1. Introduction to Bharata's Natya Sastra Adya Rangacharya 1

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BORROWER'S No. DUE DTATE SIGNATURE

INTRODUCTION TO

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA / -

By the same author Drama in Sanskrit Literature

Introduction to

Bharata's Natya-Sastra

ADYA RANGACHARYA

BOMBAY

POPULAR PRAKASHAN

C ADYA RANCACHARYA 1966

First edition March 1966 Chaitra 1888

Set in Linotype 10 point Caledonia face

Printed mn India

JRINTED BY KRISHNA S KURWAR AT MOIAN MUDRANALAYA, ACME INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, SEWAI BUNDER ROAD, SEWRI (EAST), BOMBAY 15 DD AND PUBLISHED BY C R BHATEAL FOR POPULAR PRARASHIAN, 35C, TARDEO ROAD. BOMBAY 34 Wp.

PREF ACE

In preparing this short book I am fully conscious both of my limtations and my advantages I may speak here frankly about the former and leave the latter to be detected by my readers.

What I mtended to do here was really work for a number of seholars working in a group over a number of years I am only one and I am impatient Even after Independence I found no signs of any University or any Akademi (Central or State) recognismng the importance of research work on Natya-Sastra, leave alone thinking or providing for it On the other hand, a foreign Professor of Dramaties in a Foreign Umversity (have we any such professors in our Umiversities' how many?) once highly recommended to me Bharata's wisdom As an Indian I felt proud, as a Sansknt scholar I felt sorry that this sincere foreigner was apparently misguided by some cultural delega- tion type of Indian scholar My reaction to what I felt then is these few pages

For 20 years I was a Professor of Sansknt and University Teacher for Ancient Indian Culture, for more than 30 years I have been wnttng dramas Here I have tned to avoid the special weakness of both I am not pedantic nor am I fanciful in my mterpretation of Bharata Even if anyone accuses me of either "offence", I would feel happy in the hope that my "offence" would provoke either a younger or a more hard working scholar to improve on my attempt For the merts, if any, in this book the credit would go to my wife Smt Sharada Adya who was prompting me so insistently to write whatever I felt about the Natya-Sastra that I finally decided to say my Lines lest the prompting be heard by the audience. Secondly Shri

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

Sadanand Bhatkal of Popular Prakashan, Bombay, has a claim on my gratitude for he agreed to publish this book without even asking about its contents. I hope to deserve his trust.

ADYA RANCACIARYA

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CONTENTS

PREFACE V

1. Introduction

2. Ongin and Objectives

The First Pioduction

4 Theatre-House and the Stage 13

5. Purvaranga 22

6 Abhmaya 27

7. Stage Craft 39

8. Ten Forms of Stage Representation 48

9. Plav-Construction 58

10. Rasa Theory 67

Il. Conclusion 76

INDEX 79

1

INTRODUCTION

Natya-Sastra, a treatise on drama and dramaties and allied subjeets, is attnbuted to one Bharata or Bharatamuni as he is called more often mn our tradition The usual trappings of a mtnt (sage) are nowhere mentioned, on the other hand his sons satinsed the sages and the latter, enraged, cursed them to be turned themselves and therr descendants, into shudras (XXXVI-29-35) Though Bharata is honoured as the frst writer on dramaties, nothing is known about him or the time he lived in or any other such personal details The word 'Bharata' is the name of the son of the famous king Dushyanta (hero of Kalıdasa's play), the word also means 'an actor', and it is doubt- ful whether as apphed to the author of Natva-Sastra it is a proper noun or a class noun Even a cursory reading of the text would show that this is the work neither of one man nor of one time; as a matter of fact if Bharata were an authonty on drama, here in this book other subjects like music and dancing are given so much importance that it is strange the book is called Natya- Sastra On the other hand it seems as if some one later on tred to bring in one volume all the available information on the various arts Actually, it is the boast of the book that there is no knowledge, no craft, no lore, no art, no techmque and no activitv that you do not find in Natya Sastra (I 116)

The work m the form mn which it is available to-dav, consists of thirtv-seven chapters, the usual style is the matrical one, but also prose in a number of places (particularly m the chapters

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SĀSTRA

on rasa, bhava and also on music) The total number of verses is 5569 In addition to mustc and dance, the subjects dealt with are semanties, morphology, the vanous dalects and their phonology, play-wnting, play-construction, production, rehear- sal, acting, dramatic eriticism, drama audience, producer and many alled crafts There are references to other wrters and other views, there are unnecessary repetitions, there are con- tradictory passages, there are words the teclinieal meaning of which tradition has no trace, in one work, all the elements that could make a book difficult to an average reader are there A drama gives knowledge (ubodha) to the ignorant (abodha,) says the author (I-110), as written earher it was a huge volume, says Bharata, and takes credit for the present volume which, he says, is both short and simple Perhaps, Bharata addressed these words to his contemporanes since an average modern Indian would hardly find it simple So what Bharata did for his contemporaries, this present book proposes to do for the 20th century Indians fand all others mterested in the subject), for this reason there would be no attempt here to know who Bharata was, whether there was an actual Bharata, what tume he lned in whether the present work is entirely his or from time to time his school followers added and padded, whether etc. Whatever the answer to those questions, the importance of the work would not be affected nor its wisdom detracted, on the other hand, the infuence of Bharata on the rural stage upto the modern davs and throughout India (irrespectie of the difference in languages) compels us to accept the book on the whole in its present form The present work is not a scholarly thesis nor an ongmal interpretation It is no more than a rendering in modern terms and technologv all the information (concering drama only) contamed in the Natya-Sastra Here and there the present atthor has attempted to supply the connecting thought (as scholars do the missing words in the manuseript), otherwise, as could be seen throughout from references to the text, it is mainly the story that is narated by Bharata and the views he expresses on the different aspects of the study of dramaties and the pro- duction of plays

2

2

ORIGIN AND OBJECTIVES

The Natva-Sastra begms with the deseniption of how drama onginated In the Indian tradition there is no difficulty m tracmg the source of anvthing and everything The explanation is ver simple The trinits of Brabma \ishnu and Rudra (or Shiva) manages the world by a sort of diision of labour, thus Brahma creates, Vishnu nourshes and Shn a destroys Since all the three represent omnipotent god bood the question as to why the three gods contmue this repetitie game does not arise. God Brahma creates everything and so he created drama also, the onlv pomt worth remembering is that unlike the matenal world drama was created on a special requisition of the smaller gods It happened thus

Once a long time ago, during the transitional period between two Ages it so happened that people took to uncivilised ways. were ruled by lust and greed, behaved in angry and jealous waxs with each other and not only gods but demons, evil spints yakshas and such like others swarmed over the earth Seemg tlus plght, Indra and other gods approached god Brahma and requested him to give the people a tov (Kridamiyaka), but one which could not only be seen but heard and this should turn out a dnersion (so that people gave up their bad wavs) (I 8 11)

But apparently Brahma did not feel flattered by this request

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

After all he had created all beings and he had also created the Vedas to gie them knowledge for a better way of life. If people took to bad ways it meant that they were neglecting or ignonng the Vedas, the sacred lore in which was contained all knowledge But Indra explamed that it was not so; of course, the Vedas were there and many people were benefited by them. But unfortunately, the shudras were prohibited from leaming. nay even from listening to the Vedas (1-12). In the circumstances, the remedy lay in creating another, a fifth Veda which would be accessible to all the four castes (I-12).

Thus it was Indra who by his diplomatie skill induced god Brahma to create a Natya-veda, for this contrbution of his, Indra, as we find later, was given the honour of inaugurating the first ever play However, to proceed with the story, Brahma created a treatise as requested It seems that the book dictated by this god of four faces (and tongues) turned out not only tough but voluminous Indra took the book with him, read it to other gods and then came to the conclusion that the gods were unable to understand, digest and put into practice the contents of this book "They are incapable of any dramatic activity" is how Indra put it to the Grand Old God (I-22). Probably these gods were used to an easy life; study, hard work or intellectual achvity of any sort was unknown to them. So Indra finally proposed to Brahma that a search for a proper person be made among the sages since they were studious and hard working (I-23) Thus it was that the final choice fell on Bharata, who was asked to take charge of the work. Naturally, Bharata abridged the voluminous work so that it could be used by the mortals, secondly, he was asked to produce a play. "You have got hundred sons and, therefore, you be the producer" sad Brahma to Bharata (I-24) It was easy, particularly in those good old davs, for a father to mamtam striet discipline among his sous I got the Natya-veda from god Brahma and started teaching my sons and also rehearsing them" says Bharata, suggesting cleverly that next to god Brahma he is the originator of our drama

4

ORIGIN AND OBJECTIVES

To what extent does the foregoing narration help us to understand the origm of drama? Do we accept the fanciful divine origin? or should we say that the narration is in the terms of those days when men accepted the leadership of gods and the only way to establish an idea was to say that it originated from god himself? Though Bharata or the author whoever he was seems, from one point of vew, modest enough not to take the credit as the first one in the field, from another pomt of view, he hints to us that his views are too divine in orgin to be debated and that he himself was selected bv the Great God himself as the only capable or qualifed one If we look at his narration carefully, we do feel that Bharata is not undeserving of his boast. Whether before Bharata there was or there was not any drama, the drama which he gives is one that definitely was not there The words desenbing the circumstances that compelled Indra to approach Brahma are very significant (I 8 12)

(1) "uncivilised (or vulgar) standards (gramya dharmay

(2) "people were swayed by lust, greed, anger, jealousy etc" (3) "a toy (play-thing) is desired" (4) "create a fifth Veda accessible to all the castes"

In these phrases we find the views of Bharata on drama, ts nature and its objectives Bharata, as we feel, does not and has no intention to describe the orgin of drama as such, on the other hand, he desenbes how his views on drama came to be formed compelling him to formulate rules about it It is apparent that even before him there was drama but that was given to gramya-dharma (uncivilised ways), that descnbed elemental passions like anger, jealousy, lust, greed etc, in other words the drama that was there was not 'a Veda' ie knowledge-giver, it was a drama of, by and for people to whom knowledge was denied Indra is very particular in saying to Brahma that "ano- ther, a ffth veda, accessible to all the castes" be created He does not ask for drama as such but adds that this ffth Veda should be a diversion (an entertaiment) to both eyes and ears

5

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

Probably, before Bharata, there was no "nataka" as defined by him The stage-shows were called roopoka and hundreds of these have been recognised by Bharata himself. Most of these dealt with low srngara or low humour. Bharata apparently resolved, in the name of the gods, to improve the public taste. But he knew that he could not do anything that would affect the populanty of drama. So he particularly describ- ed a Knidanya-an entertaining toy On the one hand it was entertamment (Kridaniya) and, on the other, an enlghten- ment (Veda). These two characteristics were insisted upon by Bharata and the result was what we now call the urban theatre or a sophisticated drama. Bharata is the onginator of this Theatre and this Drama.

The story as narrated in the first Chapter of Natya-Sastra corroborates such an interpretation as the forgoing one. Bharata, in obedience to god Brahma, accepted the task and started coaching his sons. Words, movements and actions (the three trtfis) were also rehearsed, at this stage, Brahma suggested that dance and muste (Kaishiki ertti) be also introduced. Bharata agreed on one condition, viz, that females should volunteer to play since "it was impossible for males to express female sentiments etc" Brahma created Apsaras women (I 45-46) Finally when the rehearsals were complete (1-53) Bharata got ready for performance on a day which luckily was Indra's festival day (I-54) The show however was not destmed to be a success Smnce the story showed the defeat of the demons by the gods, the former led by Virupalsha decided to prevent it and finally disturbances broke out, demons were routed but the play could not be performed The demons decided to repeat their obstruction for any second show (I-78), so, Bharata had to seek protection from Brahma who ordered the heavenly architect Maya to construet a theatre-house and a stage Before putting the show mn this theatre-house Brahma called a meeting of gods and demons and explained to both of them the nature of a play, it is not any propaganda so that whoever is depicted mn an uncomphmentary light need not feel hurt; it is impartial mn its outlook so that anyone and everone may come in either

6

ORIGIN AND OBJECTIVES

for praise or ridieule, its object is first to entertain and then to mstruct, so it must be taken in that spirit. "A play shows your actions and emotions. Nether gods nor demons are depicted as always good or always evil (Actually) the ways of the world are represented here. It gives you good advice, it gives you en- lightenment and also entertamment. It provides peace of mind to those who are afflicted with miseries, sorrow, grief or fatigue" (I-106-107, 112-114). Bharata, at least, does not seem to have been troubled any further by the demons

Two or three things in this part of the story deserve to be noticed To begin with, Bharata feels that a theatre-house is a necessity Of course, the circumstances in which he conveys that necessity is an extreme evample That disturbances are likely to be created is one of the reasons, there are other reasons which are even more important and we shall notice them in due course But a theatre is a necessity as well for the audience as for the actors and Bharata gets it sanctioned from Brahma

Secondly, the participation of lady artists. In some portions of the Natya-Sastra there are hints and mild suggestions that women should not be given any roles (XXVI 10 11) But it is clear from the first chapter and some other contets that Bha- rata's view was that some roles were done better by women than by men, and particularly gestures motions and emotions of women could be properlv conveved bv women only (I-46)

Thirdl, the nature and purpose of a drama, according to Bharata, are emphasised here The play proposed by Bharata "1s an insult to us and complimentary to gods" said the demons (I-108) But God Brahma tells them that no drama should be looked at from a personal or narrow poit of view because there I\ represented not any particular mdividual but generalised ob- seration of the world and its ways No motive either should be attributed to the dramatist because his mtention is to give good advice through entertainment (I-107) The element of en tertanment is emphasised more than once However, it is an

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

entertainment that does not etcite you, on the other hand that: bnngs you peace of mind (I-I14).

This is the story of the ongin of Drama in the form which Bharata gave it. Just as Panini standardised classical form of Sanskrit, so Bharata standardised classical form of drama. He gave it status and dignity, a form and an objective and finally a techmque It is immatenal whether Bharata was an actual individual or when he lived etc. Like Aristotle among the Greeks, Bharata m India stands as one of the greatest law-givers for good taste in literature and drama Natya-Sāstra is a work co- difyig those laws If Bharata actually lived then on his death hs disciples might have shouted "Bharata is dead, long live Bharata", for the present Natya-Sastra seems to convey the views more of a school of thought over a period of differences and debates than of any one individual.

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3

THE FIRST PRODUCTION

As we have seen above the first production was in need of a good deal of publicitv God Brahma wanted gods and demons to have a proper perspective "Do not be angry with the gods", he advised the demons, 'because drama, as visualsed by me is only imitation" (I-117) As a matter of fact "The enttre beha- viour and activties of the people m their joy and sorrow is represented bere through gestures and movements" (I-119).

