THE BRIEF NOTE ON NATYASHASTRA
THE NATYA SHASTRA (NATYAUASTRA) OF BHARATA, A TREATISE ON GANDHARVAVEDA, IS THE PRINCIPLE WORK OF DRAMATIC THEORY, ENCOMPASSING DANCE AND MUSIC, IN CLASSICAL INDIA BY SAGE BHARATA.
THE NATYA SHASTRA IS INCREDIBLY WIDE IN ITS SCOPE. IT COVERS STAGE-DESGIGN, MUSIC, DANCE, MAKEUP, VIRTUALLY EVERY ASPECT OF STAGECRAFT. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE MUSICIAN BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY TEXT WHICH GIVES SUCH DETAIL ABOUT THE MUSIC AND INSTRUMENTS OF THE PERIOD. THE TEXT CONTAINS A SET OF PRECEPTS ON THE WRITING AND PERFORMANCE OF THEATRE, DANCE AND MUSIC. WHILE IT PRIMARILY DEALS WITH STAGECRAFT, IT HAS COME TO INFLUENCE MUSIC, CLASSICAL INDIAN DANCE, AND LITERATURE AS WELL. THUS, AN ARGUMENT CAN BE MADE THAT THE NATYASASTRA'S THE FOUNDATION OF THE FINE ARETS IN INDIA. AUTHOR OF THIS WORK IS MUNI (SAGE) BHARATA AND IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN DURING THE PERIOD BETWEEN 200 BCE AND 200 CE. THE NATYA SHASTRA IS THE OLDEST SURVIVING TEXT ON STAGECRAFT IN THE WORLD. HOWEVER THERE ARE SCHOLARS WHO BELIEVE THAT IT MAY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY VARIOUS AUTHORS AT DIFFERENT TIMES. IT IS BELIEVED THAT IT MAY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY VARIOUS AUTHORS AT DIFFERENT TIMES. IT IS BELIEVEDTHAT THE NATYA SHASTRA IS BASED UPON THE MUCH OLDER NATYA SUTRAS. UNFORTUNATELY THERE ARE NO SURVIVING COPIES OF THE NATYA SUTRAS SO WE HAVE NO WAY TO KNOW FOR SURE. THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE COMMENTARY ON NATYA SHASTRA IS ABHINAVABHARATI BY ABHINAVA GUPTA.
THE NATYA SHASTRA IS THE OLDEST SURVIVING TEXT ON STAGECRAFT ON THE WORLD. THE TEXT, WHICH NOW CONTAINS 6000 SLOKAS, IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE MUNI (SAGE) BHARATA AND IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN DURING THE PERIOD BETWEEN 200 BC AND 200 AD. THE NATYA SHASTRA IS BASED UPON THE MUCH OLDER NATYA VEDA WHICH CONTAINED 36000 SLOKAS. UNFORTUNATELY THERE ARE NO SURVIVING COPIES OF THE NATYA VEDA.
THE DOCUMENT IS DIFFICULT TO DATE AND BHARATA'S HISTORICITY HAS ALSO BEEN DOUBTED, SOME AUTHORS SUGGESTING THAT IT MAY BE THE WORK OF SEVERAL PERSONS. HOWEVER, KAPILA VATSYAYAN HAS ARGUED THAT BASED ON THE UNITY OF THE TEXT, AND THE MANY INSTANCES OF COHERENT REFERENCE OF LATER CHAPTERS FROM EARLIER TEXT, THE COMPOSITIONS IS LIKELY THAT OF A SINGLE POERSON. WHETHER HIS/HER NAME REALLY WAS BHARATA IS OPEN TO QUESTION: NEAR THE END OF THE TEXT WE HAVE THE VERSE: "SINCE HE ALONE IS THE LEADER OF THE PERFORMANCE, TAKING ON MANY ROLES, HE IS CALLED BHARATA ", INDICATING THAT BHARATA MAY BE A GENERIC NAMES. IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT BHARATA IS AN ACRONYM FOR THE THREE SYLLABUS: BHA FOR BHAVA (MOOD), RA FOR RAGA (MELODIC FRAMEWORKS), AND TA FOR TALA (RHYTHM). HOWEVER, IN TRADITIONAL USAGE BHARATA HAS BEEN ICONIFIED AS MUNI OR SAGE, AND THE WORK IS STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PERSONAGE.
SINCE NOTHING IS KNOWN ABOUT BHARATA, ANY ARGUMENTS REGARDING DATE CAN BE BASED SOLELY ON THE TEXT. IT HAS BEEN ARGUED THAT THE TEXT PREDATES SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE RAMAYANA, SINCE THE MUSIC TERMINOLOGY USED BY VALMIKI FOLLOWS BHARATA'S OUTLINES. AT THE SAME TIME, IT IS CLEARLY LATER THAN SOME OF THE PURANA AND BRAHMA TEXTS. ALONG WITH MANY OTHER ARGUMENTS, THIS HAS LED TO THE OPINION THAT THE DATE MAY LIE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 200 BC AND 200 AD. THOUGH EARLIER AND LATER DATS ARE OFTEN POSTULATED, THIS APPEAR TO BE THE "BROAD CONSENSUS".
