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Essay name: Hastalaksanadipika a critical edition and study

Author: E. K. Sudha
Affiliation: Government Sanskrit College (Tripunithura) / Department of Sanskrit

This is an English study on the Hastalaksanadipika—a manual depicting the Mudras (gestures) of the Kerala theatre. It is a very popular text supposedly dating to the 10th century A.D. This study also touches the subject of Krsnanattam, Kathakali and Kutiyattam—some of India's oldest theatrical traditions in Kerala.

Chapter 2 - Bharata’s Dramaturgy

Page:

17 (of 56)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


Download the PDF file of the original publication


Copyright (license):

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)


Warning! Page nr. 17 has not been proofread.

Lōkadharmi is the canvas the painting thereon may be stated as Natyadharmi so that a complete picture is produced. Lōkadharmi alone does not produce a drama since a canvas is not the picture. Similarly Natyadharmi alone cannot produce drama without adequate support of Lökadharmi, as there can be no picture without a canvas. Among the ten types of plays, Nāṭaka has a predominance of Nāṭyadharmi and Prakarana has a predominance of Lōkadharmi. Viewed from a different angle, Lōkadharmi is more predominant in drama while Nāṭyadharmi predominates in dance. It must, however, be conceded that both these aspects, in different proportions are present in every form of drama or dance. 49 There is a comment that Bharata's NS is a petrified science
and has no relationship with the realities of the world. This is a
misconception, since Bharata, almost at every stage in his NS, has
categorically stated that what all he has mentioned are based on the
pleasures and pains experienced in the world and that his is not the last
word on the subject. Bharata, towards the end of his work, has reiterated
his statement and added that what has been left by him may be added
from the ways of the world and adapted by the scholarly and the
competent ones.
Bharata's Lōkadharmi, in fact, incorporates the modern
concepts of realism and naturalism, but he did not permit extremism in
Lōkadharmi. Bharata has also excluded the presentation of certain

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