After establishing a peaceful atmosphere, the Grand Father God suggested a procedure which would further bring gods and demons together and make them forget their grievances. This was the worship of the stage that had been put up by the heavenly architect It is an elaborate procedure and it should be understood only m the context of the social and religious life of those days Beginning with the lathi (Jarjar) which beat down the demons when they first created distur- bances and mcluding the vanous deities, everv nook and cor- ner of the stage is worshipped 'Never put up a show without worshipping the stage, these (gods and demons) respect you when you show respect to them, they worship you in retum for vour worship for them," says Brahma (III-98) It is not surprising, in view of our tradition, that till to-day ranga-pūja (worship of the stage) is done before the curtain goes up

A whole chapter (III) is devoted to the deserption of this

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BHARATA'S NITYA-SASTRA

worship. Though one can understand our tradition to think of such a ntual, one would hardly expect a whole chapter of 102 verses to be devoted to it. Is it the worship of the stage or of the vanous deities and spints that are supposed to "pos- sess" the different nooks and corners of the stage? In the text itself there is a sort of confusion and a lot of unnecessary re- pehtion.

(1) 'This worship of the deities of the stage is equal to a sacrifice (III-97) "This is the procedure of worshipping the deities of the stage" (III-102) (2) "One who puts on a show wthout worshipping the stage." (III-98) The producer should worship the stage in an undis- turbed frame of mnd" (11I-101).

In the two passages above and the contiguity of the verses concerned one conld see the clumsiness of the text.

Moreover, in an earher context (in chapter one to be exact) god Brahma has already hlessed Bharata and asked him to put up the show There is no reference to all thiy elaborate ntual

This indeed is a good occasion. This is the festival of Indra" (1-54)

With this blessing of the great God Himself, Bharata set about his first production and then the demons created all the rowdvism The idea of having a theatre-house naturally arose out of this experence and the next chapter desenbes the va- nous types of theatre-houses. It should be noted that the par- ticular theatre-house required by Bharata has been built in the first chapter itself, and Brahma in company of gods and others went to see it; it was approved and finally Brabma in-

10

THE FIRST PRODUCTION

strueted the gods to look well after it (I-79-83) This also makes the elaborate worship a second thought We would rather suspect a later wnter to interpolate this long rtualism than expect god Brahma's blessings and mstructions to be ignored Even in the first chapter from verse 83 to the end there is clumsy mixture of two contexts, one defining the nature of drama and the other elaborating the stage-worship Though the last verse of chapter I mentions ranga puja (stage-worslnp) the beginning of chapter II ignores it and the question put there to Bharata is 'Would you tell us abont the theatre-house because that is the first thing (requisite) mn the context of a dramatic performance?" (II 3) And finallv, chapter IV begins (except line 1 of the first verse) with Bharata asking Brahma what plav to put on the stage This question comes naturally after chapter II The first lme of the first verse of chapter IV refers to stage woiship and what follows shows that this is a poor and clumsy justifcation of one whole interpolated chapter

The first performance of a plav (not the earher attempt fotled by the demons) as deseribed at the beginning of chap- ter IV should be treated like the great, historical event it must have been Here was the first performance of a play wntten by Brahma himsclf and produced b a leamed sage (IV-3) and witnessed bv gods and demons-ie, a mived crowd of gentlemen and others Till now, the educated and the cultured had no stage for themselves the popular stage was too popu- lar to be hterature or a prophylactic of taste Even otherwise it was of a tvpe more likely to turn into or lead to a rough house But now here was stage which 'gods and demons" could watch together and denve benefit from, while the earler one was such that "gods" could not jom the usual crowd of "demons" So the first productton of Bharata was a special occasion From the beginning mtelligent planning had gone mnto the produc- tion 'All my hundred sons were there, each in an assigned role, and each in a role to which he was qmte fitted " (I 40) Bharata speaks of his preparation He had acquainted himself with and seen other pesformaces, 'Why, I have also seen a play mn Kaisiki style expressing the sentiment of love, m which

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

God Shiva himself was dancing," he says. (I-45). Reference to the sentiment of love, śrngara rasa, is significant. We shall see later that the vanous types of popular plays (Upa-rūpakas) contained either low śrngara or low hasya (comedy)

Like a research scholar collecting his materials, Bha- rata had witnessed all kinds of shows. With confdence in his ability, expenience and observation he trained his sons for the play called Amrta-Manthana. The episode of churn- ing (Manthana) the ocean for nectar (amrta) ends in vic- tory of gods against the demons Now we can understand why the demons had taken objection to the play. But since the play was wntten by the very god who creates laws also, there was no chance of its beig censored or prohibited Brahma himself admits, though indirectly, that it is a propaganda play when he says "put that play on the stage, it will enthuse and please the gods" (IV-2) In the meanwhile, the eloquence of god Brahma's four tongues must have mellowed the demons and (or) Bharata himself must have been a great producer be- cause seeing the play "both gods and demons, all of them, were pleased" (IV-4) The play showed in imitation the actions and the emotions (karma and bhapa) of both gods and demons (who, in the ongmnal episode, had churned the ocean). In producing the play, Bharata had not projected his own prefer- ences or prejudices towards the characters, hence there was nothing to resent.

The play Amrta-Manthana is mentioned as a samavakāra which is one of the ten forms of stage-shows recognised by Bharata Almost all the writers on dramatics have accepted as a histoncal fact that Amrta-Manthana was the first play and that, in form, it is a samacakara. One cannot be sure of the htstorcity, but that is immatenal. However, tradition scems to be so strong regarding Bharata's first produced play and its type that even in a entical study it has to be accepted for whatever its value We shall see later what a samacakara form is like For the present, it is enough to remember that a some- takara is the first play produced by Bharata.

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4

THEATRE-HOUSE AND THE STAGE

We have seen earlier how Bharata came to feel the neces- sity of a theatre house Before we proceed to study his views on theatre-house, it is better we clanfy one or two things Bharata uses words like (1) nātyaveśma, nātya-grha, nātya- mandapa, (2) ranga sāla, ranga-bhūmi, ranga-mandapa, (3) preksa grha Words mn group (I) are used to denote an entire play-house, mn group (2) ranga-bhumi would mean the stage, while ranga-sala or ranga-mandapa would mean like "preksagrha" just an auditonum

In the beginmng of chapter II the sages ask Bharata details about the theatre-house which is mentioned mn the previous chapter as having been built by Maya The sages preface their question bv addmg that 'a theatre-house is the first requisite of a dramatic performance" (II-3)

The descnption of the theatre house as found in chapter II is repetitive, conflicting and confusing To begm with, Bha- rata savs that three shapes (sannicesa) of a theatre-house have been fixed by Vistakarman (the heavenly architect), namely, (1) Vilrśta or long-drawn out, (2) Caturasra, square or all round and (3) tryasra or triangular (II-S) Further it is said that sizes also are fixed as three, viz jyestha or big, madhyama, (or (medium) and kamyas or small (II-9) Now, the pomt is if each

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BHARATAS NATYA-SASTRA

of the above three shapes could be in one of the three sizes In which case we shall have nine vareties in all. That at least seems to be the meaning or the suggestion of 11-9 and 10 in wluch Bharata says:

"Of the three (shapes) are three sizes, big, medium and small The difference is in the measures of hasta and danda. (24 fingers 1 hasta, 4 hastas = 1 danda". (II-8).

'108 hastas, 64 hastas and 32 hastas (are the three mea-

(II-10) sures), 108 is the big size, 61 the medium and 32 the small."

In these three measures one could have three shapes of each measure-in which case 'Vikrsta' would mean simply 'big', and not necessanly long drawn out' At the same time, the word could mean long drawn out' when the sense conveyed would be that the length would be greater than the width. The three types of uilrsta m three measures, would be as follows:

Size Length Width

1 Jyeśtha 108 61

Madhyama I08 32

3 Kanivas 64 32

Similarly three caturasras would mean three squares of the respechne sides of 108 61 and 32 measures. If, bowever, Cotu- rasra means 'all-round' and not a square then the three catū- tasra sizes would be

Size Length Width

Big 108 108

Medium 64 64

Small 32 32

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THEATRE-HOUSE AND THE STAGE

Finally the tryasra would be three equilateral triangles of sides 108, 64 and 32 respectively

Now in the same context a few verses later we find the following passages

Tryasra is considered to be the small one, caturasra the medium one and vikrsta the big, this is the opmion of expert producers (II 14b 15),

Tlus verse, however, mnstead of clarifymg the confusion adds one more uncertamty We have three measures as big (108), medium (64) and small (32) and we have also three names corresponding to the sze as tilrsta, caturasra and tryasta But we leam nothing about the shape of the theatre-house If ikrsta is the big one and 108 is the measure for the big size would a tikrsta theatre house be 10S x 108, or 10S X 64 or 108 X 32? It must be one and one onlv from these three since according to this view there are only three types in all Sımi- larly would caturasra be only 64 X 64 (because it must be medium stze) and tryasra onh an equilateral triangle of size 32? It is not clear The only general ideas we get about the theatre-house, forgetting the confusion about therr shapes and sìzes, are two

(I) "The theatre-house for gods should be the big one, that for kings the medium one and for others the small one" (1I-11b-12a)

At first glance this seems to be another effort on the part of a third or fourth interpolator to avoid the conflicting meanmngs of verses discussed above Whatever the shape and whatever the size, the thing that should matter is that big, medium and small must go respectively with gods, kings and others But as we find even with the earler commentator Abhinavagupta, the meanng of this verse is something more than is conveyed by the words It is not that gods in heaven would have a big

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

theatre, kings mn palaces a medium and others a small one. This is not the meaning The desenption here is from the point of view of the theme or story of the play. If the story deals with gods (and demons ete ) then, according to Bharata, the stage must be big, since the number of characters, the actions, the movements ete do require plenty of space; if with kings and their love and life story then a medium sized theatre would do, finally with the story of common men a small stage would suit the occasion. The idea of the size of the stage depending on the type of the story is an im- portant one from the poit of view of the success and the effectiveness of the production

(2) The second general idea is contaied in five verses in the same chapter (II)

'The theatre house, for the mortal beings, may be 64 mea- sures in length and 32 in width, it need not be larger than this" (II 20b-21)

'Because, (if larger), the play would be (seen and heard) indistmnct, with a big auditorum characters have to shout their lines and in that distance they may not be heard at all, sımi- larlv, the factal gestures ete would not be clear, speech and songs should be clearly heard, for this reason, a medium-sized theatre only is preferred" (II-22-26).

The inconvemiences of a small theatre seem to be implied according to commentators, in a small theatre, the speeches etc would sound loud and the facial gestures would look arti- fictal

A theatre-house, according to Bharata, must fulfil two con- ditions (1) it must have a stage which in dimensions would suit the story and (2) it must have an auditorium from which the words and acting wonld be clear and look natural.

The text of the Natya-Sastra desenbing the construction of a theatre house is very corrupt and even Abhinavagupta, the

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THEATRE-HOUSE AND THE STAGE

commentator of a thousand years ago, is in great difficulties. Side by side with his own interpretation he also mentions other views and other interpretations. Modern scholars too are not agreed among themselves and each has his own mterpretation. Though this situation would justify the propagation of another view, it would not be advisable m the interests of trying to get Bharata's, and not any other, views

We have seen above the two main conditions which Bharata expects a theatre-house to fulfil Let us try to understand his description of a theatre-house in the light of those conditions Before domg so, it is necessary to remember that a theatre- house, according to Bharata, could not be a permanently built structure, because day-light was the mam lght on which the producer of those davs depended, the theatre-house would not be one that would be walled on all sides and roofed from above At the same time protection from the elements of Nature had to be provded and to that extent, a sort of top covering both for the stage and the auditorium could be ex- pected

In II-20 and 21, as we have seen above, Bharata has pre- ferred, for the mortal world (and beings), a theatre house 64 measures in length and 32 measures mn width He has also said that this is the madhyama stze in addition to being the most convenient size Though this would be the average size of a theatre-house, other sizes could not be precluded smnce Bha- rata himself suggests changes according to the story of the play But, as he is greatlv m favour of this medium size, we may take that in case of stories involving "gods and demons" ete the length shall remain 64 measures, but in view of a big- ger stage being required, the width also may be 64 mstead of the average 32 measures Similarly, when a small stage is re- quired, sutable adjustments may be made with the average measure of 64 x 32

How is such a theatre-house constructed? Bharata starts from the very beginning (II-29 ff). The producer, he says, must first

17

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

exammne the site which should be "level, firm, hard, black or white soil." Then it should be cleared of all rubbish (like bones, skeletons etc ) and shrubbery and then measurement laid out. A number of nitual ceremomes, superstitious omens etc. are then mentioned. After scrupulously observing all those, a plot 64 X 32 measures should be laid out. The length of 64 should be dnided into two halves Now we have one 32 x 32 and another 32 X 32 of these two one would be for the auditorium and the other for stage purposes In this context a number of words are used in the Natya-Sastra and, as is to be expected, there Is no consistency about their meanings; probably, later interpolations used them without knowing the distinction of the earler days For example we have (1) preksagrha, (2) natyaveśma, (3) natya-mandapa, (4)rangabhūmt, (5)ranga man- tapa and so on These words do not mean one and the same thing, the first one would mean an auditorium, second a thea- tre-house, third a drama auditonum, fourth a stage and the fifth agam anditorium Many passages could be understood, mans contradictions explamed if we understand the words as above Now to go back to the description of a theatre-house, we ean now sav that one half (32 x 32) would be used as stage (rangabhum) and the other half (32 X 32) as the audito- num (ranga mandapa) On the stage Bharata desenbes three sections, (1) ranga-pitha, (2) ranga-sirsa and (3) nepathya-grha. Later in the chapter Bharata refers once again to the three shapes 1 oblong (tikrsta). 2 square (caturasra) and 3. trian- gular (tryasra)

Here does one find confusion worse confounded, even Abhi- navagupta is not sure of the meanings and side by side with his own alternabves he refers to others' wews He hints at different readings In one word, intuition and luek more than scholarslp are ltkely to help us here

Ranga-pitha as we ean understand is the front portion of the stage and it may be broadly understood to be equivalent of our present stage-front. In the stage portion of 32 x 32, ranga-pitha measures 8 X 32, re, lengthwise one-fourth of the

18

THEATRE-HOUSE AND THE STAGE

stage area is ranga-pitha, behind this another portion, 8 x 32, is called the ronga sirsa, head of the stage, finally, the remam- ing portion, 16 X 32, is called nepathya grha (comprising green-room, costume-room, property room ete.). This seems to be too simple to be bebeved and, as we read other passages, we find we cannot belteve it -- unless we understand or bear mn mind the significance of the different shapes of a theatre-house The above description seems to apply only to the oblong one. The ranga-sirsa in tls oblong house is to be higher in level (II 106) than the ranga-pitha so that actors in deep seenes are more clearlv visible But the nepathya grha behind that would be on the same level as the ranga pitha, convemiently under- neath the ranga-sirsa, so that direct entry under special circumstances, is possible from the nepathya grha to the ranga-pitha In the case of caturasra and tryasra the ranga pitha could be a cediko (raised platform) (II 104) while ranga-sirsa and the pithd are on the same level, one belund the other If so, what about the sight being obscured? But here, we have to read and re-read passages and put two and two to- gether to deserve a clear replv to this question For example, m II-93 it is said that for a caturasra the measure should be 32 all round (samantatah), and, agam in II-10S spealing of the stage in a tryasra theatre-house, Bharata says that it should be a tnangle within a tnangle Now putting these two to- gether we can arrive at the following (ustifiable) conclusions

1. Unlike as m the case of the oblong theatre-house, the stage (half mn area as in uikrsta) was, in the case of the square and the tnangular houses, a square and an inner trangle within the bigger square and the bigger tnangle

2. In both these cases ranga sirsa, ranga-pitha and nepathya- grha were on the same level but

3. one half of the inset square and the lower trapezium of the tnangle with two sides bisected formed both the sirsa and the pitha with the nepathya grha running along both and doors from the latter to enter mto the two former

19

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

Finally, one feature may be noticed in the case of both the square and the tnangular houses, viz, in both these the audi- ence could be all round the stage.