TITLE AND SETTING
WRITTEN IN SANSKRIT, THE TEXT CONSISTS OF 6000 SUTRAS, OR VERSE STARZAS, INCORPORATED IN 35 OR 36 CHARACTER, SOME PASSAGES THAT ARE COMPOSED IN A PROSE FORM.
THE TITLE CAN BE LOOSELY TRASLATED AS A COMPENDIUM OF THEATRE OR A A MANUAL OF DRAMATIC ARTS. NATYA, OR NATAKA MEANS DRAMATIC ARTS. IN CONTEMPORARY USAGE, THIS WORD DOES NOT INCLUDE DANCE OR MUSIC, BUT ETYMOLOGICALLY THE ROOT NAT REFERS TI "DANCE".
THE DISCOURSE IS SET IN A FRAME WHERE A NUMBER OF MUNIS APPROACH BHARATA, ASKING HIM ABOUT NATYAVEDA (LIT. NATYA =DRAMA, PERFORMANCE, VEDA = KNOWLEDGE). THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION COMPRISES THE REST OF THE BOOK, WHICH IS THUS LOOSELY A DIALOGUE. BHARATA SAYS THAT ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE IS DUE TO BRAHMA. AT ONE POINT HE MENTIONS THAT HE HAS A HUNDRED "SONS" WHO WILL SPREAD THIS KNOWLEDGE, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT BHARATA MAY HAVE HAD A NUMBER OF DISCIPLES WHOM HE TRAINED.
THE CREATION BY BRAHMA OF NATYAVEDA IS ASSOCIATED WITH AN EGALITARIAN MYTH CALLED FIFTH VEDA: SINCE THE FOUR VEDAS, ALSO CREATED BY BRAHMA, WERE NOT TO BE STUDIED BY WOMEN AND LOWER CASTES, HE CREATED THIS FIFTH VEDA, THE ART OF DRAMA, TO BE PRACTICED BY EVERYONE.
PERFORMANCE ART THEORY
THE NATYA SHASTRA RANGES WIDELY IN SCOPE, FROM ISSUES OF LETERARY CONSTRUCTION, TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE STAGE OR MANDAPA, TO A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF MUSICAL SCALES AND MOVEMENTS (MURUCHHANAS), TO AN ANALYSIS OF DANCE FORMS THAT CONSIDERS SEVERAL CATEGORIES OF BODY MOVEMENTS, AND THEIR IMPACTS ON THE VIEWER.
BHARATA DESCRIBES 15 TYPES OF DRAMA RANGING ONE ON TEN ACTS. THE PRINCIPLES FOR STAGE DESIGN ARE LAID DOWN IN SOME DETAIL. INDIVIDUAL CHAPTERS DEAL WITH ASPECTS SUCH AS MAKEUP, COSTUME, ACTING, DIRECTING, ETC., A LARGE SECTION DEALS WITH MEANINGS CONVEYED BY THE PERFORMANCE (BHAVAS) GET PARTICULAR EMPHASIS, LEADING TO A BROAD THEORY OF AESTHETICS (RASAS).
FOUE KINDS OR ABHINAYA (ACTING, OR HISTRIONICS), ARE DESCRIBED - THAT BY BODY PART MOTIONS (ANGIKA), THAT BY SPEECH (VACHIKA), THAY BY INTERNAL EMOTIONS, EXPRESSED THROUGH MINUTE MOVEMENTS OF THE LIPS, EYEBROWS, EAR, ETC., (SATTVIKA).
RASA
THE NATYASHASTRA DELINEATES A DETAILED THEORY OF DRAMA COMPARABLE TO THE POETICS OF ARISTOTLE. BHARATA REFERS TO BHAVAS, THE IMITATIONS OF EMOTIONS THAT THE ACTORS PERFORM, AND THE RASAS (EMOTIONAL RESPONSES) THAT THEY INSPIRE IN THE AUDIENCE. HE ARGUES THAT THERE ARE EIGHT PRINCIPLE RASAS: LOVE, PITY, ANGER, DISGUST, HEROISM, AWE, TERROR AND COMEDY, AND THAT PLAYS SHOULD MIX DIFFERENT RASAS BUT BE DOMINATED BY ONE.
EACH RASA EXPERIENCED BY THE AUDIENCE IS ASSOCIATED WITH A SPECIFIC BHAVA PORTRAYED ON STAGE. FOR EXAMPLE, IN ORDER FOR THE AUDIENCE TO EXPERIENCE SRNGARA (THE EROTIC RASA), THE PLAYWRIGHT, ACTORS AND MUSICIAN WORK TOGETHER TO PORTRAY THE BHAVA CALLED RATI (LOVE).
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