INDIAN CLASSICAL
DRAMA
Indian aesthetics may be a unique philosophical and
spiritual point of view on art, architecture and literature. In Indian
aesthetics, a rasa (Sanskrit: रस lit. ‘juice’ or
‘essence’) denotes an important psychological state and is that the dominant
emotional theme of a piece of art or the first feeling that's evoked within the
person who views, reads or hears such a piece. Indian classical drama, Although the concept of rasa is prime to
several sorts of Indian art including dance, music, musical theatre, cinema and
literature, the treatment, interpretation, usage and actual performance of a
specific rasa differs greatly between different styles and schools of abhinaya,
and therefore the huge regional differences even within one style.
The theory of rasa is attributed to Bharata, a sage-priest
who may have lived sometime between the first century bce and therefore the 3rd
century. it had been developed by the rhetorician and philosopher Abhinavagupta
(c. 1000), who applied it to all or any sorts of theatre and poetry. Indian classical drama, The principal
human feelings, consistent with Bharata, are delight, laughter, sorrow, anger,
energy, fear, disgust, heroism, and astonishment, all of which can be recast in
contemplative form because the various rasas: erotic, comic, pathetic, furious,
heroic, terrible, odious, marvelous, and quietistic. These rasas comprise the
components of aesthetic experience. the facility to taste rasa may be a reward
for merit in some previous existence. Indian
classical drama, The theory of the rasas develops significantly with the
Kashmiri aesthetician Ãndandavardhana’s classic on poetics, the Dhvanyāloka
which introduces the ninth rasa, shānta-rasa as a specifically religious
feeling of peace (śānta) which arises from its bhāva, weariness of the
pleasures of the planet .
Indian classical drama, Like any writing style , drama has
its own history both in terms of its origin and evolution. The drama that we
see or study in classrooms today didn't begin intrinsically . As a literary
work , drama usually tells us a story, but not just through words, within the
sort of dialogues, but also through gestures, movements, and facial expressions
of the characters, dances, costumes, background landscape, music, mise en scene
etc. Drama is, therefore, a performative art that has many components and
participants like the playwright, actors, director, audience, costumier ,
make-up artists etc. Indian classical
drama, within the next section we shall take a glance at what's called
Indian Classical Drama.
Indian classical drama, All major civilisations had their
own version of drama like the Greek, the Chinese and therefore the Indians. one
among the main problems in determining an origin date for literary traditions
like drama is that we cannot pinpoint the precise year of its genesis rather,
we will trace its influence and evolution to reach a more or less realistic
understanding of the origins of drama. Indian
classical drama, The Indian dramatic tradition was influenced by the dramatic
elements found within the Vedas, in dialogue hymns and Vedic rituals.
Thus, it's within the Vedic era (1500 - 1000 BCE) that we see
dramatic elements which will come to define drama within the years to return
and eventually inaugurate a genre referred to as Indian Classical Drama as we
all know it. Even the epics, like the Mahabharata support the existence of
performers or nata as early as 400 CE. However, the foremost extant treatise on
Indian drama is that the Natyashastra by Bharatamuni, which emerged in 3rd CE. Indian classical drama, Bharata
ascribes a divine origin to the dramatic tradition, which highlights its Vedic
religious beginnings.
Indian classical drama,
Furthermore, dance
and song are a crucial a part of Indian drama and not found within the Greek
counterpart. Other scholars highlight the influence of Buddhist and Jain
traditions within the formalising of the Indian dramatic tradition. Thus, we
will conclude that there may need been a strain of the Greek influence along
side influences from other literary traditions and cultures like the Buddhist
and Jain traditions that worked along side ancient Vedic ones to make the
Classical Indian drama as we all know it today. Indian classical drama, this might be particularly true of the
Tamil Epic Cilappatikaram which is influenced also by the Buddhist and Jain
traditions as we shall see within the fourth block. within the next section, we
shall check out Sanskrit Drama.
SANSKRIT DRAMA
During this section, we shall examine Sanskrit drama during a
more detailed manner. a huge country like India cannot have a singular dramatic
tradition, given as we discussed before the varied influences on the genre also
because the diversity of the subcontinent and the way these communities
received and adapted drama. Indian
classical drama, However, one among the foremost prominent dramatic
traditions to possess emerged is Sanskrit drama. Others include the dance drama
of southern India also the Sanskrit tradition of southern India like the
Koodiyattam in Kerala. consistent with the Natyashastra, a dramatic work’s
purpose was to supply not just entertainment and pleasure but instruction,
wealth, justice, and spiritual liberation. Indian
classical drama, That’s why Sanskrit drama doesn't have a
tragic ending because in Hindu cosmology, death isn't the top but a way to
either achieve spiritual liberation from the cycle of life or be reborn till
it's achieved.