So far we have only tned to understand about the stage it- self But in Bharata's view, the auditorium too is equally im- portant since he wants it to be such that all that is shown and all that is said on the stage is clear to the audience. In II-87, the author savs'

'The natya-mandapa (auditonum) should be in the shape of a hillock or a cave and of two levels (duibhumi), with Iattices or small windows, without any strong breeze and one where the voice is loudly camed,"

Inspite of the way we have translated it, the verse, mn the ongmal, bas been the cause of a umber of interpretations, none of them clear The word responsible for this uncertainty ıs dei-bhum Abhmayagupta, after mentioning a number of others' views, ends with his own preceptor's view according to which dut-bhum is mterpreted as rows of rising seats as in a gallerv The sense has to be forced out of it.

In ths connection it should be noted that before the stage is prepared, Bharata speaks of two things, (1) the erection of pillars and (2) the erection of four mattacaranis Now, by ob- serving the traditional method of creating a stage-we can straightway say that the mattataranis are four elephants with rarsed trunks which are the comer supports of the stage and then we have four pillars in between In other words, the stage is a raised platform In the case of a cilrsta house there shall be eight supports on which a platform is put up. In the case of a caturasra (II-96-97), smce the stage is mn the centre, there are ten supports and the ranga-pitha is in the form of starrs (that is nsing steps) In this case, the seating of the audi- ence (II-99) would be on ground level on which (all round) nsing stairs (one hasta steep) would be arranged, the same apphed to the auditorium in a tryasra house. The arrangement

20

THEATRE-HOUSE AND THE STAGE

of the auditonum and of the seating differs according to the different type of theatre-houses In all cases the two levels- that of the stage and that of the auditorium-are different (dof bhumi). [Even now-a days touring companies set up an audi- torium and a stage in a simple way They dig up a foot deep a particular area and this shall be auditorium, the earth that is dug up is neatly heaped along this auditorum (usually one foot high) and this raised level as the stage Here also the sense of the phrase 'dot-bhumi, can be understood]

This, then, is the laksana' or 'definition' (II-3) of a play-house which Bharata gave to the sages who were eager to hear from him all about drama and dramatics

21

5

PURVARANGA

The foregoig discussion of the building of theatre-houses is the subject matter of chapter II of the Natya-Sastra. We have already seen how the topies of worshipping the stage and its deities described so elaborately in chapter III seems to be out of context After the construction of a theatre-house, Bharata is asked to produce a play called Amrta-Manthana (IV-3) Seeing their actions and emotions so well represented on the stage the gods and the demons were greatly pleased (IV-4) After some time Brahma suggested to Bharata that the play be shown to God Shiva (IV-5) and they went to him and finally showed him a play called Tripura-daha (IV-10) The audience was greatly pleased and so was God Shiva who inci- dentally said that from his own experience of dancing he thought dancing could be used with good effect dunng the pūrcaranga (IV-14) Till now, praranga was nothing more than the pre- liminanes like welcoming the audience, deseribing the story or tuning or drumming instruments. But God Slnva suggested that mstead or in addition dancing with appropnate music could be mtroduced Bharata agreed

This pürcaranga has, m the course of time, become an ela- borate ntual But ongmnally it was, as a later wnter (Shubhan- Lara by name) puts it, just 'Sabhapaija'-worship (or respect- ful welcome) of the audience. It is called partarohga because it comes before (purca) the performanee (ranga-prayoga) (V-7).

22

PŪRVARANGA

'Ongmnally, it began with playing on drums and mstruments (as is done now hours before a yaksagana performance is due to begin) Bharata has a commonsense explanation for this. He says that instruments that could arouse mterest and cunosity should be played upon smce the auditonum would be con- sisting of women, children and foohsh persons" also. In other words the ongmal purpose of purcaranga was to keep aud- ence cunous and interested about the play to begin.

The suggestions of God Shna tumed out very useful since dance and music could keep the audience mterested So in chapter IV Bharata, m acceptance of Shna's suggestion, descri- bes elaborately dance and mustc that could be utilised mn the purvaranga Earher, Shna asks Tandu to demonstrate and this demonstration, known as Tandava is also described The des- enption is so elaborate that it runs from verse 19 to verse 266 This rather confuses Bharata's auchience 'We can understand tbout acting which convevs defimte meaning But this dance and tlus music seem to have no meanmg What use are thet?" the sages ask Bharata (IV 267 268) Bharata agrees that there is not any meaning as such in the case of a dance but "since it adds beauty to the occasion people naturally like it And also it is considered as auspicious and entertaming, so you have it during marnages or on happy occasions

As said earher even mn the Natva-Sastra, IV 269 to 271) the purcaranga is desenibed with a number of details, but the underlving idea, inspite of vanous attempts to make it an ela- borate ntual, is to invoke the protection of gods etc and the interest of the audience So, m the same contest in which de- tals are profuselv (and even fancifulls) described, the Natta- Sastra has the followig obsen ations

'Thus vou have two vaneties of puroranga one pure (Sud- dha) and the other mixed (Citra), but regarding dance and music one should not over do it When there is too much music and dance and plaving on instruments not only the aetors but even the spectators will be tired (or bored) An audience that

23

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

is tired would not emoy rasa and all the following performance may not interest it " (V-162-164).

Actually the partaranga was developed to serve another uscful purpose Though onginally it was what the actors and the Sutradhara did before the performanee began, with expen- ence it was found useful to extend it into a prologue to the play So the behind-the-eurtain' part of it ended with the in- voking by Sutradhara blessings of gods to both the audience and the actors This was called the nandi, unnecessarily ex- planed ety mologicatly as one which pleases the gods. Proba- bh the ongin of the word in this context is different Nandi was also a character like Tandu who belonged to the tribe led by Srva Smce purtaranga was revised as suggested by Siva, Tadu's dance and also Nandi's musie were included in it. It is bot merely something that pleases the gods because actually it is supposed to put even the actors and the audicnce into a pleasing mood

So with Nandt by Sutradhara one part of the purvaranga is over now the play begins but before that some preliminaries are found necessary, and so pūraranga may be considered to coutinue even after the 'curtam-rse' The immediately preceding item is the nandt and this nandt according to the Natya-Sastra (V-107-112), "invokes gods, wishes well to the twice-born, pro- claims loyalty and victory to the ruling king, hopes prosperity to the kingdom and fulflment of the ambition of the stage, wishes dharma to the spectator and fame (or success) to the author, and all the time the two accompanying actors would be saving 'amen'"

From the above deseription we find that nothing is left out by way of good wishes or thanksgiving, but all this would take place unseen by the audience Now when the play begins, it might be said as if the curtam nses even while this is gomg on; because the first thing done as soon as the play begins is to inoke blesuings similar to the above Cunously enough, as soon as the plav opens, the Sutradhara ceases to be Sutradhara and

21

PORVARANGA

is called Sthapaka, (one who introduces), naturally, he is des- enbed as having the same figure and features as Sutradhara be- cause it is one and the same person. This Sthapaka, after wel- coming the audience with god's blessings introduces the occa- sion. This was done in the old days since plays were not per- formed except for and on special occasions, sometimes it is a festival of a god, sometimes it is a joy ful occasion (like when an heir is bom to or victory is won by the king ete ), sometimes it is simply because the leading citizens have expressed a desire to see the play and so on After explaiing the particular occa- sion according to the type of the plav, the audience is enter tamed for a short time by a dance or a song (by the female character nati) or the audience is given all necessary informa- tion about the play and the story or sometimes the story itself is introduced through some clever literary device and so on. Oftentimes, the season of the year was theme of the song The reason for this was that a play was performed not only among beautiful surroundings but mostly during day-time Thus in chapter IV when Bharata gave a special show for Shiva and his followers, the site he selected was "on the slopes of Hımalaya, surrounded by hills and summits, full of mango trees and with brooks running in the vallevs" (IV-9) Later in chapter XXVII (verses 80 85), he gives the time of the day when a play should be performed

'That which is pleasing to the ears and deals with the praise of good behaviour should be performed in the first part of the dav,

"That which deals with noble characters, full of sounds (and musie?) and full with noble or heroie deeds should be perform- ed during the afternoons,

A plav in Kaiiki style, with music and dance and orchestra and dealing with a love-storv (lit erotic sentiment) should be performed m the evening,

"One which deals with greatness of character, with pathos

25 V5-3

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

as the main sentiment, should be performed in the early mom- ings (lit dawn), such a play drives away sleep,

"A play should not be performed at noon or midnight nor dur- ing the twilight hours or dinner time"

The time of the day probably gave the audience an idea about the type of the play as well and it was the duty of the Stha- paka to take the audience into his confdence With the passing of time this part of the purcaranga came to be known as pras- tävana As a matter of fact dramatists were not at all particu- lar about the details of the purtaranga or the characteristics or name of the prologue. In many plays Sutradhara continues to be ealled as Sutradhara and not as Sthāpaka, the prastātanā (prologue), according to the characters mvolved or the style of mntroduetion, came to be known as Viflambhaka also. But the underlying sense of a pürtaranga viz to keep the audience in- terested, cunous and mformed did not continue with all good dramatists. So it is time that the play begins.

26

6

ABHINAYA

(A)

With the backig and help and approval of gods Brahma and Shiva Bharata has already developed from a Producer into an authonty on dramatics That is why sages have crowded round him asking questions and listenng mtently to Bharata's rephes Now after Bharata has deseribed the purtaranga, the imme- date question the sages ask is 'give us a reply to five questions " In some mterpretations, the reference to "five" is taken to mean the five questions asked in chapter I where the sages desire to know 1) the ongm of drama, 9) the purpose of drama 3) the divisions and classifications, 4) the authonties and 5) the nature of a dramatic performance But after the purtaranga in chap- ter V, the next chapter opens with this request for a replv to 'fhe questions' -- and, as it happens, five questions do follow vz 1) What is a raso, 2) What is a bhata, 3) What is a sam- graha, 4) What is a kanka and 5) What is meant by mrukta All these five questions are answered in chapters VI and VII If, however, we go back to the five questions of chapter I, it would be hard to justifv the place of a discussion of the rasa theory after purt aranga In the first five chapters we are still trying to understand the "burth" of drama the storv is not complete, so chapters VI and VII discussing rasa, bhata etc seem to be out of context here After puraranga the plav begins, in other words the plav is performed on the stage and this performance

27

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

is the medium through which what is conveyed by the play is understood by the audience. The performance is thus the 'tech- nque' ( = artistic mode of expression as the dictionanes put it). The performance ie the technique covers actors, their words, their movements, their gestures and so on as well as the actual stage with its connotations Naturally, this topie should come next Therefore, leaving out the consideration of chapters VI and VII for the present, we go to chapter VIII wlnch begins with the question, what is abhinaya?

The word 'abhinaya' is usually translated as 'acting' but as it is used m the Natya-Sastra it has a very wide meaning, a meaning that includes not only what we understand by 'acting' but other things which go to make up the medium of expression. In ans- wer to the question to the sages Bharata explais (VIID) the word etymologically from the root ni to carry, with the prepo- sition 'abhf meaning towards', that which carnes the meaning (ht the performance) to the audience is called abhinaya And this, adds Bharata, is of four kinds, angika, tacika, aharya and sattuika (VIII-9) tof these the first one, angika, is deseribed in six chapters beginning with chapter VIII) What does angtka mean? That which is denved from (or due to) the anga ie the body 'Bodilv actig would mnclude many modes from simple gestures to deliberate postures and artistic movements The un- tiring thoroughness of Bharata could be clearly seen in these ux chapters First of all, he tells us that 'bodilv acting' should be seen under three heads I) physical gestures (due to body or Sarira, 2) facial expressions (from different members of the facel, and 3) postures or movements (cesta) Under the first head, Bharata mentions six main limbs, (anga) of the body, vz. hands, head, chest sides (or hips) waist and feet, the facial expressions are conveved by eves, evebrows, nose, lips, cheeks and chin, these six are called upangas ie 'Subordinate or secondary limbs' An etample of each of these would gre an idea of the Lind of bodilv acting In the case of the 'head' the author men- tions thirteen kinds of movements each conveving a meaning. e g there is a vanety called 'adhogata' ie downcast The 'down- cast head conveys the sense of bashfulness, salutation and also.

