Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 21 Issue 12

© 2021 Global Journals Volume XXI Issue XII Version I 51 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2021 A The Indian Theory of Drama conversation with the imaginary persons, imitating the other characters and chastening the high-class by lampooning their licentious ways. (Sreenivasarao) samvada of Isvaradatta; and Pada-taditaka of Syamalika. 10. The V ī th ī , (among the earliest forms of Sanskrit Drama) One act Noble ( Dh ī ralalita ), middle or low type of male hero/chaste woman (kulap ā lik ā ), a common woman (s ā m ā ny ā ) or of the other type (parak ī y ā ) Endowed with all the Rasas ( Sarva-rasa- lak ṣ a ṇā a ḍ hy ā yukt ā ), but śṛṅṛ g ā ra is the main rasa. Bharati , Dhananjaya classified it under Kai ś iki Vrtti (Sreenivasarao) Story built by the dramatist or the episodes culled out of mythologies and popular tales were narrated by use of clever and inventive witty dialogues, might have originated from the ancient Samvada -Suktas of the Rig-veda. L ī l ā vat ī V ī th ī of R ā map āṇ iv ā da (NS XX 10-113) The Samavakar, the Ḍ ima, the Ī h ā m ṛ ga, and the Vyayoga were the four oldest kinds of r ū paka. They bear out the assumption of a long pre-literary development and belonged to the energetic type, battle genre and were pantomimes. Bharata makes it clear that plays of the V ī th ī , the Samavakra, the Ī h ā m ṛ ga, the Anka, the Vyayoga, the Bhana, the Prahasan, and the Ḍ ima classes should be made devoid of the Graceful style. (XX 8-9). V. Raghwan opines that these eight classes are minor specimens, the imperfect ones while the other two, N ā taka and Prahasan are major forms and the perfect ones. Raghwan’s observation is worth citing here: From another point of view these ten kinds fall into two classes, the heroic and the social. Now two of the ten varieties are major specimens--the nataka in which the heroic trend reaches its perfection, and the prakarana in which the social trend attains its full scope of development. Among the lesser varieties under the heroic are the samavakara , dim ā , vy ā yoga , anka and ihamriga ; and under the social type are the prahasana , bhana and vithi . The heroic category portrays actions of gods or epic heroes, their fights and the consequences thereof, types which probably still survive in Java and Bali in the dramatic baris . The social type depicts the life and love affairs of common men. The former presents before us the example of supermen, while the latter holds up the mirror to the world. (17) e) Dance Dance is a very important element in all these types of dramas. Bharata has explained the subtle movements as well as nuances of both classical and regional dance forms. In the tradition of N ā tya śā stra, the regional forms of dance and drama are classified as n ṛ ttaprabadhas, n ṛ tyas, de ś ir ū paka, geyar ū paka, anyar ū paka, sa ḿ krinar ū paka and upar ū paka. It is important to remember that Bharata dexterously transformed and incorporated n ṛ tta (dance) — an ancient well-schematized formal non-representational art— into the larger scheme of N ā tya (Chapter IV) . Described and explained by God Shiva’s disciple Tandu (hence called t ā ndava ), the long manual of dance, which was initially incorporated into n ā tya as part of its prologue ( purvaranga ), n ṛ tta was later orchestrated into n ā tya through abhinaya . By enriching the “language of gestures,” n ṛ tta adds another dimension to an ū karana based abhinaya . Rendered with the grace of dance, ordinary gestures (borrowed or reproduced from Loka ) were heightened by incorporating many n ṛ tta -gestures impregnated with meanings. When absorbed with abhinaya , n ṛ tta not only acquires and produces meanings beyond itself, but it is also significantly re- contextualized to help to produce rasa . In Bharata’s conception an ū karana is not a replica of the world. It aims at transforming the real world, through imagination, in a stylized form which he calls n ā tyadharmi (having traits peculiar to n ā tya ). f) Music Similarly, Bharata (in Chapter XXXII, Unni’s translation) transforms the spirit of g ā ndharva . This chapter on music (called g ā ndharva ) lays down the foundation of the various forms of Indian classical music, which are still in practice. The classical form of g ā ndharva was based on svara (scales), t ā la (musical meter), sth ā na (base note or various registers—low, medium, high), t ā na (note-sequence elaboration), ā l ā p (yodel) and syllables and pada was auxiliary to svara and t ā la . This form of music, which tended to overpower the linguistic purport totally, was not appropriate for ordinary folks, because this musical form was not dominated by pada (lyric or the sung text) or linguistic