our only source of knowledge of them and their work.
(a) Kohala Among the writers on drama who wrote after Śilālin and Kṛśāśva, Kohala seems to be the most important. In the extant version of the Nāṭyaśāstra (XXXVI. 63), it is given in the form of a prophecy that Kohala will discuss in a supplementary treatise all those topics on drama that have not been touched by Bharata. From quotations of his works made by Abhinava¹ and another commentator,² as well as from their references to his opinion, it appears that Kohala wrote on dance and dramaturgy as well as histrionics and music.
(b) Dattila, Śāṇḍilya, and Vātsya. Dattila seems to be identical with Dantila or Dhūrtila mentioned in the Nāṭyaśāstra (I. 26). Abhinava too quotes from one Dattilācārya³ and it is likely that he is not other than this Dattila. From these quotations it appears that he wrote on histrionics and music. Śāṇḍilya and Vātsya mentioned in the Nāṭyaśāstra (XXXVI. 63) along with Dattila (Dhūrtila) are to us nothing but mere names. It is possible that they were writers on some aspects of drama and theatre.
¹ Ag I. pp. 173, 182, 183-184 ; II p. 26, 55, 130, 133, 142, 146, 148. 151, 155, 407, 416-417, 421, 434, 438-439, 413, 452, 459 ; De' Ms. p. 413, 436, 496, 521, 680.
² BhP. pp. 204, 210, 236, 245, 251.
³ Ag. I. p. 205, Besides this Ag. quotes and refers to Dattila no less than 14 times while comenting on chapter on music. See De's Ms. pp. 544, 573, 576, 580, 583, 588, 590, 624, 625, 628, 633, 634, 640, 642, 644, 650, 655. See also Kuṭṭa sl. 123.
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(c) Śātakarṇi (Śātakarna, Śālikarṇa). Śātakarṇi as a proper name is found in inscriptions from the first century B. C. to 149 A. C. Hence it is possible (though not quite certain) that Śātakarṇi the writer on drama flourished about the first century A. C.⁴ Like kings in later times who were sometimes found to take interest among other subjects in drama and poetics and to write treatises on them, this Śātakarṇi might well have been a king or a person of royal descent. From the quotations made by later writers⁵ from him it appears he wrote on dramaturgy.
(d) Aśmakuṭṭa and Nakhakuṭṭa. These two writers from their names appear to have been contemporaries, probably belonged to the same locality. Sāgaranandin⁶ and Viśvanātha⁷ quote from Nakhakuṭṭa, and Sāgara only is known to have quoted from Aśmakuṭṭa⁸, From these quotations it appears that Aśmakuṭṭa and Nakhakuṭṭa wrote on dramaturgy.
(e) Bādarāyaṇa (Bādari). Sāgara quotes from Bādarāyaṇa twice⁹ and possibly names him once as Bādari, and from the extracts quoted it seems that this early writer discussed dramaturgy.
3. Samgrahakara
Abhinavagupta once mentioned the Saṃgraha and once the Saṃgrahakāra.¹⁰ In the Nāṭyaśāstra (VI. 3, 10) itself also one Saṃgraha has been mentioned. It seems that the reference is to the identical work. From these facts it appears that the work might have been a compendium treating of dramaturgy as well as histrionics.
4. The Present Text of the Natyasastra (circa 200 A.C.).¹¹
5. Medieval Writers on Drama
(a) Nandi (Nandikeśvara) Tumburu Viśākhila and Cārāyaṇa. Besides the writers mentioned above Abhinava and Śāradātanaya refer to Nandi or Nandikeśvara¹² and the former also names Tumburu¹³ and Viśākhila¹⁴ with occasional reference to their views or actually quotations from them, and Cārāyaṇa has once been quoted by Sāgaranandin.¹⁵
(b) Sadāśiva, Padmabhū, Drauhiṇi, Vyāsa and Āñjaneya.
⁴ Select Inscriptions, pp. 191-207.
⁵ NL. 1101-1102, Rucipati's Comm. on AR. p. 7.
⁶ NL. 2768-2769, 2904-2905.
⁷ SD. 294, Nakhakuṭṭa has also been mentioned by Bahurūpa in his Comm. on Daśarūpa (Indian and Iranian Studies presented to D. Ross, Bombay. p. 201), p. 201 f.n.
⁸ 83, 437. 2766-2767, 2774-2775.
⁹ NL. 1092-1094, 2770-2771.
¹⁰ Ag. II. pp. 436, 2770-2771.
¹¹ See below sections VI. and VIII.
¹² Ag. I. p. 171, De's Ms. p. 559. This Nandikesvara may be identical with the author of the AD.
¹³ Ag. I. pp. 165.
¹⁴ Ag. I. p. 199 also De's Ms. pp. 547, 564, 573, See also Kutta, sl. 123.
¹⁵ NL. 362-363.
I
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Abhinava and Śāradātanaya once refer to Sadāśiva¹⁶ while some writers on drama, such as Padmabhū,¹⁷ Drauhiṇi,¹⁸ Vyāsa¹⁹ and Āñjaneya²⁰ have been named by Śāradātanaya only. But we are not sure whether they were really old authors or these names have been attached to some late treatises to give them an air of antiquty.
(c) Kātyāyana, Rāhula and Garga. These three writers, quoted by Abhinava and Sāgara may be counted among the medieval writers on drama. From the available extracts from his work Kātyāyana²¹ seems to have been a writer on dramaturgy. Rāhula has been twice quoted in Abhinava's commentary, and Sāgara²² has once referred to his view.²³ From these it appears that Rāhula was a writer on dramaturgy as well as histrionics. Garga as an authority on drama has been mentioned by Sāgaranandin.²⁴ In the absence of any quotation from him we cannot say what exactly he wrote about.