28

ABHINAYA

gref.' (VHI 34) What is interesting is the lund of obiter dictum at the end of desenbing all the thirteen vaneties "Of course, there are many other ways (of conveying meaning by the posi- tion and the movement of the head) but those can be studied by observing the habits of people and then introduced mto the acting" (VIII-36) Srmilarly in the case of 'eyes', the author des- cribes thirty-sit kmds of glances conveying 36 different mean- ings In all these cases, what he desenbes is neither the defi- mtion nor the preseription for acting As the author himself savs time and again, in a drama vou have a representation of actions and emotions and since there would be as many ways of expressing these latter as there are mndividuals, there could be no hard and fast rule nor a uniform mode of expression on the stage Nevertheless, since the mam purpose is to convey the sense to the audience the modes must be such as would be known to the audience with their meaning It should not be understood that these gestures and modes are studied by the actors and to that extent mechanical Bharata insists that mn all these cases, as m ordinary hfe so with the actor on the stage, the gestures and the modes must be accompamed by the look on the face (mukha-rāga)

Bodily gestures ete if unaccompanied by facial expressions do not convev any charm or attraction phvsical gestures even if madequate, will be twice effectie if accompanied bv facial expression, 'like the moon during the night time' (VIII 162-163) Without facial expression, other 'bodily acting' would be as dull as the moon during the dav-time So chapters VIII and IX des- cnibe m detail the nature and the meanig and the vaneties of the acting of six angas and siv upangas

In the nest chapter is described what is called a can The meaning of this word seems to be a 'pose' In the first verse of this chapter-the verse itselt being considered as an interpola tton -- a cari is defined as a pose which brings in a line waist, hips, thighs and feet A cari is not a movement and also not a gesture which comes naturally like nodding the head It is a deliberate stance The author of the Natya Sastra says that 'ex-

29

BHARATA'S NAȚYA-SĀSTRA

cept by a cari there shall be no movement in a play' (X-6). Throughout chapter X a number of poses has been described which represent actions of different kinds. Examples like one shooting an arrow or ndmg a chanot or holding the reins of the horses ete. illustrate what is meant by cari In all such poses the author tells us that hands, feet, hips and waist must be in line with the action suggested (X-45-56) What the author wants to convey is that on the stage one's movements should be not only deliberate but artistic As everyone from the audito- num is watehing the actor, he has to stand, turn, move about ete in a manner in which the spectator feels pleased and inter- ested Therefore, cari or poses-stylised movements-are pres- cribed both 'bhaumya' 1 e. belonging to or treading on the earth or 'akasiki' in the air, ie to convey running, jumping etc.

If car is a pose then mandala deseribed m chapter XI is movement resulting from a number of caris (XI-1). In re- presenting fights battles and such incidents involving move- ments mandalas are to be employed (XI-63), if necessary, to the accompaniment of musical mstruments

Chapter XII deseribes a different kind of actions and move- ments and the subject matter of the chapter is called gafi-pra- char, 1e, gaits and movements, eg, we are told how to walk when we are feeling cold, how to glance when we are fleeing from some terror to walk as a merchant or a king would walk ete

'With quick steps one must show the moving of a chariot, with bow and arrow the warnor in the chariot or with face up as if vou are flying into the skies, with face down as if you are descending to the earth ete" (XII 82-85)

Here also the author ends by saying that there is no hard or fast rule but you obsere people and their behaviour under particular eircumstances and enact likewise-though these were not listed or desenbed here (XII-119)

30

ABHINAYA

Thus under the heading of 'boddly acting' we have (I) the movements of the angas and the upangas, (2) the caris, (3) the mandalas and (4) finally the gaits or movements under gien circumstances The bodily acting' is the first of the four kinds of actings

(B)

The next is cacika, re. lit. belonging to speech But just as in the case of 'bodily acting' what was desenbed was what we now call body-control, so under 'cacika the subject is more whit we consider as voice-control and less concerning speakmg or language Unfortunatelv the relevant and irrelevant ire so mixed up that in the four chapters . \IV NID suppovedlv dealing with this topic we have other topics like phoneties, prosody, metres and fgures of speech etc and it is onl the last chapter that is more relevant to the context

In chapter NIV starting with vowels and consonints the author goes on to descnbe the formation of words and then the vanous parts of speech In the next chapter we are told about how words go to form different metres the scanning of the various metres follows Chapter NWI speaks of figures of speech. In all these chapters there are profuse illustrations and sometimes references to other's views It is onh mn chap- ter XVII that the author turns to what max be called 'drama- tic speech'-which is neither prose nor poetrv, nor follows the ruies of grammar It actuall represents spoken language to begin with, so the author nghth savs that mn a drama speech language is of four vaneties and it vanes according to the social standing of the character on the one hand and the part of the country to which that character belongs Thus there is the (1) 'atibhasa'-the grandiloquent language of gods and super men, (2) the 'aryabhasd'-the refined speech of kings (and aristocracy), (3) the 'fatibhasa' or the mother tongue of ordi nary individuals, and (4) the 'mlechabhasa'-the corrupt lan guage of the foreigners (and the low born) In addition there could be the language of birds and bensts (ie imitation of

31

BHARATA'S NITYA-SASTRA

the sounds emitted by them, and ths language could have a meaning only in a drama) (XVII-25-29). It is possible there could be other kinds of dialects not mentioned here but neces- sitated by the dramatic context. (XVII-62).

In addition, there are some spccial uses of language, parti- cularly m a drama For evample the wav in which characters address each other tluis itself does convey to the audience the status and the mutual relation of the character (XVII-60). The author painstalingh lists these words

Thirdh though m common or every-day lfe, language is mostly emploved for comversation between two actual per- sons in a drama it mav be nccessary for a character to speak to a person who is not on the stage or to converse with a cha- racter not on the stage and so on In such cases intonation is most important So (XWII 107-109) the author quotes verses which he calls anmtamsya' re handed down by tradition and which desenbe the nature of 'Laku', intonation. Similarly, cer- tain vowels and some consonants, given a special intonation, convey a particular emotion Even a pause would be stgnifi- cant m a dramahe speech (\VII 120-126). And then the pecu- hanties of the intonations of men and women may also have to be studied Smnce all these mtonations have to be produced deliberateh by the actor, this 'Vacikubhnaya' may rightly be called voice-control'

C)

Aharya the third kind of ablunaya, is simply defined as that w hich is produced through nepathya (1-2) Now the word 'nepa- thya' also is not eass to understand It is usual to associate the 'nepathyagrha' with the 'green-room' and thus broadly un- derstand the word mn the sense of 'make-up' But it should be understood that make-up as understood by the word 'nepa- thya mcludes painting and other make-up hile beard and moustache as well as costumes and omaments and ever thing else that goes to gne us the character in the play. Bharata

32

ABHINAYA

lumself explams 'nepathya' as of four kinds, viz., pusta, alan- kara, angaracana and sanjica. Of these, the frst, viz., pusta is etplamed as follows

l) Things like mountams or chariots or aeroplanes etc. that are made from cloth or leather etc to be used in a play are called pustas . XXI-9)

2. alankaro mcludes garlands, necklaces ornaments worn on different parts of the body and dress (XXI-10)

3. angaracana is paiting the face and body. and

4. sanfita, accordng to Y\I 151 is the entry of animals, bipeds and quadrupeds and those without feet, on the stage. These amtmals should carr for even be m the form of different kinds of battle-weapons (XXI 154)

Finalh, the author recogmises different and yet different va- neties in each of these For example, the 'pusta' is supposed to be of three vaneties (XXI-6)

1 samdhuma, re, where the mountamns and cars etc are made of cloth or leather, 2) tyduma, re, the kind that are made by some kind of mechamcal device, and 3) ceśtimā, mean- ing where these are shown by means of gestures.

Now we are mn a position to understand what is meant by aharya abhnaya It mcludes pamting, make-up, costume, pro- perty required by the characters (eg, snake by God Shna, cakra by God Knshna ete) and the omaments worn on the body Throughout chapter XXI the Natya-Sastra descnbes labonously these things as applcable to characters male, female impotents (in the harem) young, old child, rich, poor, beggar, forester ascetic, king, commander and so on and so on

Whether it is this or that character, the Natva-Sastra evolves certain general principles apphcable to all fand for al times, too)

33

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

In XXI-15, speaking of ornaments the author says, "the va- riety m ornaments is greatly based on the difference between men and women, between region and region and between caste and caste"

In other words, the ornaments are worn not to make the characters look beautiful or attractive but look genuine in the context of the story and the plav. This applies not only to a character but even to an object. Any material in the actual world, when mtroduced in a play, must be represented with all ats characteristtes (XXI-101) Not only that, for the sake of sustaiing the illuston that the object is real it should be made in proper proportion (XXI-155).

For example, the characters in a drama are usually painted not only to lose their previous mdrvidnalty but also to look the character they are plaving. Should the painting of face and body be governed primardly by consderations of the art of Painting or of aesthetics or of the drama? As a matter of fact all these would be there though the last one is most predomi- nant The art of pamting will have its say as far as pamt and its mixture are concemed, stmilarly, the sense of aesthetics sees to it that the final result does not produce. in the audience, a reaction prejudicial to the purpose and place of that character in the play But the considerations of the drama itself must come first and the pamt should make the character look not just beautiful and attractne but real m the context So Bha- rata savs (XXI-87) that while making-up (pamting) the cha- racters one should know 'the process about (preparing and mivmng) pamts, about its lasting qualty and fastness and also the region the caste (familv-hentage) and the age of the cha- racter (to be plaved)*

It is verv important that outside considerations like region and tradition of the character are taken into consideration, par- tteularly where dressing o character is in question. "A dress that is foreign to the region to which the character belongs

34

ABHINAYA

would make the character laughable (lit. does not lend beauty)" (XXI-71). The Natya-Sastra descnbes elaborately proper dresses for male and female characters not only according to the part of the country and age of the character but also ac- cording to the status (social) of the character, even different locales would mean a change mn dress What is true of dress or costume is also true of the facial make up The southemers should be made up as 'non-white' (asita), the easterners as 'darkish' (samd) and the northerners as 'white' (goura), a forester would be made up black, and so on The elaborate vareties listed in the chapter make us admire Bharata for his meticulous and patient observation and bold application

Lastly, Bharata describes what he calls 'pusta' This would mean all that is required by character (mn addition to costumes and ornaments) as distinctive of its individuality This includes masks, weapons, totems and such other things that go and are naturally associated with a character (as a mace with Bhima or a bow and arrow with Anuna in Mahabharata eg) Bharata wants tis to bear in mind two things about such stage objects

(1) It is not possible to reproduce them evactly as they are in actual hfe though it is necessary to make them look out- wardly extremely similar to the ongmal, (2) Secondlv, they should be made of such matenial that on the stage it would be easy to wield and carry them They may be prepared from hollow bamboos and cloth but never from iron or anv heavv materal Even objects like mountains, mansions, temples, idols etc mav be made out of lacquer or cloth or hollow bam- boos or leather etc Such objects must be light (laghu) and not heavy (gtrud) XXI 190-197) As for weapons thev are not meant for actual use like breaking or beating etc but are mtended to be used svmbolically (XXI 212)

Thus make-up. costume, omaments and accessones of cha- racters all together are according to Bharata aharya abhinaya

Though the author has mentioned 'sattorka' as the fourth

35

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

vanety of ablinaya we find later on in chapter XXII this being mentioncd as semonya. In XXII-1, he explains that samanya is nothing else but what comes as a result of the 'sottta', u.e, cssence of the first two, viz, angika and cacika abhinaya Thus the word samanya is used as a synonym of satttila and we can take it that the fourth vanety is called samanya or sattetka It is very difficult to understand what Bharata means by 'saths', looking to the long list of examples, the word might as well mean grace or charm What the author means by satteika abla- naya seems to be expression i a graceful or charming manner the vanous bhatas re, feelings Crace or charm excludes im- proper looks, gestures and movements That is why the author says,

"Sleeping tor beds) should not be shown on the stage, the sense may be conveved in some way by words, kıssing embrac- mg and such other things and eating or water-sport or such other shamcful actions are not to be shown ether After all mn the suditonum there may be sittmg ta family consstmg of) father son, daughter m-law, mother-in-law ete and therefore such scenes should be scrupulously avorded (XXII 281-285)*

At the same time nather love-scenes nor battle-scenes as such are to be avoided That is why grace, charm and pro- pnety are inssted upon The entire chapter goes on preserbing a way of proper acting for scenes and situations mnvolving love and gref It mav be that what is done on the stage is not done in actual hfe But still for the sake of charm or propnety mn- stead of representing what is done in actual life the actor should conves the sense in a charming and proper style Movements and gestures in given circumstances can be said to be stvlized bere The vanation if anv, comes in because of three types of men and women luigh low and middle-class' (XXIV-I) The sattta or the grace comes both in ypealing and in gestures and movements These latter should, m addition to comeying the meaning also lend charm to the mode of expression The author has further standardized some characters so that for a particu- lar type of character a particular stylized acting could be pres-

36

ABHINAYA

cnbed Feelings too are finally analysed so that both the physt- cal and the emotional reactions could be standardized and act- ing them styltzed, e g, in XXIV the heroes are classified not only by their character and temperament as four kinds dluroddhata, dhiralalita, dhirodatta and dhuiraprasanta, but even by the fact of their having one or more wives or loving particular one as against another one and so on Similarly heromes are classifed not merely on their own ments but even according to the beba- vour of the hero towards them, the acting of all these is pres cnbed under given circumstances Since these qualities or cha- racteristies are called sattta or sattuika qualitv, the acting that expresses them is called sutttika The elaborate rules and stand- ardization is mostlv about plavs dealng with a love storv The reason is obvious It is here that propnety and decency are hke- ly to be disturbed and Bharata is very particular as already re- ferred to above

It is interesting to note one pomt which Bharata diseusses, it also shows the amount of common sense and thinking the author of the Natva Sastra has brought to bear on his book In chapter AXIV 74-78, he refers to a reasonable doubt How can any actor express the qualities of a king when he has not suffi- cient equipment? For example suppose his dress his make up, his costumes, his surroundings on the stage are not the proper ones How could the actor feel move or behave like a king? But, savs Bharata, even while writing about the requirements of drama I have provided a satisfaction to such doubts Why should it be difficult when so many precautions are taken to help the actor forget his identity and merge his mdwviduality into that of a king? He is paited in such a manner that his person is almost concealed, he is decked with suitable oma- ments and costumes All he has to do is to walk in dignifed steps, talk in dignifed tones ete A clever director (acurya) will also see while selecting the actor for such a role that phy sically too hus appearance is appealing or impressie Therefore there should be no difficulty

Finally, the author describes what he calls citra-abhmaya

S7

BHARATAS NATYA-SISTRA

Apparently, this is not a recognised variety smce it is not men- tioned in connevion with the four, viz, angila, vacika, aharya and sattuila The deseription of this kind of acting m XXV seems to suggest that miscellaneous rules and direetions regarding act- ing are here collected under the head, 'citra'. But in XXV-1 he mentions particularly that citra-abhinaya is that which express- es. by means of gestures and looks ete., that which is 'not men- tioned' e g

(1) Evpressing thrill (re. harrs standing on end) one should act the touch to the body or to the mmnd of things soft or sweet- natured (XXV-9)

(2) Bv acting avoiding tonch or repulsion one should express the presence of harsh or undesirable things (XXV-10)

(3) With body trembling with fear and eves closed, one should comvev the sense of lightemng striking or of a deafening sound or of a fire emitting sparks (XXV-15)

In other words,

The behaviour of the people is of vanous kinds, conveying that by acting and bodily movemeats is called drama (acting)" (XXV 125)

Bharata finally leaves it to the talent of actors and confesses *it is not posable to form rules (or give direetiens) for acting or conveving the (unbelievable) vanous actions and objects of the world " (XXV-12S)

The final authonty is the world itself, this should be realsed by those who produce and enact dramas (XXV-129)

3S

7

STAGE-CRAFT

One of the questions the sages ask Bharata is what is a per- formance or production (prayoga) like? In the earher chapters Bharata has just referred to two or three performances of his before the Gods Brahma and Shiva and then explained at length what was meant bv acting In between, he has descnbed the theatre-house and also the stage fn connevion with the latter he had sard that the stage had to be different in dimenstons according to the different tvpes of plavs And later the mdivdual acting was discussed But the performance as a whole for what we call the production, in which stage, acting, stage-move- ments, story and audience lead to one total effect has not been referred to ull now ind the sages wanted to know that too So in chapter XIII the Vatva Sastra describes the stage craft ie, the element other than the authors storv, and actor's acting that grves an artistic indivdualitv and leads to one total effect of the performance This element consists in the art of relating all the constituent elements in a particular manner Or mather, it consists mn choosing the vanous constituents in such manner and such proportion that an intended artistic effect is produced on the andience

Now, to begmn with Bharita or the producer selects the play. The Arst performance w is before gods and demons Was it an accident? Was it deliberite? Did Bharita mtend to win God Brahma's favour' Apparenth if w is none of these th ngs

39

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

Bharata selected a story which was well-known to his audience or it was one in which, the audience, themselves being actors, were expected to feel mterested Even the disturbance created by demons was a compliment to Bharata. It meant that his play was not only understood but felt, re-expenenced by his audience. That is why he did not drop the idea of producing dramas but rather devised a way in which dramas could be performed un- disturbed

After selecting a play, the next thing is to decide how to pro- duce it-ie, whether to produce it as it is or on a stage. To put it mn the words of Bharata, one must know if the play could be taken to an audience as a lokadharmi or a nātyadharmī.

