1. Indian Theater Traditioc Coninuity and Change Nemichandra Jain

INDIAN

THEATRE

TRADITION,

CONTINUITY

AND

CHANGE

Indian

Theatre

Tradition,

Continuity

and

Change

69430

24783

NEMICHANDRA

JAIN

VIKAS

PUBLISHING

HOUSE

PVT

LTD

VIKAS PUBLISHING HOUSE PVT LTD

576, Masjid Road, Jangpura, New Delhi 110014

Copyright © Nemichandra Jain, 1992

ISBN 0-7069-6377-6

Typeset at PrintCraft, New Delhi-110055.

Printed at Ramprintograph, Delhi-110053.

For

Devendra

and

Urmi

Contents

1. Origin and Flowering

11

2. The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

32

3. Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

63

Preface

It is generally believed that drama and theatre like many other things are a Western gift to India. We may have had some popular entertainments like the Nautanki or the Jatra but these had little to do with drama to which we were introduced by the British through our contact with English literature, particularly Shakespeare. It is also said that the Sanskrit drama was more of dramatic poetry than drama proper, and even that had become extinct and was rediscovered for India by the western scholars. In a sense, this unfortunate impression was confirmed by the readiness with which we adopted and have been almost slavishly imitating, the western models of dramatic writing and theatrical presentation for the last two hundred years. As a result, our theatre people, until very recently, knew Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen, Aristotle’s Poetics or even Commedia dellarte, but almost nothing of Kalidasa, Shudrak, and the Natya Shastra or the Kutiattam, Yakshagana, Bhavai or Swang.

The present brief introduction to Indian theatre is an attempt to question, examine and reject this false assumption, carefully implanted and nurtured by the

10

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

colonial rulers and blindly accepted by successive

generations of our westernised elite. This study aims

at providing a very brief glimpse of the fascinatingly

rich and varied journey of Indian theatre through

thirty centuries if not more. It attempts to highlight

its achievements in different phases and underlines

the strands of change and continuity in its unusually

long course.

Indian theatre has had a very distinct identity,

with its specific aesthetics, artistic objectives and

creative methods, many of which are very relevant

even today. In fact, our theatre has now reached a

point where it cannot make much headway without

coming to terms with its own unique and unparalleled

tradition, to which imaginative theatre persons even

in the West are now turning. If this rather elementary

exposition succeeds in arousing some curiosity and

interest of our theatre practitioners and scholars in

the vitality of our theatre tradition, it will have served

its purpose.

This book is a revised and enlarged version of three

lectures delivered by me at Sagar University at the

invitation of the Madhya Pradesh Higher Education

Grants Commission. I am indebted to various theatre

institutions, repertory companies, and groups all

over the country for generously providing the photo-

graphs of their productions, and to Sangeet Natak

Akademi, New Delhi for pictures of the traditional

theatre and some other important plays.

michandra Jain

Chapter 1

Origin and Flowering

The distinctiveness of Indian theatre tradition in the

dramatic cultures of the world—its antiquity as well

as its imaginative and aesthetic quality—is more or

less indisputable today. The roots of the theatre in

our country are certainly very old and deep. Theatrical

expression of some kind has been, since primitive

and mythic ages, an integral part of Indian life. At the

same time, it has undergone wide-ranging,

fundamental changes during the last two to three

thousand years. Broadly speaking, we can say that

for a few centuries theatre formed part of the life of

common people as ritualistic music and dance,

story-telling and tableaus on special occasions. Subse-

quently, its different forms crystallised, were adopted

by the upper strata of society and continued as such

for more than a thousand years, some of which have

come down to us as Sanskrit drama and theatre.

Our knowledge about the initial, primitive stage of

theatrical activity is very meagre. However, we can

safely assert that in India, as in other cultures, the

theatrical activity began with primitive magical,

religious or social rites, ritualistic dances, festivals

etc. Even today, many tribes in different parts of the

12

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

country perform rituals related to birth, death, puberty,

marriage, food gathering, hunting, battles and

propitiation of their gods, goddesses and primordial

forces, in which the dramatic or theatrical elements

are prominent. In order to ward off an imminent

danger, to ensure success in some future battle, the

tribes mimic and identify with imagined situations

and individuals through ritualistic dance movements,

accompanied by incantations, suggestive sounds and

instrumental music. We can, therefore, reasonably

believe that in the distant past, different tribes and

primitive communities living in this country or those

coming from outside must have had similar dramatic

elements in their rituals.

In the rites and ritualistic activity related to yajnas

of the Vedic age, many situations and actions had

pronounced theatrical aspects. There are frequent

references in the Vedic literature to song, dance,

musical instruments, decorative materials and

properties, and to people connected with these

activities, like the Gandharva, Suta, Shailush, Kari,

Apsara, Veena player and so on. Besides, many

Suktas of Rig-Veda, like Yam-Yami, Pururava-Urvashi,

Vishwamitra-Nadi, Agastya-Lopamudra, Indra-Aditi

etc. are in the form of dialogue, suggestive of an

enactment. Later, with the ballad singing and the

musical rendering of the lives of the heroes and other

eminent personages of the community, or in just

ordinary story-telling, most of the requirements of the

early dramatic forms begin to appear. No wonder,

there are references to drama, dancers, musicians

and actors (Kushilava) etc. in Valmiki's Ramayana, of

Suta and Magadha, dance and drama in the

Mahabharata, to dramatisation of the Ramayana in

the Harivamsha Purana, and about the actor and

dance, drama and music in the Bhagavata Purana,

Origin and Flowering

Markandeya Purana, and so on.

By the time we reach the historical period, we find

that in the Buddhist and Jain texts monks are

prohibited from watching dramatic performances,

which would suggest that such performances were

tempting or absorbing enough to disturb the monk's

concentration. In the well-known work of Panini, the

Ashtadhyayee, composed about the fourth century

B.C., there are mentions of dramatic works and

performers. A commentary on this work by Patanjali

describes the conditions of the families of performers

and producers. The Arthashastra of Kautilya has

references to performances, dances, music, musical

instruments, and to people who made their living

from theatre.

All these references from texts composed or compiled

between the sixth-fifth century B.C., or even earlier,

to the second-third century A.D., indicate that the

theatrical tradition in this country goes back to

ancient times. This activity seems to have consisted

mainly of musical or dance-based enactments, simple

or dramatic singing with some acting, miming of

heroic sagas, ballads, legends, popular stories or just

ordinary narratives. The Patanjali Mahabhashya,

however, mentions plays, called Kamavadha,

Balibandhan. Some fragments of a dramatic work of

the Buddhist poet-playwright Ashvaghosha of the

third century B.C., called Sariputta Prakarana, have

also been found. The well-known treatise on

dramaturgy, the Natyashastra by Bharata Muni,

speaks of plays called Devasurasangrama,

Amritamanthana and Tripuradaha in the myth related

to the origin of drama.

On the basis of all these references, it can be safely

asserted that some kind of theatrical activity with

elements of music, dance, acting had been in vogue in

14

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

this country for at least a thousand years before the

Christian era. With the appearance of more favourable

socio-cultural conditions, it gradually acquired more

regular and complex forms, such as those of Sanskrit

drama and theatre. Thus began that fascinating

period of the unique flowering and achievements of

the Indian dramatic tradition.

In this new phase, plays of different kinds, styles

and artistic excellence were written in Sanskrit, the

language of literary expression at that time. Many

innovative and often highly sophisticated styles for

the presentation of those plays were also developed.

This burst of energy was not confined to creative

exploration–dramatic writing and staging. It also

found expression in a very serious and systematic

original thinking about almost all theoretical and

practical aspects of the theatrical art, best exemplified

by the illuminative Natyashastra, a comprehensive

treatise or compendium on the dramatic art by

Bharata Muni, unparalleled anywhere in the world.

It is a measure of the importance of drama and

theatre in Indian life that the Natyashastra has been

given the status of the Fifth Veda. This glorification of

the Natyashastra is neither unfounded nor accidental.

There is no element of the art of drama and theatre

that has not been discussed here extensively, in great

depth, and with insight. In fact, the Natyashastra is

the primary and most important source of fundamental

principles and ideas, not only about drama and

theatre but also about other performing arts, like

music and dance, as well as poetry. That is the

reason, why its impact has been so far-reaching that

even after about two thousand years it is still relevant

and useful. Probably, it is the work not of one but

many individuals, through several generations, incor-

porating their accumulated experience, knowledge

Origin and Flowering

15

and ideas,

The Natyashastra also seems to suggest continuous

and regular theatrical activity in different parts of the

country during the centuries when it was compiled,

because without any actual direct experience it would

have been impossible even to think of all those ideas

or problems so elaborately discussed in this unique

work.

An estimate of the important role of the theatre in

India can also be made from the myth about the

origin of the theatre or Natya given in the Natya-

shastra. The myth mentions, among other things,

that the Natyaveda was created by the great god

Brahma himself who said:

'I have prepared this Natyaveda which will determine

the good luck or bad luck, and take into account

acts and ideas, of Devas as well as of the Daityas..the

drama is a representation of the state of the Three

Worlds. In it sometimes there is reference to duty,

sometimes to games, to money, to peace; in it is

found laughter, fight, love-making and sometimes

killing of people... It teaches duty to those bent on

duty, love to those who are eager for its fulfilment;

it chastises those who are ill-bred or unruly,

promotes self-restraint in the disciplined, energy in

heroic persons, enlightens men of poor intellect; it

gives courage to cowards, wisdom to the learned,

diversion to kings, and firmness of mind to persons

afflicted with sorrow, composure to persons agitated

in mind... It is a mimicry of actions and conducts of

people rich in various emotions, and which depicts

different situations.... It will relate to actions of men

good, bad and indifferent, and will give courage,

amusement and happiness as well as counsel to

them all. There is no wise maxim, no learning, no

16

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

art or craft, no device, no action that is not found in

the Natyas'

Probably, in no theatrical culture in the world such

a significant and all-pervading role has been visualised

for drama and theatre. As a result, theatrical activity

in this country has always been regarded as not

merely a religious ritual or only a form of entertain-

ment, but an important means and instrument for

controlling and containing the distortions arising in

the life of an individual or society, and to guide them

into an edifying direction. Our theatre in its history of

two to three thousand years has almost always had

this place in society, and a retention of the sensibility

of an individual or group through the theatrical

experience is an expectation within which has become a part

of the Indian psyche.

Apart from this theoretical aspect about drama

and theatre, the image of Indian theatre tradition

which emerges from the extant Sanskrit works in

Sanskrit is no less amazing. They present the

specific Indian world-view. They reveal a picturesque

manner how a human being with his temperament,

capacity and objective, passes through a variety

of situations, with all their joys and woes, exultations

and disappointments. This has a process and achieves

equilibrium and harmony of life which

gives meaning to his life.

The Sanskrit dramatic works depict mental

states, emotions and ideas, desires and aspirations,

strengths and weaknesses, basic and social

questions as well as individual perceptions. They

also present a many-layered, fascinating picture of

the social, political, economic and cultural life of

those times. Plays like Muditavijayoga, Urubhanga, Swapnavasavadatta, Pratima, Abhijnan

Origin and Flowering

17

Shankutala, Vikramorvashiya, Mrichchhakatika, Mudrarakshasa, Uttararamacharita, Ratnavali, Kundamala, Bhagavadejjukiya are glorious works that would bring credit to any literature. For their keen insight, delicate aesthetic sense, structural skill and variety, dramatic and theatrical quality of the language, and excellence of their poetry, they have a distinct place in world dramatic literature.

There is no intention here to attempt a detailed analysis or the evaluation of the entire Sanskrit dramatic literature or of any individual play. But it would be relevant to mention some of the elements of their content, form, and craft. Even a cursory glance at the important plays, of Bhasa to Bodhayana, from the pre-Christian era to the 7th century A.D., reveals that though the plots of most of them are from the Puranas or the epics like the Ramayana, Mahabharata, there is no dearth of plays based on historical events and personages or on imagined situations and characters. Bhasa himself, who is considered to be the earliest playwright, has written plays based on the Ramayana and the Mahabharata—Pratima, Abhisheka, Madhyama Vyayoga, Urubhanga, Karnabhara—as well as on stories from popular tales or almost imaginary events and episodes—Swapnavasavadatta, Pratijna Yaugandharayana, Avimaraka and others. Similarly, Malavikagnimitra of Kalidasa, Mrichchhakatika of Shudraka, Malati-madhava of Bhavabhooti, Mudrarakshasa of Vishakha-datta, are plays making extensive use of historical events and characters.

Bhasa's renderings of episodes from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are different from those of the later playwrights. His choice and presentation of episodes suggests that though the tradition of musical enactment of mythological stories and episodes from

18

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

the epics was still alive and strong during his time,

another theatre tradition had also meanwhile emerged

which led him to structure his stories in different

dramatic forms and styles which were eventually

mentioned as various Roopak as in the Natyashastra.

In his plays, even the mythological episodes have a

wider moral and human perspective. At the same

time, they provide a great scope for emotional conflict,

dramatic irony and intensity of dramatic action.

Bhasa with his rich imagination has infused them

with many motifs that make them more stageworthy

and popular. In only two of his plays—

Swapnavasavadatta and Pratijna Yaugandharayana,

both connected with the Udayana episode—a love

story is in the centre, but even that has been

presented in the context of a distinct political and

social well-being. This method of linking individual

happiness and tragedy, success and failure, with

wider social values is in keeping with the basic Indian

dramatic approach.

In this respect, the Kalidasa plays are different

from the Bhasa plays. All three of them are essentially

love stories. In Vikramorvashi and Abhijnan

Shakuntala, there is love between a man and an

Apsara (divine nymph) and a man and an Apsara-

born woman respectively. Here it must be mentioned

that Kalidasa has given the available mythical episodes

a new form and meaning according to his own

creative purposes. In these plays, social and moral

contexts are suggested through the irony of the

situation, or through the emotional states and deep

internal agony of the characters. But the human

emotions in their different states are treated with

such an imaginative insight and sophistication that a

unique blend of poetry and theatricality is achieved.

From this point of view, the plays of Kalidasa remind

one of Shakespeare's plays, though in Shakespeare

the theatricality of situations is as strong as that of

emotions and feelings, while in Kalidasa, the dramatic

organisation of human emotions and feelings in their

variety overshadows the situations.

In Mricchakatika by Shudraka, again, a love

story is presented against the backdrop of social and

political upheaval. Here the perspective of political

anarchy, dissatisfaction and rebellion is so wide and

central that often it appears that the playwright has

used the Charudatta-Vasantsena episodes only to

intensify that conflict and to make it more poignant.

In this play, through its numerous characters and

their personal relations, so many forms and levels of

social life are revealed that in many ways it can be

considered an important document of the socio-

political life of an entire epoch.

Mudrarakshasa by Vishakhadatta is totally a play

of political conflict and power and consequent clash

of various power centres and their intrigues, espionage,

and counter-espionage, though even these have a

relevant moral purpose. The play makes it more than

clear that all the political machinations and stratagems

of Chanakya are motivated not for any personal

aggrandisement or capture of power, but by his desire

to establish a more just and competent regime.

Bhavabhooti wrote three plays. Two of these—

Mahavircharita and Uttararamcharita—are based

on the Rama story; and a love tale from Kathasarita-

sagara provides the plot of the third, Malatimadhava.

Specially in Uttararamcharita, there is a very moving

presentation of the conflict between the pathos created

by the irony of Sita's life and the social and individual

morality of the times.

Two satirical comedies (Prahasanas)—Mahendra

Vikrama's Mattavilasa and Bodhayana's Bhagava-

20

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

deijukiya—must be mentioned for their different kind

of dramatic action and treatment of social life. They

present a very fascinating picture of the degeneration

of the moral values and behaviour among various

religious orders of the sixth-seventh centuries. To

some extent, this can also be seen in the single-actor

short plays called Bhanas. In fact, in the Sanskrit

dramatic literature, the extraordinarily imaginative

rendering of mythological and other popular tales

reveals many levels of human experience, social

relations and individual responses.

