The Natya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts,
encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during the period between
200 BCE and 200 CE in classical India and is traditionally attributed to the
Sage Bharata. The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in
its scope. While it primarily deals with stagecraft, it has come to influence
music, classical Indian dance, and literature as well. It covers stage
design, music, dance, makeup, and virtually every other aspect of
stagecraft. It is very important to the history of Indian classical music
because it is the only text which gives such detail about the music and
instruments of the period. Thus, an argument can be made that the Natya
Shastra is the foundation of the fine arts in India. The most authoritative
commentary on the Natya Shastra is Abhinavabharati by Abhinavagupta.
Date and authorship The text, which now contains 6000
slokas, is attributed to the muni Bharata and is believed to have been
written during the period between 200 BCE and 200 CE. The Natya Shastra is
based upon the much older Gandharva Veda which contained 36000 slokas.
Unfortunately there are no surviving copies of the Natya Veda. Though many
scholars believe most slokas were transmitted only through the oral
tradition, there are scholars who believe that it may have been written by
various authors at different times. 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 people. 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 composition is likely that of a single
person. 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 name. It has been suggested that Bharata is an acronym for
the three syllables: bha for bhāva, rā for rāga, and ta for tāla. However, in
traditional usage Bharata has been iconified as muni or sage, and the work
is strongly associated with this personage.
= Title and setting= Written in Sanskrit, the text consists
of 6,000 sutras, or verse stanzas, incorporated in 36 chapters. Some
passages are composed in a prose form. The title can be loosely translated as A
Compendium of Theatre or a A Manual of Dramatic Arts. Nātya, or nāṭaka means
Dramatic Arts. In contemporary usage, this word does not include dance or
music, but etymologically the root naṭ refers to "dance". In Sanskrit, the term
Natya refers to "Drishya Roopaka" or "Drishya Kavya", which means a troika of
drama, dance and music. The discourse is set in a frame where a
number of munis approach Bharata, asking him about nāṭyaveda. 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.
Performance art theory The Natya Shastra ranges widely in
scope, from issues of literary construction, to the structure of the
stage or mandapa, to a detailed analysis of musical scales and movements, to an
analysis of dance forms that considers several categories of body movements,
and their impacts on the viewer. It also educates the spectator in observing
correct behaviour while watching a performance. It also deals in the theory
of Rasa. Bharata describes 15 types of drama
ranging from one to 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 get particular emphasis, leading to a broad theory of aesthetics.
Four kinds of abhinaya are described – that by body part motions, that by
speech, that by costumes and makeup, and the highest mode, by means of internal
emotions, expressed through minute movements of the lips, eyebrows, ear,
etc.. = Rasa=
The Nātyashāstra 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 that they inspire in the audience. He argues
that there are eight principal 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 playwright, actors and
musician work together to portray the bhava called rati.
Music After the Samaveda, which dealt with
ritual utterances of the Vedas, the Natyashastra was the first major text
that dealt with music at length. It was considered the defining treatise of
Indian classical music until the 13th century, when the stream bifurcated into
Hindustani classical music in North India due to the influence of Persian
and Arabic music, and Carnatic classical music in South India, the stronghold of
the Hindu kingdoms. While much of the discussion of music in
the Natyashastra focuses on musical instruments, it also emphasizes several
theoretical aspects that remained fundamental to Indian music:
Establishment of Shadja as the first, defining note of the scale or grama. The
word Shadja means 'giving birth to six', and refers to the fact that once this
note is fixed, the placement of other notes in the scale is determined.
Principle of Consonance: Consists of two principles:
The first principle states that there exists a fundamental note in the musical
scale which is Avinashi and Avilopi that is, the note is ever-present and
unchanging. The second principle, often treated as
law, states that there exists a natural consonance between notes; the best
between Shadja and Tar Shadja, the next best between Shadja and Pancham.