"If it is to be read as it is wnitten, with no modifications of any kind, without bodily movements and just like any piece of news or mformation with many men and women looking and behaving in the usual everyday manner, then it is a lokd- dharmi, 'if, however, with long sentences, facial expressions, bodily movements and voice intonations, with heavenly as well as human bemgs then it is a natyadharmi" (XIII-66-69).

Similarly, the play has to be considered from another pomt of view Is it going to be one where the story and the charac- ters are men and women we find in ordinary life? or gods and demons with their super-human personalities and actions? Would the play show every-day life of pain and pleasure? or of wic- kedness, cruelty, deceit ete ? According to the answers to these questions, particular requirements would be inevitable starting from the size of the stage to the time of performance and to the number and nature of audtence to be expected. Broadly, Natya- Sastra recognises, from this point of view, two kinds of produc- tions, 1) Sulumara and the other 2) dpiddha. It is difficult to translate these words to gie the correct sense intended by the Natva-Sastra But it is interesting to note that of the ten fonns of plays recogmised by Bharata (and to be discussed by us later) four, viz samavakara, dima, vyāyoga and thāmrga are to be

40

STAGE-CRAFT

produced in the auddha style and nūtaka, prakarana, bhana, vithi, anka and natika (thts last is not one of the ten forms) in the sukumara style In the aviddha style the methods (uritti) would be sattoat and arabhatt, ie, plenty of movements and actions and fights and magic etc, while in the sukumara style the urttis would be bharatt and kaisiki, dialogues, emotional acting, dancing and singing etc

As a matter of fact, savs the author, according to producers there is a fourfold distinction (bioadly speakmg) in the ways of people This way which he calls pravrtti is distmguished by the dress language costume etc of people of different coun- tries (XIII-32 and following prose hnes) The world, to the author of the Natva Sastia was India itself in which he re- cognises the fourfold division as Southern (dakshinatya), West- ern (avantt), northern (panchald"and eastern (choudramagadh), tlns, he says, is a verv broad distinction Not only different vrittis and styles are associated with each region but even some of the stage conventions are different (XIII-33 ff 45 48), produc- tion must follow the stvle and the triftt current in the customs of the people of the region in which the play is produced

But there are other things to be considered as the play is put on the stage It has been repeatedly said in the book that a drama is a mirror to men and society Does that mean that all the actions of men and women are just imitated or reproduced on the stage? The stage, as such is a stnctly limited area in which everything is shown In Indian dramas, there are not the three umties as are found in the westem drama How are dif- ferent countries, even different locales and different times shown on the Indian stage?

To begin with Bharata has either establshed or recogmsed certam conventions applicable to the stage of all regions of the countrv It is true that these conventions are not always accept- ed or followed except by second rate dramatists but they are helpful in producing plays of writers who do not refer to them, or, perhaps, the Indian dramatists wrte their plays according

41

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

to the rules of rhetorics (canons of literature) and sūtradhara or producer was responsible for putting them on the stage accord- ing to the rules of the stage

In the begmning verses of chapter XIII the author tells us how the stage-area is to be divided into different ones to convey the sense of different scenes of locales. He says, (XIII 1-4):

"I have already mentioned three types of play-houses and stages, beanng mn mind then mutual difference, one should employ on 'kaksa' arrangement,

"I also have mentioned two doors from nepathyagrha to the stage, in the centre of these two doors, musical instruments should be placed "

The word 'kakda' has not been translated above; it is not so easy Literally it would mean 'a small enclosure, a small room' ete But here the meanmng seems to be a specialised one. It has been shown that the stage is divided into three compartments, the nepathyagrha, the ranga-Sirsa and the ranga-pitha. This last one is nearest to the audience in a tikrsta or an oblong play- house which is the normal one preferred by Bharata, the ranga- sirsa is behind it and on a shght height, and the nepathyagrha is the last and farthest from the audience This nepathyagrha has two doors at either ends One is used only for characters coming right up to the front on the ranga-pitha, and the other exclusively as an entry to the ranga-sirsa. Actually these two, viz, the 'Sirsa' and the 'pitha' represent what we now call (two) levels Characters considered nica (ie., low in status) make their entry on the pitho while the high ones (like the hero and the heroie) on the firsa. But even on each level it- self, distinction is preserved, e.g, on the ranga-pitha, as re- quired by the particular scene, one side (or end) may repre- sent the back door of the palace and the other one the palace garden But this difference is not conveyed by any special de- vice like a curtam or any other object, it is the actor who by

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STAGE-CRAFT

his movements tells us that just coming out of the palace back door he (or she) is going to the palace garden Thus the dis- tinction is established by further going in a circular move- ment (parikramana) and moving to the new spot

'The distmction between the different kaksas shall be con- veyed by a circular movement on the ranga pitha, by the parikramana another kaksa may be said to have been esta- blished" (XIII-3)

Those characters who make their entry earher are supposed to be mside, and those commng later outside the kakśa (XIII 9) As the character enters on the proper 'level and be- fore it meets another character, the lone entrant must face southwards backstage being considered east The eut must be by the same 'door' by which the entry has been made

Now, the parkramana is also used to denote nearness or distance between two spots (eg, with 2 or 3 very quick pari- kramanas the character can sav that it has come the whole distance from one town to another) (XIII 17) Not only that, bv appropnate gaits and gestures even travel by chariots or aeroplanes mav be conveved to the audience

With this arrangement on the stage there was no need to place anv stage property which also is a device to inform the locale to the audience On the other hand, the author is agamst this practice (XXI-190), though he refers in the passage to only heavy things It is interesting to observe the devices which Bharata suggests to convey a locale without the trouble of put- ting up any sets as we know them now In the absence of uni- ties like those of time and place, mn one and the same play the story mav continue over different seasons and the mcidents happen mn different places In the Sanskrit plays we invanably find this feature What Bharata savs (XXV-76-77), for evample regarding the stage arrangement in such cases is interestmg

43

BHARATAS NATYA-SASTRA

"Tall mountains and trees may be suggested by outstretched hands and hands lifted over the head,"

"A sea or an evpansive lake etc. may be shown by hands thrown out mn the pataka gesture"

The absence of any sets or property (except the implements or accessones associated with certain characters) is either the result or the cause of the absence of a curtam or any other ex- ternal device to convey change of scenes or acts The per- formance was probably continuous and uninterrupted from the beginning to the end The change of place, time etc. was con- veyed by the conventions lıke parikramana, Laksa arrange- ments and by the characters themselves. The progress of the story too was conveyed by devices which could be considered more as literary than as stage conventions. We shall dtscuss them later in connevion with play-writing. Here it is interest- ing to observe the ease and the cleverness of Bharata in utilis- ing gestures poses, movements as important stage-techniques. Even the vanous seasons can be shown on the stage but in a sy mbolical wav, to such an extent that surroundings are con- veved as suting the mood of the characters (and not necessa- rily) the actual time of the year the mneident concemed would have happened (XXV-37-39)

In the techmcal terms of his own rasa theory, Bharata says, "Vibhata (stimulus), anubhaca (bodily reaction) and bhāca (the emotional reaction) are to be acted by men and women" (XXV-45)

If the actor is as talented as Bharata reqmired him to be, it is not at all necessary to crowd the stage, to the further de- traction of the audience, with a number of articles and objects.

Finally, one more duty of the producer (or the director) may be mentioned Bharata opens chapter XXXV with the following words

44

STAGE.CRAFT

"Now I shall desenibe the allotment of the different parts and what is one's duty in this regard and how it should be executed".

Since Bharata has, by this time, standardized the characters into defimte types, in this chapter he prescribes the qualifica- tions of actors to play particular parts As a rule, in farmness to the reqmrements of a dramatie performance, casting should be done according to the age, appearance ete (XXV-3 to 15) so that the director will have no troubles later on If, however, one fulfilling the requirements is not available, then (onlv) the director, in his discretion, might choose one who could not ex- press emotions with proper gestures (XXXV-19). Further in the same chapter Bharata also desenbes make-up man, costumes man, propertv man and so on including the sutradhara and the Kustlata (an mstrumentalist) and tells us the evact duties of each one of these

This, in short is what Bharata understands and describes in connevion with what we now know as stagecraft If we look cntically at the vanous things that Bharata has to sav we are compelled to feel how far the art of drama production had ad- vanced and had been orgamzed It is apparent that the popular stage, when the Natya Sastra was composed, was not so much a place of artistic medium of education as of sheer entertam- ment Nor was there anv uniformity in either the stage-repre- sentations or the stvles of acting Bharata himself is compelled to confess that a four fold distinction, on a broad basts, had to be admitted probablv in details there were more divergen- ces Secondly in most of these plavs of the popular stage the majonty dealt with low (hina) or prakrit characters, the usual style of the storv was also either low humour or low erottc sen- timent or sometime adbhuta, ie fantastic magic, black art etc. Another interesting feature of these uparoopalas as thev were later called is plenty of dancing and music The plays were too short mam no more than one acts These plavs were performed on festn al davs and looking to the tvpe of persons that the actors and the audience constituted we are not surprised that Bharata

45

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

mentions of disturbances-though symbolically only during his first production The story in the Natya-Sastra puts the very first production on the day of Indra's festival Indra is the god of rain.

Apparently, play-performance served two purposes, if we could judge from what used to happen in the villages till re- cently, on the one hand, it was a great emoyment after the har- vest days and, on the other, it was kind of worship of Indra for blessing rams durng the following season. These plays were mostly produced in the open as far as the audience was con- cerned, for the actors there was a raised platform and a nepa- thya-grha below it with theoretically two entries-one from behind the platform and the other from in front through the audience -- mostly in plays where gods and demons took part; otherwise, two kinds of entres were techmically distinguished, in one case characters (particularly 'low' or subordinate ones) entering from the nepathya grha from behid the platform and taking their place in the stage front while the other entry re- served for 'high' characters was in the same way but concealed behind a piece of cloth till they took their place in the ranga- Sirsa part of the stage Before the Natya-Sastra, apparently, there were no theatre-houses as such nor a specially built stage; plays were performed either in a temple-yard or on any raised place with open space all round. The Natya-Sastra seems to have taken the imtiative in thinking of a specially constructed theatre and stage and further proposed that according to the difference in the story and characters the size and shape of the stage should vary But the greatest revolution whtch was effect- ed by the Natya-Sastra was to give artistic form and content to what was still then a vulgar medium or source of entertain- ment, it was this which later helped the development of drama by making it possible for kings and rich persons to patronise it. Whether Bharata wrote himself the entire Natya-Sastra or whe- ther Bharata was just the leader of a movement to reform the stage, and Natya-Sastra represents his views as recollected later by a number of bis followers or whether Bharata was, as the word came to mean later on, an actor and a producer with new ideas and later on some scholars edited these ideas in his name-

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STAGE-CRAFT

it is futile for us to discuss But one thing is certam. Within the text of Natya-Sastra wluich, as it is now, is just like an attic where all things are dumped in a heap, it is possible to find something histoncal about the ongin and growth of Indian drama What we must marvel at is the brilliant inturtion or in- tellect of the author or authors which has given us ideas that hold true even today But Bharata's greatest achievement was in pointing out that the play is the most important thing since not mere entertainment but enlightenment was (or should be) the final objectne of a drama A drama was considered kavya or hterature and then distmguished as drsya kātya, 1e htera- ture that could also be seen and understood and there is no doubt that Bharata or the views attributed to him were mamly instrumental in putting drama on that high pedestal Bharata was not satisfied with insishing that drama was literature, he analysed it to show how and why it was lterature and further he gave rules to guide authors as to how audio-visual literature should be written Before we discuss these things we shall see the structural umformity that Bharata gave to a stage represen tatton (rupaka) This is discussed by him under the heading of Ten Rupakas or ten varieties of stage-representations.

47

8

TEN FORMS OF STAGE REPRESENTATIONS

Indian dramaturgy does not recogmse any classification based on the end of the drama or on the fact whether, finally the cha- racters live happily or succumb to a vain struggle against almost impossible odds For reasons to be explamed later there is no such thing as a happy or a sad ending. As a matter of fact, there is no ending at all as such since life mn our outlook is an indes- tructible phenomenon and life and death one unending stream of continuity Besides, the Indtan tradition believes in a super- human power called fate and all the joys and sorrows of life are inevitable or predestined due to the laws of Fate. A drama, therefore, in Indian tradition does not mean or convey any con- flict Of course, good and evil do exist side by side and god 1s there to destroy the evil and human beings are either the bat- tle-ground or the spectators of this fight. For this reason, in Indian drama evil things like death ete. are not shown on the stage, from one point of view there is no such thing as death and, from another, anything created must die. What then is the object of drama apart from pure entertamment which Bharata does not accept? Drama, says Bharata, is literature and hike other forms of literature such as poetry ete its object is to show men the proper way to live, a way in which you live and behave so that in your next life you are born a still better man Whatever drama Bharata found existing before him was not literature in this sense, was not open to the high and the low

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TEN FORMS OF STAGE REPRESENTATION

{since the former found it not in good taste and Bharata msist- ed that drama must be open to all) and even to those with whom it was popular it did not help by giving proper guidance (and Bharata insisted that drama should be the fifth veda as far as knowledge giving was considered) So, before formulating his own Sastra, Bharata studied the different forms that exist- ed and, like a practical man, mnstead of shouting agamst them he recogmsed them with limitations and evolved new forms based on them But actually he tricked his pubhe by saving that the new forms he evolved were not new but actually the ongin and source of the other forms current The ten forms (dasa rupaka) if understood in this light would gie us a hnto ncal perspective.

