Natya Shastra

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The Natya Shastra (Sanskrit: Nātyaśāstra नाटय शासत) is an ancient Indian treatise on
the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during
the period between 200 BC and 200 AD 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.

Contents
[hide]
1 Date and authorship
1.1 Title and setting
2 Performance Art
Theory
2.1 Rasa
3 Music
4 Impact
5 List of chapters
6 See also
7 References
8 Other books and
references
9 External links
[edit] Date and authorship

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 Gandharva Veda (appendix to
Sama Veda) which contained 36000 slokas [1]. 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 persons. However,
Kapila Vatsyayan has argued[2] 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[2]: 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" (35.91[3]),
indicating that Bharata may be a generic name. It has been suggested that Bharata
is an acronym for the three syllables: bha for bhāva (mood), rā for rāga (melodic
framework), and ta for tāla (rhythm). However, in traditional usage Bharata has
been iconified as muni or sage, and the work is strongly associated with this
personage.

[edit] 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".

The discourse is set in a frame where a number of munis approach Bharata, asking
him about nāṭyaveda (lit. nāṭya=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.

[edit] Performance Art Theory

Classical Indian dance:
the inheritor of the Natya Shastra

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 (murchhanas), 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 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 (bhavas) get particular emphasis, leading
to a broad theory of aesthetics (rasas).

Four kinds of abhinaya (acting, or histrionics) are described - that by body part
motions (angika), that by speech (vAchika), that by costumes and makeup
(AhArya), and the highest mode, by means of internal emotions, expressed through
minute movements of the lips, eyebrows, ear, etc. (sAttvika)[4].

[edit] Rasa

Main article: Rasa (aesthetics)

"A Yakshagana artist expressing emotions on stage. Vaachikabhinaya is an
important part of Yakshagana"

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 (emotional responses) 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 'erotic' rasa), the playwright, actors and musician work together to portray the
bhava called rati (love).

[edit] 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 and
Pakistan, due to the influence of Persian and Arab 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 (षडज) means 'giving birth to six', and refers to the fact that once this note
(often referred to as "sa" and notated S) 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 (अिवनाशी) and Avilopi (अिवलोपी) 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 (karuna rasa) whereas
rishabha is to be emphasized for evoking heroism (vIra rasa).

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 (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni Sa, corresponding to 4-3-2-
4-4-3-2, totalling 22 śrutis in a Saptak). 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 has also helped him develop a methodology for
producing perfectly tuned flutes for different thatas). 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.

[edit] 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 (5th-7th c.), Abhinavagupta's
Abhinavabharati (which unifies some of the divergent structures that had emerged
in the intervening years, and outlines a theory of artistic analysis) and
Sharngadeva's Sangita Ratnakara (13th c. work that unifies the raga structure in
music)[5]. The analysis of body forms and movements also influenced sculpture and
the other arts in subsequent centuries[2]. The structures of music outlined in the
Natya Shastra retain their influence even today, as seen in the seminal work
Hindustani Sangeetha Padhathi[6] 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 Malayalam Film Industry.

[edit] List of chapters

Kuncitam, one of the 108 karanas described in Natya Shastra

Origin of drama

Description of the playhouse

Puja (offering) to the Gods of the stage

Description of the karana dance

Preliminaries of a play

Sentiments (rasas)
Emotional and other states

Gestures of minor limbs

Gestures of hands

Gestures of other limbs

Cari movements

Sanskrit drama tradition Kutiyattam

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 courtezans

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

[edit] See also

Indian classical dance

Navarasa

Nātyakalpadrumam

Sanskrit Literature

Nandikeshvara

Natya Yoga

[edit] References

^ Ghosh, Manomohan (2002). Natyasastra. ISBN 81-7080-076-5 page = 2.

^ a b c Bharata: The Natyasastra (1996). Kapila Vatsyayan. Sahitya Akademi, New

Delhi. p.6

^ Manmohan Ghosh, ed. (1950). Natyashastra,. Asiatic Society,. See introduction p.

xxvi for discussion of dates
^ Dr. Asawari Bhat. "Glimpses of Natyashastra". course notes, IIT Mumbai.
http://www.hss.iitb.ac.in/courses/HS450/notes2.htm.

^ Musical Nirvana - Introduction to Indian Classical Music - The Origin

^ Hindustani Sangeetha Padhathi (4 volumes, Marathi) (1909-1932). Vishnu

Narayan Bhatkhande. Sangeet Karyalaya (1990 reprint).

+ Natya Sastra,Complete English Translation, is Published by Sri Satguru

Publications/Indian Books Centre,Delhi.India,in Raga Nrtya Series.

[edit] Other books and references

Nanyadev. Bharat Bhashya. Khairagarh Edition.

Chākyār, Māni Mādhava. Nātyakalpadrumam, Sangeet Natak Academi, New Delhi,

1975

Brahaspati, Dr. K C Dev. Bharat ka Sangeet Siddhant.

[edit] External links

Articles on Omenad

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natya_Shastra"

Categories: Hindu texts | Indian culture | Theatre in India | Musical theatre |

Pantomime | Sanskrit words and phrases | Sanskrit texts | Dance in India | Cultural
history of India

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