The Natyashastra also suggest the notion of musical modes or jatis which are the
origin of the notion of the modern melodic structures known as ragas. Their
role in invoking emotions are emphasized; thus compositions
emphasizing the notes gandhara or rishabha are said to be related to
tragedy whereas rishabha is to be emphasized for evoking heroism. Jatis
are elaborated in greater detail in the text Dattilam, composed around the same
time as the Natyashastra. To prove the utility of śrutis in music,
Bharata Muni, while explaining Shadja grama and Madhyam grama in chapters 28
and 30 of Bharat Natya Shastra, expounded the Sarana Chatushtai– the
only experiment according to Bharata to obtain the correct physical
configuration of Śruti Swara arrangement to Shadja Grama notes on any musical
instrument. Sarana Chatushtai in recent centuries has been demonstrated and
proven by Avinash Balkrishna Patwardhan in the year 1998 on flute as well as on
sitar. This is the only known correct interpretation of the Bharata Muni's
Sarana Chatushtai after Bharata Muni himself and probably Sharang Dev.
The Natyashastra also suggests several aspects of musical performance,
particularly its application to vocal, instrumental and orchestral
compositions. It also deals with the rasas and bhavas that may be evoked by
music. Impact
Natyashastra remained an important text in the fine arts for many centuries; so
much so that it is sometimes referred to as the fifth Veda. Much of the
terminology and structure of Indian classical music and Indian classical
dance were defined by it. Many commentaries have expanded the scope of
the Natya Shastra; most importantly we may include Matanga's Brihaddesi,
Abhinavagupta's Abhinavabharati and Sharngadeva's Sangita Ratnakara. The
analysis of body forms and movements also influenced sculpture and the other
arts in subsequent centuries. The structures of music outlined in the
Natya Shastra retain their influence even today, as seen in the seminal work
Hindustani Sangeetha Padhathi by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande from the early 20th
century. The theory of rasa described in the text has also been a major influence
on modern Indian cinema especially in the Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam Film
Industry. Dr. Kavuri Venkata Sridhar Kumar Gautham Kashyap, Film Writer and
Voice Modulation/ Voice Orchestra Artist, did Doctoral Research, Ph.D., on
The Aesthetic Methodology of Indian Film Story, Screenplay and Direction. His
research proved beyond doubts that The Indian Aesthetic Science is apparently
visible behind the creation of Most Successful Films. In this research it
was also proved that The Indian Aesthetic Science is vividly seen not
only in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi films but also in most successful Hollywood Films.
He received doctorate degree for this research in the 2005, from The Governor
of Tamil Nadu, from The University of Madras.
List of chapters Origin of drama
Description of the playhouse Puja to the Gods of the stage
Description of the karana dance Preliminaries of a play
Sentiments Emotional and other states
Gestures of Head and parts of face Gestures of hands
Gestures of torso and limbs Cari movements
Different gaits Zones and local usages
Rules of prosody Metrical patterns
Diction of a play Rules on the use of languages
Modes of address and intonation Ten kinds of play
Limbs of the segments Styles
Costumes and make-up Harmonious performance
Dealings with courtesans Varied performances
Success in dramatic performances Instrumental music
Stringed instruments Time measure
Dhruva songs Covered instruments
Types of character Distribution of roles
Descent of drama on the Earth References
^ Ghosh, Manomohan. Natyasastra. p. 2. ISBN 81-7080-076-5.
^ a b c Bharata: The Natyasastra. Kapila Vatsyayan. Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
p.6 ^ Manmohan Ghosh, ed.. Natyashastra,.
Calcutta: Asiatic Society,. See introduction p. xxvi for discussion of
dates ^ Dr. Asawari Bhat. "Glimpses of
Natyashastra". course notes, IIT Mumbai. ^ Musical Nirvana – Introduction to
Indian Classical Music – The Origin ^ Hindustani Sangeetha Padhathi. Vishnu
Narayan Bhatkhande. Sangeet Karyalaya. ISBN 81-85057-35-4.
Bibliography Nanyadev. Bharat Bhashya. Khairagarh
Edition. Chākyār, Māni Mādhava. Nātyakalpadrumam,
Sangeet Natak Academi, New Delhi, 1975 Brahaspati, Dr. K. C. Dev. Bharat ka
Sangeet Siddhant. Natya Sastra- The English Translation,
is published by Sri Satguru Publications/ Indian Books Centre,
Delhi,India. Revealing the art of Natyasastra by
Narayanan Chittoor Namboodiripad External links
Bharat Muni; tr. by Manomohan Ghosh. "Natya Shastra". Asiatic Society of
Bengal, Calcutta.