In chapter XVIII, these ten forms are described

"I shall tell you about the ten rupakas, their names, their content (karma) and their performance" (XVIII-1) savs Bharata, and then straightway mentions their names in the following order -

1. nātaka, 2) prakarana, 3) anka, 4) tyayoga, 5) bhana 6) samaakāra, 7) ceethee, 8) prahasana 9) dima and 10) thum- riga The order mn which thev are mentioned need not be given more importance since metrical reasons are usually more res- ponsible for such things, unless the author mentions anvthing to the contrary. There is no such mention here On the other hand, we shall find that, accident or otherwise, the order is interesting because the newly evolved forms are put first and earlier ones last.

After mentioning the names Bharata gives the reason for this kind of a distmction What is the basis on which different forms are recogmised? The bases or the mother sources as Bharata puts it (XVIII-4) are what are called urttis This word urttt iS one of the many misused Sansknt words Even in its own form it is used to convey a vanety of meanings and with prepositions lile 'pra' or a' or 'm' ete it flounshes in chaotic vagueness In

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

begmning the story with a character or an incident off-stage and prahasanam would be doing the same thing in a humorous way. All tlus elaborate clevemess, as we see, does not add either to the importance or to the explanation of the bharafi urtti. A sımi- lar kind of scholasticism may be expected on the other three erttis f

The difference in the four urttis is reftected in the difference mn the type of plays. In Sanskrit lterary tradition, a drama is supposed to take a definite shape according to the plot and the hero and the rasa As seen above, distinetion like tragedy or comedy or romance does not obtain in Sanskrit plays. Every play must have a rasd and every one of the eight rasas bring enjoy- ment to the audience Now a rasa depends on the type of the story and the sort of hero Therefore hero (neta), story (vastu) and rasa (artistic enjoyment) constitute the three essential ingre- dients of a drama According to the difference in these respects the ten forms are to be recognised. For this reason it is worth- while to study the ten forms with reference to the three consti- tuent elements

1. Nataka (XVIII-10 f) The story is well known, royal sage or dhirodhata s the hero, and the rasa is either Srhgar (love) or uira (heroic) Five to seven acts in length.

2. Prakaranam (XVIII-96 ff): The story is made up by the writer, the hero is a Brahmin or a minister or a merchant; mam rasa is Srngar (love) Five to ten acts in length.

3. Anka (XVIII-146- ff) Well known or not well known story; ordinary man is the hero, rasa is pathos. One act

4. Vyayoga (XVIII 142). Well known story; a divine being or a royal sage is the hero; rasa any except humour and love One act.

5. Bhana (XVIII-160 ff) Story built by the author; a rogue (only one character m this play) is the hero; rasa is Srngar (love) or ird (heroie). One act.

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TEN FORMS OF STAGE REPRESENTATION

6. Samavakara (XVIII 130 ff). Well known story gods and demons are heroes, heroism is the principal rasa Thee acts

7. Vithi (XVIII-164 ff). Story built by the dramatist, one or two characters, and main rasa is love. One act

8. Prahasana (XVIII 154 f) Imaginary story

9. Dima (XVIII-136 ff) Well known stors, gods and demons, rasa is probably adbhuta or bibhatsa or vira because of magic, witch-eraft, fighting ete Four acts

10. thamriga (XVIII 130 ff) Mixed ston of gods and men Man is hero, rasa the same as in tyayoga Four acts

Now for a moment, let us go back to the storv of Bharata's first production of play, since that, according to Bharata is the begining or ongmn of drama The verv first play which Bha- rata produced is classtfied by lum as a samavakara IV 301 A samavakara as we have seen above, has a well known story Bharata's play was about the well known storv of the churning of the ocean by gods and demons and their find of amrita (nec- tar), the story descnbes a battle, so the sentiment is owa or heroic. If, however, we look closelv at the details of this tvpe of drama, we find some other interesting features

To begin with, this is a story in which there is no individual hero, all the gods are on one side and all the demons on the other; as we know the story, we also know that throughout the play there would be crowd scenes, shoutings, battles, deceit etc. As a matter of fact, there would be less difference between the form of a story and the form of a drama-with all these actions. It is therefore very likely that the early 'plavs' were more action and loud behaviour as in a samavakara than anv artistic representations of feelings and character After the per- formance of this samatalara, Bharata was asked to grve a spe- cial show for God Shna and his henchmen Bharata says that he produced a play called Tripuradaha which according to him, belonged to the dima type (IV-10) Strangely enough dima is

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not much different from a samavakara. Here too the story is a well-known one, there is no individual here but, as in a sama- takara, there are gods and demons and battles and in addition devils, magic and witch-craft as well If sumavakara is in three, duna is in four acts But apart from that the distinction is just one of degrees, dima probably is louder than samavakara and there could be no suggestion of any effort at drama as an art These two types, the earliest according to Bharata, are nothing more than an imitation of actions of a well-known story, and because of the predominance of crowds less of what could be called of dramatic dialogue In neither of these is there any musie or dance and it is very obvious that these were entertain- ments of the rough people, by the rough people and for the rough people Of the ten recognised forms there is one more which hke dima and samatakira is less of a drama and more of a story that is enacted by imitating speech and actions It 1s thamriga where mstead of the demons there are human bemgs (men) pitted against the gods Man as agamst a god is the hero, and god is a foil (prafi-nayaka); the quarrel between men and the gods is for a woman of the gods, the behaviour of the latter lacks digmty and propriety, and naturally the sentiment Is Srngara Except this last, thamriga is similar to tyāyoga. But again there are crowds in this place, there is plenty of anger, disturbances, quarrels ete but no battles and no deaths. If in samavakara and dima the stones were already known, in thamriga it is built by the wnter's imagination.

The foregoing three forms seem, therefore, to be the earlest forms of dramatic entertainment and, as could be seen, they are very crude both mn story-building and stage-representation. Bha- rata seems to have been correct in putting samavakara and dima as the two earliest forms. Though he does not refer to any other form in a way that could be construed historically, the defintion and deseription of thamrga leads us to the conclu- sion that this also must have been one of the earliest forms

Drama in which characters with individuabty live and move can be detected to some small extent in three other forms, viz.,

54

TEN FORMS OF STAGE REPRESENTATION

bhana, prahasana and titht These three are all short, one-acts to be exact There is not much of a story as such, well-known or imagmned by the wrter, though the last one makes a claim to contain a story built up by the writer More important, however, is the fact that all the three show an advance on the first three already discussed. This advance is in two respects one, as aganst crowds in the first group these three deal with one or two (maximum) characters and these are neither gods nor de- mons nor royal sages but low born rogues from the living world, two, the sentiment also is low Srngara, low humour or melodramatic heroics Drama may be said to lie hidden like a sown seed in these three The purpose of these forms is purely to entertain the audience But that entertamment is not merely by narrating or representing facts known from a story but by puttmg facts in relation to each other in a manner leading to fun Imagmation builds up a structure in a wav deliberately giving pleasure Because of Srngara (the sentiment of love) music and dance also, of a tvpe to suit the general qualty, would add to the entertaiment But even at this level drama is not only mere entertamment but one of Jow taste

When we come to two other one acts viz anka and tyayoga we find a difference of significance for the first time In the first one which is called utsrishtilanka (since the word 'anka' is more used in the sense of 'an act') there is one hero and he is a man and an ordinarv man at that The storv is the wnter's own or a well known one Now if the story of an ordinary man is to be a well-known one, it must be one in tradition or history or legend But apart from that, the character studv of an ordı- nary man is for the first time, presented on the stage That there could be no low Srngara or low humour is shown by the fact that the sentiment is pathos-showing particularly a num- ber of female characters w ailing, cyayoga on the other hand has more male than female characters Here too the story is a well- known one and a roval sage or a divme being (in contrast to anka) is the hero And also unlike as in the anka -- there shall be a battle but it is for reasons other than a woman.

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

In all these eight forms, one finds not only lack of develop- ment but some kind of crudity. Those which are attempts at mntroducing an artistic tendency are too short to be called drama and/or too narrative to be a drisyakacya or even too unimagi- native to be any sort of kavyo. Those which are longer like samacakara are nothing more than shows for grown up child- ren, these foregoing eight represent an earlier type of stage- entertamment and the only progress in them was from fanciful erudity to a consciousness of crudity. As a rule there was no imaginative composition of a play as such except the story of gods and demons and devils; even when one character was the centre (e, hero) of the story, that character would be a 'roval sage' suggesting that fantasy would have more scope than art or actual life Apart from low characters there was very httle that was taken from actual life. In short, all the eight forms were nothing more than an attempt at mere entertain- ment by mimicking stories full of actions from mythology.

The remaming two viz nataka and prakarana are so violently different from all the others that one feels justifed in holding that these two must have been the deliberate creation of Bharata. There is hardly anything that could be traced back to the ear- her forms except the fact that the stories of these two are also of the same type, viz, either well-known (re., from mythology and puranas) or made up by the wnter's imagination but from out of traditon like legends or history. Retaming a story that would be known to the audence, Bharata mtroduced entirely new features without making his audience suspect any break from tradition

It Is not so much the story or the hero or the heroine, but the construction of the story that, according to Bharata and rightly so, should be considered important. In the earlier plays there was little by way of arranging the episodes in a manner in which not only contmuty but a kind of tempo obtamed. For this reason there were more mcidents or episodes than a story connected out of them Serondly, Bharata provided an objectne to the play It is not merely to see and feel entertained

56

TEN FORMS OF STAGE REPRESE\TATION

by the actions of gods and demons and even human beings. The purpose of a drama should be to show us how the greater or the wiser people behaved under given circumstances. This in- directly gave us knowledge, showed us the way to behave pro- perly or correctly in life That is the mam reason why Bharata prescnibes that a hero in a nataka should be a dignified noble large hearted man with a refned taste and the one in a pra- Larana a Brahmin or a merchant or a minister He goes further than that In all the earlier forms there is no such person as a herome But in these two not only herome is there but she is as cultured as the hero himself With such heroes and heromes low humour and vulgar love scenes were automatically ruled out and Bharata could sav with pnide that now, "parents could see a dramatic performance mn company of their son and daugh- ter-ın-law" (XXII-289)

As we have seen earlier, Bharata has made deliberate efforts to see that a drama and a dramatic performance must first be a work of art and then hterature, our guide and friend and philosopher We shall now see how the new drama was to be wntten and constructed to achieve this object.

57 15-5

9

PLAY-CONSTRUCTION

Writers, as common sense all over the world would have it, are not only bom but are also made Sansknt books on rhetorics (lterature and appreciation) recogise study of classics along with experience as one of the causes for literary composition. Bharata, always practical minded as we have seen, has not only accepted this but provided for it Just as he has formu- lated rules for the guidance of actors and producers, so he has described in detail how a good play could (and should) be written To begmn with we must accept his thests that drama should am at instruction through entertainment. By entertain- ment, as we shall see later, he means not what is commonly understood but an artistie sense of enjoyment ending as com- plete relaxation Secondly, a story or a chief character in terms of a number of mncidents or episodes or acbons is to be the skeleton round which the body of the play is to be built or, in his own words, the pre-requisites of a play to be written are vastu (plot), neta (hero) and rasa (sentiment).

One of the later wnters in the tradition of Bharata has said about a play-performance that its duration must be not more than a yama (three hours), then only it is seen with unabated interest (raga-tardhana) Shubhankara, a wnter possibly of 16th century and author of a book called Sangeeta-Damodara, fur- ther adds, "a longer play would produce indifference (pirūga- janakam)- therefore it should be avoided" The reason for

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PLAY-CONSTRUCTION

quoting this is to show that drama which must be a representa- tion of actual life (fokanucharita) has to be if Bharata's defint- tion is fulfilled, a selection of meidents since withm a limited time it would not be possible to show hfe in all its details The \bhynana Sakuntolam by Kaldasa, for example, takes up the Iwe stor of Dushyanta and Sakuntala over a number of vears and from beginning to end But this is done in only seven acts, each act dealing with a selected episode, and each episode succeedig the other and taking the story further So it is not merelv a story that would serve as plot but one which is built by a senes of mam or significant eptsodes Of these series of mcidents the wnter should fiv up which shall be the first and which the last Usually there is not much difficulty about the last smnce the author should know what he wants to sav or show finally This final episode or end is more important smnce the begmning one would depend on it 'This is what or bow it happened" is the last thing or the iti tritfa a sort of QED) This dt entta is the bods or the mam substmce of a drama savs Bharata (NIX I) Now one must select episodes that lead to Q E D and oftentimes that also help establish the QED The tastu or the plot is the storv part contained mn from the first to the last episode The construction of the plav (1e development of the plot) from the first episode to the last Is a well-thought out procedure no different from a logical syl- logism.

