INDIAN CLASSICAL DRAMA


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, sanskrit drama


The very existence of such a text suggests that it had been the culmination of a reasonably long process of dramatic development happening at that point . The Greek invasion of the Indian subcontinent has led a couple of critics like Weber to say a Greek influence on Indian drama.
Indian classical drama, There are certainly some similarities like the plot being mainly centered on historical, mythical figures but the Indian tradition has the added element of supernatural figures like gods and goddesses that populate the planet of drama. The division of the Play into Acts and Scenes, use of the Chorus, developments of stock characters demonstrate this Greek influence on all drama. Indian classical drama, However, major differences also exist between the 2 traditions, specifically the absence of tragedy within the Indian dramatic tradition. Greek drama’s adherence to the Three Unities of your time , place and action isn't strictly observed in Indian drama where the action shifts from earthly spaces to heavenly ones, happening across a few years also.

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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