1. BkE-VarmaKM-nATya-nrtya and Nrtta-meaning and relation-0096

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793.3

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NATYA, NRTTA AND NRTYA THEIR MEANING AND RELATION

K. M. VARMA

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56 NATYA, NRTTA AND NRTYA: THEIR MEANING AND RELATION

word, nrttamātrkā. He answers the question why it should be

considered to be a basic unit by saying that until the two karanas

are performed we will not have a sense of nrtta and from the per-

formance of the second karana onwards we will have the sense that

one is dancing1 (nrtyati).

But this view does not seem to be quite precise, since the sense

that one has danced may not come into our minds if we witness the

performance of two karanas only. The sense that one is dancing may

very well come into our minds when the performance of the single

karana is witnessed. Apart from these reasons it is not possible to

take nrttamātrkā to be the basic unit, if the text available in print is

relied upon, even though the literal meaning of this word might

tempt one to draw such a conclusion. Nrttamātrkā is nothing but

a name for the combination of two karanas, as kalāpaka, mandaka

and sañghātaka are the names of the combinations of three, four and

five karanas respectively.2 When the word nrttamātrkā thus used

does not mean the basic unit, it is to be pointed out that there is no

1 A.B., Vol. I, Ch. 4, p. 93, ll. 17-18. These lines need correction and

V. Rāghavan has done it on the basis of Jāyana who, like Śārṅgadeva, follows

Abhinava in several matters. But Rāghavan himself has been a little mistaken

while explaining these matters (See Brahmavidyā, a quarterly Journal published

from Adyar Library, Vol. XVIII, parts 3-4, pp. 197-8).

2 ‘dve nrttakarane caiva bhavato nrttamātrkā

dvābhyām! tribhiś ca turbhir vāpyaiṅgalhārāstu mātrbhih

tribhih kalāpakam caiva caturbhir mandakam bhavet

pañcaiva karanāni syuh saṅghātaka iti smṛtah

sadbhir vā saptabhirvāpi aṣṭabhir navabhis tathā

karanai riha saṃyuktā aiṅgalhārāḥ prakīrtitāḥ’.

N.Ś., Vol. I, Ch. 4, p. 93.

In the second line of this passage on the one hand and on the other in the

fifth and sixth lines, aiṅgalhāras are explained, but there is some difference in the

accounts given in them. According to the second line an aiṅgalhāra would be

composed of two or three or four nrttamātrkās, i.e. four, six and cight karanas,

thus no odd umber occurs here. But according to the fifth and sixth lines

aiṅgalhāra may be composed of karanas numbering six, seven, eight or nine

and so on, that is to say, according to this account the odd number is per-

missible, but such is not the case with the former. Also, the former account

admits aiṅgalhāra to be composed of four karanas, but not so the latter. The

latter account admits aiṅgalhāra to be also composed of nine karanas, but never

the former. So, either of these accounts must be unreliaible.

In this particular place Abhinava is silent about the latter account. Nor

60 NATYA, NRTTA AND NRTYA: THEIR MEANING AND RELATION

chest is raised and the hands remain at the waist and the umbilicus or navel as in the vaisnava-sthāna.1 Although here the position of the hands is also described, yet it is the chest that is the essential feature in a square composition. The position of the hands is to be decided in relation to the chest, that is to say that even the hands in accordance with the situation may not remain at the waist and navel, and still caturaśrya composition is achieved, provided that their position is decided in relation with the chest in such a way that a square composition may still prevail. This can be said because in most of the karanas in which the position of the hands will remain elsewhere, caturaśra composition is essential. Perhaps with this idea in mind Abhinava, commenting on one of the nrttahastas—caturaśrau—says that in order to obtain caturaśrya one should keep khatakāmukhahastas at the distance of eight aṅgulas from the chest while they are in eight aṅgulas distance from each other and while the heads of the deltoids and elbows are kept in one line like a rod of the balance.2 Thus in nrtta as expounded by Bharata what is most important is the square composition. Abhinava clearly says that the vital principle of the body in dance is based on the square, i.e. square composition (caturaśryamūlaṃ nrutte'ṅgāsya jīvitam)3. He goes to the extent of saying that sauṣthava is meant to attain the caturaśrya ('sauṣthavaṃ yadartham tatsarvasāmānyabhūtaṃ caturaśryaṃ')4. It may not be out of place to warn the reader that one need not take this stress on square composition to be a denial of other shapes in the bodily compositions of nrtta. It has been already pointed out that this square composition is prescribed mainly in relation with the chest. So it is not in any way a denial of other compositions. As a matter of fact, all varieties of compositions—square, triangle, circle, and so on do exist in this school of nrtta.

