4. CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER I.

HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS.

PRELIMINARY.

The problem of æsthetics or philosophy of art in India, has been studied, not with reference to music, or plastic or pictorial representation, but mainly in the context of the dramatic presentation. In the main, music and scenic representations have been regarded as auxiliaries to the drama. The reason is obvious. The varied situations of life, which Art makes its province to depict, lend themselves to a more successful representation in drama than in any other class of art. For, drama appeals to the eye and the ear, the senses, which are regarded as pre-eminently 'æsthetic'. Drama marshals all other arts, including that of poetry, to its aid.

The problem has been approached from three different points of view, namely, of the dramatist, of the actor and of the spectator. The study from the former two points of view has naturally been confined to the ways and means of presentation of drama and the latter has been concerned with the analysis of psychological process involved in the enjoyment of the Drama as a whole and with the interpreta- tion of its essential nature.

THE SCOPE. The view, presented above, is based on a study of the available literature on asthetics. There are no doubt references in the texts, which do not deal directly with art, to other works on æsthetics than those to which we can have access. For instance, two works on dramaturgy in

2 CHAPTER I Sutra form, one by Silali1 and the other by Krsaśva, are referred to in Pāņini Sūtras 4,3,110-111. Since their con- tents are not known to us, we shall begin our historical account with Bharata (Circa 500 A. D.), whose work is the earliest available work on the subject. And we shall end our account with Abhinavagupta, (950-1020), whose solution of the problem has been accepted by all the subsequent writers of repute. Thus, the history of Indian æsthetics extends over a period of five hundred years. During the first three hundred and fifty years of this period, that is, from the time of Bharata (500 A. D.) to that of Bhatta Lollața (Circa 850) the problem of æsthetics was mainly one of technique. In fact, the sole aim of Bharata's Nātya Śastra is to instruct2 the dramatist, the stage-manager and the actors in regard to the ways and means of producing the drama, to tell them the necessary constituents of the drama and the manner and material of their presentation. The point is made very clear by the frequent use of such words as "Tamabhinayet" and "Yojyam" etc. RELIGIOUS ORIGIN OF DRAMA. Origin of drama is closely connected with the Hindu Religious Trinity, (1) Brahma (2) Vișnu and (3) Maheśvara. Bharata, in the very beginning of his Nātya Sastra, pays obeisance to Brahma3 and Mahesvara for no other reason than that he recognises the former to be the originator of drama and the latter to be the originator of dance. This4 is a view, expressed by Abhinavagupta himself, as stated in the course of his interpretation of the verse in question. Bharata mentions Prajapati, the originator of drama, first, 1. S. K., 253. 2 .= A. Bh. Vol. I. 7. 3. A. Bh. Vol. I. 1. 4. A. Bh. Vol. I. 2.