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A HISTORICAL
AND CULTURAL
STUDY OF THE
NATYASASTRA OF
BHARATA
KUSUMANJALI PRAKASHAIM
JODHPUR
A HISTORICAL
AND CULTURAL
STUDY OF THE
NATYASASTRA OF
BHARATA
Anupa Pande
KUSUMANJALI PRAKASHAN
JODHPUR
A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDY OF
THE NATYASASTRA OF BHARATA
A Historical and Cultural Study
of the Natyasastra of Bharata
ANUPA PANDE
Published by
KUSUMANJALI BOOK WORLD, JODHPUR
Price : Rs. 450.00
Edition : 1996
© Dr. Mrs. Anupa Pande
Published by :
Kusumanjali Book World
41-A Sardar Club Scheme
Jodhpur-342 011
All rights reserved including the right to translate. No part of
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means without the written permission of the Publishers.
Published by Kusumanjali Book World, 41-A, Sardar Club
Scheme, Jodhpur-342 011 (India) and printed at
Printing House, Jodhpur-342 001.
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Preface
Although the NStyaSastra of Bharata is known to be an encyclo¬
paedic source for the reconstruction of ancient Indian social an cu
ural history it cannot be said to have been adequately utilized so f .
Much of the’ work which has been done so far relates to the dramaturgy
of Bharaia Thus Sy.vain Levi and Sten Konow. A.B K-th.^K.
De and P.V. Kane have attempted to trace the history
drama and dramaturgy and V. Raghavan, R. Gnoli, asson an -
wardhan have sought to elucidate the aesthetic c ° u nce P tS '" V01 ^.
this literary tradition. Mankad, tarlekar, G.K. Bhat and Manm
Ghosh have written on Bharatan theatre compendiously. On dance D .
Kapila Vatsyayana’s work is well-known. Acharya B "h«P»t«'Dr.
Premlata Sharma, Dr. Mukund Lath, Svami PrajnanandI have com¬
mented on several aspects of the development of ancient Indian music.
Despite such scholarly attention, it remains a fact that there has
no adequate treatment of Bharata’s MtyaSistra as a whole. Nor has
there been any attempt to analyse it from a historical point of view or
to brine out its social background.
Much of the work done so far discusses the theatre from a techn.ca
point of view as defined in the tradition of literary criticism. It does not
sufficiently attend to the fact that drama involving social representation
"L throw light on socml history. Forma, oa.egonet. of drama-
turgy may in rffec, be congealed facts and values deriving from socta
life. The present work, thus, explores the techmca wor
conventions, practices and ideas ftom the standpoint of s ° c “ l
At the same time, unlike the usual practice, the focus in the pr
ent work is on the musicology of Bharata, not on bis drama urgy In
interpreting the text of Bharata in this area recourse has been taken
to other ancient texts in music but especially to the admittedly d.fficul
but illuminating commentary of Abhinava Gupta. xp a "
ancient terms by modern interpreters like Fox-S.rangways, CkmeMts
Alain Danielou, Mark Levi, Acharya Br.haspati etc., have been
critically considered and special attention given tc-theatrical music.
Bharata treats the performing arts as parts of Natya ^
social representation. Expression, communication and
are essential processes through which the arts opera e. L . d
• in d technical categories cannot be divorced from social tacts, attitudes
and vies. From this point of view the Natyaiistra acquires the i as¬
pect of a highly significant social and cultural document from which
viii A Historical and Cultural Study of the NatyaS&stra
one may glean not only the outward appearance, manners and gestures
of the people in its age but also their inner psyche and social relations.
It is from this point of view that the present work seeks to put to¬
gether the social and cultural data of the Natyaiastra and placer them
in the context of their historical development.
In the scheme of Bharata the various arts meet in the theatre and
find their inner unity in the concept of rasa in which aesthetic and
social values coincide. The present work seeks to bring out inter alia
these unifying strands of the arts.
The distinctive approach in the present work may, thus, be defined
by its socio-historical orientation, focus on musicology, and the ana¬
lysis of aesthetic and social values.