Apart from the nature of individual karanas, which subject we do not treat here, the above remarks on certain general features, like sauṣthava and caturaśrya, would do for the present, to give a general idea of the fact that nrtta rests solely on formal beauty. The formal beauty is obtained through the perfect composition of the

1 ibid.

2 A.B., Vol. II, Ch. 9, p. 71.

3 ibid.

4 ibid. Vol. II, Ch. 10, p. 115.

64 NATYA, NRTTA AND NRTYA: THEIR MEANING AND RELATION

yadā prāptyartha marthānām tajñai rablhinayah krtah kasmāt nrttam krtam hyetat kam svabhāva mapekṣate na gītakārthasambaddham nacāpyarthasaya bhāvakam kasmāt nrttam krtam hyetat gīteṣvāsāriteṣu ca’1

1 N.Ś., Vol. I, Ch. 4, pp. 174-6.

84 INDEX

citra, 47

Citräbhinayädhyāya, 43

Citräñgadā, 78 citta-dravïbläva, 35

Coomaraswamy, Ananda K., 38, 39, 62, 79

Daksayajña, 35 dïnavas, 48, 49

Dāsarïpaka, 1, 6, 10, 11 deśi, 5, 9, 10, 67, 77

De, S.K., 6, 25 devas, 49

Dhananjaya, 1, 5, 9, 11, 20, 47 Dhanika, 1-5, 9, 11, 20, 21, 68

dlvaja, 28 dhvajamaha, 29, 48 dhvani, 8

dïma, 28, 29 dïnti, 35, 63, 64 dombikā, 21, 78

dravïbläva, 63 drṣṭis, 71 drśya, 27

Dvāravatī, Gopīs of, 44 edakäkrïdïtā, 74

gäna, 16, 17, 27 gändharva, Gandharvas, 34, 44

gangävatarana, 54 Gäna-vädya-talanusäri-nṛtta 17, 19

Garba dance, 76 gatis, 74 gätravikṣepa, 2

Ghosh, Manomohan, 46 gïta(s), 19, 65 Gïtakädyabhinayonmukha-nṛtta, 17, 18

Gopïs, 44 guṇas, 64

Harsa, 6, 11 Hastas, 38 Hastalakṣaṇa-dïpikä, 80

hastamudrā (hattamudda), 38

Jambüdvïpa, 27, 44 janghā, 54 Jätaka literature, 38 Java, 75

Jāyana, 56, 57 kaiśikïvrtti, 65, 72

kaläpaka, 56-8 kaläsams, 66, 71 Kallinätha, 54, 57, 59, 68

kapiṭṭha, 51 karana(s), 19, 30, 53-61, 64, 67, 71, 73, 74, 76

Karuna, 19, 64 Kathak, 78, 80 Kathäkali, 63, 66, 77-80

kaṭi, 54 kävya, 7 khalikära, 49

khatakämukha, 51, 60 kiñciccalana, 2 Kohala, 31-3, 40-3, 45, 68

Konärka temple, 61 krï danïyaka, 27 Krṣṇäśva, 24

√kṣip, 8 Kücipüdi, 79 Kumbha Rāṇā, 9, 38, 63

Lalita, 54 lāsya, 18, 34, 35, 37, 39, 44, 45, 62-4, 71, 74, 77

lāsyänga 34 laya, 1, 5, 61, 71, 74, 77 lïnā, 58 lokadharmi, 71

maṇḍaka, 56-8 maṇḍalas, 74 maṇḍalasvastika, 58

madhura, 62 mädhurya, 63, 64 Mahäbhäsya, 37

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