Natyasastra - English Translation with Critical Notes

by Adya Rangacharya

The Natyasastra is probably one of the earliest and certainly one of the best treatises on Indian Dramaturgy. At the same time, the book available now is not an early one but may be as late as the seventh or eighth century AD.

The authorship is traditionally ascribed to Bharata, the Sage. The eminence of Natyasastra is not that it was the first book on the subject but that it was the first comprehensive treatise on Dance, Drama and Music. Like the Mahabharata, Natyasastra too boasts that What is found here may be found elsewhere. But what is not here cannot be found anywhere. To confer upon it prestige as the sole authority, it was described as the fifth Veda-a Veda accessible to all the castes of society.

The essential elements of stage-craft have been described by the Natyasastra thousands of years ago. The question arises, naturally, whether such a treatise can serve any purpose of our time. This was the very question which the author set about to explore in the present translation and his notes on each chapter amply demonstrate how latest problems of actors and directors have been anticipated and resolved in it.

Table of Contents:

PREFACE

ABOUT THE NATYSASTRA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Chapter I: The Origin of Natya
Chapter II: The Natyagrha
Chapter III: Worship of the Stage and of the Gods
Chapter IV: Tandava Nrtya Chapter V: Purvaranga
Chapter VI: Rasa
Chapter VII: Bhava-s
Chapter VIII: Acting of the Subordinate Parts of the Body
Chapter IX & X: Abhinaya of the Hands and of the Major Limbs
Chapter XI: Performance of Cari-s
Chapter XII: Mandala-s
Chapter XIII: The Stage Walk of Characters
Chapter XIV: Regional Styles and Nature of Plays
Chapter XV: Verbal Representation and Prosody
Chapter XVI: Metrical Patterns
Chapter XVII: Poetic Concepts: Projection in Acting
Chapters XVIII & XIX: Rules on the Use of Languages
Chapter XX: Ten Kinds of Plays
Chapter XXI: The Plot
Chapter XXII: Vrtti-s
Chapter XXIII: Aharya Abhinaya
Chapter XXIV: Samanya Abhinaya
Chapter XXV: Men and Women – Outward Characterisation
Chapter XXVI: Acting – Miscellaneous
Chapter XXVII: Success of the Production
Chapter XXVIII: Instrumental Music
Chapter XXIX: Stringed Instruments
Chapter XXX: Hollow Instruments
Chapter XXXI: Rules of Tala
Chapter XXXII: The Dhruva Songs
Chapter XXIII: The Avanaddha Instruments
Chapter XXXIV: Types of Characters
Chapter XXXV: Distribution of Roles
Chapter XXXVI: Descent of Drama on Earth

APPENDICES

INDEX

About the Author:

Adya Rangacharya (1904-84), was born in Agarkhed, district Bijapur. He has his education at Bombay and London Universities. His writings were original and prolific, which made him a trend-setter among Kannada and Indian writers. His works include twelve novels and a number of scholarly books on the Theatre, on Sanskrit drama and the Bhagavadgita; but it was as a dramatist that he made his mark (47 full-length and 68 one-act plays). Besides the translation of Natyasastra his other works in English are: Drama in Sanskrit Literature, Indian Theatre, Introduction to Bharata’s Natyasastra, and Introduction to the Comparative Philosophy and Indo-Aryan Languages.