Essay name: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
Author: A. D. Pusalker
This book studies Bhasa, the author of thirteen plays ascribed found in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. These works largely adhere to the rules of traditional Indian theatrics known as Natya-Shastra.
Page 160 of: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
160 (of 564)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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140
The Natya艣膩stra mentions four principal times for
the performance of plays: in the morning, evening, and
during the first or last quarter of the night. The time
depended mainly on the theme of the particular piece,
e.g., religious plays were performed in the morning, erotic
during the first quarter of the night, pathetic during the
last quarter and so on. Time was changed according to
the circumstances. There were rules as to the period
within which the drama ought to be performed and this
counted as a factor in adjudicating on the merits of the
plays.
Coming next to the actors, we find that female
r么les were played by females in general, but in particular
instances males also personated female characters.
Elaborate rules given as to the selection of particular
r么les such as gods, demons, kings,
persons for
servants, etc.
in re
There is a difference of opinion as to the accessories
of the stage. Prof. Wilson says that chariots, horses, etc.,
were actually brought on the stage, while Dr. Keith holds
that such accessories were quite limited and had to be
supplied either by imagination, description, or gesticulation
of the actors. "Thus", says Dr. Keith, "though the car of
Dusyanta might have been represented on the stage, the
horses would be left to the imagination and the speed of
the chariot indicated by the gesticulations of the
1 charioteer" Miss Ketkar after an exhaustive consideration
of the stage directions in the Sakuntala and M峁沜ch rightly
concludes that there was much of a movable scenery such
as chariot, horses, elephants, aerial chariots, etc., made
from some light material. Kautilya's evidence is further
adduced to show the progress of Indian sculpture and
handicrafts in the pre-Mauryan period."
se
Now we come to some particular scenes in the plays.
and see how they would have been enacted on the stage.
In the third act of the Avi is a big monologue requiring
the use of the front and back stage as also of the gallery
and transverse curtains and kaksy膩s (movable curtains
towards the sides).
The first part of the act (pp. 34-42) is enacted in
the back stage where there are some occasions for the use
1 SD, pp. 364-368. 2 Bharatiya Natyas膩stra, Poona, pp. 166-177.