To begm with there would be the main plot in which the episodes are concemed with the mamn character or the hero. Since the ending is directly concemed with the hero only he 15 called 'adlukarin, re, one who is entitled to the final result and the mam plot which direetly concerns htm is 'adhikarikam' But as in usual lfe so in drama no man is alone in the sense of not coming mto contact with others Naturall, the hero also would be having fnends or associations whose achons would affect his To the extent that the heros achievement is helped by these others their story is called 'prasangia', mcidental and when it runs so parallel as to merge its end with thit of the hero, it is called 'pataka'-major sub-plot, but when that story

59

BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

is just an isolated episode it is called 'prakari, i.e, minor sub- plot In other words, the main plot is made not only interesting but one that would arouse our curiosity and appreciation by inter-weaving it with a 'sub-episode'. The main with the sub- sidiary plot constitutes the raw material out of which the deve- lopment of the story is to be constructed. At the end of the story the hero is supposed to realise (this is the iti-oritta)', either one, two or more from among dharma (ment), artha (wealth) and käma (desired end)

Once we have the beginning and the end, the writer's art consists in the logical artistry in which the hero leads himself to the final achievement This process is analysed by Bharata along two lines, one, from the point of the hero himself, all the actions that he deliberately does to achieve the end, and, se- condly, from the point of view of circumstances independent of the hero which contnbute to the achievement, But in gene- ral terms, this analysis sounds almost like a passage in a book on philosophy But actually, it is simple to work and under- stand through a given example. Let us take the example of Kaldasa's Abhynana Saktmtalam The final achievement in this story is the union in love of Dushyanta (the hero) and Sakuntala (the heroine). In the first Dushyanta finds that, un known to himself, he has trespassed into the hermitage of the sage Kanva. This is an independent, outside circumstance since there was no deliberate intention on his part. But after learning of the circumstance he makes up his mind to go and pay his respects to the sage Now both these incidents combine together to give an opening to the story In the technology of the Natya- Sastra straying into Kanva's hermitage is the 'beeja' (seed) and Dushyanta's wilful action to go to the sage to pay his respects is the 'arambha' (beginning) and the two circumstances com- bining to start the love-story is the 'sandhi (joining, combining) called 'mukha' (lit. = face, opening first ete.) In this manner the different (fve in all) stages of the development of the story are descnbed as five sandhis and each sandhi means the join ing of an outward circumstance with a voluntary action of the

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PLAY-CONSTRUCTION

hero The outward cireumstance is known as artha-prakriti and hero's voluntary actions are known as 'atastha' and five of the former joining with the corresponding five of the latter give us five sandhis The five atastha are as follows.

1. arambha (beginmng), 2) prayatna (making effort), 3) praptyasa (meeting of obstacles), 4) myatāpti (removal of obsta- cles), 5) phalagama (denouement) The five 'artha prakriti are : 1) beeja (seed), 2) bindu (contnbutory incident), 3) patakā major sub-plot, 4) prakari (mmor sub-plot or stray mcident); and 15) Karya (denouerrent) Lastly, the five sandhis are these . 1) mukha (opening one joming arambha and beeja, 2) prati- mukha raising hopes and combmig yatna and bindu, 3) garbha raising doubt m which prāptyāsa and pataka combine, 4) Sava- marsd situation under control, here are joined niyatapi and prakari, and finally 5) nirvahana conclusion-phalagama and Karya combine

Let us, for a moment forget the meticulous tone of scholas- ticism shown bv Bharata in evolving a hair-splitting technology to explam how a stor is (to be) dramatsed Let us go bebmnd the curtain so to say, and find out what is the basie principle of the show To begin with and as could be verified from almost all the Sansknt plays no play has a story unknown to the audience Even when Bharata savs that in a partcular form of Drama the stor is 'Kati-kalpita', 1e imagined by the poet he seems to convey the idea not that the story itself is the inven- tion of the wnter but the wnter has used his imagination in dramatising it This was not done m the earliest plavs By pro- viding for two linds of sub plots Bharata gives a dramatist scope to use his imagination

The more important thing to be noticed is that the preserip- tion of Bharata for drama-building is mainly based on the tra- ditional Hindn outlook on life Man is not a free agent and he is govemed by the lans of Xammna, if at all he is free, it is in a restncted sense because if his past determines his present, his

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

present, if properly managed, could shape his futtre. Due to this law of karma, joys and sorrows are to be equally taken in his stride. The mamn reason is that man is not the sole architect of his fortune There are more things outside his ken and con- trol that happen and happen to shape his destiny. It is this outlook on life that is responsible for not giving us, in Indian drama, any tragedy m the wester sense. When fortune favours you, all things happen for your good, when fortune does not favour you, it serves no purpose to fight against it. So, outside happenings play as much a part in our life as things we our- selves do apparently with a deliberate purpose. avastha, one's own deliberate actions and artha prakrifi, outside happenings must go together if the final result is to be achieved. A Iover may do everything heroic and adventurous but unless he is destined to win his beloved he will not succeed. And in case he does not win here he does not commit sucrde; at the worst, he will be raving and at the best he will try to induce Dame Fortune to smile on him. The obstacles that beset his path in the third artha prakritt are due to the third avastha, viz, pataka; m other words the obstacles come from an outside source Then in the next atastha, another outside agency, viz., the artha-prakrttt called prakari helps the removal of obstacles. Because of this thought-process being at the background, the characters in a play, according to Bharata, cannot have much of an indivdualitv It is not necessary either since ultimately they are the pawns of Fate. It is not surprising, therefore, to find not only heroes and heromes but even the minor characters defined in great details The hero (nayaka), for example, is first defined in general way as one who is "polite, loving, generous, diligent, good in talk, popular, pure-minded, firm minded, good conversationahst, young, intelligent, enthusiastic, self-respecting, handsome, Iearned, brave, religious-minded and scion of a good family" But that is only the total picture. Looked at closely, we find heroes of four kinds. 1) dhira-lalita, "one who does not worrv, is interested in arts, happy and soft hearted"; 2) dhtra- shanta, one who has all the general qualities and "is always calm-minded and a twice-born"; 3) dhirodatta, "one who has high

62

PLAY-CONSTRUCTION

character, great dignity, forgiving nature, does not brag, does not waver, is master of vanity and of a persisting nature", and 4) dhiroddhata, "one bursting with arrogance and envy, schem- ing, vain, fickle minded, obstinate and bragging". Even this elaborateness does not seem to satisfy Bharata Most of the stories of Sanskrit plays are love-stories, so the hero of a love- story is further distinguished by four different characteristics (laksana), 1) he is anukala-laksana (conveniently placed) if he has only one heroine, 2) having more than one herome if he is sympathetic to the elderlv one he is called daksina-lak- sana (pohte or courteous), 3) he is called cunning (Sat lak- sana) if he secretlv works agamst the mterests of the elderly herome and finallv 4) he is called brazen-faced (dhrista-laksana) If he not onlv not conceals but openl vaunts before the elderly one lus dalliance with the vounger one But luckdly now and then even as a rebef from the boredom of his love-affairs the hero mav find himself faced with some other routme problems On such oceisions he may have to show qualties other than those enumerated above and according to these quabties (as sobha, ciasa, madhurya gambhirya, sthairya, tejas, lalita and audarya) he is further classifed into eight types It must be ex- pected i this context that heroies too would be classified first on therr own merits' and next vis a-vis the hero's attitude to- wards them In the first categor aie three tvpes 1) sa or suiya ie, one who is erotic 2) anya this is either the marned or un- marned herome but love for the marned one should not be the main sentiment) and 3) sadharana stri, who is the non- marrving tvpe tusuall a courtesan) And finalls, mn accordance with the hero's behaviour tow irds her she could be one of the following eight tvpes

(1) Stadhina-bhartrika happy one because the husband al- ready under thumb is with her,

(2) Vasakasana, one who is gnen to make herself up at the time her husband is due to retum,

(3) Virahotkanthita, one who is unha even when ber hus-

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

band, going the right way, is late to return to her;

(4) Khandtta, one who has hawk's eyes to detect signs of a rival on her own lover and having done so blows up in jealousy, (5) Kalahantarita, one who angrily repulses her husband who has erred and then repents,

(6) Vipralabdha, one who takes insult if the lover fails to keep up the appointment punctually, (7) Prosttapnya, one whose husband is away on work, and

(8) Abhisarka, one who, overcome by passion, herself goes in search of a lover or manages to mduce a lover to find her.

Since in Sansknt plays no heroie appears except in Jove stones no further types have been given It is needless to add that every single one of the mmor or supporting cast is defined m meticulous details An ordmnary play wright has nothing to worry about 'characterisation' as such while writing the play.

The foregoig was made mevitable m the context of develop- ing the story and constructing it into a drama As mentioned earlier, the story itself is a number of selected episodes. Naturallv, this means that some incidents are brought on the stage and others, though necessary part of the story, are not brought or shown on the stage either because they are not so important or not so proper The first is called cachya, that which can and should be shown on the stage, and the second, in contrast, is called suchya, lit that which is suggested (but actually those details of the story which need not or could not or should not be shown on the stage) Though these latter are not shown on the stage it does not mean that they are not at all relevant to the development of the story. Therefore when it is said that they should not be shown to the audience the possibility of their being orally conveyed to the audience is there And Bharata (or Natya-Sastra) descnbes a number of ways in which this could be done.

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PLAY CONSTRUCTION

We have already said that there was no curtain to divide act from act nor was there any such break during the performance. Yet in their wntten forms (as well as in defimtion) the division into acts was there. This division was to convey each stage of the story as it was completed. But as the performance was con- trnuous one, it was necessary to fill-up the gaps between one stage and the next This was done by a number of devices

There are what are called 'interludes' or scenes that connect one with the other. These interludes tell us what happened (un shown to the audtence) and connect it with what is nest going to be shown In these interludes only "middle" or "low" charac- ters must participate, in the former case it is taskambhaka and in the latter pravesaka In case middle and low characters come together in an mnterlude it is a special kind of tiskambhaka (mishra- or mixed it is called) The interludes are alwavs bet- ween two acts, but the trskambhaka in addition can be emplov ed at the beginning of the first act too This is easv to under- stand. Even when the story is well-known it would be, some- times, necessary to start the dramatisation from a particular point onw ards mn the story and in such cases the summarv of the part of the story that is not being shown as well as the episode from which the start is being made have to be con veyed to the audience It could be done onlv through a tis- kambhaka, or it should be done through "low" characters

Apart from these two there are other devices which deserve notice, viz. 1) chūlika, 2) ankasya and 3) ankāvatara

1. Chulda is the device in which a character off the stage, introduces the scene, and then enters on the stage and narrates what has passed in the meanwhde and what is to follow 2) In ankasya the character on the stage at the end of the pre- ceding act introduces the begmning of the next act and then euts (the end of an act is usuallv denoted by the eut of all the characters on the stage) 3) Finally ankatatara is a device mn which the end of the preceeding act telescones so to sav, mto the beginming of the next act.

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

It is not necessary to comment on these nor on a few others in which the characters, not necessarily at the end of an act nor to connect two stages, convey to us, oftentimes, what is supposed to have passed unshown to us. For example, a cha- racter may mdulge in a sohloquy which is supposed not to be heard by other characters, or an aside or sotto poce as it is called.

There 15 only one thing left out in the context of play-writing and that is the prologue which follows the purcaranga but pre- cedes the beginning of a play. In this prologue which is out- side the story, the sutradhara, or sthapaka as he is called when he comes before the audience, welcomes the audtence, usually flatters it (to put it into a proper mood), gives information about the author and the play (here too like a publicity agent he is very complimentarv) and explams the context in or the reason for which the play is to be performed. Incidentally, he praises the actors (ineluding himself, of course) In some cases, he goes further by asking natı, his female counter-part, to sing and/or to dance

So now we know how play and its performance are to be in- troduced to the audience and how it is to be constructed as well. The only thing that remams is to see if at the end the cntics and the audience feel 'entertamed' in the sense in which Bharata used the word omoda ( = entertainment).

66

10

RASA THEORY

It is mteresting to note that Bharata, in the Natya-Sastra, has not onlv defined for us characters on the stage but even charac ters in the auditonum As we have referred to above more than once one of the reasons which Bharata advances for evolving his theory and definition of a dramatic representation is lus regretful observation that till then these shows had deteriorated ito something gramya, re vulgar At the same time he al- wavs pleads that a dramatic show must be open to all In effect, these two views would conflict with each other If a show 15 open to all, then you cannot insist on its being high brow and not gromya, if likewise, the tone of a show is to be raised to a cultured level you would feel compelled to choose your audi- ence You cannot both have your cake and eat it, as the proverb goes For ls own days, Bharata seems to have eleverly resoled this conflict He is in favour of selecting a story that is verv well-known and he is also mclined to judge from the det uls of his rules for a good drama towards love-stones Now these two condttions, a well known story and a love story are in them- selves sufficient to attract an audience whose education and intelligence would not qualify for things more subtle, and then he has his own theomes of sandhis and rasa and enltghtenment which conld tempt a lngh-brow audtence It is this cleverness of Bharata which Kalidasa indirecth extols in his plavs (m one of which there is also a reference to Bharata and a production

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

by hm) by saying that "drama is a type of entertainment that would capture the bearts of people of different tastes".

The sutradhara of a play, according to Bharata, praises (even flatters) the audience in the prologue. The qualities imagined m the audience for which ot i flattered are just the qualties which Bharata presnbes for an audence In the Natya-Sastra, in chap- ter XXVII (51 8), the qualties of an audience are described thus

A spectator is one who has no obvious faults, who is attach- ed to drama, whose senses are not liable to distraction, who is dever mn guesung (putting two and two together), who can emov (others') joy and sympathise with (others") sorrows, who suffers with those who sufler and who has all these nine quali- ties mn lomself"

A more common sense pomt of view of and a more modest rxpectation from an audience cannot be easily found. Bharata does not encourage, eg, a drunken man (obvious fault). or one who comes for the sale of company (not attached to drama) or ont who is eauly diverted by 'other attractions in the audito- rium (hable to distraction) or one who has no imaginative power of his own In other words a spectator should be one who could rawh Jose hunself in the characters on the stage, ther jovs and sorrows

When an mdidual spectator is expected to be such a man of refmed and transparent sensibilities, it is easy to guess how strct and exacting Bharata could be regarding the quabties of a eritic, a entic should further be one of an open-mmnd madhyastha), one who Fnows about musc and dance, one who i well-mdformed about the four kinds of acting and one who has good acguamntance with the different dialects and customs

An audience must be such as could appreciate the artistic point of a dramatic show What is meant by such as appre- clation?

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RASA THEORY

In answer to this question, Bharata has evolved rasa (theory). Though the rasa theory is more associated with poetry, it origt- nated first mn relation to drama only and Bharata is credited with its origin A later wnter called Rudrata (850 AD) has actually said that within hs limited abilities he was explaining the rasa theorv as appled to Poetry though "by Bharata and others it was evolved mamly in relation to Drama" The appeal of the rasa theory and its aptness to describe appreciation has been extolled by all later wnters Dhananjava the author of the treatise called Dasarupaka (dealing with dramaturgy) has this to sav of rasa

'Amything, be it beautful or ugly, dignified or despicable, o1 dreadful or of pleasmng appearance, deep or deformed object or non-object whatever it be it could be turned mto rasa by poet's imagmatie power" (IV-85)

In chapters VI and VII of the Natya Sastra, Bharata explams rasa and bhava The sages, sitting round Bharata, ask him the following questions 1) What is that called rasa by experts in dramaturgy ? 2) What is a bhata and why is it called so? 3) What is a samgraha? a Lonika? and mrukta? The very first question is about rasa 'We shall explam first about rasa' says Bharata Whv first? Because, "without rasa, no purpose is ful- filled*

The two chapters however, seem to have been interfered with by manv other wnters There are too many repetitive passages; there are passages that conflict with or contradict other passa- ges, references to and quotations from others are more here than in any other chapters, and, the prose passages, not always explanatorv, seem to have been wntten in a later style As a matter of fact, it seems as if the discussion of rasa was an mde- pendent text and like the chapters on music and daneing these two chapters were edited and collected in the Nata-Sastra itself. In chapter VI in the opening 32 verses the author summanses rasas, bhat as abhinaya, erttis ete in almost the same order in

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which the subjects are discussed in this and the following chap- ters. These 32 verses are like the chapter of contents, as we see in the Mahabharata (eg, the chapter called yadasrausam).

