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Thursday 17 November 2016

Natyasastram Ascribed to Bharata Muni 2 Vols.



http://www.easternbookcorporation.com/book/9789385005831/natyasastram-ascribed-to-bharata-muni-2-vols.


Natyasastram Ascribed to Bharata Muni 2 Vols.

A Treatise on Ancient Indian Dramaturgy and Histrionics
Manomohan Ghosh (Intro)
2016, isbn 9789385005831 Rs. 2120.75 / US$ 38.38

The Natya sastra had been accepted as fifth Veda, as the same is gist of Vedas. According to scripture itself, "The recitative (pathya) he took from the Rgveda, the song from the Samaveda, the Histrionic Representation (abhinaya) from the Yajurveda and Sentiments (rasa) from the Atharvaveda and thus was created the Natyaveda.
With thirty-six chapters and over six thousand verses, this is encyclopaedia of Natya Vidya (Vidya of dance, drama and music). This comprises of every single aspect of Natya viz. it talks about the issues related literary constructions, set up of stage, details related to musical scales and murcchas, analysis of dance forms which considers several body gestures or mudras and movements along with their impact on viewers, it also educates the viewers about the etiquettes to be followed while watching a performance and it deals with Rasas.
Bharata muni describes 15 types of drama ranging from one to ten acts. Individual chapters deal with aspects such as makeup, costume, acting and directing etc.
With detailed theory of drama, Natyasastra is comparable to the Poetics of Aristotle. Bharata Muni refers to bhavas, the imitations of emotions, as per him eight principal rasas are srngara rasa (love), karunya rasa (pity), Raudra rasa (fury), Vibhatsa rasa (disgust), Vira rasa (heroism), Adbhuta rasa (wonder), Bhyanaka rasa (horrific) and Hasyarasa (comedy) however Mahamahesvara Abhinava gupta who wrote a commentary on it also, later setup ninth rasa the santa rasa and said all the other rasas are part of it.
The Natyasastra is the first major text that deals with music at length. It is considered the defining treatise of Indian classical music until the 13th century, when the stream bifurcated into Hindustani classical music in North India and Carnatic classical music in South India; the stronghold of the Hindu kingdoms. Even till date its strict follow up can be seen in performing arts of south India.
With major focus on musical instruments in its musical art narration the Natyasastra also talks about several aspects of musical performance, particularly its application to vocal, instrumental and orchestral compositions. Natyasastra also talks about jatis which are the origin of the notion of modern melodic structures called ragas.
The present edition is critical edition with Samskrta text, transliteration, annotated English translation along with detailed index, which makes it very useful for research scholars, performing arts experts and enthusiasts.


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