Such a wide and sensitive presentation of life in the

Sanskrit plays is not accidental. It is based on a very

profound philosophical outlook, a comprehensive

world-view and a highly developed aesthetics that has

come down to us as the theory of the Rasa. The

Sanskrit plays do not present a superficial, realistic

reflection of life. They accomplish, with a profound

moral and aesthetic discrimination, an artistic, imagi-

native 'imitation' (Anukarana) or picture of actions,

feelings and various situations of human life, so that

through an experience of a state of bliss, a deeper

realisation of truth may be possible. The Indian view

of life does not accept that a human being is a puppet

in the hands of inscrutable, mysterious, blind, super-

natural forces, condemned to struggle, but destined

to face a pre-determined tragedy. That is why in

Sanskrit plays, instead of the usual exposition of any

gradually intensifying real or imaginary personal

predicament or sense of sin, we have a portrayal of

the joys and sufferings, success and failure, ecstasy

and pathos, union and sepa: ation, laughter and tears

of a person in his or her normal behaviour in various

personal and social situations.

It is for this reason that Sanskrit plays, unlike

Greek drama, defy categorisation into tragedy and

comedy. Instead, they are categorised according to

social and mental status of the protagonists and their

consequent actions. The ten kinds of plays, called

Dasha Roopakain the Natyashastra, are classified on

the basis of the nature and character of the hero, the

form and type of the action, not by dividing human

life into the artificial and externally imposed frames

like tragic and comic. The available Sanskrit plays

invariably conform to this categorisation.

Naturally, in their structure also, they substantially

differ from the Western drama, with a distinct kind of

dramatic craft rooted in another aesthetic. Their

dramatic organisation and treatment of the story

material are more varied and flexible. Within the

various Roopak as-from the Nataka, Prakarana,

Natika, which are full of incidents and characters, to

the one-act Veethi, Anka or Bhana-they show a

variety of dramatic structures. In the Sanskrit plays,

there is a pronounced emphasis on the continuity of

dramatic action and a number of devices like,

Vishkambhaka, Praveshaka, Choolika, are used, to

bring out the nuances of the story, apart from the

various characters themselves speaking about past

events and incidents in different ways at different

times. This flexibility often facilitates the incorporation

of a number of main or secondary story elements,

treated simultaneously and sustained without any

mix-up.

Since the Sanskrit plays regard drama as drama or

make-believe, and not reality, their treatment of Time

and Space is imaginative and not realistic or

conditioned by the so-called unities of time and place.

To indicate the change of time and locale, sometimes

a character mentions the change, or it is communicated

by the conventions of the movement of the actors from

one stage area to another. For this reason, and

22

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

because of the Sanskrit drama being basically acting

or actor-oriented, there is no need for realistic or any

other kind of scene-setting. Frequently, some character

himself creates a living, sensuous picture of the place

and surroundings by his detailed poetic description

before the spectators. That is why only a very few

dramatic properties have been mentioned in the

Sanskrit texts, and those too for a theatrical use or

miming.

This freedom has enabled the Sanskrit dramatist to

incorporate in his dramatic action, natural and

supernatural events, human and super-human

characters, animals, birds, and other animals, even

trees or inanimate objects. The inherent possibility of

presenting different layers of reality in its totality

gives to the craft of the Sanskrit drama an unparallelled

power and inclusiveness.

Another distinguishing feature of Sanskrit plays is

a many-level organisation of communication between

the characters. The Sanskrit plays use prose,

recitation, verses and songs, thus giving great flexi-

bility to the dramatic speech and an incredible variety

and complexity of expression, from just narrativeness

to many layers and shades of human emotion. This is

very important for the actor, because this variety in

the speech gives him an opportunity to make his

verbal communication more interesting and effective.

Besides, to make the speech lively, natural and

appropriate to the characters, the Sanskrit plays use

standard Sanskrit as well as different Prakrits or

dialects. This makes the characters more credible, it

becomes easier for the spectators to identify with

them, apart from making the speech attractive by the

varying verbal music of the dialects.

For communicating some abstract, indirect or

mental aspects of the dramatic action on the stage,

Origin and Flowering

23

the Sanskrit plays resort to a number of inventive devices. There is, of course, the swagata or aside in which a character expresses his reaction or feeling when alone or in the presence of others, which is similar to such devices in the western drama. But the Sanskrit drama has two other devices called janantika and apavarita, in which two characters exchange ideas or reactions which are not intended for others, or to say something which is heard by all the other characters except the one who is being referred to. Of course, all these expressions are heard by the audience. Similarly, the Sanskrit plays have announcements or conversation from the nepathya or backstage, besides the akashavani through which super-natural characters communicate. All these devices, while maintaining an uninterrupted flow of dramatic action, create a kind of audio-visual attractiveness. They all have a fascinating and imaginative blend of naturalness and stylisation, in other words, of theatricality.

In fact, the Sanskrit dramatic structure is finely tuned to either of the two production styles-the codified or stylised or the representational technique, called the natyadharni, as well as the comparatively more flexible, popular method, called the lokadharni. Some of the stories in the plays have a dramatic action in which an external conflict and physical movements are more important, while in others the inner psychological life; some have a predominance of the hard, accentuated or frightening mental states, while others of softer, delicate and pleasant feelings. Some require emphasis on verbal expression, while the others need more of music and dance. The style of the Sanskrit drama is determined by these differences, which facilitates the work of the director and the performer.

24

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

After these general observations about the structural or stylistic methods of the Sanskrit drama, it would now be appropriate to turn to the Sanskrit theatre. Here, it is necessary to state that, except for Kutiyattam in Kerala, no tradition of staging Sanskrit plays is extant in the country.

Even in Kutiyattam, there is much greater emphasis on a detailed explanation and comments on Sanskrit speeches or verses in Malayalam by the vidushaka or the jester, rather than on the Sanskrit text itself. Accordingly, elaboration of one act, scene or an episode of a play, or even one line or verse, continues for hours, sometimes even days together, by various devices of miming and acting.

Undoubtedly, Kudiyattam reveals many conventions, devices and methods of the Sanskrit stage presentation. Even so, it is at best one of the styles of the dakshinatya or the Southern approach to performance, and it would not be correct to consider it as the only or main representative style of the Sanskrit theatre.

Unfortunately, no other accounts of actual presentation of the Sanskrit plays are available. Under these circumstances, whatever we know or say about the Sanskrit theatre is based mostly on Bharata's Natyashastra and some later commentaries on that work, or, to an extent, on the structure of the available plays and the internal evidence of their stage directions.

Lately, there has also been an attempt to determine the staging methods in the Sanskrit theatre from the traditional theatrical styles in different regions. Many directors have tried to recreate the Sanskrit plays on the stage by various methods.

But, on the whole, this entire exercise is still in its initial stages, and it would not be very proper to come to any definite conclusion on its basis.

In spite of these limitations, a few observations can

Origin and Flowering

25

be made on the subject. The Sanskrit theatre, despite

an integral importance of the dramatic script, is

acting-oriented, in which there is great emphasis on

the talent, creative imagination and technical skill of

the performer. This is borne out by the structure of

the plays as well as the detailed and intricate analysis

of various aspects of acting in the Natyashastra. In

this context, the wide connotation of acting or abhinaya

as elaborated in the Natyashastra is as notable as it

is different from the western concept of acting.

The objective of abhinaya, according to the Sanskrit

dramaturgy, is to create a feeling of bliss or Ananda

in the mind of the spectators by revealing various

mental states of a character. In actual life, various

basic human emotions, like love, pity, fear, anger,

produce different mental states. But in a play, when

the actors show the characters passing through

various sentiments and their clash, the spectators

experience them in a manner that in the end a feeling

of satisfaction and fulfilment or Ananda is produced.

The aim of abhinaya in the Sanskrit theatre is to

create the Rasa or Ananda. This concept of acting is

completely different from the Greek or the Aristotelian

concept of catharsis, according to which an intense

experience of emotions like terror, fear and pity in

tragic plays leads to a catharsis, or purges human

beings of these emotions.

For creating Rasa or Ananda, the performer in a

Sanskrit play shows various sentiments and emotional

states of the character through his movements of

eyes, lips and other organs, besides words and

sounds. Instead of being submerged in any emotion,

he attempts by his multi-dimensional, complex

expressions to enable the spectators to experience

them. That is the reason why in the Sanskrit acting,

so much importance is accorded to the main and

26

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

supplementary, changing mental states, as well as

the physical manifestations connected with these

states of the character or patra, i.e., the receptacle of

emotions, as he is called in the Sanskrit dramaturgy.

The main objective of the Sanskrit abhinaya is to

concretise and physicalise various basic emotions

and consequent mental reactions.

The Sanskrit theatre emphasises the use of all the

faculties or the total personality of an actor. In the

angika abhinaya or physical acting, not only are all

parts of the body regarded as a means of expression,

but different meanings are ascribed to their

movements, particularly the gestures or formations of

hands, fingers, the movement of the eyes and various

poses and postures of the body, separately as well as

in conjunction. This ultimately leads to almost an

entire language of gestures. The movements of the

feet, for example, range from the very simple, ordinary

walking to the intricate and complex dance movements.

In the Sanskrit Abhinaya, there is an insistence on

acting through the entire body, or total acting, and it

is necessary for an actor to be proficient in dance.

Similarly, for the vachika abhinaya or acting through

words, not only a simple knowledge of the Sanskrit

language as well as of the Prakritas or the regional

dialects, but also a deeper understanding of their

metres, rhythms and poetry is necessary. In addition,

proficiency in music or singing is indispensable. In a

Sanskrit performance, singing is incorporated in a

carefully designed manner in various forms and at

various levels.

But in a performance, often, even before the

physical movements and voice of the actor, his

appearance and costumes create an impact on the

spectators and give them an impression of the

personality of the character. That is the reason why in

Origin and Flowering

27

the Sanskrit theatre, keeping in view the total personality of the actor, his costumes, make-up and even the properties required by him on the stage, have been included as the āhārya abhinaya in the art of acting.

Various objects, activities and changes in the natural world—hills, rivers, trees, birds and animals, morning, evening and night, or sky, moon, sun, stars and even heaven, hell or the earth—are all sought to be expressed through abhinaya, and a gesture language for suggesting these has been developed. In fact, there is no external activity or internal experience in life for which appropriate expression or technique is not available to the actor on the Sanskrit stage.

This has been possible because, in the Sanskrit acting tradition, there is no attempt to simulate reality or to look real, but to show or suggest reality. The Sanskrit theatre considers stage presentation not an imitation of reality, but its recreation with a special objective, in which the external and the internal, the visible and the invisible, the expressed and the inherent, the direct and the indirect, the sensuous and the abstract, the worldly and the supernatural—all the levels and forms are included. For this purpose, all possible methods and techniques can be used, including the natyadharmi, i.e., 'the totally classical, or stylised, and the lokadharmi, i.e., those based on natural or popular expressions or usages. But even in the popular techniques there is an attempt not to imitate the real, but to make use of direct, spontaneous and concrete physical movements or vocal expressions in place of the codified, classical gestures etc. For this purpose, the actc: is free to draw upon styles and techniques prevalent in different regions in the country.

The Sanskrit performance begins with the poorva-

28

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

ranga or the preliminaries. The poorvaranga is, on the

one hand, an initial religious ritual for propitiating

the gods, in order to protect the performance from all

kinds of disturbances, to create an atmosphere

suitable to the dignity and importance of the theatrical

creation, and to indicate to the actors to be fully ready

to enter into an appropriate mental state for the

performance. On the other hand, the poorvaranga

also induces the spectators to watch with greater

concentration. The instrumental music and dance of

the poorvaranga are attractive and imaginative devices

for riveting the spectators' attention to the performance.

On another level, the characters like the sutradhara

or the director and the vidushaka or the jester also

contribute to involving the spectators in the action of

the performance. Ordinarily, in a Sanskrit play, the

sutradhara comes only in the beginning and leaves

after introducing the play, the playwright and the

objective of the presentation, and does not appear

again till about the end of the performance. But even

in this very brief appearance, he underlines the fact

that the performance is meant for the spectators,

specially the initiated, that is the sensitive and

knowledgeable spectators called the sahridayas. On

accotint of this constant reference and relatedness to

the spectators, the Sanskrit dramatic presentation

can never become a mere religious ritual or an

illusion of reality.

The vidushaka relates the performance to the

spectators in yet another manner. It is a basic

premise of the Sanskrt dramaturgy that a dramatic

presentation is primarily a means of experiencing the

Rasa or bliss. Only through pleasing the spectators

can it do anything else, specially the edification or

enlightenment of the audience. That is one reason

why humour and its main source the vidushaka have

Origin and Flowering

29

been given an important place in the Sanskrit drama. In the performance, the vidushaka carries out in many ways, his responsibilities of furthering the dramatic action, of satire or comment, or of amusement of the spectators by his mere presence.

Some of the features of a Sanskrit dramatic performance have been indicated in our discussion about kakshyavibhaga or the imaginary division of the stage into different areas, by which various locales can be suggested without any scenic change. Here a few other usages can be mentioned. One is the use of the rangapati or a small curtain carried by stage-hands to indicate or to facilitate the entry of the characters 'entering seated'. In fact, this indicates the appearance or revelation of the characters in some particular pose or state from behind the hand-held curtain. On the Sanskrit stage, the exit and entrance of a character do not mean the same thing as in a proscenium theatre or generally on the western stage. This curtain or rangapati is used in a Sanskrit dramatic performance in many ways—for making the revelation or the appearance of the characters on the stage more attractive, interesting or dramatic, for indicating their importance, for heightening suspense, and to stimulate the attention of the spectators.

On the whole, an analysis of a Sanskrit performance reveals a flexible theatrical style which emphasises the capacity and skill of a performer to create a magical world, and not an external spectacle. Such recognition of the power of the art of acting is, probably, not found in any other theatrical culture. The Sanskrit dramatic tradition indicates a significant achievement of man's creative endeavors.

But this theatre, established on such a strong base of theory and practice, had disintegrated gradually by

30

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

the 10th century A.D. Subsequently, a few Sanskrit

plays were certainly written and occasionally also

performed in princely courts, but they were mainly

literary exercises, with little relation to dramatic

performance or genuine theatre. There are many

reasons for this decline–social and political instability

created by foreign invasion and internal conflicts, loss

of creative energy in the Sanskrit language gradually

confined to a small elite, fall in the standard of

dramatic writing due to lack of talent, and loss of

appeal for common spectators etc., etc.

For the next one thousand years, the theatrical

activity took place not in Sanskrit but in different

regional languages, which, like Tamil, Kannada and

other languages of the South, were already vehicles of

creative expression; or those which were emerging out

of the Prakritas and the Apabhransha and acquiring

their own specific character. Not that theatrical work

in Sanskrit ended altogether. Theatrical performances

entirely in Sanskrit, based on Jayadeva's Geeta

Govinda, or in mixed Sanskrit and regional languages,

like the Kutiyattam, continued in different parts of the

country. But one, their number was from the beginning

very small, and secondly, later even this gradually

stopped, and in every region almost the entire theatrical

activity was confined to the regional language only,

which continues even today.

But, in spite of this change in the language, the

relation of this new activity with the Sanskrit drama

and theatre was not entirely snapped. It was a kind of

transformation or new extension in the changed

conditions. Particularly, through the Natyashastra

and its various conventions, usages and methods, the

new theatrical practice remained related to the Sanskrit

theatre. In fact, in the theatres or the natyas of

different languages, a fusion of many regional traditions

Origin and Flowering

31

with the Sanskrit tradition took place. Some of these had come to the Sanskrit theatre itself, in the beginning, from different regions, and had been incorporated into the Sanskrit dramatic forms and their production styles. Thus, the new theatrical work, now in different regional languages, indicated yet another stage of the Indian dramatic tradition, in which along with a wider continuity of the Indian dramatic art, the continuity of the Sanskrit theatre was also implied.

In this dialectic of continuity and change the new undoubtedly was predominant. The central place and domination of the Sanskrit language had ended and various regional languages, and their distinct social, cultural, literary, specially the theatrical, practices, trends and methods were acquiring importance. Now for the first time, in the field of theatrical activity, along with the unity, the cultural diversity and richness of the country were also finding full expression.

