From the Echelons of Sanskrit Drama to the Popular Folk (original) (raw)
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Ancient Indian Dramaturgy: A Historical Overview of Bharata's Natyashastra
2015
Natya or theatre is an ancient practice of entertainment in India. Surviving texts and treatises suggest that theatre existed in the Indian subcontinent prior to the vedic age. Both Gods and human beings were said to be connoisseurs of art. The golden period of Indian theatre, mostly in Sanskrit, is said to have lasted until the 5th centuryAD, soon after which the flow of Sanskrit drama waned 1. In spite of dramatic literature receding, performance traditions thrived through dancers, musicians, singers, and storytellers. The basic aesthetics of dramaturgy survived, morphed into various variants, through the traditional folk and classical forms. Paul Kurtz 2 suggests that the Rig Veda gives evidence that dramatic theatre in India came into being around the eighth century B.C. According to Kurtz, the Jataka stories illustrating Indian life between 600 B.C. and 300 B.C. contain evidences of theatre. Like its Greek counterpart Indian drama and theatre owes its origin to religion. The two great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have contributed vastly to performing arts in ancient times. Kurtz observes that, like the cult of Dionysus, Vedic religion also held the seeds of dramatic theatre in India. In the fourth century B.C, actors were employed to perform at temples in the honour of Gods. Also, some villages exhibited public performances in the form of Stree Preksha (women's drama) and Purusha Preksha (men's drama) (66). The Natyshastra of Bharata Muni brings out the evidence of theatre arts at festivals and public celebrations during the Maurya Dynasty, founded by King Chandragupta (reigned 321 B.C-297 B.C). The Maurya Dynasty ruled India for a long period. During this period, kings sent Buddhist missionaries to various places like Ceylon,
The Nātyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
Cracow Indological Studies, 2012
The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics SUMMARY: The Sanskrit treatise Nāṭyaśāstra is the most ancient and authoritative Indian text on the arts. Some researchers, trying to single out the most ancient kernel of the text, dated it to the 5 th century BCE. Others, meaning the concluding stage of its formation, by which the treatise had incorporated interpolations from different times, proposed much later dates up to the 7 th-8 th centuries CE. It is widely believed that the treatise acquired its modern form between the 2 nd century BCE and the 2 nd century CE. Of an encyclopaedic scope, the Nāṭyaśāstra treats a great variety of topics and comprises a manual for producers and performers, treatises on the theory of drama and aesthetics, as well as the oldest poetic theory in the Indian tradition. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the Nāṭyaśāstra as the earliest available source for the study of the Ancient Indian poetics.
Elements of Bharatamuni's Natyashastra in Kalidasa's Abhijnasakuntalam
2018
Abhijnasakuntalam (Recognition of Sakuntala) written by Kalidasa has been adapted from the original epic(itihasa) which appears in the Adiparva section of Mahabharata. It is one of Kalidasa"s most successful works and has been translated by numerous writers. Sakuntala, has been resurrected to a new life in this play. The use of brilliant narrative and adherence to theatrical elements of Natyashastra reveals a "Shakuntala", who has individuality , who seeks an identity and one who evolves as a character with love for nature. Kalidasa implemented the elements of Bharata"s Natyashastra and used four distinctive elements under Nataka of "Rasas" and "Bhavs" which are defined in the Natyashastra i.e. Heroic (Vera Rasa with Utsaha Bhav) , Romantic love/erotic (Srangara rasa with Rati Bhav) , the Furious(Raudra Rasa with Krodha Bhav) and the Pathetic or compassionate(Karuna rasa with Shoka Bhav). This paper focusses on the elements of mythical narrati...
The Sanskrit treatise Nāṭyaśāstra is the most ancient and authoritative Indian text on the arts. Some researchers, trying to single out the most ancient kernel of the text, dated it to the 5th century BCE. Others, meaning the concluding stage of its formation, by which the treatise had incorporated interpolations from different times, proposed much later dates up to the 7th-8th centuries CE. It is widely believed that the treatise acquired its modern form between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Of an encyclopaedic scope, the Nāṭyaśāstra treats a great variety of topics and comprises a manual for producers and performers, treatises on the theory of drama and aesthetics, as well as the oldest poetic theory in the Indian tradition. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the Nāṭyaśāstra as the earliest available source for the study of the Ancient Indian poetics.
This essay will present the reception of Aristotle’s Poetics by Indian scholars in the light of its comparison with Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra, by placing the issue within the broader framework of post-colonial studies. I will start by providing a short introduction of the reception of the classical antiquity in colonial and post-colonial India and then attempt to demonstrate the difficulties in the comparison of the two texts, in order to argue that in general terms the interpretation of Bharata’s text is subordinated to and influenced by the signification of ‘national identity’, whereas at the same time this interpretation produced a discourse which, despite questioning Aristotle’s domination, it also accepted the intellectual structures on which this domination was based.
Varna System and Nāṭyaśāstra: Caste-based Discrimination in the Art Explanation of Nāṭyaśāstra
Bodhi International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Science, 2022
Nāṭyaśāstra, composed by Bharat Muni, is one of the oldest literaturesof Indian art and culture which contains the explanation of dance, music, drama and other artistic performances. According to scholars the composition era of this script can be held from 200BCto 200 AD. Bharat says-sinceNāṭyaśāstrahas been composed out of four Vedas (Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurvedaand Atharvaveda), it has been named as the fifth Veda. The explanation of Varna system gets its place in this literature along with the explanation of various arts. Moreover, this script establishes Varna ideology and superstitious activities. This book on dramaturgy despises women, physically disabled persons, Buddhist monk (Bhhikshu), Sudras and persons from lower rung of society. I will explain here some couplets of Nāṭyaśāstrawith the conceptual framework of Dalit discourse.