The main idea of rasa and of the bhava, however, can be gleaned with httle difficulty.

(1) 'the name rasa is appled because this is something which can be relshed lke the taste of food'. (chapter VI)

(2) 'the feelng (bhava) that is mntended by the poet is convey- ed by words, bodily gestures and acting etc. So these lat- ter are called bhātas (VII-2).

In explaming the idea of rasa, an example is given of a meal in which the menu consists of dishes of different tastes like hot, sweet, pungent ete .; while each dish is eaten, each different taste is being enjoyed, and the diner, while eating, not only shows by his face or his eyes etc but by some actual remarks or exclamations his appreciation of each different taste. After the meal is over if he says "it was real good, delicious food, I have enjoyed it", what does he mean? Is he refernng to each and every taste separately of the various dishes? or is there a combined taste so to say? What is this general feeling of satisfaction which be expresses with reference to the entire meal? And what does he precisely mean by saying he has en- joyed the meal? By his facial expressions and exclamations we could understand his enjoyment of the different tastes mdividual- ly. Now are there any other signs which could convey this general satisfaction he mentions? For the sake of the example, we may recall one of our many friends of demonstrative habits. The picture of this friend is somewhat like this he is enjoying the different tastes as is quite obvious from his exclamations and reactions to each taste. Then the meal is over, he sits in a relax- ing position, he closes his eyes, silently smacks his lips and then sits for a few seconds with a smile on his lip but hke one who is asleep Then as if suddenly waking up and recalling some- 70

RASA THEORY

thing be says, "I have enjoyed the meal"! In this analysis, the moments preceding to his sudden 'waking' up are the moments of rasa; just before that when he relaves and smacks his lips he has got into a mood which could be called the sthay: bhava So, the astada, ie, the relishmng of the rasa, 1e, the feeling of com- plete satisfaction is conveyed to us during those few moments when, apparently, he is doing nothing and says nothing

Later wnters, particularly his admiers and commentators, have tred to make this idea as abstruse as possible, but, as it is explamed in the Natya-Sastra, it is a simple, strarght-forw ard, common-sense pomt of view The evample of food and its re hsh emphasises this Rasa, as Bharata explams, is the final state of relish or satisfaction but that state follows many others, as we have seen with vanous different tastes These different tastes with their reactions ete and preceeding the ultimate satisfaction, are called as bhatas and Bharata savs that rasa is the result of and from the bhutas and not vice versa as some beheve This bhaca is nothing but what expresses a reaction, be it by bodily gestures or bv words The concephion of bhta too is analsed by Bharata and in doig so he uses four words, viz, tibhata, anubhava, tyablucharibhava and finallv sthayibhaca

The meanings of these words may be made clear by an evam- ple Suppose, A challenges B or quarrels with B or annoys him for some such thing In that case, B will get angry That anger shows itself through his (B's) distended nostrils, or his biting lips or trembling etc And then B in his anger would raise his hand to hit A or shout in anger and so on In this example, we notice three different processes 1) A challenging or quarrelling or annoying B, 2) B's appearance with red eyes or distended nos- tnls or biting his hps ete and 3) B raising his hand to strike or tremble with rage or shout at A Considering the entire pro- cess from B's point of view we can say that factor (1) is the cause for B's subsequient behaviour Now B has got angry but the anger is still un-exploded We can say this because of fac- tor (2) in which the red eyes or distended nostrils or the biting

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

of lips is the external sign of the anger inside. But how did the signs appear? Did B intentionally show them? No. We know from experience that such things are the immediate involuntary reactions to surroundings They are beyond our control. When we cut our fingers our mind may be tramed enough not to feel the hurt or the pain, but the body naturally bleeds, Bleeding 15 the automatic reaction of the body (or can we say of the mind conditioned by millions and milhons of years?) to the hurt? Red eyes etc are hke that in the case of an angry man. Factor (1) which is a cause but an external one is called the vibhaa and factor (2) which is the immediate and involuntary reaction is called the anubhava Now that B has all the signs of an angry man he then acts, ie, behaves as an angry man is supposed to behave (3) He raises his hand to strike A, he begins to tremble (because he is trying to control what is beyond him to control) and he also begins to shout This third factor is the wilful, deli- berate or conscious reaction of B as against the involuntary re- action in (2) So in contrast to the latter the conscious or volun- tary reaction is called the vyabhichanbhava. Fmally, there is a total effect of his reaction and behaviour on himself to the extent that he forgets himself, when his entire individuality takes, so to say, a different appearance and even when all the mvoluntary and voluntary reactions are not perceptible, there is a short interval during which one could clearly perceive him as an angry man This interval is distinguished as a sthayibhava. It is the sthayibhana that constitutes the rasa The author of the Natya-Sastra (chapter VII prose passages following verse 7) gives a number of examples and says finally that the sthayi- bhavas are like the master, the other three bhavas are its ser- vants and though all together go to make up the ras one can say the sthayibhavas are the rasa since they alone dominate among the four

From the foregoing analysis, one can understand better Bha- rata's rules about acting. We have seen earlier a detailed des- eription of the distinction between different types of heroes and heromes Each type is expected to act the anubhavas and the tyabhicharbhavas. As a matter of fact the entire chapters

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(XXII, XXV-41 f) concerned with this classification deal with acting of these two bhavas Later books on the subject go to the length of saying that suttuika or samanya abhinaya is notlrg but the acting of the anubhat a and the t yablucharibhata

The Natva-Sastra recognises eight sthayibhavas

(1) Ratt or love +

(a) Vibhava stimulus would be season, flower, omaments or anvthing beautiful or desirable

(b) Anubhata or mvoluntary reaction looking side ways cov glance, sweet words ete

(c) Vyabhtchartbhat a lassitude suspicton jealousy etc

(2) Hasya or humour

(a) Vibhôva pecuhanty of dress or speech etc

(b) Anubhata spoutig, mimicking etc

(c) Vyabhicharibhata smile snicker laughter guffow ete (3' Karumna or compassion

[a) Vibhara loss, death calamity etc

(b) Anubhata tears, famting, lamentations etc

ic Vyabhichartbhaa sorrow trembling fear etc

(4) Rudra or horror

(a) Vibhata anger, violence, treachery ete

(b) Anubhava red eves, rubbing hands, biting hps elc (c) Vyabhichartbhova sweating excitement impatience etc

(5) Vira or heroic

(a) Vibhata determination, strength, bravery ete (b) Anubhata courage generosity etc

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SĀSTRA

(e) Vyabhıchāribhāva: decision, arrogance ete.

(6) Bhayānaka or fear:

(a) Vibhaca. frightful things, lonely sights ete. (b) Anubhava. trembling, pallor, loosing voice etc. (c) Vyabhicharbhava famting, hurrying, standing rooted etc

(7) Bibhatsa or awesome.

(a) Vibhava bad news, loud lamentations etc. (b) Anubhava repulsion, spitting, tuming up nose etc (c) Vyablucharbhava famting, illness, death ete

(8) Adbhuta or wonder (a) Vibhava seeing unusual things, achieving the desired, magic ete (b) Antibhava wide or staring eyes, thrill, exelamations etc. (c) Vyablucharibhava standing stunned, over-joy etc.

It may be noted that as these vanous bhavas are listed (chap- ters VI-VII), sometimes we find a confusion or a conflict in distinginshing one reaction from the other. But as these two chapters seem to have suffered worse man-handling one need not feel uncertain about the basic general idea. Secondly, though in some cases the Vyabhicharibhava seem to be identical it must be noted that as individual reactions these vary from per- son to person. But anubhava being natural or immediate re- actions would be common to larger numbers Vyabluchārbhācas are also called samacharbhavas because they change from per- son to person

Lastly, there is one more rasa called santa or content or peace which was recogmised later We are not sure if it was recognrsed by Bharata; most probably it was not, because Bha-

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rata's very conception of rasa led to content. But those who re cogmsed it did so because it was a different kind of content, viz, final bhss or moksa That is why the cibhaca for this rasa is knowledge or truth, detachment or punty of intent ete, anu bhava is self-control, meditation, universal sympathy and the like, while, the vyabhicharibhaca is punty, firmness thrill etc

But in a drama only the first eight rasas have a place and are recogmsed The success of a performance is determined by the extent of the audience relishing the particular rasa of the play It has been said that drama is meant for persons of different tastes For this reason, Bharata destres more than one rasa, the many the merrer so to say, mn a play But always onlv one rasa must be predommant and others subordmate to it

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11

CONCLUSION

The Natva-Sastra, as it is available, deals not only with drama but with music and dances as well. As a matter of fact in some editions (or Mss), at the end of the last (XXXVII) chap- ter, the colophon at the end says that the book is finished and then the name of the book is given as 'Nandi-Bharata Sangita- pustakam'-the book on music by Nandı-Bharata! But inspite of all such tampering and confusion, here and there one finds facts or fancies from wluch some truth could be gleaned

Chapter XXXVI ts called the chapter 'on the curse on acters' Here the sages who have been listening to Bharata "mtently" decide to ask a question which they had not asked till now lest thev disturbed Bharata' You have told us that drama is the storv of the world Now, for example, of which world is the story in the pura ranga? Secondly, how did drama drop down from Heavenly World? And, thirdly, how did it happen that vour descendants (1e actors) were cursed?"

Bharata listened to them and decided to reveal the secret (verse 10) "Now about purva-ranga, I have already told you that it was there (not as part of any storv) but to ward off obsta- cles and because of the musie and the flattery, the gods were extremely pleased with it In the course of time, how- ever it so happened that the artistes, in vulgar taste began lam

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CONCLUSION

pooning the sages who consequently got angry and cursed the artists to a low and vulgar hfe The gods coming to know of it felt very sorry and feared that drama would perish The sages assured them that that would not happen but other- wise the curse wonld be effective Then my sons turned on me and said that it was because of me that thev shpped into this calamity Because of your drama we are now condemn- ed to be <udras they complaied But I pacified them and told them that any wav it was not their end and thev should see that drama also did not come to its end Remember that just as Brabma gave it to me we should pass it on to our dis- ciples "

So it was thus that the condemned actors were cursed to be born as fudras on the earth (till now Bharata had his theatre in the world of gods onl) and, on Bharata's advice, brought with them drama as well That however was not the end of the storv

Time passed A mortal king called Nahusha won the kingdom of gods by his valour and cleverness and came to rule it One dav he expressed a desire to see a dramatic performance While on earth he had thoroughl enjoyed drama but later on (for want of actresses) when the harem was destroved drama too was destroved But now in the heavenh world there were apa- saras women so Nabusha desired a performance

But the gods told him that it was not a practicable idea since apasaras-ladies belong to the heavenly world-could not mix with male actors who belong to the mortal world Then Vabusha appealed to Bharata who sad that king's command must be carned out and for that purpose he would see that the duration of the curse ended

He saw to it too

Like the Indian drama its story too has a happy ending

INDEX

A creation of God Brahma, 3

Abhinavagupta 15, 16, 18, 20 development of, 46, 56

Abhnaya, 28, meanng of 28, division into acts, devices for,

Lmds of 28-38 65

Acting rules, 72 entertainment, 54, 55

Actors, qualifcations of 45 first performance, 6, 11, 53

Amrta-Manthana, 12, 22 57

Aristotle, 8 Indian, 48

Audience, 20, 23 40, 45, 64, 75 ongn of, 3, 47

qulties of, 68 patronage, 46

Auditonum 20 Dima earlest form, 54

B F

Bharata, the author of \ātya Fate. 62

Sostra, first writer 1, 4, 45 48 H 61 67 achievements of 47 Hero, 37, 52, 56, 57, 58, 60 evolved new forms 49 classifcation of, 37, 82-63 law giver. 8 defimtion of, 62 standardised classical drama, 8 of a love stor, 63 Bhato 69 70 Heromes, 56 Brahma Cod 3, 4, 77 classification of, 37, 63 mn Sansknt play, 64 C

Caturasta, 13 20 1

Chtdtka, 65 Indra God, 4 Conventions 49 inaugurated the frst play, 4

D K

Dincing 22, 23 45 76 Kaıshıkı, 11

Diciūmla 69 Kalıdasa, 59, 60, 67

Dhinam na, 69 Karma 61, 62

Drima, Bhuitis vews on, 5 elassical form, 8 constituent elements of 52 Lokadharm explaned, 40

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BHARATA'S NATYA-SASTRA

M Ranga Strkn, 19, 42, 4G MuNc, 22. 23, 45, 76 Rist, 52, 58, G7-75

N mun idea of, 70 ongmn of, 69 Nabashn, 77 theory of, 69 Naty Sistra, 3. 16, 23, 40, 70 theory explmed, 70-72 cxlifcation of laws, 8 contents of, 47 S

contribution of, 46 \atyadharmi, explamed, 40 Samacakara, 12, 40, 53, 54

Vepathyagrba, 19, 46 enbct fonns, 51 Singer t-D onodr: 58

0 Shiv 1, God, 22 shubh ink a, 22, 59 Omiments, 34 St ige-craft 39, 45

P Stige wordup of, 9 popnlwr 11, 45 Plys, basns of, 49 M7e of 16 desenption of, 49 sthapaka, 25 26, 66 construction of, 58 66 Story, 50 du ition of, 58 Sutradhāra, 24, 42, 51, 66. 68 perform ince of, 46 plot of, 52 T

preregmistes of, 58 Tandacd, 23 jnpox of 46 57 Theatre houx, 7, 13 obje ctive of, 56 descuntion of, 13 Smsknt, 13 52 63 61 ten fonns of, 10 47, 18 57 conttion of, 16 constmction of, 17-18. 46 Mot 52 devdlopment of 58 59 64 Fruhtion, 35 llmdu, 61 Prantin aha 26 Prat elaka 65 Indiw 3, 48

Producer, duties of 44 liter ir 52

moductions knds of 40 41 Trayawa 13 20

Prologe 66, 68 Trpura-daha 22, 53

Proputv, stige, 43 44 Phn arauga 22, 23 24, 20, 60, 76 V

Vidūshaka 65 VArRa 19 20 Ronga-pitha 18 19. 20, 42 Viskambaka 65 Ranga put 9 Vitt: 49, 50 t vpl uned, 50-51

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