Chapter 2

The Medieval Tradition

and Its Extension

After this brief survey of the rise and development of the Indian theatre tradition, an attempt can now be made to understand the character of the next stage of theatrical activity. But before doing that, it would be worthwhile to dwell briefly on one important point.

This phase of the Indian theatre is spread over a period of about one thousand years, and many of its strands and forms have continued upto the present day. The activity in this entire phase is often called 'folk theatre' today, because, unlike the town-based classical Sanskrit theatre, it has flourished in the countryside. This nomenclature is misleading for a number of reasons. During this long and extended phase of our theatrical pursuit, many of the dramatic modes and styles, developed in different regions and languages, have innumerable elements of our classical arts. It is, therefore, improper to call them folk theatre, mainly in imitation and due to the influence of the western historians, sociologists and other academics etc., only because they have been preserved and developed in our rural communities.

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

33

A large number of them are not spontaneous or simple like the songs, dances, or pictorial representations of any tribal, agricultural or rural community.

The structures and techniques of many of these theatrical expressions are complex, and for any proficiency in them a prolonged training and practice is indispensable, besides some proficiency in music and dance and knowledge of the Puranas, epics and poetry.

The miming and acting in the Kutiyattam or the Kuchipudi, dancing in the Yakshagana, or singing and drumming in Swang or the Nautanki, cannot be acquired without considerable training.

For any excellence in them, it is necessary to learn from a Guru or a teacher almost, if not totally, like other classical arts of the country.

That is why many serious scholars and practitioners of these theatrical modes or naṭyas, keeping their special characteristics in mind, have increasingly come to call them 'traditional' rather than 'folk' theatre.

This new description also is a little wide and, therefore, inadequate to some extent.

But compared to the 'folk', the 'traditional' is nearer the distinct characteristics of these theatrical modes, and at the same time separates them from both the classical Sanskrit as well as the modern theatre.

It is also necessary to repeat here that though all these theatrical modes of different regions and languages are being examined under the common category of traditional theatre, on account of some shared characteristics, they have tremendous diversity and variety of approach and methods.

Thus, though they have many elements of the Sanskrit theatre tradition, these have inevitably been changed or transformed and assimilated according to the distinct geographical, historical, social and cultural conditions of each region.

34

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

In fact, it can be said with reasonable certainty that

even at the time when the Sanskrit theatre was at its

zenith, different regions of the country had their own

local performance styles and structures, nearer to the

life of the common people which were important

means of their entertainment. Such a view is not mere

guess work. The Natyashastra itself speaks of four

broad styles or manners of theatre specified according

to the regions of north, south, east and west. Many

other works on dramaturgy mention the Uparoopakas

or minor dramatic modes which are, more or less

definitely, indicative of regional theatres.

It can, therefore, be surmised that with the growing

inactivity of the Sanskrit theatre and consequent

decline in interest and patronage, most of the theatre

people-producers, actors, teachers and other

experts-gradually left those centres and, returning

to their own or other regions, involved themselves in

the popular theatrical activity there. Thus the

sophisticated methods and usages of the Sanskrit

theatre must have been incorporated into the simple

but more vital performance styles popular or prevalent

among the common people. Actually, this process of

fusion or mutual give-and-take operated on many

levels-between the classical and the popular, the

multi-regional and the local, the everlasting and the

immediate, the religious and the secular, the written

and the oral. This fusion or mutual exchange took

place between all modes of expression, including the

literary, performing and graphic arts, and they were

all influenced and enriched in the process.

Among the performing arts, besides the context of

the Sanskrit plays and their staging methods, such

give-and-take occurred between the ballad-singing of

the wandering minstrels, the Harikatha and the

Kirtana or singing of the devotional stories, and the

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

35

ritualistic and other forms of music and dance. Thus,

dramatic modes or natyas with different flavour and

structures, in keeping with the specific social and

cultural tendencies of various regions, came into

existence and developed. This process continued in

different regions from the 10th–11th centuries right

upto the 19th century. This is true as much of the

complex, semi-classical and Sanskrit-Malayalam

mixed dramatic mode, Kutiyattam of Kerala, of the

9th and 10th centuries, as of Kashmir's popular

theatre, Bhand Pathra of the 16th–17th centuries.

Thus began the medieval phase of the Indian

theatre, not only fascinating in itself, but also

somewhat unusual in the history of world theatre.

Though it is often called a period of decay or decline

in comparison with the Sanskrit drama and theatre,

this estimate is based on very narrow and one-sided

criteria. In actual fact, the theatre of this phase,

besides being in many ways very imaginative and

vital, is closely related to the life of the people which is

its great strength. But before commenting further on

this aspect, it is necessary to identify some of the

major characteristics of this theatrical activity.

The most important feature noticed in this phase is

the change in the importance and nature of the

written dramatic text. It may probably be more

appropriate to say that drama as a creative work in

itself has almost ceased to exist in the regional

theatres of medieval times. In the Sanskrit theatre,

the dramatist and his work had a central place and

importance. Indeed, without the great dramatic works

of Bhasa, Kalidasa, Shudraka, Vishakhadatta,

Bhavabhuti, Shriharsha, Bodhayana and others, it is

impossible to think of the Sanskrit theatre or its

distinctive character.

But, in the subsequent phase, not a single playwright

36

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

emerged in any of the regional languages, whose work could be considered drama according to any definition, or which in its creative quality and level was significant or mentionable like the Sanskrit plays. The Sanskrit dramatic writing, besides being an important element of a theatrical creation, also provided aesthetic pleasure or literary experience like any independent creative work of excellence. But the natyas of the regional languages in the medieval period are based not on any dramatic works, but on scripts prepared with the material from different epics, legends, poems, songs, and other sources. The plays written in this period tend to be more or less theatre texts or production scripts, full of poetry, song, providing for music and dance. Whatever be their relevance or excellence for performance, their significance and value as independent creative works is very little.

It is difficult to say with any degree of certainty whether music and dance predominated in these natyas because good or competent dramatic writing was not available, or because of the predominance of music and dance no play comparable to the Sanskrit drama was written in this long period of about one thousand years. This question needs a deeper probing and wider investigation. But the argument that this happened because no talented poet or creative writer emerged during this period is not valid at all. Actually, this phase is marked by the presence of some of the greatest poets in almost all Indian languages, whose work has also been used in the theatrical activity of this period. This fact seems to lead to the conclusion, that if all these poets were familiar with and sometimes even involved in the theatre and its requirements, and yet they did not write any significant plays, it must be due to some other deeper reasons.

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

37

Similarly, the argument that in this period, the modern Indian languages were still in their infancy and not developed enough to be effectively used for a complex and inclusive medium like the drama is also only partially true. This phase is, as mentioned earlier, marked by excellent poetry unequalled in its power and subtlety. Secondly, the South Indian languages, like Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, are very old, in which creative literary work had been going on for centuries almost parallel to the Sanskrit literature. But even in these languages, there is no mentionable dramatic writing. The plays like Ashcharyachudamani, Subhadradhananjaya or Tapatisamvarana, written in Sanskrit for Kutiyattam, are mere echoes or summaries of other Sanskrit plays and do not have high place as independent literary works of excellence. Thirdly, the creative literary talent does not always wait for a prior development of the language. Instead, it often plays an important role in making a language·powerful and expressive as never before. Shakespeare is an outstanding example of this phenomenon. In Hindi, the name of Bharatendu Harishchandra can be mentioned, who by his plays, while creating and forging a new dramatic language, also gave unprecedented creative power to the modern Khadiboli Hindi.

It seems, therefore, that the theatre of this phase began, for more than one reason, with an overwhelming emphasis on music and dance which not only continued but, with time, became more pronounced. As a result, the written word could not acquire sufficient importance for the dramatic writing to be considered indispensable for theatrical work. This situation persisted for about eight to nine centuries. During the 14th to 17th centuries, the Bhakti Movement or the upsurge of the devotional fervour, produced great poets in many regions and languages,

38

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

but even that did not lead to any plays of creative

excellence.

Indeed, the saints as well as the poets of the Bhakti

Movement found the theatre based on song and

dance more suitable for their objectives. Their efforts

gave a new dynamism, thrust and relevance to

theatrical activity all over the country, and it became

a powerful medium for the dissemination and

nurturing of the devotional attitude. In this process,

many new natyas or theatrical modes emerged,

developed and achieved significant successes.

Naturally, only this kind of theatrical activity could

remain acceptable and meaningful in the prevalent

atmosphere, which, in spite of many ups and downs,

continued to be popular till the middle of the 19th

century.

As mentioned before, this theatrical activity was

marked by a strong tendency to stage, with the help of

music, dance, miming etc., the poems, narratives and

songs available in the specific region and language.

The tradition of musical narration or dramatic singing

of popular tales, interspersed with dance or dance-

like movements, by itinerant bards and performers,

such as the Charanas etc., has been very widespread

and popular all over the country since ancient times.

The singing of episodes from very popular legends

and tales, from epics like the Mahabharata and

Ramayana, or Puranas like the Bhagavata and

Harivamsha, was particularly cherished. Similarly,

the heroic deeds of the kings, warriors and other great

men of the region were also recited. Many languages

have their own versions of the epics and other

narrative poems. Besides these, one more Sanskrit

poem which has widely and deeply influenced the

content of the traditional theatre along with the music

and dance of that period, is the Geeta Govinda written

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

39

by poet Jayadeva in the 12th century. Most of the

performance scripts of the regional natyas till the

16th-17th centuries are based on such materials.

The theatrical activity of this phase in almost all

regions is different from the Sanskrit theatre in yet

another important aspect. The Sanskrit drama, in

spite of a few religious or ritualistic elements, is

basically secular in its approach, content and

presentation. The plots of the Sanskrit plays are not

based, directly or indirectly, on religious feelings,

objectives or episodes. They mostly deal with the

everyday life, even if that life is related to divine or

mythological characters, events and episodes, or has

some religious observances as part of the daily

normal routine of the characters. Even the Sanskrit

plays inspired by the Ramayana and the Mahabharata

do not generally treat Rama and Krishna as incarnation

of God, but as great personages with extraordinary

qualities and powers. In quite a few plays, the

emerging image of religious sects and priests is not

complimentary or flattering but satirical.

In contrast, the subsequent medieval theatre was

religious almost from the beginning, or got related

soon to one or the other religious establishment and

its rituals and occasions. Many of the theatrical

modes emerged and developed in the temples, where

they eventually became part of the regular or

occasional, normal or special, religious rituals

performed in the Natya Mandapas. Certainly, the

picture of the theatrical activity during the 10th to

13th-14th centuries, is not very clear or definite. But

the various kinds of performances inspired by

Jayadeva's poem the Geeta Govinda, in spite of its

strong erotic undercurrent, only confirm the growing

religiosity.

During the 15th to 17th centuries, the Bhakti

40

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

Movement inspired a number of new theatrical modes

or renovated the existing ones. These were all not only

a part of the general religious movement, but were

also organised for a wider dissemination and popularity

of the objectives of some specific religion or religious

sect. The Ankianat of Assam, Bhagavatamela of

Tamilnadu, Krishnattam of Kerala, Kuchipudi of

Andhra Pradesh, Dashavatar of Maharashtra, Rasleela

and Ramleela of Uttar Pradesh are very clearly like

Vaishnava religious rituals, in which frequently the

performers are regarded not as ordinary human

beings, but 'Swaropas' or incarnations of God and

are worshipped as such during the performance.

This religious orientation is clear also from their

performance scripts, like Rukminiharan, Parijataharan,

Kaliadaman, Shriramavijaya in the Ankianat or

Bhaona; Jagannathwallabha in the Jatra; Bhamaka-

lapam in the Kuchipudi; Radhamadhava, Gajendera-

moksha, Janakiparinaya, Parashuramvijaya in the

Bhagavatamela, which are all related to episodes

which have a distinct religious flavour. This is very

eloquently evident in the theatrical modes, the Rasleela

and Ramleela of Uttar Pradesh, which are based on

creative work of great poets like Soordas and Tulsidas,

deeply submerged in the religious, devotional attitude

of the authors. By the end of the 17th century, when

the Vaishnava Bhakti Movement started losing some

of its fervour, the Shaiva or Shakta influence also

appears in many dramatic forms, specially the Jatra,

in stories like Chandimangal, Mahishasuramardini,

Haraparvati, etc.

In fact, the Bhakti Movement was so inclusive and

sweeping, and so widely connected with the deep and

fundamental concerns of the Indian social life, that

even after its decline, most theatrical modes either

continued to present episodes showing various facets

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

41

of the incarnation of Rama and Krishna directly, or became vehicles for conveying religious feelings or devotion-inspiring beliefs in some manner or the other.

There are many reasons for this shift from the secular life to religious sentiment. But one thing is obvious. During the period of the rise and flowering of the Sanskrit drama and theatre, that is before the 10th century A.D., religion or religious ritual and action, though an important element in the life of the individual and society, was not the only or the most crucial activity of life, nor did the decisive recognition or identity of the individual and community or their existence depend upon it. But during the middle ages, the assertion of religious identity took the form of a struggle for the very survival as distinct people or society. The conflict and antagonism with the Muslim conquerors and rulers mainly centered around religion and the co-existence of the people with them could be really possible only on the basis of acceptance of an independent, distinct identity at the religious level.

Thus, during this period, it was mainly through the religious movements, that an exchange, mutual adjustment, synthesis or harmony between the indigenous and outside ideologies, social ideals and beliefs became possible. In such a situation it was natural that religion became the axis of Indian life and its expression became inevitable not only in theatre but also other creative arts like poetry, music, dance etc.

As the political, social and individual life became more stable and normal, and the urgency, intensity or sharpness of the struggle for religious identity gradually weakened, many of the theatrical expressions began to lose their purely and strictly religious, sectarian character and became more and more

42

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

cultural. The Jatra of Bengal, Terukuttu of Tamilnadu,

Veethinatakam of Andhra Pradesh, or, to some extent,

the Yakshagana of Karnataka are the examples of this

process. They started presenting, besides the religious

stories, some historical, social and political themes,

or, the mythological episodes were presented in a

manner that their religious aspect was no more

predominant.

At the same time, many other dramatic modes also

emerged which are basically and mainly non-religious

and whose themes and contents are widely social and

political, like the Tamasha, Bhavai, Mach, Khyal,

Sang, Swang, Nautanki, Naqal, Bhand Pathra, Karyala

and others. These, while staging stories of Satya

Harish Chandra, Nala Damayanti, Prahlad, or other

episodes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, also

started presenting historical or social events, folk

tales or medieval romances. By the 19th century,

some political themes also became popular. Plays like

Mitharni, Patthe Bapurao in the Tamasha, Jasma

Odan and Jhenda Jhulan in the Bhavai, Raja Bharthari

and Devar-Bhaujai in the Mach, Dhola Maru and

Shirin Farhad in the Khyal, Amar Singh Rathor and

Sultana Daku in the Nautanki or Swang, Shahi

Lakadhara in the Sang, or the satirical presentation

of a monk, a money-lender or a government official in

the Karyala--they all indicate the growing variety of

themes in the traditional theatre.

But more important than the selection of stories or

episodes is the meaning and structure given to them.

Broadly, two levels of treatment can be seen here. In

the mainly devotional natyas, like the Rasleela, Ankia

Nat or Ramleela, there is usually some intensity of

feeling, as the poetry used in them is generally

powerful and moving. To some extent, they suffer

from a kind of monotony, but they are not superficial

or contrived. Their purpose is to kindle or strengthen

a strong and undiluted devotional fervour.

In most other natyas, however, there is an emphasis

only on two or three main sentiments or situations—

love, valor and humour. Of course, pathos also

appears at many points in the context of love and

conflict, but usually it tends to be exaggerated and

borders on the sentimental. This situation obtains in

almost all stories and episodes whether they are

mythological, historical, based on folk tales and

legends, or are social or political in character. These

performances certainly entertained the common

audiences because of their broad and often crude

treatment, and, to an extent, also became a vehicle for

communicating the idealism and traditional values of

Indian society. But they do not leave any deep or

sensitive emotional impact which is expected from a

significant artistic experience.