Indian classical drama,
Moreover, the Rasa
or the aesthetic sentiment is a crucial aspect of Sanskrit drama, and may be
best defined because the audience’s refined emotional response evoked by the
play. Rasa is broadly composed of vibhava, anubhava, vyabhicharibhava, and
sthayibhava, which are the various sorts of emotional responses to a piece of
art. Alternatively rasa are often explained as a blissful aesthetic experience
achieved via drama, and is seen as Sanskrit drama’s highest purpose.
Natyashastra also elucidates the various sorts of plays, the main type (Rupaka)
or the minor type (uparupaka). Indian
classical drama, Rupaka consists of ten varieties out of which the Nataka,
are plays supported myths and heroic tales, and therefore the Prakarana, are
plays supported fictitious stories and where smaller characters are dominant.
Indian classical drama,
Sanskrit drama’s
idealised plot structure consists of 5 transitions that cause a final
culmination of the events depicted. the primary is that the “origin” (mukha),
which states the seeds or the start of the plot; the second is that the
“incident” (pratimukha), which develops the plotline further by showing both
good and bad events; the third is “germ” (garbha) where good actions/events
seem to steer towards the “aim” (phala); the fourth is “crisis” (vimarsa) where
bad actions/events seem to outweigh the great and strays faraway from the
“aim”; the fifth is “completion” (nirvahana) that brings together all the
various narratives within the play to a definitive conclusion. one among the
unique aspects of Sanskrit drama is its bilingual nature. Indian classical drama, The protagonists who belonged to the upper
castes like Brahmins and Kshatriyas spoke in Sanskrit whereas characters from
other sections of society like soldiers, servants, women and youngsters etc. Indian classical drama, spoke within
the various Prakrit languages.
Indian classical drama, The stock characters encountered
here like the Sutradhar (director), the Nayak (hero), the Nayaki (Heroine), and
therefore the Vidusaka (jester) speak either in Sanskrit or Prakrit counting on
their caste, class, gender, and age. Such a linguistic construction of the play
restricted the variability of individuals who could watch and luxuriate in it.
Thus, the audience was mostly limited to a refined circle of upper castes like
the royalty, aristocrats, Brahmins and Kshatriyas, resulting in royal
patronages. Even the Natyashastra states that the perfect spectators should be
educated and noble men, all four castes could watch a play as long as they were
seated separately. it's no surprise then that Sanskrit drama did not be a
people’s drama like those in ancient Greece and medieval England.
Indian classical drama,
However, this is
often to not say no other sort of drama existed or evolved in India outside of
the Sanskritic tradition, folk theater and street plays (nukkad natak) abound
even now and are a testament to the vitality of up to date Indian theatre.
Another aspect that differentiates Sanskrit drama from its European counterpart
is that the composition of actors. Indian
classical drama, Unlike the ban on female actors in European classical
drama, the Sanskritic tradition didn't have such prohibitions that required
male actors to perform the role of female leads, and drama might be performed
by men alone, women alone or a mixture of both, counting on the plot.
Indian classical drama,
Despite its many
unique characteristics, the main drawback of Sanskrit drama was its linguistic
barrier also because the strict adherence to the principles of dramaturgy that
didn't leave much space for individual imagination and experiments with the
genre. Its failure to transition into popular art due to the decline of Sanskrit
as a living language led to the gradual disinterest in Sanskritic works. Indian classical drama, However,
Sanskrit plays are still being written and performed in India by playwrights
like Manmohan Acharya (ArjunaPratijnaa, Shrita-kamalam, Pada-pallavam,
Divya-Jayadevam, Pingalaa, Mrtyuh, Sthitaprajnah, Tantra-mahasaktih,
Purva-sakuntalam, Uttara- sakuntalam and Raavanah); Vidyadhar Shastri
(Purnanandam, Kalidainyam and Durbala Balam) and Prafulla Kumar Mishra
(Chitrangada and Karuna), that are a living testimony to the endurance of the
genre. Indian classical drama, Sanskrit
literature may have did not become popular literature but it's still studied in
academia and seen as a crucial aspect of Indian culture and tradition. allow us
to check out the Classical Sanskrit Dramatists of past next.
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