34. NĀȚYAŚĀSTRA 31

NĀȚYAŚĀSTRA 31

for the play; 4 performance of a play1 called za~a before the gods and of त्रिपुरदाह before महादेव; तएडु instructed Bharata as to the various srars (movements of the limbs), arus (postures),2 and as (gestures); origin and technique of the arueq dance; dancing by itself serves no special purpose in dramatic representation, it lends charm to the songs sung;3 5 remarks on पूवरङ्, नान्दी,4 ध्रुवा, प्रस्तावना; 6 five questions of sages, viz. why rasas are so called, what are भावs, संग्रहकारिका & c .; the eleven elements of the sastra in a nutshell (sangraha) are Rasas, Bhavas, Abhinayas, Dharmi, Vrtti, Pravrtti, Siddhi, Svaras, Ātodya, Gāna and Ranga; meanings of kārika, nirukta; the eight (or nine) rasas,5 I The Padmapurāna (V. 12. 81) states that Bharata staged a drama called Laksmīsvayamvara for the gods, in which Urvasi acting the part of Laksmi forgot abhinaya, being engrossed in thoughts about Pururavas and was cursed by Bharata. 2 In the G. O. S. edition of the अभिनवभारतो (vol. I. chap. 4) illustrations of the 108 karanas that are enumerated in verses 34-55 are given, being copied from figures cut into rocks in the east and west gopuras in the Natarāja temple at Chidambaram, where appropriate verses from the Natyasastra are engraved under each posture. The figures were cut in the 13th century A. D. Vide the pictorial Journal 'Marg', vol. V. No. 2 for 108 karanas drawn in line from the carved ones on a gopuram in the Chidambaram temple of Natarāja (pp. 52-71). The 108 dance (Karaņas) poses in chap. 4 of Bharata's Nātyaśāstra are here carved systematically and each sculpture has an inscription (i. e. a verse from chap. 4) describing its structure. In G. O. S. ed. they are verses 61-169. 3 The नाटयशास्त्र says: अत्रोच्यते न खल्वर्थ नृत्त कंचिदपेक्षते। कि तु शोभां जनयतीत्यतो नृत्तमिदं स्मृतम ॥ प्रायेश सर्वलोकस्य नृत्तमिष्टं स्वभावतः। मङल्यमिति कृत्वा च नृत्तमेतत्प्रकीर्तितम्॥ विवाहप्रसवावाहप्रमोदाभ्युदयादिषु। विनोदकरणं चैव नृत्तमेतत् प्रकीर्तितम् । ... गीतप्रयोगमाश्रित्य नृत्यमेतत् प्रनृत्यताम् । chap. 4.260- 263, 265. 4 Vide I. H. Q. vol, 17 (1941) pp. 359-369 for a historic treatment of Nāndi. 5 From the Abhinavabhärati it appears that there were two recensions of the Nātyasastra, one dealing with nine rasas (including śānta), which is contained in the G. O. S. edition and the other speaking of only eight rasas by excluding santa contained in the Chowkhamba edition. Vide a learned papcr of