The aesthetic that governs them is, like the Sanskrit

drama, based on the Rasa. Also, these natyas instead

of emphasizing conflict, tend to transport the spectator

to a state of equilibrium after passing through many

ups and downs of life and various states of inter-

relationship of the individual and the collective. But

the treatment of these situations or states, and of the

characters going through them, is more or less one-

dimensional or superficial and crude. One of the main

reasons for this inadequacy is that these scripts are

merely a collection of different elements from various

sources for the purpose of performance, or are written

to meet its various requirements. There is no indepen-

dent creative urge or desire for innovation behind

them, without which no play, indeed no creative

work, can acquire any deep and lasting relevance or

significance.

This is even more clearly evident from the Parsi-

44

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

style plays written in the Hindi-speaking region during the 19th and 20th centuries, which, in spite of

their great success and popularity on stage, have failed to become significant as dramatic literature. It

is also true of almost all the plays, inspired by the western theatre, written in various other languages of

this country during the last one hundred fifty years and more. By acting in them, many performers have

become famous and their performances memorable, but nobody wants to read those plays today. We will

come to these aspects of the drama and theatre in the modern period a little later. Here this fact has been

mentioned only to indicate that the scripts of the medieval theatre, in spite of their effective and

attractive presentation, are not in themselves considerable for any creative excellence.

It may be stressed here that these theatre scripts have only a general framework of a story or an

episode, on the basis of which the actor improvises speech in the performance, furthers the story, or

comments on the dramatic action. In a way, it is the actor who provides flesh and blood to this skeleton

and gives it vitality and meaning. The absence of the creative playwright also makes the traditional theatre,

more than even the Sanskrit theatre, so completely the theatre of the actor.

One or two other characteristics of the traditional plays or scripts deserve to be noted. In many natyas,

the script has two parts after the initial invocation. The first is like an introduction in which, usually,

there is a predominance of song, music and dance, such as the Nitya Ras in the Rasleela, Gana-Gaulan

in the Tamasha, Oddalga in the Yakshagana, the monk episode in the Karyala, the Vesha or playlet of

the Brahmin in the Bhavai, and so on and so forth.

The second part has the main play or plays.

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

45

Interestingly, in most of these modes, the performance consists of not one but many small playlets, called the Vesha in Bhavai, Vaga in the Tamasha, Leela in the Rasleela, Prasanga in the Yakshagana, Swang in the Karyala. This means that the performance is not confined to a single story, but presents many stories with different situations, sentiments and mental states. One reason for presenting more than one story in a single performance can be that, in the absence of a well-organised structure, a single episode cannot be sustained for a very long time, only on the strength of the improvisations of the performer. In order to keep the spectators interested in the entire performance, which has to run for a whole night, a variety of situations and characters is very necessary. For the same reason, probably, in the natyas like the Jatra or the Nautanki, in which the dramatic scripts have a more organised structure and cover a wider area, a single story continues for a whole night.

In fact, the traditional theatre so predominantly centers round a performance that any discussion of drama or dramatic script in its context often tends to be futile or, at least, incomplete. In order to understand, therefore, the real power and source of continued popularity of these natyas, it is necessary to explore their presentation and performance.

In the production or presentation of the traditional theatre, the process of continuity and change in the methods, usages and conventions of the Sanskrit theatre is quite evident, confirming that the arts in India, in spite of their often very rigid codifications, have an astonishing flexibility as well as a built-in capacity of adaptation and renovation. For instance, take the element like the poorvaranga, which has been very elaborately discussed and prescribed in the Nayashastra, In almost all the regional natyas, one

46

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

or the other aspect of the poorvaranga, or something similar to it, is invariably there. Its most elaborate and prolonged pattern is seen in the Kutiyattam where the poorvaranga itself continues, sometimes, for two or three nights. In the Ankia Nat of Assam, the Nata Sankirtana of Manipur, the Yakshagana of Karnataka, also, there is a great elaboration of practices similar to the poorvaranga.

Almost all the natyas have the mangalacharana or invocation in which Ganesh or some other god or goddess is propitiated. In some modes, the act of placing the Jarjara or Indra's Staff on the stage, thus ensuring its sacredness, is carried out in some manner or the other. For instance, in the Mach of Malwa, a sweeper and a water-carrier appear on the stage to suggest its cleaning and consecrating. In some others, solo or group dances are performed in the beginning, while the use of instrumental music, particularly by some percussion instrument like the Nakkara, Mridang, Maddal, Dholak, before the regular performance begins, is found in almost all of them.

Thus, the conventions of invoking some god for the success of the performance, consecration of the stage, and preparing the mind of the performers and the spectators for the performance, similar to the poorvaranga, are an intrinsic part of the traditional theatre.

The kakshavibhaga or the imaginary division of the stage for different purposes, which is an important convention of the Sanskrit theatre, is also observed in almost all the natyas, though in a somewhat flexible manner. The change of locale is mostly indicated by the performers by a linear or circular movement on the stage, though the stage divisions are not observed as strictly as indicated in the Natyashastra. Often, the performers themselves mention the change of

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

place in their speeches. Similarly, the change of time

is indicated either by song and dance or declared by

the performers. In such an imaginative treatment of

time and place, which spontaneously incorporates

the entire universe and all dimensions of time, the

past, present and future, the question of the so-called

'unities' just does not arise. This is one of the major

strengths of these theatrical expressions.

But the most important distinctive feature of the

medieval natyas is the predominance in them of

music and dance and their many-sided uses. The

Sanskrit theatre also had music and dance, but it

used them only according to the requirements of

situation and style, in a prescribed and restrained

manner. In the Sanskrit drama, the speeches in

prose, with verses meant for recitation or singing,

have the central place. But in the subsequent medieval

natyas, the prose dialogue is either absent or

secondary. The main story is rendered through song,

narrative singing or by miming and dramatic dances.

In fact, the music and dance form the very body of the

traditional performances, their main vehicles of

communication and source of popularity, the crucial

elements of their distinct style and theatre culture.

There are sufficient reasons to believe that the

theatrical methods and practices which developed in

different regions and languages of this country between

the 10th and 15th centuries, were based on the

theatre modes with music and dance, called the

Uparoopakas, already prevalent in some variation or

the other in those regions. The Sangeetakas or the

plays produced in a musical idiom seem to have

become more popular in the last phase of the

Sanskrit theatre itself. As a matter of fact, by the time

of Bhavabhuti or Shriharsha, the Sanskrit language

had moved away from the people and the themes of

48

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

Sanskrit dramas had lost their appeal for the common spectator. They lack variety as well as the creative energy of the earlier phase and suffer from repetitiveness and decline in their artistic level. This situation seems to have led to an increasing use of music and dance, in order to ensure the continued interest of the spectators. Thus, when the theatrical activity shifted from the Sanskrit to the regional languages, the local theatrical expressions with music and dance acquired, naturally, greater importance and priority.

But music and dance serve many purposes in these modes and are used in various ways. Their place in different nàtyas is determined by their specific ingredients and requirements. In almost all of them, the elaboration of action and communication between the characters takes place through musical speech instead of every-day language. Thus music is the chief means of communicating the story and comment on the action. In this sense, singing is a kind of extension or one of the methods of the vàchika abhinaya or the speech. In the Sanskrit theatre, there is a provision for musical recitation or occasional singing of the verses along with the prose dialogues, but the predominance of the prose speech and straight recitation is always there. In the traditional natyas, the situation is reversed, with singing as the chief element, and a secondary place for the prose speech which is mostly improvised by the players during the performance, for introducing wit and humour. Invariably, there is immense variety in the use of singing—sometimes by the characters individually or in chorus, sometimes by the sutradhàra alone or with his companions, and sometimes jointly by characters and the sutradhàra, and so on.

The instrumental music, though it has a different

Madhyama Vyayoga

(Bhasa) - Sanskrit,

Dir. K.N. Panikkar

Abhijnana

Shakuntala (Kalidasa)

Marathi,

Yakshagana

(Traditional

performance)

Kannada

Swang/Nautanki

(Traditional

performance)

Sita Vanavas (Agha Hashra) - Hindi. Parsi Theatre

Pathan (Lalchand Bismil) - Hindi, Dir. Prithviraj Kapoor

Angaar

(Utpal

Dutt)

Bengali.

Dir.

Utpal

Dutt

Charandas

Chor

(Habib

Tanvir)

Chhattisgarhi.

Shuturmurg

(Gyandev Agnihotri) - Hindi, Dir. Shyamanand Jalan

Raja Oidipous (Sophocles) - Bengali, Dir. Sombhu Mitra

Ghasiram Kotwal (Vijay Tendulkar) - Hindi, Dir. Rajindernath

Jasma Odan (Shanta Gandhi) - Hindi, Dir. Shanta Gandhi

Tughlaq (Girish Karnad) Hindi, Dir. E. Alkazi

Jo Kumar Swamy (Chandra Shekhar Kambar) Kannada,

anoosh

(Bhishma

ahni)

Hindi,

Dir.

B.V.

Karanth

Chopra

Kamal

Naukar

Jamal

(Bertolt

Brecht)

Hindi,

Barnam Vana (Macbeth-Shakespeare) - Hindi, Dir. B.V. Karanth

Kamala (Vijay Tendulkar) - Marathi, Dir. Kamalakar Sarang

Turkira Avalam

(Antigone-Sophocles)

Tamil,

Dir. M. Ramaswami

Mudheywi

(G.Shankar Pillai)

Malayalam,

Dir. S.,Ramanujam

Andha Yug (Dharmavir Bharati) - Hindi, Dir. Bansi Kaul

Leima Yeng Lingei Khunu Kaba (Ratan Thiyam) - Manipuri,

Dir. Ratan Thiyam

Virasat (Mahesh Elkunchwar) - Hindi, Dir. Satyadev Dubey

Adhe Adhure (Mohan Rakesh) - Hindi, Dir. Suresh Bharadwaj

dramatic place in the structure of the performance, is no less important. Besides creating a conducive atmosphere in the beginning of the performance, it underlines, or helps in emphasizing or sharpening, a mental state. The place of the Nakkara in the Swang and Nautanki, of the Bhungal in the Bhavai, of the Dolak in the Tamasha, or the Maddal in the Yakshagana, is integral, indispensible and distinct for creating a dramatic impact.

Music as an independent attractive element also plays a role in the traditional theatre. Its use makes a familiar and frequently witnessed episode more interesting and pleasant, not only for the ordinary but also the discriminating spectators. The traditional natyas of each region incorporate many fascinating and haunting folk tunes which enhance considerably the total impact of the performance. In the use of these lilting tunes, the knowledge and imagination of the sutradhara or the singer-performer play an important role. It is not necessary that the same tunes be used in every performance of the same story. Often different tunes are incorporated according to the requirements of different performances, or the accomplishment and convenience of the performers. Similarly, for the same story different groups choose different tunes or songs which give the productions of the same episode by different troupes a distinctive and original flavour. Also, there is always a very spontaneous and smooth blend of the classical and the folk music in the traditional theatre. The synthesis or transfusion of the classical and the popular, the Margi and the Deshi, in music, is similar to other aspects of drama and performance.

In this context, it must be noted that the traditional theatre has contributed tremendously in making music widely popular among the common people of

50

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

the country. It has made the spectators effortlessly

familiar with the folk music and many Ragas of the

classical music, even if they do not have any technical

knowledge about them. This constant exposure to

music for more than a thousand years has made it an

integral part of the taste and sensibility of the

common man, to the extent that today it is difficult, in

our country, to think of a popular performance

without music. No wonder, even a new, modern,

machine-based performance medium like the film is

almost unthinkable in India without songs as one of

its indispensable elements.

But the quantum of music in different natyas is not

uniform or similar. On the one hand, there are natyas

like the Sangeet or Nautanki of Uttar Pradesh and the

Sang of Haryana, which are totally musical, and have

almost no prose dialogue. Not only their play-scripts

are in verse, but are also sung out by the performers.

The Rasleela of Manipur, the Bidesia of Bihar or the

narrative modes like the Burrakatha of Andiira and

the Pandvani of Madhya Pradesh are also more or less

similar in their preponderance of music. On the other

hand, there are Natyas like the Jatra of Bengal, the

Ankia Nat of Assam, the Bhand Pathra of Kashınir

and the Karyala of Himachal Pradesh, in which prose

dialogues are in abundance or prominent. In the

Tamasha, Bhavai, Khayal, Machh, Terukuttu, the singing

though not as much as in the Nautanki is certainly

there in varying proportions. In many natyas, a

character sings only the first line of a song which is

then completed by the singers present in the

background, or by other performers.

In the natyas of South India, like the Yakshagana,

Bhagavatamela, Kuchipudi, Veethinataka, Terukuttu

and others, singing is done not by the characters

themselves but by the sutradhara or bhagavata. This

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

difference is related partly to the place of dance in these natyas. Most of the theatrical modes of the South have a preponderance of dances. It is not difficult to understand the reasons. Even in the Natyashastra, the Southern (Dakshinatya) style is characterised by the Kaishiki Vritti or the predominance of dance and music. In the Tamasha, Bhavai, Ankia Nat, there is dancing, but it comes in between songs or the songs and the prose dialogues. In the Sang, Khyal, Mach, it is similar and in the Jatra now it is mostly as a group dance in the beginning of a performance. In the Sangeet or Nautanki it is almost absent or used as a conventional interlude in a court scene.

As the singing or the vachika abhinaya in the traditional theatre is an extension of the speech, the dance is the extension of the movement or the angika abhinaya, which plays many roles in a performance. In the poorvaranga, the dance is almost ritualistic, but elsewhere it either intensifies the idea expressed in the song or the speech of the characters and in the comment of the sutradhara, or expresses the mental state of the characters, or indicates passing of the time, or is, sometimes, only for entertainment. The sources of dance, as of music, in the traditional theatre are both the classical and the popular. There are many echoes and elements of the classical dances, and simultaneoulsy the folk dances, original or modified according to the needs of the stage of the specific theatrical mode, are also incorporated. In many natyas, the steps, movements, gestures, poses, postures, etc. have come from martial dances and ritualistic enactments.

As music has given a kind of lyricism and rhythmic quality to the speech in the traditional theatre, similarly, and more importantly, dance has infused

52

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

the movement with rhythm and grace. In many ways,

the rhythmic movement is one of the main attractions

of these theatrical performances as well as the basis

of the stylization in their acting. It is important to note

that to a certain extent, the difference between the

classical concepts of the natyadharmi and lokadharmi

has lost its sharpness in the regional natyas, or, to

state it differently, there is such a fusion of the

natyadharmi and the lokadharmi in the traditional

theatre that it is difficult to differentiate one from the

other or to identify them separately. In fact, they

clearly underline the fact that the term lokadharmi is

not synonymous with the 'realistic'. The lokadharmi is

also a form of stylization in which there is no

permanent, pre-determined codification of gesture,

movement, or speech, but the everyday movement,

gesture, the elements of speech or sound are used

according to the requirements of a performance.

Another interesting feature of the traditional theatre

is the special role of two characters, the sutradhara

and the vidushaka, though they are called differently

in different regions or natyas. For instance, the

sutradhara is bhagavata in most of the South Indian

natyas, nayak in the Bhavai, ranga in the Nautanki,

swami in the Rasleela and sutradhara in the Ankia

Nat. Similarly, the vidushaka is called songadya in

the Tamasha and maskara in the Bhand Pathra,

hanumanayaka in the Yakshagana, rangla in the

Bhavai, mansukha in the Rasleela and just vidushaka

in many other natyas.

The sutradhara is an important character in all the

traditional theatrical modes and this is understand-

able. In the absence of a definite pre-written text,

working with an eclectically assembled production

script, it becomes necessary that someone chooses

the story of the performance, determines and organises

the required elements of poetry, music, dance, etc.,

teaches all these to the performers. The sutradhara of

the traditional theatre performs all these functions. In

many natyas, he is also the writer or creator of the

scripts. He himself sings on the stage, and controls

the rhythm of the music and dance either by a pair of

small cymbals or some other means. It is he who

communicates the informative and expositionary

elements of the story, in verse or in prose, comments

on the dramatic action, and when required also

assumes some small roles.

