History

Natya Shastra

The Natya Shastra (Nātyaśāstra : literally "Scripture of Dance", sometimes translated as "Science of Theatre") is an ancient India Subcontient’s treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written between during the period the second century BC and the second century AD and is traditionally attributed to Bharata Muni.

It covers stage design, music, dance, makeup, and virtually every other aspect of stagecraft; but the text, which contains 6000 slokas, specifically describes the proper way one should go about staging a drama. It addresses a wide variety of topics including the proper occasions for staging a drama, the proper designs for theatres, the types of people who are allowed to be drama critics and, most especially, specific instructions and advice for actors, playwrights and producers.

List of chapters

(1) Origin of drama; (2) Description of the playhouse; (3) Puja (offering) to the Gods of the stage; (4) Description of the class-dance; (5) Preliminaries of a play; (6) Sentiments (rasas); (7) Emotional and other states; (8) Gestures of minor limbs; (9) Gestures of hands; (10) Gestures of other limbs; (11) Cari movements; (12) Different gaits; (13) Zones and local usages; (14) Rules of prosody; (15) Metrical patterns; Diction of a play; (16) Rules on the use of languages; (17) Modes of address and intonation; (18) Ten kinds of play; (19) Limbs of the segments; (20) Styles; (21) Costumes and make-up; (22) Harmonious performance; (23) Dealings with courtesans; (24) Varied performances; (25) Success in dramatic performances; (26) Instrumental music; (27) Stringed instruments; (28) Time measure; (29) Dhruva songs; (30) Covered instruments; (31) Types of character; (32) Distribution of roles; and (33) Descent of drama on the Earth.

Performance Art Theory

The Natya Shastra ranges widely in scope, from issues of literary construction, to the structure of the stage or mandapa, to a detailed analysis of musical scales and movements (murchhanas), to an analysis of dance forms that considers several categories of body movements, and their impacts on the viewer.

Bharata describes 15 types of drama ranging from one to ten acts. The principles for stage design are laid down in some detail. Individual chapters deal with aspects such as makeup, costume, acting, directing, etc. A large section deals with meanings conveyed by the performance (bhavas) get particular emphasis, leading to a broad theory of aesthetics (rasas).

Four kinds of abhinaya (acting, or histrionics) are described - that by body part motions (angika), that by speech (vAchika), that by costumes and makeup (AhArya), and the highest mode, by means of internal emotions, expressed through minute movements of the lips, eyebrows, ear, etc. (sAttvika).

Plays

1. Śhudraka’s play

Mṛcchakatika (The Little Clay Cart) is the name of a ten act Sanskrit play written by Śhudraka in the 2nd century BC. It is set in Pataliputra (modern-day Patna). Plot: Rife with romance, sex, court intrigue and comedy, the plot of the play has numerous twists and turns. The main story is about a young man named Charudatta, and his love for Vasantasena, a rich courtesan or nagarvadhu. The love affair is complicated by a royal courtier, who is also attracted to Vasantasena. The plot is further complicated by thieves and mistaken identities, thus making it a hilarious and entertaining play. Characters: Charudatta, Vasantsena, Cheta-Kumbhilika and Vidhushaka.

2. Bhasa’s plays

Bhasa is considered to be one of the best Sanskrit playwrights, second only to Kalidas. He is earlier than Kalidasa, and may date to any time between the 1st century BC and the 4^th century AD.

Bhasa's most famous plays are:

·        Svapna Vasavadattam (Swapnavāsadatta) (Vasavadatta's dream);

·        Pancharātra and Pratijna Yaugandharayaanam (The vows of Yaugandharayana);

·        Pratimanātaka;

·        Abhishekanātaka;

·        Bālacharita;

·        Dūtavākya;

·        Karnabhāra;

·        Dūtaghatotkacha;

·        Chārudatta;

·        Madhyamavyāyoga; and

·        Ūrubhanga.

3. Kālidāsa’s plays

Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language. His floruit cannot be dated with precision, but most likely falls within the Gupta period, probably in the 4^th or 5^th century or 6^th century. Kālidāsa wrote three plays. Among them, Abhijñānaśākuntalam ("The Recognition of Shakuntala") is generally regarded as a masterpiece.

·        Mālavikāgnimitram ("Mālavikā and Agnimitra") tells the story of King Agnimitra, who falls in love with the picture of an exiled servant girl named Mālavikā. When the queen discovers her husband's passion for this girl, she becomes infuriated and has Mālavikā imprisoned, but as fate would have it, Mālavikā is in fact a true-born princess, thus legitimising the affair.

·        Abhijñānaśākuntalam ("The Recognition of Shakuntala") tells the story of King Dushyanta who, while on a hunting trip, meets Shakuntalā, the adopted daughter of a sage, and marries her. A mishap befalls them when he is summoned back to court: Shakuntala, pregnant with their child, inadvertently offends a visiting sage and incurs a curse, by which Dushyanta will forget her completely until he sees the ring he has left with her. On her trip to Dushyanta's court in an advanced state of pregnancy, she loses the ring, and has to come away unrecognized. The ring is found by a fisherman who recognises the royal seal and returns it to Dushyanta, who regains his memory of Shakuntala and sets out to find her. After more travels, they are finally reunited.

·        Vikramōrvaśīyam ("Pertaining to Vikrama and Urvashi") tells the story of mortal King Pururavas and celestial nymph Urvashi who fall in love. As an immortal, she has to return to the heavens, where an unfortunate accident causes her to be sent back to the earth as a mortal with the curse that she will die (and thus return to heaven) the moment her lover lays his eyes on the child which she will bear him. After a series of mishaps, including Urvashi's temporary transformation into a vine, the curse is lifted, and the lovers are allowed to remain together on the earth.

4. Dandin’s Play

Daśakumāracarita (The Adventures of the Ten Princes) is a Sanskrit story, written in the 6^th or 7^th century by a renowned Sanskrit writer Dandin (who is a 6th-7th century Sanskrit author of prose romances and expounder on poetics).

5. Other Major Plays

·        Ratnavali, Nagananda, Priyadarsika, Nagananda, Kulasekhara’s Subhadradhananjaya by Sri Harsha (7^th century);

·        Mattavilasaprahasana by Mahendravikramavarman;

·        Aascharyachoodamani (Āscharyachūdamani) by Shaktibhadra;

·        Kalyana Saugandhika by Neelakantha; and

·        Charita by Sri Krishna.

Performances

Sanskrit plays were very popular and were staged in ancient times all over India. Now the only surviving ancient Sanskrit drama theatre is Koodiyattam, which is preserved in Kerala by the Chakyar community. This form of Sanskrit drama is thought to be at least 2,000 years old and is one of the oldest living theatrical traditions in the world. All major Sanskrit plays such as that of Bhasa, Sri Harsha, Shaktibhadra etc. are performed in Koodiyattam. Guru Nātyāchārya Vidūshakaratnam Padma Shri Māni Mādhava Chākyār choreographed and directed plays like Kalidasa's Abhijñānaśākuntala, Vikramorvaśiya and Mālavikāgnimitra; Bhasa's Swapnavāsadatta and Pancharātra for the first time in the history of Koodiyattam. He popularised Koodiyattam and rejuvenated the only surviving Sanskrit drama theatre in India.