Dramatic Concepts - Greek and Indian — A Study of the Poetics and the Nāṭyaśāstra

Title: Dramatic Concepts: Greek and Indian — A Study of the Poetics and the Nāṭyaśāstra  
Author: Bharat Gupt  
Publisher: D. K. Printworld  
Place of Publication: New Delhi  
Publication History: First published in 1994; reprinted in 1996; Third Impression, 2006  
Year of This Edition: 2006  
Language: English, with Sanskrit and Greek technical terminology  
Binding: Hardcover  
Pages: xvii + 295  
Bibliographical Features: Bibliography and index  
Size: 23 cm  
ISBN/UPC (if available): 81-246-0025-2

Description

Dramatic Concepts: Greek and Indian offers a comparative study of ancient Greek and Indian dramatic theory through Aristotle’s Poetics and Bharata Muni’s Nāṭyaśāstra. Rather than treating the two works simply as representatives of opposing Western and Eastern traditions, Bharat Gupt places them within the broader context of ancient Indo-European culture and the practice of sacred drama, or hieropraxis.

The study argues that ancient Greek and Indian drama belonged to theatrical cultures in which performance addressed both divine and human audiences. These traditions employed stylized gesture, dance, music, speech, and dialogue to create an ornate theatrical reality distinct from the predominantly secular and realistic conventions that later developed in European theatre.

The author compares the theoretical concepts formulated by Aristotle and Bharata Muni while also attempting to reconstruct important aspects of Greek and Indian performance practice. Subjects examined include ritual and festive performance, theatrical space, gesture and dance, music and speech, dramatic genres, plot and character, imitation, emotional transformation, and aesthetic experience.

Among the principal concepts discussed are mimesis and anukaraṇa, mythos and itivṛtta, melopoiia and gāna, katharsis and rasa, lokadharmī and nāṭyadharmī, the four forms of abhinaya, the daśarūpakas, and the interpretations of rasa associated with Lollaṭa, Śaṅkuka, Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka, and Abhinavagupta.

Combining comparative poetics, theatre history, performance theory, Sanskrit aesthetics, and classical studies, the book is a substantive scholarly resource for students and researchers in theatre and performance studies, comparative literature, Indology, Sanskrit studies, aesthetics, dance, music, and the history of religion.

About the Author

Bharat Gupt is a classicist, theatre theorist, musicologist, author, and scholar of Indian and Greek dramatic traditions. He studied at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and at the University of Toronto, and conducted his doctoral research at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He received training in sitar and surbahar from Pandit Uma Shankar Mishra and studied musicology and classical traditions with Acharya K. C. D. Brihaspati.

Trained in both modern academic and traditional Indian systems of education, Bharat Gupt has taught English at the University of Delhi and has been associated with the National School of Drama. He also received a fellowship to work at the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto. His research and publications encompass classical theatre, the Nāṭyaśāstra, music, aesthetics, literature, culture, and media studies.

Contents

Preface

Part I: Ancient Drama as Hieropraxis

Chapter One  
Introduction

Ancient Drama as Hieropraxis

Unification of Speech, Gesture and Dance in Hieropraxis

Departure from Hieropraxis

Growth of European Drama as Word-Centred Performance

Christian Bias Against Transformation

Elimination of Dance and Music

Rise of Portraiture

Social Reformism

The Poetics and the Nāṭyaśāstra as Systems of Performance

Chapter Two  
The Date of the Nāṭyaśāstra

The Sanskrit of the Nāṭyaśāstra

The Antiquity of the Daśarūpakas

Musical Instruments in the Nāṭyaśāstra

Gandharvas and Gāndharva

Pre-Epic Themes of Early Drama

The Nāṭyaśāstra and the Rāmāyaṇa

The Nāṭyaśāstra and the Mahābhārata

The Prose Passages in the Nāṭyaśāstra

The Nāṭyaśāstra as Antedating Kauṭilya, Vātsyāyana and the Amarakośa

The Nāṭyaśāstra as a Compilation

Bharata Muni, a Person and Not a “Tradition”

Later Growth of the Nāṭyaśāstra

Chapter Three  
Indo-European Beliefs in Greek and Indian Drama

Miasma-Katharsis or Śauca-Aśauca

The Gift of Vitality

Ancestor Worship and Burial Customs

Protection of the Supplicant

The Power of the Oath

Oracles and Curses

Some Other Common Beliefs

Chapter Four  
Drama as Festive Ritual

Drama and Ritual

The Nucleus of Dance in Greek Theatre

Audience Participation

Origin of Indian Drama

Indian Festive Setting

Community Involvement

Part II: Concepts and Techniques

Chapter Five  
Basic Concepts of Aristotle and Bharata Muni: A Reassessment

Chapter Six  
Theory of Imitation

The Concept of Anukaraṇa

Chapter Seven  
Medium of Imitation

Rhythm, Language and Harmony

The Indian Medium of Anukaraṇa

Abhinaya of Four Kinds

Āṅgika Abhinaya

Head Movements

Hand Postures

Breast, Belly and Leg Movements

Leg Postures or Cārī

Gatipracāra or Gait

Verbal Abhinaya

Sāttvika Abhinaya

Āhārya Abhinaya

Kinds of Āhārya

The Unification of the Four Abhinayas or Samānikaraṇa

Chapter Eight  
A Comparison of Greek and Indian Theatrical Space

Hieropraxic Division of Space

The Greek Performance Space

The Effect of the Mask on Theatron Size

The Indian Performance Space

Space for Musical Activity

Dance Space

Division of Acting Area, or Kakṣyā Vibhāga

Open Theatres

Chapter Nine  
The Visual Content

Greek Gesture and Dance

Orchestral Activity

Greek Choreology

Greek Dance Genres

Theatrical Dances

Unification of Dance with Words

Visual Content in Indian Drama

Chapter Ten  
The Aural Content

Lexis

Rhythm and Tone

Melopoiia: The Greek Musical System

Application in Theatre

The Vāgabhinaya Concept

Pāṭhya

Prose-Verse Dialogue in Indian Drama

Elements of Dialogue or Pāṭhya

Gāna or Dhruvā Songs

Gāndharva

Dianoia

Chapter Eleven  
Dramatic Genres and Play Structures

The Serious and the Trivial

Daśarūpakas

The Four Vṛttis

Significance of the Daśarūpakas

Play Structure

Itivṛtta

Ethos and Nāyakas

Ethos

Nāyakas and Nāyikās

Part III: Transformation and Emotional Arousal

Chapter Twelve  
Transformation and Emotional Arousal

Transformation of Reality

Lokadharmī and Nāṭyadharmī

Transformation for Emotional Arousal

Emotional Arousal in Greek Theory

Indian System of Emotional Arousal

Vibhāvas and Anubhāvas

Katharsis and Hēdonē

The Rasa Concept

Lollaṭa’s Analysis

Śaṅkuka’s Analysis

Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka’s Analysis

Abhinavagupta’s Analysis

Saṃyuktivāda

Katharsis and Rasa

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index