It is evident that to carry out all this it is necessary

for him to be present on the stage all the time during

the performance. Thus, the sutradhara of the traditio-

nal theatre, though a continuation from the Sanskrit

theatre, is fundamentally different from it. In a

Sanskrit play, the sutradhara appeared in the

beginning, gave some necessary information about

the play and the playwright, and then made his exit

generally after starting the performance. It was not

necessary for him after that to appear on the stage;

probably, he controlled the performance from

backstage or nepathya. In some plays, there is also

an indication of his assuming some role, but even

there, the other characters of the play were more

important. But in the traditional natyas, the presence

of the sutradhara on stage is so continuous, many-

sided and central that often he appears to be the most

important character and the performer. It would,

therefore, be fair to conclude that the concept,

situation and role of the sutradhara has undergone a

very relevant dramatic development in the traditional

theatre.

The vidushaka of the Sanskrit theatre also has

undergone a similar transformation. In the traditional

theatre, he is no more the gluttous, funnily made

54

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

up or dressed friend of the hero. Here he is, frequently,

an independent character, who has the freedom to

appear whenever required, to say and do anything.

He carries out the unique function of relating the

episodes and characters of a story from a mythical or

imaginary context, unfamiliar time and place, to the

contemporary situations and individuals. He has the

liberty to use his imagination, wit, sense of humour

and satire to comment on the topical or local events

and persons, and absurdity or injustice or

inappropriateness of their ways and life.

The importance of this extraordinary privilege of

the vidushaka is seen in its most unusual from in

Kutiyattam of Kerala. There he continually explains

and comments upon the utterings of the hero of the

Sanskrit play, in the local language, Malayalam, his

interventions are often longer than the play itself, and

frequently, continue for hours, even days. Nobody,

including gods, heroes, kings or ordinary persons as

well as the scriptures—absolutely nobody and

nothing—is exempt from his satirical comments. In

fact, this inventive and amusing method of making

the over familiar mythical themes refreshingly

contemporary and relevant, is woven into the very

fabric of the traditional theatre. The vidushaka or

some similar character in these natyas is certainly

the source of entertainment, humour and comedy,

but more than that he projects the reactions of the

audience. In a sense, he is the representative or the

very voice of the spectators. This device of the

traditional theatre is an extremely interesting evi-

dence of its flexibility and its search for contemporary

relevance.

Yet another feature of the traditional theatre deserves

to be mentioned. Different from the Sanskrit theatre,

in the later natyas, with some solitary exceptions,

women performers are absent and men act the female

roles. One of the reasons for this must have been the

social conditions created by the Muslim rule. But this

practice is prevalent without exception even in the

natyas of South India, where the impact of the

Muslim rule was not so extensive or deep, and where

the tradition of women dancers in the temples

continued all through.

The real reason for this situation, therefore, is

probably to be found in the very conditions of these

performances. The Sanskrit plays were mostly

performed either in the rangamandapas in the palaces

or in the temples, where the number of spectators

was usually quite limited. In contrast, the traditional

performances are staged in open fields, under the

sky, before hundreds or even thousands of spectators,

continuing for whole night. It should not be surprising,

therefore, that the pitch and breath required for

singing, and physical strength and stamina for dancing,

in the traditional theatre was not found quite suitable

for women. Similarly, the difficult life of the travelling

companies and consequent possibility of facing all

kinds of untoward situations, coupled with the general

lack of protection due to political instability, may

have prevented women from participating in the

performances.

Anyway, the absence of women in the theatre

continued for this entire period of about one thousand

years. Only in the Tamasha of Maharashtra, which

emerged from its religious moorings towards the end

of the 18th century, under the Peshwa rule,

professional singing and dancing women very soon

replaced the young handsome boys who used to act

the nachya or the dancer. In no other theatrical

performance women participated until the latter half

of the 20th century. Thus, in many natyas,

56

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

impersonating women came to be regarded as a kind of distinct mark of an actor's talent. In the Bhavai, the performances of Jai Shankar Sundari, who died a few years back, and in the Kuchipudi, Vedantam Satyanarayana even today, in female roles, have been so extraordinary and distinguished that those who have seen them can never forget the experience. For them it becomes impossible even to imagine that any women can render those roles with that kind of artistic skill and subtlety.

It would be useful to mention here a few details about the stage of the traditional natyas. These are all totally open-air performances, probably with only two exceptions. One, the Kutiyattam of Kerala which is performed in a special auditorium called koottampalam, permanently constructed in a temple campus. The other is the Ankia Nat or Bhaona of Assam, for which a very beautiful temporary structure called bhaonaghar is constructed with cloth, bamboo and wood. For no other traditional performance any covered theatre is used.

In fact, the very beginnings of the medieval natyas are associated with their coming out of the confines of the financial protection of the kings and aristocrats and the physical limitations of their palaces. The theatre activity, which in the age of the Sanskrit theatre had been transferred from the people and open spaces to the ruling classes and their exclusive residences, and had been nourished there, returned in the middle ages, to the life of the people, with neither any pre-constructed stage nor any auditorium. Now the plays could be performed only in the open spaces of villages and towns outside the temples or on the streets, and were performed there. The temporary or permanent platforms for these performances were constructed wherever possible, and where it could not

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

57

be done, the space for acting, in circular, square or rectangular shapes, was cleared and marked out on the ground itself. Under the open sky, mostly in the light of oil-soaked torches, the theatre began afresh its miraculous journey.

In all our traditional natyas, the form of the stage has been and continues to be more or less like this, with occasional minor differences or changes. In a Yakshagana performance, the stage is created either on ground or on wooden platforms by placing banana trunks on four corners. In the Bhavai, the acting area, called padh, is created on the ground with the spectators sitting on three sides. In the Mach, an eight or ten feet high scaffold is constructed for the performance. In the Bhagat of Agra region, the scaffold stage was constructed on public roads, but it was so high that conveyances could pass underneath, and, sometimes, for special dramatic situations, the buildings on both sides of the road, could also be used. The Tamasha, Jatra, Nautanki, Khyal, Rasleela etc., are all staged on platforms made of wood, earth or cement. In some of them a back curtain, plain or decorated, called pichhwai, is hung and the spectators sit on two or three sides. In some others, they are also all around the platform. In the Ramleela of Uttar Pradesh, in many places, different episodes of the story are performed in different places on different days. In the Ramleela of Ramnagar (Varanasi) and Agra, the locales of the episodes are fixed in different parts of the city and the spectators spontaneously assemble there to see their enactment.

The simplicity of the stage and the freedom from dependence on expensive means were indispensable pre-conditions of the growth and long life of the traditional theatre. Totally related to the life of people and based on their involvement and patronage, this

58

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

theatre activity could not have continued in any other manner. On such a stage, the question of any kind of

stage decoration or setting just does not arise. Only

the pati or half curtain and a few stage properties can

be mentioned which are used in most of the traditional

performances.

The most important visual elements of these natyas

are the costumes, make-up, or, in some cases, the

masks of the performers. Even in this, there is

tremendous variety and unevenness, and many

patterns and levels of spectacle can be seen, beginning

with the costumes and almost the other-worldly

headgears of the Yakshagana, Rastleela, Ramleela

etc., to more or less the everyday costumes of the

Tamasha. In many natyas, there is sometimes an

attempt to relate the costumes to a period, specially

for the historical characters, which often depends

upon the popularity and financial prosperity of the

troupe. But otherwise, specially in the costumes of

mythological characters, some kind of stylization is

common.

Lastly, the most important and distinct characterstic

of these natyas, continuing for hundreds of years, is

their unquestioned and unparalleled popularity in

their specific regions. In many ways, they are intimately

connected with their regional communities. Even

today, their performances attract thousands of

spectators, who watch them with total involvement

and express their appreciation or displeasure in

uninhibited comments. Frequently, they make critical

and subtle comparisons with the performances of the

same episode by different troupes and actors. Indeed,

in a deeper and significant manner, they are not

merely the spectators but also participants in the

performances.

For a meaningful assessment of this theatre tra-

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

59

dition, it is very necessary to understand its deep

roots in the life of the people. As a matter of fact, this

theatre has, on the one hand, the technical virtuosity

and brilliance acquired through the practice and

experience for centuries, and, on the other, immense

vitality on account of being closely related to life on

many levels. At the same time, in the particular

structure of our society, this theatre has also been the

vehicle of the basic values and beliefs of Indian life. It

can be said that this theatre has played a leading role

in keeping different regions, different communities of

the same region, and various classes and castes of

the same place, united and related, and in maintaining

a constant dialogue among them.

From this point of view, our medieval theatre is

much more significant and relevant than the Sanskrit

theatre, even if it does not always have as much

artistic refinement and excellence. But creative

expression cannot always and in all cases be evaluated

only by one criterion. This theatre is significant

because of its vitality and close relation with the life of

the people as well as its originality and inventiveness.

It is also an evidence of the creative power of Indian

psyche which, after the disintegration of the Sanskrit

theatre and in the completely changed circumstances,

evolved such an inclusive, wide and enduring theatre

culture, sustaining its relevance for centuries. It

seems more logical, therefore, to record this as a

phase of development of Indian theatre rather than

one of its decline.

But to underline the importance of this theatre

tradition is not to overlook its limitations or to ignore

its inherent contradictions. There is no doubt that in

spite of the emergence of new forms between the 17th

and 19th centuries, and expression of the changing

social and cultural awareness in them, there were

60

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

signs of stagnation in this framework of Indian theatre. The new energy, which had permeated the

regional language natyas after the decline of the

Sanskrit theatre, and which had found an exuberant

manifestation in the Bhakti Yuga, was gradually

getting exhausted. In the environment of fresh political

and social instability, the inspiration of the devotional

sentiment was no more effective. The collective

experience incorporated in the all too familiar

mythological stories, though still attracting the

spectators, was gradually losing its grip due to

constant repetition.

The new non-religious natyas with their changed

themes had greater attraction, but even they tended

to become repetitive and to increasingly take up

mythological themes. In many of them, there are

definite written scripts, but without any original

creative quality. They certainly met the requirements

of effective staging, but on the level of idea, feeling

and experience, did not bring any new dimension.

The entire theatre marked time at one point, could

not go forward, and though somehow continued the

traditional methods, it could not save itself from

becoming more and more colourless and impoverished.

While this theatre, on account of its inner

contradictions and lack of external encouragement

and patronage, was in a state of stagnation, a new

and, probably, more powerful political, economic and

social system and totally different culture, secured a

foothold in the country, which culminated in the

establishment of the British rule in India in the 19th

century. This domination by the western culture had

many long-range consequences for almost all aspects

of Indian life and activity, but in the field of theatre it

created an entirely unprecedented crisis.

Now, big cities arose in the country, which soon

The Medieval Tradition and Its Extension

61

became main centres of the new life-style. A new type

of theatre began to take shape there which had a very

tenuous or no relation at all with our own long

performance tradition, but which on account of its

relation with the taste and likings of the new ruling

class—as also because of its distinctiveness and

power—became the main theatre style of the country.

As a result, for the first time, a fatal alienation

between our rural and urban theatre developed

which gradually changed the very contours of our

dramatic activity at all the levels.

In the cities, a new kind of dramatic writing and

stage presentation, imitating the western drama and

theatre, began which were totally alien to the Indian

theatre tradition of the previous twenty-five centuries

or more. On the other hand, the theatre activity of the

traditional kind became completely confined to the

country-side and was forced to carry on its struggle

for existence as best it could. This situation proved to

be disastrous for both the urban modern theatre and

the rural traditional natyas. While the urban theatre

lost its contact with its own long, continuous tradition,

the traditional theatre activity, confined to the

countryside, had more and more difficulty in getting

any patronage, specially from the influential and

powerful sections of the society. As a result, the

possibility of attracting new talent, imbibing new

ideas and acquiring fresh vitality became more and

more meagre, because now all the resources of the

society were getting concentrated upon the exciting

possibilities of the new urban theatre.

The traditional theatre of different regions is alive

and also more or less popular even today. But on the

basis of the state in which it now exists, its real and

excellent quality can only be surmised or imagined.

With the gradual expansion of the industrial, social

62

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

order in the modern age, its patronage base and area

of appeal have been rapidly shrinking. During the last

few decades, its very existence is threatened by the

explosion in the field of communication. Today,

questions about the relevance of the traditional

modes are being raised repeatedly and with ever-

increasing urgency. Have they some purpose or role

any more? Can they now survive? Is it at all possible

or worth-while to save them? It is very necessary to

find answers to these questions in the social, cultural,

specially the theatrical context of today. Only then we

would be able to understand, mould or participate in

the new, extensive and fundamental changes which

are imminent in our theatre after almost a thousand

years.

Chapter

3

Modern

Age:

New

Struggles

and

Explorations

It

has

already

been

mentioned

that

our

encounter

with

the

West

during

the

19th

century

had

wide-ranging

political,

economic,

social

and

cultural

consequences.

In

the

field

of

theatre,

however,

this

encounter

changed

almost

everything—its

form,

direction,

pace.

Indian

theatre

had

gone

through

changes

on

many

levels

earlier

also.

But

during

the

previous

two

or

three

thousand

years,

it

had

taken

new

forms

according

to

our

own

world-view,

on

the

basis

of

one

or

the

other

aspect

of

our

culture,

and

under

compulsions

of

our

own

social

and

political

conditions.

Its

directions

and

pace

also

were

determined

by

the

rhythm

of

Indian

life.

Specially,

it

had

no

inner

dichotomy

and

its

fundamental

form

and

aesthetic

basis

was

almost

the

same

for

the

entire

country

in

the

phase

of

the

Sanskrit

theatre,

and

for

the

entire

community

in

different

language

regions

in

the

phase

of

the

medieval

traditional

theatre,

though

the

urban

and

rural

theatre

activities

even

in

these

periods

were

not

always

entirely

similar

in

their

complexity,

refinement

or

methods.

64

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

But the new theatre which emerged in our country under the impact of the western culture was totally different in all these aspects, because it had taken shape in imitation of an alien theatre, fundamentally different in its world-view and aesthetic approach.

According to the Indian view of life, the purpose of drama and theatre was to create a feeling of pleasure or bliss (Rasa) by delineating different situations, mental states and feelings of human beings.

The purpose of the Western drama, on the other hand, was to reveal struggles of life in their various forms.

In the Western outlook, some kind of conflict between gods and man, man and man, man and nature, and between various emotions, desires and tendencies within man himself, that is at almost every level, is inevitable.

It was, therefore, difficult to conceive of drama without some form of conflict.

Consistent with this difference between the two world-views, the western theatre, from the ancient Greek days to the 19th century, had developed under conditions and in forms totally different from the Indian theatre.

For one, staging of plays there had started and continued in the capitals of the city states of Greece, in the open-air or closed theatres specially made for this purpose.

Their methods were quite different from the presentation styles of the Indian theatre.

In spite of an element of stylization, they emphasised imitation of reality, which eventually, in course of time, took the form of insistence on realistic or naturalistic approach.

In view of such importance of reality or realism, acting in plays on the western stage had only a limited scope for the introduction of music and dance or the use of presentational devices and mime.

Gradually, particularly in the 18th-19th centuries, even these limited possibilities disappeared.

As a result of this, to some extent, the musical or the

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

65

dance and mime based theatrical forms, like the

Opera, Pantomime and Ballet, developed in Europe

independently, outside the regular drama.

