Deptt. Of Dance Ms. Charu Handa

 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.Indian performing artstheatredance musicIndiaSage Bharata  The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope and influences music, classical Indian dance, and literature as well. It covers stage design, music, dance, makeup, and virtually every other aspect of stagecraft.The most authoritative commentary on the Natya Shastra is Abhinavabharati by Abhinavagupta.musicclassical Indian danceliteraturestage designmakeupstagecraft AbhinavabharatiAbhinavagupta

 Bharata Muni, is acknowledged to be a legendary author of the Natyashastra, the first Sanskrit work on dramaturgy.  The treatise says that Bharata was the one who popularized the Natyaveda, created by Brahm, on the earth.  He is also said to have collected all the material of earlier acharyas (ancient teachers) like Tumburu, Narada and Nandi and gave the Nayashastra a complete coherence by making additions, alterations and adaptations according to the requirements of time and space.

 Origin of drama  Description of the playhouse  Puja (offering) to the Gods of the stage  Preliminaries of a play  Sentiments (rasas)  Emotional and other states  Gestures of Head and parts of face  Gestures of hands  Gestures of torso and limbs  Chari movements  Diction of a play

 Ten kinds of plays  Costumes and make-up  Harmonious performance  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

 The available text, which is based on the manuscript of the Abhinavabharati, a commentary of Abhinavagupta (11th century C.E.), is divided into thirty-six chapters having the following major contents:  Origins of Natyaveda (science of dramatic performance), and the concept of anukarana (imitation)of life for dramatic presentation.  Three kinds of theatre buildings and their ritual consecration by the sponsor, a rich person or a king.  Purvaranga (preliminary performance) in nineteen parts to please the gods and the audience, definition of eight Rasas.

 Four kinds of abhinayas (acting/expression)— angika abhinaya, vacika abhinaya,aharya abhinaya,sattvika abhinaya.  Two kinds of dharmis—lokadharmi and natyadharmi.  Four kinds of vrittis (modes of productions)— bharati,kaishiki,sattvati and arabhati  Pravrittis—avanti, dakshinatya, panchali and magadhi

 Dasarupakas (the ten types of plays extending from one act play to ten act plays.)  Itivritta (structure of the dramatic plot), the stages of action, the nature of episodes and the interconnected emotional states of the hero.  Nayakas (heroes) and nayikas (heroines).  Svaras (musical notes) gramas (musical scales) and atodyavidhi (ways of playinmusical instruments like the strings, flutes, drums and cymbals

 The Nayashastra known as Natyaveda or the fifth Veda, is a classical manual on the theory and practice of Indian aesthetics— theatre, music, dance, poetics, gestures and many other allied arts— given by Bharat Muni.  The Nayashastra primarily aims at giving the necessary directions to actors so as to enable them creditably to acquit themselves in acting out their parts; and to the dramatists to enable them to write flawless dramas.  It also aims at helping the aesthete, who is eager to enjoy the beautiful and afraid of the study of the Vedas and Puranas,which show the ways of realization of the main objectives of human life.