(d) Śakaligarbha and Ghaṇṭaka. Abhinava mentions among others the names of Śakaligarbha²⁵ and Ghaṇṭaka.²⁶ Of these two, Ghaṇṭaka seems to be a contemporary of Śaṅkuka, and as for, Śakaligarbha, we have no definite idea about his time. From the references to their views it appears that they wrote on dramaturgy.
(e) Vārtika-kāra Harṣa. Abhinava once quotes from the Vārtikakṛt²⁷ and once from the Vārtika²⁸ and next time from the Harṣavārtika,²⁹ and besides this he once refers to the views of the Vārtikakāri.³⁰ Sāgaranandin and Śāradātanaya refer to one Harṣavikrama³¹ or Harṣa.³² It seems possible that they all referred to the same author, and the name of the author of the Vārtika was Harṣa or Harṣa-vikrama. From these quotations and the references it appears that this Vārtika was an original treatise on dramaturgy and histrionics.
(f) Mātṛgupta. Mātṛgupta has been taken to be a commentator of the Nāṭyaśāstra by Sylvain Lévi.³³ Though this view has been accepted by authors who have written later on the subject,³⁴ from the metrical extracts³⁵ made from his work by some commentators it appears
¹⁶ BhP. 152, DR. IV. 38-31.
¹⁷ BhP. p. 47.
¹⁸ BhP. p. 239.
¹⁹ BhP. 251.
²⁰ See note 19.
²¹ NL. 1484-1485. Ag. II. pp. 245-246.
²² Ag. I. pp. 115, 172. NL. 2873-2175.
²³ NL. 3225.
²⁴ NL. 3226.
²⁵ Ag. II. p. 452. Kavi thinks that Sakaligarbha = Sakaleya = Udbhaṭa.
²⁶ Ag. II. p. 436.
²⁷ Ag. I. p. 172. This Vārtika seems to have been in original work like Kumarila's Slokavartika written in verse.
²⁸ Ag. I. p 174.
²⁹ Ag I. p. 207 also De's Ms. p. 545.
³⁰ Ag. I. p. 31.
³¹ NL. 3225.
³² BhP. 233.
³³ Le Theatre indien p. 15.
³⁴ e. g. Skt. Poetics, Vol. (p. 32-33).
³⁵ A. dy pp. 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 15, 110, 126, 230, NL. 102, 314-316, 459-471, 534, 1186 (?). BhP. p. 234.
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that he composed an original work on the subject. It is probable that in this he occasionally explained in prose the view expressed by the author of the Nāṭyaśāstra.³⁶ Interpreting in this manner one can understand the words of Sundara-miśra, who, commenting on Bharata's definition of the Benediction (nāndī), remarks that 'in axplaining this Mātṛgupta said etc'.³⁷ About the time of Mātṛgupta, we have no sufficient evidence. All that can be said is that, Abhinava quotes from his work once³⁸ and hence he was earlier than this great well-known commentator. Besides this Sāgaranandin, who is possibly earlier than Abhinava, names Mātṛgupta along with old writers such as Aśmakuṭṭa, Nakhakuṭṭa, Garga, and Bādarāyaṇa (Bādari);³⁹ hence it appears that he was not a late writer.
From the meagre information available about him scholars have identified him with the poet of that name living during the reign of Harṣa-vikramāditya of Kashmir who seems to have been the author of a work on drama called Vārtika. This would roughly place his work at the end of the 4th century A.C. or in the beginning of the 5th.⁴⁰ From the extracts made from his works it appears that wrote on dramaturgy and music.
(g) Subandhu. Śāradātanaya refers to one Subandhu who wrote on dramaturgy.⁴¹ If it is possible to identify him with the famous author of the Vāsavadattā, then he may be placed roughly in the 5th century A.C.
(h) The compilers of the Agnipuraṇa and the Viṣṇudharmottara. The Agnipuraṇa treats of nāṭya, nṛtya, and rasa, but this treatment depends considerably on the Nāṭyaśāstra. There is literal borrowing from this work as well as paraphrases of some of its metrical passages in this Purāṇa. This portion of the Agnipuraṇa is usually placed after Daṇḍin (circa. 7th century).⁴² The Viṣṇudharmottara too treats of nṛtta, nāṭya and abhinaya, and this treatment too is dependent on the Nāṭyaśāstra and does not appear to be earlier than the 8th century.
6. Late writings on Drama
(a) Daśarūpa. The Daśarūpa (Daśarūpaka) of Dhanañjaya was composed in the last quarter of the 10th century A.C. during the reign of Muñja (Vākpatirāja, II) the king of Malawa. This work, as its name implies, treats of ghe ten principal forms of dramatic works (rūpa) which constitute the subject-matter of chapter XX of the Nāṭyaśāstra, but it
³⁶ For example Sagara, (NL. 534ff.) discusses Matrgupta's view in his compilation which is written in verse and prose. It seems that this author was his model.
³⁷ Skt. Poetics Vol. I. pp. 102-103.
³⁸ Ag. De's Ms. p. 543. Dr. S. K. De thought that Matrgupta was unknown to Ag. (Skt. Poetics, Vol. I. p. 33).
³⁹ See note 23 above.
⁴⁰ Keith, Skt. Drama, p. 291.
⁴¹ BhP. p. 238.
⁴² Skt. Poetics, Vol. I. p. 102-103.