It is, however, evident that the western drama and

theatre with which India became familiar in the 19th

century, were in every respect different from the

Indian drama and theatre-not only from the various

regional theatrical practices prevalent at that time in

the country, but also from the Sanskrit drama and

theatre. Normally, any exchange between two such

totally different theatre cultures would have been

difficult, or even if it did take place, it would be of

some minor, isolated characteristics or methods. But

the circumstances of the contact of these two theatre

cultures in India were extremely unusual. The western

drama and theatre entered our country as elements of

the culture of the conquerors, who, in a well-planned

manner, deliberately tried to prove that compared to

the Western the Indian culture was inferior, trivial

and undeveloped. The British rulers introduced an

educational system which, on the one hand, cleverly

devalued Indian history and cultural traditions, and,

on the other, made the most outstanding aspects of

the western culture and literature more and more

familiar to the Indian elite and the newly emerging

middle classes in the urban centres. Since then till

today, the Indians receiving this new western education

have been learning that the Sanskrit drama is. not

only inferior to the dramatic works of the Greek,

Shakespearean or other European playwrights, but is,

in fact, no drama at all, and at best could be

considered as ornate and exaggerated dramatic poetry.

Since there was no continued tradition of the

Sanskrit play-production, there was little possibility

of any discussion about it at that time. The traditional

theatrical performances of different regions were

66

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

exiled from the land of the theatre as mere rural entertainment and, for various reasons, an attitude of contempt or indifference towards them developed among our own people. Altogether, presuming a kind of theatrical vacuum in India, a campaign by the 'civilised' Englishmen to initiate the 'backward' Indians into the theatre culture, or by the Indians themselves to acquire that culture, started in right earnest.

Thus, the new theatre which began in our country in the middle of the 19th century was, if not a total imposition, almost entirely an imitation of the western theatre. Its patrons and practitioners were those aristocratic Indians who had enthusiastically accepted not only the political domination of the Englishmen, but also their social and cultural domination, and who with their newly acquired English education took a kind of pride in behaving like the rulers. As a result, they started staging, initially, some English plays in English and then their translations and adaptations into their own languages, culminating finally, in plays based on Indian themes written and staged in imitation of the western plays.

In this context, it is also important to note that this theatre started, continued and was accepted only by the newly educated Indians in the cities. In some regions, productions of the newly formed travelling professional theatre companies did occasionally reach a few small towns and were also appreciated there. But the new theatre did not make any contact with the country-side where in different regions the traditional theatre continued to be active and popular.

Moreover, this new theatre began and developed primarily in those cities or settlements, which were founded by the English merchants and the British rulers, or where their commercial, industrial or administrative centres were located. That is the

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

reason why this theatre got so much more patronage and encouragement in new cities like Calcutta,

Bombay, and to some extent in Madras, than in other regions. With the spread and consolidation of the

British rule, this theatre reached almost all parts of the country, but it did not start in all regions at the same

time, nor did it grow everywhere to the same extent. As a result, its achievements, whatever they

are, have different levels in different languages and regions of the country. In Bengali and Marathi, it

became most active, prosperous and popular, though the beginning and the subsequent development of the

theatres of even these two languages have been considerably different.

In Bengali, the rise and almost the entire expansion of the modern theatre was confined to Calcutta,

which was the first main centre of the East India Company, and later the capital of the British rulers.

To some extent, on account of the land settlement policy enforced by the British, most of the princelings,

landlords and other aristocrats of Bengal preferred to stay in Calcutta, so that they could be nearer the

rulers and seat of power and derive maximum advantage from this proximity. A number of them

were cultivated persons in their own way and had inclination as well as time and resources in great

abundance, which enabled them to take interest in and patronise art and literature. They also easily got

opportunities to receive English education and to be initiated into and influenced by the western culture. It

is understandable that to these Bengali aristocrats, their main traditional theatre, the Jatra, might have

appeared crude and backward, and since no tradition of the Sanskrit theatre was extant, they were naturally

attracted and overwhelmed by the novelty, power and effectiveness of the western drama and theatre.

68

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

Thus, the modern Bengali theatre began at their initiative in their large palaces or sprawling garden houses, then gradually spread to other sections of Bengali society, and has continued to this day in spite of many ups and downs.

This theatre grew almost entirely in imitation of the model of the western drama and performance, indeed, of the model of the decadent, ornamental Victorian theatre of the mid-nineteenth century in England.

There is hardly any contribution of the Sanskrit or the mediaeval Indian theatre traditions in its growth, or is confined only to writing and staging plays based on mythological and historical episodes, folk tales and legends.

In many other aspects, this new Bengali theatre became the most advanced and powerful theatre of the country.

Being totally concentrated in Calcutta, the theatre groups, first amateur and then professional, which sprang up there, continued their precarious existence in keen competition with one another.

Many playhouses were also constructed, which witnessed the formation and dissolution of different companies from time to time.

Thus, only in Calcutta, an urban residential theatre on the model of the western world, specially of London, came into existence and has survived.

As a result, many talented actors emerged, who were often also playwrights, directors and managers of their companies.

A large urban audience was also created.

By 1940, within a period of about 100 years, highly gifted actors like Girish Chandra Ghosh, Ardhendu Mustafi, Amrital Basu, Amarendra Nath Dutt, Amritlal Mitra, Surendra Nath Ghosh, Shishir Bhaduri, carried the Bengali theatre to the pinnacle of its glory.

Probably, because of its residential character, the Bengali theatre was the first to attract women performers.

In the theatres of all other languages of

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

69

the country, women came to the stage very much later–by the middle of the 20th century. In most

other places, women started acting on stage only after Independence. Even in Maharashtra, where in the

traditional natya, the Tamasha, women had been performing for a long time, on the modern Marathi

stage the female roles were always performed by men. The only exception to this, probably, is the Surabhi

Natak Mandali of Andhra Pradesh, in whose plays women of one single family, generation after generation,

have been acting with the men folk of the same family. There is no doubt that the new theatre

presented for both men and women in the city a form of expression which had, for centuries, never been

available to them.

Obviously, the acting style of this new theatre had hardly any relation with the methods or approach of

the classical or traditional acting styles of the country. Its basic inspiration and model of style and technique

had come from the western theatre and its famous actors, even though some Indian actors may have

occasionally used or found suitable for their work, some of the practices and devices of their own

traditional theatre. In any case, the magic of this new theatre, specially that of actors and their unique and

attractive performances, created a very large audience in the middle class, educated sections of Calcutta, in

fact, of entire Bengal, to the extent that a craze for theatre became a distinctive characteristic of an

educated Bengali.

Another important feature of this theatre deserves to be noted. On account of its special nature, and

partly because of the influence of the English dramatic literature, particularly of Shakespeare, through English

education, the written text and playwright got central importance in this new theatrical activity. From the

70

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

very beginning, the Bengali poets and prose writers were drawn towards playwriting. From the middle of

the 19th century till the end of the fourth decade of

the 20th century, dramatists like Michael Madhu

Sudan Dutt, Deenbandhu Mitra, Girish Chandra

Ghosh, D.L. Roy, Kshirod Prasad Vidyavinod, Rabindra

Nath Tagore, Manmath Ray, Sachin Sengupta and

many others wrote hundreds of plays for this new

stage, after the models of Shakespeare, Moliere,

Ibsen, Bernard Shaw, and others.

The stories of these plays are drawn from Indian

mythological episodes, folk tales, historical events as

well as contemporary social situations, though

sometimes the stories or echoes of some popular

Muslim or the western legends or tales are also here.

But the structure of these plays is akin to Shakes-

peare's plays or, later, to the naturalistic plays. They

attempt to present the conflict of an individual with

his environment, social conditions, with other indivi-

duals or within his own mind, and the characters are

conceived or developed as in the western plays. On

the whole, with very few exceptions, the creative

achievements of these plays is negligible, and they are

generally little more than stageable melodramas.

They have neither any deeper or perceptive exploration

of the inner contradictions of human character nor an

explosive irony of situations. Not only do they lack

creative insight, but an innovation in the dramatic

form or an imaginative original structure are also

quite rare.

Probably, the only exception is Rabindra Nath

Tagore, who, specially in his plays like Raktakarabi

(Red Oleanders) Muktadhara, Raja (King of the Dark

Chamber), Dakghar (Post Office), has given form to

poetry of life with an unusually original dramatic

vision. In these plavs, there is an attempt to capture

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

71

and present basic contradictions of life in a bigger perspective and with contemporary relevance; there is

also a bold and creative experiment to synthesize

some of the techniques and dramatic usages of the

Sanskrit theatre and the traditional modes like the

Jatra with the methods of the western theatre.

Indicative of the general imitative approach and its

limitations during this period is the fact that, in

obedience to the evaluation of the western critics, the

plays of Rabindra Nath Tagore, like the Sanskrit

drama, were regarded by many Indians as mere

dramatic poems, or poetic drama. As a result, they

were very rarely performed on the Bengali stage and

had very little impact. It was only after the memorable

production of Raktakarabi by Sombhu Mitra in the

sixth decade of this century that his plays began to be

recognised, to some extent, as valid drama.

The other big centres of trade and industry of the

Englishmen were in the western coastal regions of the

country. In the languages of that region also, therefore,

the new theatre on the western model had begun in

the middle of the 19th century. As in Bengali, the new

theatrical activity in Marathi and Gujarati also became

very popular, though in many ways the theatres of

both these languages were different from the Bengali

theatre as also of each other.

The initial source of inspiration of the Marathi

theatre, unlike the Bengali theatre, was more or less

in our traditional theatrical performances with strong

elements of music and dance. Some idea of this can

be had from the first Marathi play Seeta Swayamvara

written by Vishnudas Bhave, a court poet of the

Sangli ruler, which was inspired by the Dashavatara

of Maharashtra and the Yakshagana of Karnataka.

Probably, on account of this different beginning, the

place of music in some form or the other persisted in

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

the later development of the Marathi theatre, in spite

of its imitation of the western model not only in

dramatic writing but in many other ways. There was a

phase in which the excess of the classical Indian

singing made acting and other dramatic aspects

secondary in a Marathi theatrical performance. Many

top ranking classical musicians began to act in the

plays of the professional dramatic companies, to

which the audiences flocked more to hear music than

to see a play.

After Vishnudas Bhave, the next important actor-

playwright in Marathi was Vasant Panduranga alias

Anna Sahib Kirloskar. He too is famous for his

muscial plays like Shakuntala and Saubhadra which

he staged with his own independent theatre company.

But, in spite of the productions of these plays and

occasional performances of Sanskrit plays in Marathi,

the western dramatic and theatrical model was taking

over even in Marathi. This is evident from the original

plays like Sharada and adaptations of Shakespeare's

plays by Kirloskar's contemporary, Govind Ballal

Deval, and then by plays of Krishnaji Prabhakar alias

Kaka Saheb Khadilkar, like Keechakavadha,

Bhaubandaki, Manapamana. All these plays have,

more or less, a Shakespearean structure. It is an

interesting irony that though Khadilkar had accepted

the English model in his plays, he was otherwise an

important leader of the national freedom movement

and as such was strongly opposed to the British rule

or domination. So much so that his plays were

considered anti-government and the performance of

his play, Keechakaavadha, was banned by the colonial

rulers.

With the plays of Khadilkar's successor, the famous

Ram Ganesh Gadakari, Ekach Pyala and Bhava

Bandhana, and later with the realistic prose plays of

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

73

Mama Warerkar and others, the western dramatic model was totally and firmly established in the Marathi theatre, though the demand and liking for the musical plays also continued among some sections of the spectators.

As in other languages, the greatest contribution in making and then keeping the new theatre popular among the people was made by the actors. The Marathi theatre also was the theatre of the actor-playwright. Some of these playwright-actors have been mentioned earlier. Besides them, there is almost a regular procession of names like Bhaurao Kolhatkar, Ganpatrao Joshi, Ganpatrao Bhagavat, Keshavrao Bhonsle, Narayanarao Rajhans alias Bal Gandharva and others, whose role in bringing wide acceptance and respectability to the Marathi theatre is tremendous. Many of these actors became legends in their life time and are still remembered for their unique performances in female roles.

The Marathi theatre is different from the Bengali in yet another way. While the Bengali theatre was mostly residential and Calcutta-based, the Marathi theatre was itinerant. One reason for this variation is that though, like Calcutta, Bombay was a prominent industrial and commercial centre of the western region, it was dominated not by the Marathi-speaking people but by the Parsis and Gujaratis. Because of its itinerant character, the Marathi theatre had a much greater sweep and very soon it won the allegiance of the newly educated middle classes more than even the aristocrats. Perhaps, for this reason, it was more directly related to the movements for social reform and political independence. The top-ranking political leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak took keen interest in the theatre, while important activists like Kaka Saheb Khadilkar themselves became theatre workers. This relationship of the Marathi theatre with wider social questions has persisted. But even with such social commitment, by the fourth decade of this century, it lost its vitality and became inactive.

74

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

In another language of the western region, the Gujarati, the impact of the western theatre was greater and more pervasive from the very beginning, because of the enthusiasm and initiative of the very influential, prosperous and enterprising community of the region, the Parsis, who had readily accepted the western education and culture. The Parsis not only set up many industries and trades in collaboration with the English traders. they also formed professional theatre companies of the western type which staged their plays in Gujarati. The main area of their activity was Bombay, but the impact of their work was on the entire Gujarati-speaking region, because Bombay was the main centre of the newly emerging industrialists, traders and other western educated Gujaratis.

On account of a direct or indirect commercial bias, the Parsi as well as the general Gujarati theatre was, from the beginning, dominated by melodrama, spectacle and exaggeration. But even here many talented performers came to the fore, who with their skill succeeded in enchanting audiences. The plays written for this theatre were generally imitating the Shakespearean model and their stories were mostly drawn from the Muslim or Indian romantic tales and, later, also from the mythological and historical episodes. Much later, plays exposing social evils were also written. But in most of them, the dramatic structure was marked by melodrama or sensation generated by a clash of situations and characters, as in Shakespeare's plays, but they did not have the master's deep insight into or understanding of human mind and behaviour, or his poetic quality. These plays, therefore, though attracting the spectators when staged, were insignificant in a creative or artistic sense.

In South India, the English education certainly had an extensive sweep, but the performing arts there had a very strong and deeply entrenched tradition with almost a fanatic adherence, which considerably delayed the impact of the western style theatre. Later

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

75

in the 19th century, plays based on the new western model were written in the cities of the Tamil, Telugu,

Kannada and Malayalam language areas, and companies performing them were also established. In

the theatres of all these languages, the actor-manager dominated, amongst whom P. Samband Mudaliar in

Tamil, Tiger Vardhachar and Gubbi Veeranna in Kannada, and Dharmavaram Krishnamachari and T.

Raghavachari in Telugu can be mentioned. The plays written or performed by these theatremen were all,

more or less, like the plays of the Parsi theatre. Their stories were drawn from the mythological, historical

or social events, but their form and structure were based on a superficial imitation of the plays of

Shakespeare and other English writers, or Moliere. On the whole, their content had no insight or depth,

and their form and technique no originality.

The situation in the Hindi-speaking areas of the North was totally different. This region, which was far

away from the coastal industrial centres and foreign settlements, and which had been an old centre of

political power, was dominated by very sharp and widespread anti-British sentiment and movement.

Hence the British rulers were suspicious about this region and, therefore, reluctant or slow to introduce

economic or educational reforms here. This in turn led to further impoverishment and slowed down the

formation of a new educated middle class. A small sprinkling of the English-educated intelligentsia,

basically feudal in outlook, was more preoccupied with politics, either for selfish, opportunist purposes

or for nationalist objectives. They had little time or inclination for art and culture.

As a result, the new theatre could not take any shape there, nor could it acquire any independent

existence. The needs for entertainment or theatrical experience of the cities and towns of this region had

been met by the Parsi or other theatre companies of Bombay and Calcutta, since the sixth decade of the

76

Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

last century. The main objective of these companies was to make money by providing cheap entertainment through melodramas presented in a spectacular manner. The repercussions of this situation on the theatre of the Hindi-speaking areas are noticeable even today.

Bhartendu Harishchandra, in the middle of the last century, did make a memorable effort to provide this region with its own distinct theatre, with a sort of synthesis of the new west-inspired and Indian traditional theatrical visions. Bhartendu was a poet, a playwright, an actor and manager of a theatre group all rolled into one. If his efforts had succeeded, the history of the theatre in the Hindi region would have been very different. Unfortunately, he died at a very young age of 35 leaving the field open for the Parsi commercial theatrical companies which completely dominated the scene. A cheap, or titilating and, therefore, money-minting theatre overwhelmed the region to such an extent that later in the 20th century even the talent of a poet-playwright like Jaishankar Prasad could not make a dent into it.

It is true that even in the Parsi theatre there were outstanding and popular actors like Cowasji Khatau, Khurshdji Baliwala, Master Madan, Fida Hussain Narasi and others. Also, the playwrights like Agha Hashra, Narain Prasad Betab and Radhey Shyam Kathavachak deserve to be mentioned for the immense theatrical quality and, occasionally, the crafting of their plays, but artistic merit of their work is very little. The Parsi theatre could not acquire any significant or important position in the cultural life of the Hindi-speaking people.

The alien and rootless character of this otherwise effective and popular theatre is also evident from another subsequent development. As the silent movies

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

77

in the third, and the talkies in the fourth, decades of

the 20th century made their debut, the Parsi theatre

companies, including the owners, actors, playwrights

and technicians, deserted the theatre for films, creating

a situation of near total vacuum in the Hindi theatre.

After that, apart from a few isolated amateur theatre

groups in some cities, occasional elementary theatre

activity was confined only to universities, colleges and

schools. This situation continued till long after the

Second World War.

Thus, not only in Hindi but in every language and

region of the country, the theatre had come almost to

a standstill around 1940. The companies closed

down and the actors were jobless. It appeared that

the theatre had no future in India. In the country-

side, certainly, the traditional theatre was generally

alive and active, but it had no contact with the new

urban theatre.

During 1943-44, the rise of the Indian People's

Theatre Association (IPTA) brought some life to the

theatre in many regions of the country and gave it

some strength and direction. This movement made a

significant effort to bring drama and theatre closer to

common people and make them socially relevant in

terms of their content. But in its approach to form

and techinque, and in the general outlook, the IPTA

was basically West-oriented, and it had no clear

perspective for relating itself to the rich theatre

traditions of the country. It did, however, inspire a

number of talented theatre workers in many regions

and languages, who later became pioneers of very

significant and exeative theatre work. But IPTA,

because of its inner contradictions, landed itself very

soon in the morass of a narrow, sectarian attitude

and was marginalised. Another similar attempt in

Hindi—the Prithvi theatre started by the noted film

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

actor Prithviraj Kapoor, in 1944 in Bombay, with a

nationalistic and socially-oriented selection of plays,

but modelled more or less after the Parsi Theatre—also

collapsed around 1960.

Actually, it was only about 1953-54 that the urban

theatre evinced some life once again when the activity

began, to some extent, at a new level. It has been said

before that the western theatrical model, which we

had encountered under colonial conditions during the

19th century and which we had blindly accepted, was

of the decadent Victorian theatre of England. The

British companies which came out to India during

those days only aimed at providing some diversion or

entertainment to Englishmen living permanently or

temporarily in India in connection with their work in

commerce, industry, administration or army. They

had no intention of presenting art or any form of

western culture. Quite frequently, they were unimpor-

tant and inferior theatrical companies. Under these

conditions, it was inevitable that by imitating their

approach and style, the theatre which took shape in

this country also aimed at only cheap entertainment,

or at best some social reform according to the western

concepts and practices.

In the fifth decade of the 20th century, a few years

after Independence, the character and objectives of

the Indian theatre and theatre workers began changing,

which led to a many-sided change in their relations

with the western theatre. Authentic and complete

translations, or very carefully made adaptations, of

the works of the most outstanding western playwrights

began to be staged. Besides Shakespeare and Moliere,

playwrights like Sophocles, Euripides, Ibsen,

Strindberg, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Gorky, Sartre, Camus,

Bertolt Brecht and many others were thus made

available to theatres in Indian languages. Secondly,

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

79

many individuals now attracted towards the theatre

considered it a means of creative expression and not

primarily a source of profit. They drew inspiration not

only from the best of the western drama but also the

most significant artistic features and ideas of the

western theatre. The theatre, for them, was not a

mere pastime or a means of entertainment, but a way

of life, a vehicle for exploring reality and the meaning

of existence.

In this phase, at first, directors like Sombhu Mitra,

Habib Tanvir, Ebrahim Alkazi, Shyamanand Jalan,

Utpal Dutt, Satyadev Dubey and later on Arvind

Deshpande, Vijaya Mehta, Jabbar Patel, Ajitesh

Bandopadhyay, Rajinder Nath, B.V. Karanth came to

the fore. They completely changed the shape and level

of the Indian theatre. In fact, productions like

Raktakarabi (Rabindra Nath Tagore); Chhenra Tar

(Tulsi Lahiri), Dashachakra, and Putul Khela (Ibsen)

all by Sombhu Mitra; Agra Bazar by Habib Tanvir;

Ashadh Ka Ek Din (Mohan Rakesh), Andha Yug

(Dharmavir Bharati) King Lear (Shakespeare), King

Oedipus (Sophocles) all by Ebrahim Alkazi; Shantata

Court Chalu Ahe (Vijay Tendulkar) by Arvind

Deshpande, Angar by Utpal Dutt are theatrical

creations of unprecedented artistic achievement in

the Indian theatre.

To an extent, one of the results of this changed

awareness and attitude towards the theatre was that,

during the sixth and seventh decades, almost

simultaneously in many languages,. a number of

creatively significant and original plays were written.

Evam Indrajit, Baki Ithas, Pagla Ghora by Badal

Sircar in Bengali; Shantata Court Chalu Ahe, Aashi

Pakhare Yeti by Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi; Kelu

Janamejaya by Adya Rangacharya, Tughlaq by Girish

Karnad in Kannada; Andha Yug by Dharmavir Bharati

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

and Ashadh Ka Ek Din and Adhe Adhure by Mohan

Rakesh in Hindi, brought to Indian dramatic literature,

once again after centuries, the status of creative

work. In these plays, almost for the first time in

Indian theatre after the period of the Sanskrit drama,

there is an attempt to understand and articulate the

basic philosophical and moral questions, dilemmas

or contradictions of life today, the relationship between

different layers of society, between individual and

society, and between man and woman. These new

plays tried to explore these areas of human concern

in some depth and complexity never attempted before.

In dramatic form and technique, these plays

generally show, at a sensitive and subtle level, the

influence of modern and experimental western styles.

In some plays, there are elements of the Indian

traditional styles also. Altogether a kind of restlessness

to forge a creative and aesthetic as also an original

Indian dramatic style is evident in almost all the

theatre workers of this phase, including the

playwrights, directors, actors, stage technicians, critics

and others.

An inevitable consequence of this process of making

theatre a mode of creative expression was that these

theatremen started questioning the nature and

development of the modern theatre derived from the

West, as well as its relevance and usefullness in the

Indian context. Indeed, the dramatic style, which

emerged in different Indian languages as a result of

the country-wide efforts to write and stage plays in

imitation of the western drama and stage, was

gradually losing its novelty and fascination. The

model had, during a period of more than a hundred

years, produced very few plays which had any

significant or distinct creative achievement.

Disillusionment, sooner or later, was almost inevitable.

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations 81

At the same time, it was only natural in this process that the desire to come out of this desert of imitation and to seek their own fertile region, should surface and become strong.

Since the beginning of the sixth decade itself, the young director Habib Tanvir had started attempts to forge a new indigenous idiom of theatre for which he went to the Sanskrit and the traditional theatre styles. Gradually, other theatre workers were also attracted towards this possibility and all aspects of theatrical activity were affected—dramatic writing, staging, acting, stagecraft, actor-audience relationship, theatre criticism etc. An effort to forge a new relationship with the ancient Sanskrit and medieval regional theatre was underway in the theatre of this country, and thus a new stage of the continuity of Indian theatre tradition gradually started taking shape. By the end of the seventies, this became a major trend of the contemporary Indian theatre, and throughout the country, in every region and language, many playwrights, directors, actors, technicians, theatre groups got involved in some manner or the other in this exploration.

There are many reasons for this new development. For instance, in almost every sphere of life in our country today, there is a widespread search for Indian identity and our arts are not an exception. Particularly, in the theatre world, the growing awareness of the imitative nature of the work in the past century and its consequences has produced a great dissatisfaction, generating an increasing pressure to go to the roots of our life, culture and arts. After Independence, for many reasons, our theatre people have had many more opportunities than before of an exposure to the traditional theatre of different languages and regions. As a result, they have, gradually,

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

become aware of and also impressed by its astonishing

vitality, spontaneity, aesthetic freshness and popularity

among the common people.

Meanwhile, theatre the world over was becoming

more and more disillusioned with the naturalistic or

realistic styles and methods. Many creative people in

the West, in their search for a more imaginative,

intimate and socially relevant theatre, were led to the

theatres in Asia, including the traditional modes in

India. During the last two decades, internationally

known theatre directors, like Grotowski, Eugenio

Barba, Richard Schechner, Peter Brook, have been

exploring our traditional theatre performances and

practices for their own artistic objectives and have

repeatedly come to India in this connection. This also

has led our theatre people to give a second look to our

own traditional theatre once again. In addition, the

phenomenal popularity of the German playwright,

Bertolt Brecht, in this country during the last two

decades, specially the unprecedented success of the

productions of his plays with some of the methods of

our traditional performances, has also sharply

underlined the theatricality, imaginativeness and

inherent power of the latter.

But, in the last analysis, all these reasons are more

or less incidental. Essentially, as soon as our theatre

people began to come out of the colonial shackles of

considering theatre merely a means of entertainment,

the awareness of its cultural and creative significance

gradually became strong. With this awareness

increased the search for a theatrical vision, form and

language which would be nearer the consciousness of

our common people and consistent with our rich

cultural heritage—entertaining and yet artistically

meaningful. Besides, it was felt that our theatre

should be distinct and strong enough to withstand

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83

the glamour and spectacle of the film and the television, to retain its independent attraction. The realisation that our theatre tradition has such a potential has become increasingly stronger and deeper in the mind of our theatre people during the last few decades. In this context, it is important to note that the objective of this search for our own theatrical identity is not to go back to the past or to glorify any revivalism. Its aim is to assimilate and draw strength from our own theatre tradition for its creative utilization in communicating the experience of life today, in all its myriad forms, complexity and intensity.

It has been mentioned before that this exploration of the tradition is going on today in almost every aspect of our theatre activity and at every level. In dramatic writing, two trends are evident. One, a new play in the specific structure and style of a regional natya or mode; and second, an original play not in the form of any particular natya, but generally drawing upon the structures and theatrical methods of one or more regional modes. Some significant work has been done in both these trends, though the level of creative achievement of the plays so written is not uniform.

In the first category, for instance, Rasik Lal Parekh’s Mena Gurjari, Chandravadan Mehta’s Hoholika and Shanta Gandhi’s Jasma Odan in Gujarati in the Bhavai mode; Vijay Tendulkar’s Sari Ga Sari and Vasant Sabnis’s Gadhvachi Lagna in Marathi in the Tamasha form; Daku by Mudrarakshas in Hindi in Nautanki style; or the recent Siri Sampige by Chandra Shekhar Kambar in Kannada on the pattern of the Yakshagana, can be mentioned. In these plays, the themes vary from the conventional stories of these natyas to the satirical treatment of a contemporary political situation. For instance, the Nautanki play,

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Daku, by Mudrakshas is a sharp and biting satire on the political corruption and self-aggrandizement in connection with the surrender of the Chambal outlaws before a Chief Minister. All these plays, except, probably, Chandravadan.Mehta's Hoholika, are full-length plays in which, while retaining the structural characterstics of the particular natya, a more carefully planned arrangement of the situations, characterization and sophisticated language has been introduced. Though the creative achievement of these plays is not very much above the ordinary, they still bring a new flavour to the dramatic writing for the modern theatre, and some of their productions have been popular among the city as well as the village audiences.

But these plays do not attract the traditional troupes and their performers, while the urban groups do not have the requisite skill and experience to stage them effectively. Thus they never go beyond a mere experiment, creating some variety only in the urban theatre.

The only instance of writing and staging new plays entirely in a traditional mode is that of the Jatra in Bengali. Because of the specific political, cultural and theatrical circumstances of Bengal, the Jatra, since the end of the last century, became a vehicle of political themes, sentiments and ideas, though for long its formal character remained more or less traditional. But in the present phase, specially during the last few decades, it has become a melodramatic, sentimental and money-making theatrical style, in which the traditional elements of the Jatra are either not there or are very grossly distorted. Today, it has plays on, besides the mythological stories, the latest national and international, social and political events and personages. The professional or commercial Jatra companies travel to different towns and villages

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85

of Bengal, showing the Jatra plays on the life of Lenin,

Stalin, Karl Marx, Ho Chi Minh as well as on romantic

and the so-called social themes, in the manner of the

commercial films. Their financial sucess is phenomenal

and outstrips that of any other theatrical activity.

Evidently, this is not any creative use or an enrichment

of the tradition, but a kind of disintegration due to an

unfortunate commercialization. This development, in

one of the most important natyas of the country,

indicates that the problems related to the traditional

theatre and its performers in different regions and

languages are very complex and many-layered. This

will be discussed in greater detail later.

The other trend, in which there is a creative

interaction between the original dramatic writing and

the traditional theatre, is really the more important

one. Based on innovative use of the structural

elements and methods of one or more natyas, a

number of new plays have been written with exciting

results. To mention some of them, in Kannada,

Hayavadana by Girish Karnad and Jokumar Swami

by Chandra Shekhar Kambar; in Marathi, Ghashiram

Kotwal by Vijay Tendulkar, Mahanirvan by Satish

Alekar; in Malayalam, Karimkutty and Pashu Gayatri

by Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, Kirat and Karut

Daiwate Tedi by G. Shankar Pillai; in Bengali, Raj

Darshan by Manoj Mitra, Nathavati Anathavat by

Saoli Ghosh, Kinu Kaharer Thetar by Mohit

Chattopadhyay, Madhav Malanchi Koinya by Bibhash

Chakravarti; in Chhattisgarhi, a regional dilect of

Hindi, Charandas Chor and Bahadur Kalarin by

Habib Tanvir; in Hindi, Bakri by Sarveshwar Dayal

Saxena, Rasgandharva by Mani Madhukar; in

Manipuri, Uchek Lengmei Dong by Ratan Kumar

Thiyam, Leigi Macha Signa by H. Kanhailal, Khuman

Chakha Mairang Ngamba by Lokendra Arambam; in

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

Gujarati. Leela by Bakul Tripathi, and so on. This is not an exhaustive list, and many other plays in this new idiom have come up. But even this enumeration of plays and playwrights underlines the sweep, importance and significance of the new trend. This contains not only some of the best plays, but also a large number of outstanding playwrights, the established and the up-coming, of the modern phase.

In these plays, many elements of the traditional performance scripts have been incorporated at many levels of imagination and artistic quality, frequently in a very effective manner. For instance, most of these plays have a flexible structure in which various threads of the story or the dramatic action are linked together by a narrator called sutradhara, bhagavata or vachaka. There is also an interesting variety in the use of this device.

In Girish Karnad's Hayavadana, the bhagavata carries out a number of functions—of the singer-narrator, linking various episodes, commenting on the action, enactment of small roles. In Mahanirvana by Satish Alekar, the central character of the play himself is the sutradhara and he carries out both these roles with great ease. In Vijay Tendulkar's Ghasiram Kotwal, the sutradhara is an extremely witty, humorous and attractive character, who while linking the dramatic action from beginning to end, underlines the meaning of the play.

In the single performer play by Saoli Ghosh, Nathavati Anathavat, Draupadi is not only its central character but also its narrator, commentator, and coordinator. In Rasgandharva by Mani Madhukar, many characters act as sutradhara or commentator on different occasions.

It is interesting to note that such a concept of the sutradhara has been provided to these playwrights by one or more natyas of their own region or other

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations 87

regions of the country, which they have also changed according to their needs. These changes have been made for almost the similar reasons which prompted the theatremen in the medieval ages to change the sutradhara of the Sanskrit drama into the various sutradharas of the regional natyas.

Another important feature of the traditional theatre is the use of myth, legend or folk tale as a metaphor for contemporary situations, as a result of which it has been posible to bring as characters in the plays, animals, birds, trees and other elements from the natural and the supernatural, the everyday and the imaginary, the human and the non-human reality. In many plays, instead of using the normal sequences or the unities of time and place, attempts have been made to present simultaneously different periods and locales according to the dramatic requirements. Most of these plays have also an effective and interesting use of poetry, song and rhythmic or rhymed speech,

All these elements reveal altogether a new horizon of the contemporary Indian dramatic writing. It is no more necessary to consider that an exposition of the cause-effect relationship between the internal and external conflict of an individual and the explosive climax produced by its increasing intensity is an inevitable or the only method of building up dramatic action. By a sensitive and careful use of the traditional methods, many other ways of constructing a powerful play will become posible and many new areas and levels of the individual and social reality and experience will find expresion in plays.

But, more than the dramatic writing, it is in the staging or production methods of the contemporary theatre that the interaction with the traditional modes has brought about a fundamental, and an almost revolutionary change. The traditional natyas have

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opened up a limitless horizon for movement and

speech in acting, called the angika and vachika

abhinaya in the natyashastra. Not only for the

training of the actor, but also for many kinds of

theatrical expressions, a number of new and rich

sources of movements, postures and attitudes are

present in the traditional theatre—dance, ritual,

martial arts, acrobatics, etc. Similarly, many methods

for miming objects, properties, situations and places,

or gestures of body and hand for some special

situations are also available.

In the vachika or the speech, several methods of

cultivating and strengthening the voice, various modes

of speaking—from a simple use of speech to stylization,

including straight dialogue, poetic recitation, chanting

and innumerable forms of dramatic singing—are

available. Imaginative conventions to indicate the

change of time and place, use of the half curtain for

emphasizing a character or a situation, devices to

organise dramatic action simultaneously at many

levels, masks and many other tools from the traditional

modes have now become easily accessible to the

director and the performer. In scenic design, instead

of creating a naturalistic or realistic setting of

verisimilitude, the use of symbolism, suggestivity,

miming, half curtain, levels etc., has found tremendous

encouragement from the new idiom inspired by the

traditional theatre.

Thus a novel and flexible indigenous theatrical

form with exciting new possibilities seems to be

gradually emerging. The production styles which are

taking shape in this process are, in some manner or

the other, the styles of a total theatre, in which poetry,

dance, music, mime and even some forms of the

visual arts are blended together. These styles are

simple, inexpensive, actor-oriented and mainly

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations 89

presentational or theatrical. Together with depth and intensity of human experience, the elements of attractive entertainment for the spectators are present here in full measure. In many ways, this is the beginning of a revival and restoration of a real theatrical art, in which the dramatic experience is communicated not by any external imitation of reality, but by exciting the imagination of the spectators and enabling them to participate in the theatrical act.

This conclusion is borne out by many productions of the last two decades. It would not be an exaggeration to say that most of the creatively outstanding productions of these years are those which have been inspired or influenced in some manner by the various usages and elements of the traditional theatre. Among these are many of the productions of all those plays mentioned in connection with the dramatic writing in the new idiom. Besides them, a number of modern Indian, Sanskrit and western plays also have had very exciting, artistic and effective presentations during the preceding years. In Hindi, Shakespeare's Machbeth as Barnam Vana by B.V. Karanth, Gogol's Inspector General as Ala Afsar and Ben Jonson's Volpone as Lomadkhan Ka Vesh, both directed by Bansi Kaul; in Tamil, Sophocles' Antigone by Ramaswamy; or in Chhattisgarhi, Moliere's Bourgeois Gentlemen as Lala Hakeekat Rai by Habib Tanvir may be controversial productions, but with their artistic boldness and theatrical imagination they have succeeded in capturing the attention of the spectators.

From this point of view, the productions of many plays of Bertolt Brecht staged in a variety of attractive styles, have been particuarly successful and popular. For example, the Caucasian Chalk Circle in Marathi by Vijaya Mehta, in Bundelkhandi by Fritz Benewitz, in Punjabi by M.K. Raina and Kavita Nagpal; the

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

Three Penny Opera in Marathi by Jabbar Patel, and

Puntilla in Hindi by Fritz Benewitz, are productions in

which the methods and devices of the traditional

theatre have been freely and creatively used and have

become extremely significant works of the

contemporary Indian theatre.

But more amazing and exciting than even these

have been the productions of the Sanskrit plays, in

original Sanskrit or in many regional languages. In

these performances, different directors have used the

devices and methods of the natyas and rituals of their

respective regions and have given a new sense of

power and potential to the Indian theatre activity.

Mrichchhakatika by Habib Tanvir and Ebrahim Alkazi

in Hindi; Madhyama Vyayoga, Karnabhara, Abhijnan

Shakuntala and the fourth Act of Vikramorvashiya in

Sanskrit and Urubhanga and Mattavilasa in Hindi, all

by K.N. Panikkar; Urubhanga and the fourth Act of

Vikramorvashiya in Manipuri by Ratan Kumar Thiyam;

Malavikagnimitra in Malavi by B.V. Karanth and

Mattavilasa in Hindi by Kumar Verma have, in a

manner, changed the temper of the contemporary

theatre activity in our country. Of course, they are not

all of the same standard. While some of them

represent almost the highest achievements of the

contemporary theatre in our country, the others

reveal just a new level of the power of expression and

communication of the traditional theatre which has

made a deep impact on the contemporary activity.

Here it would be useful to mention another form of

the continuity of the Indian theatre tradition. After

centuries, the Sanskrit plays are again becoming an

intrinsic and important part of our theatre life. It is so

not in the manner of a ritualistic homage to the plays

written in the 'Devabhasha' (the language of the

gods), or as a kind of revivalistic act. Rather, it is an

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91

effort to understand the special production styles of

the Sanskrit plays and to make them understandable

for the modern spectators. In other words, it is an

attempt to explore and discover in a creative manner

the relevance of the Sanskrit theatre for our life today.

There is no doubt that in this process the Indian

theatre tradition, broken or forgotten for some time, is

acquiring a new continuity.

The theatre idiom, emerging as a result of this

growing interaction with the classical Sanskrit theatre

and the medieval natya, is transcending the regional

and/or linguistic limits and obstructions, without

losing its local flavour or its roots. Probably, after

centuries once again, a new pan Indian theatrical

vision, approach, and even a style, are emerging

which, with all their various local flavours, would be

recognised by the spectators all over the country and

would also please them.

Some of the consequences of this new development

deserve to be mentioned. One, many directors are

now using performers or singer-actors/actresses of

the traditional theatre from the country-side in their

productions. Till a few years back, only Habib Tanvir

had in his company some performer-singers from

Chhattisgarh region of Madhya Pradesh. Gradually,

they became the more prominent members of his

troupe and the number of urban performers dwindled.

This forced Habib Tanvir to stage his plays only in the

Chhattisgarhi dialect, or in a kind of mixed language,

as his rural performers could not speak Hindi with

enough confidence and involvement. The main centres

of troupe’s performances were cities and towns of the

Hindi-speaking and other regions and not the

Chhattisgarh area, making them almost everywhere

the performances in an unfamiliar or partially

understood language. This situation provided to some

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talented rural performers not only an opportunity of work but also brought them recognition in the urban,

in fact, the national cultural life. But it was not very clear whether the experiment was opening up any

significant new opportunities for the theatre workers and the theatre in general in the Chhattisgarh region

itself, or was it only another form of a person from the country-side finding a job of his choice in the city. All

the same, during recent years, as the interest of the urban theatre persons in the traditional theatre has

become wider and deeper, the rural performers have been increasingly involved in the work of the urban

theatre groups. Kavalam Narayana Panikkar has in his troupe, Sopanam, a number of traditional

performers, singers and musicians of Kerala. In Madhya Pradesh Rangamandal, B.V. Karanth

employed a few traditional singer-actors, who are performing with the urban members of the company

both in the dialects as well as in Hindi. Often their performances are more skilful and competent than

those of their urban counterparts. A new source, rich and inexhaustible, of talented professional performers

has opened up for the contemporary Indian theatre.

During the eighties, the Sangeet Natak Akademi launched an imaginative scheme under which a

number of performances were staged with one or more traditional players; for instance, in Bharati's production of Pashu Gayatri in Rajasthani

language, based on a Rajasthani Natya, Gavari; Ravi Shankar Kemu's production in Kashmiri, Ashiq Te

Gopalis; or in Ramaswamy's Tamil adaptation of Antigone by Sophocles, and so on..For the performers

of the Swang or the Nautanki in Uttar Pradesh, the Bhavai in Gujarat, the Tamasha in Maharashtra,

similar contact with the urban theatre has come about.

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93

This is a new trend which can have far reaching consequences and can lead to a new interaction between the traditional rural and the modern urban theatres. This has great possibilities of creative enrichment and productiveness of the theatre activity in both the rural and the urban sectors of the country. The traditional performers thus involved in the urban theatre can, with fresh outlook and imagination, give a new direction and dynamism to the theatre in the country-side. At the same time, the possibility cannot also be altogether ruled out that these traditional performers get enamoured of the glamour of the city life and, eventually, their contact or relationship with the rural theatre and their own roots are completely snapped. Anyway, a form of a confluence of the two theatre streams is certainly present in this situation, which can reduce, if not altogether eliminate, the centuries old gap between the urban and the rural theatres, deepened further by the western impact.

Due to the isolation from our tradition for a long time under colonial conditions, this entire process tends to be very self-conscious, deliberate, lacking in spontaneity. As a result, many such forms and levels of the work are visible which have their own special problems, difficulties and challenges. The important thing is that this process is liberating the traditional theatre from the confines of the country-side or the rural communities and linking it with the wider national mainstream of the theatre. The process which had started about a thousand years ago, of theatre activity shifting from the capitals or cities to the rural areas, and gradually acquiring only a rural character, or the one which emerged about 150 years ago under the influence of or the contact with the western theatre, of the theatre being totally confined

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

to the cities—both these processes are under change and the possibility of the unification of the urban and

rural theatre traditions is clearly discernible, howsoever slow it may be.

This possibility has also underlined one more point very sharply. It is now urgently necessary to search

for and define or develop some new methods and principles for the training of an Indian theatre

practitioner. These principles and methods should be such that a performer is not only skilled in

psychological acting of the western kind, or in depicting the inner life of a character and the forms of subtle

conflicts; he should also be able to learn Indian methods of miming, together with music, dance and

ways of using these in his performances. Such training programme will have to introduce the voice

and movement exercises of the Indian tradition for speech and body training. It is becoming increasingly

clear that the serious theatre people desiring to do significant work will have to prepare themselves for a

long, hard and multi-level training and practice, as has been so far indispensable for those who desire to

learn the art of music and dance in our country.

This new phase of Indian theatre cannot be one of merely reviving the traditional theatre forms or styles.

The Sanskrit theatre, too, did not survive in its original form in its subsequent development in the

regions and their languages, but maintained its continuity by changing according to the new social,

artistic and theatrical conditions and their requirements. Now also the various elements of the

aesthetics of the traditional natyas—their methods, conventions and devices—would be incorporated in

the modern theatre according to the requirements of the social, cultural life today. In any age, only such a

form of assimilation of the tradition can be and is

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95

creative–not its blind revival but its imaginative

exploration and recreation. Such a process of re-

creation is on the anvil today.

The most important contribution of the western

theatre was that, after a gap of almost a thousand

years, drama–not merely the performance script–

became an indispensable and important element of

our theatrical work. In the western theatre, the mode

of a dramatic presentation only on the basis of a

performance script had gradually disappeared since

the time of the Commedia dellarte, and until very

recently it was impossible to imagine a theatrical

creation without a pre-written play. As a result of

the influence of the western theatre, and on account of

making it our mode, a large number of plays have

been written since the 19th century, in each of our

regional languages, for staging, and if, for some

reasons, that was not possible, then at least for

reading. Thus, during the last 150 years, a large body

of dramatic literature has come up in all the Indian

languages. Though, partly on account of a long gap in

the tradition of written drama in our country, and

partly because of the imitative nature of the new

theatre, most of the plays so written, have failed to

acquire any significant creative level. Still, all this

writing has re-established the importance of drama in

a theatrical creation. It has also given an experience

and practice of writing plays, some results of which

can be seen in a few of the important plays written

during the last two or three decades.

On account of the western influence, too, a kind of

immediacy and topicality came to not only the form

but also the content of our dramatic writing. It is no

more merely a narrative of the mythological episodes,

lives and deeds of great people, with only indirect,

incidental or occasional references to contemporary

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

everyday life. It has now become a vehicle of presenting directly the aspirations and struggles for a better life of the common people. It is not merely a reconstruction of the achievements of the past, but also a mirror of the acute, immediate conflicts of today's life. The contact with the western drama and theatre has given to our theatrical activity a new sense of social responsibility and contemporary life.

Another result of the contact with the western theatre was that it broke down the internal and external isolation of the Indian theatre. Today, it has an interaction with the world theatre. So far this interaction had been largely one-sided, with a sense of inferiority, and not inspired and determined mainly by our own internal requirements. But there has been a change in this situation during the last one or two decades. Now, many eminent western theatre people are anxious to know or are actually engaged in knowing and understanding the Indian theatre tradition. A number of contemporary Indian plays have been translated and productions presented in the western countries and have been widely appreciated. Similarly, the contact and interaction between the contemporary theatres of different regions within the country has also increased and become many sided. In the process, a concept of 'Indian Theatre' is, gradually, emerging. This new concept is different from the one which prevailed in the ancient times of a theatre in one single Indian language, i.e., Sanskrit. Today, it is based on a mutual exchange of the plays, presentation styles, methods, and even the performers, between different regional languages.

The urge in the Indian theatre to find its own identity, which has become increasingly pronounced and strong, during the last two or three decades, has led to the beginning of a new relationship of the

Modern Age: New Struggles and Explorations

modern theatre, not only with our own ancient

classical and the medieval theatres, but also with the

western and the Asian theatres. This is an effort to

realise the continuity of the Indian theatre tradition in

new conditions and in a new manner, which, in spite

of the changes and diversities of forms and levels, has

always been visibly or invisibly present. This continuity

is an evidence of the great vitality of the Indian

theatre and its deeper relationship with the life and

culture of the people, as also of its power, its capacity

for renewal, and its creativity.

The phase of Indian theatre, which developed

under the influence of the western theatrical vision

and practices, is now in its last stage. At the moment,

it appears that the preparation for a new stage is on

in many ways, in many forms and at many levels. The

main factor in this situation is the increasing contact,

and familiarity with and assimilation of the theatrical

methods of the ancient Sanskrit and medieval theatres

in our contemporary activities. Another facet of the

same situation is a deep and often painful re-

evaluation of the relevance of the western theatre

styles and methods in our own work.

It would be very naive to dream or desire that we

can continue our theatrical activity by completely

denying either of them and on the basis of only one of

them. This is neither possible nor desirable. Almost

every aspect of the life in our country has been

influenced, more or less, by the western culture,

social system, and the political-economic ideas and

institutions. Though some of the elements in this

influence have been destructive and unnecessary,

there is quite a lot in it which has released our

society and individual from many of the old, decadent

shackles, and has given us new tools and weapons to

understand and control our life in the contemporary

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Indian Theatre: Tradition, Continuity and Change

world. It is true that we got this at a very great cost,

and if we had not come in contact with the western

world and its culture, in the manner in which we did,

as a culture of the conquerors, we would have

acquired all these qualities according to our own

needs by our own struggles. All the same, some of

these elements have become an indispensable part of

the individual and collective life of our people and

their mental make-up.

The theatre is not very different, too, in this respect.

The western theatre has given us a new insight and

also many new tools. What is necessary today is to

link these acquisitions with our traditional tools, and

by combining both shape a new phase of our theatre.

This theatre should be related deeply with the dynamic

and lasting values of our own culture and ethos, and

should at the same time help us in finding and

establishing our identity and a place in the

contemporary world. Such a form of the continuity of

the Indian theatre tradition would be very valuable

and productive.