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Indian drama constitutes one of the significant branches of Indian knowledge systems. Drama, like other
forms of arts, is a
quintessential part of Indian culture and to trace the origin and growth of Indian drama is
a highly difficult task. The roots of
Indian drama are, in fact, steeped in antiquity. Scholars have
attempted to trace out the misty origin of this important discipline back to the religious and
rituals of the Vedic Period. It is generally
considered that drama in Indian context is born
out of the ritual and devotional performances and in course of time takes on the regular
performances and accommodates into its fold a wide
range of issues in keeping with the spirit of time and
temperament of
the region. In examining the nature of the Vedic rituals, festivals and other similar
situations related to yajnas, one unmistakably discerns the dramatic and theatrical
qualities. There are
many implicit or explicit references to songs, musical instruments, dialogues in the
Vedic literature which reinforce the fact that
drama proper in the subsequent times had a potential source of
inspiration from the Vedic culture. In addition to that, rudimentary elements of drama are found
to be stocked in the Indian
mahakavyas
- The Ramayana and the Mahabharata
- and in Puranic iiterary tradition too. The Bhagavata Purana and Markandeya urana also are
fraught with references reminding one of the clements of dance, drama and performers. In his remarkable
text
Ashtadhyayi, a sutra-style treatise on Sanskrit grammar, Panini also mentions the dramatic
works and performers. The Arthashastra of Nautilya also significantly deals with many elements such
as
mustc, dance, instruments and the people earning their livelihood through hem. lt would be
pertinent to assume that dramatic activities
EsSAYS ON TEXT AND PERFORMANCE 14 were not unknown to the ancient world of Indian culture and
civilization. An attempt is made here to chart out the history of Indian drama and
theatre in a periodized and chronological wav for the sake of better understanding.
Classical Period
Bharat Muni's Natyashastra, composed in the second century BC, is the oldest
extant treatise on Indian dramaturgy. It is the first documented manual on the theory
and practice of Indian drama and theatre. According to it, the origin of drama in India is
attributed to Lord Brahma and thus Natyashastra is consideredas the fifth Veda. Composed of thirty six chapters, this
treatise covers not only almost each and every aspect of natya or drama, but also of other arts like dance, music,
poetry etc. The Natyashastra primarily aims at giving the necessary instructions to actors tor performing their parts
quite effectively and to the dramatists to enable them to write flawless plays. It also
provides guidelines, for the proper study of the Vedas and Puranas, which show the ways of
realization of the main objectives of human life. This significant manuai on dramaturgy starts with the origins of
Naryaveda followed by the concept of anukarana (imitation) of life for dramatic presentation. Bharat Muni
list of ten types of plays is as follows: 1. Nataka 2. Prakarana 3.
classifies drama into ten categories: The
Samavakara 4. Ihamrga 5. Dima 6. Vyayoga 7. Anka 8. Prahasana 9. Bhana 10. Vithi
THEATRE AND DRAMA IN INDA: A BRIEF HISTORICAL SURVEY 15 Bharata mentions
three kinds of theatres or play houses in the Second Chapter of Natyashastra. They are
1. Oblong 2. Square
3. Triangular
Bharata disapproves of a larger play house and recommends the medium
size structure. He speaks of four kinds of abhinayas (acting/expression)
1. abarya or costumes and make-up 2. vacika or spoken or sung words 3. angika or
the various aspects of the actual body language 4. sattvika or the expression of
inner emotions
There are two types of productions: 1. lokadharmi or realistic theatre with natural
presentation of
human behavior catering to the popular taste 2. natyadharmi or stylized
drama using body language and
symbols In chapter 5 and 6 of Nayashastra, Bharata talks about rasa which
he considers as the soul of a play. In connection with his deliberations on differen
spects of a play, he emphasizes that there can be no drama without rasa. The drama
aims at providing entertainment to the common people and to create the rasa andd make
it enjoyable for the people. Rasa, means "taste or "essence". it is popularly known sentiment. It as
originally eight
is the intensified state of
sthyaibhava in consonance with bibhava, anubhavas and
vyabhicaribhavas. The rasas were
in number, but
the post-Natyashastra tradition added a ninth one.
the
major components of Indian drama found in large in the fragments of Buddhist dramas attributed
are measure to
heavily on the two great Indian exceptional playwright in the sense that the spectacles
epics. He 1s an
of violence which are
markedly absent from Indian worldview were represented in his plays. The supreme achievement of Drama Indian
undoubtedly lies in Kalidasa who is ofren called the Shakespeare of India. Three of his plays
1.Malavikagnim1trd
2. Vikramorvashiya 3.Abhijnanashakuntala in class Dy themselves. Among the list of well-
are a
traditional practices of
I. Koodiyattam: One of most ancient theatre forms of India.
Koodiyattam adheres to the
classical
Sanskrit theatre. This theatrical form fronm Kerala is a dance drama and
generally pertormed part of temple festivals. 2. Yakshagana: A popular theatrical form from
as
dialogues and stories taken from classical mythological tales. This folk theatre is mostly visible in
the coastal districts of Karnataka.
by
EsSAYS PERFORMANCE 18 3. Tamasha: This is
ON TEXT AND theatre form
Maharashtra. This a traditional folk form was patronized
favourite of
taking the lead role and
singing the songs of the patrons. 4. Therukoothu: A very
popular form of entertainment in Tamil
4. Nadu Therukoothu
popular form of folk drama of Bengal is
literally means street theatre. This is
mostly seen in rural places of the region.
5. Jatra: The most
equally
with people of Orissa and eastern Bihar.
popular Stories are taken trom popular myths, epics, the Puranas,
as well as
dramatization of the epic Ramayana, arnd Raasleela is the dance of divine love between
Radha and Krishna. 8. Nautanki: Nautanki is a relatively young form of popular theatre
Rajasthan. It usually starts late at night and goes on ti dawn. Themes are based on mythological
stories and popular incidents. What is engrossing about this theatre is the sparkling banter between performers in a witry
poetic manner. The small intermittent breaks are punctuared individual songs, dances etc.
.Swang: This is an important folk theatre of Himacha
Pradesh, performed during the Shivaratri and Dussnea festivals.
THEATRE AND DRAMA IN INDIA: A BRIEF HIsTORICAL SURVEY 19 Modern Period
India's dramatic and theatrical tradition underwent cataclysmic changes in the 18th and 19" century under
the British colonial rule. The indigenous theatrical tradition continued to decline, paving the
way for the proscenium stage. Theatre in the new regime aimed at providing comic
entertainment to the colonial rulers. Theatre became more urban centric and Calcutta,
the administrative hub of the colonial administration, became the place where new
theatres grew up under the patronage of the English educated gentry of Bengal.
Translations of the classical Sanskrit plays and adaptations of Shakespearean drama
into Bengali pour in. Interestingly, from the middle of the 19th century many Bengali
poets turned to playwriting. Michael Madhusudhan Dutt, Dinabandhu Mitra, Girish Chandra
Ghosh, DL Roy wrote many plays for the stage on the western model. Tagore himself wrote a
number of plays synthesizing the qualities of both Indian
and western theatre.
This model was also adopted in other commercial British settlements like
Gujarat and Maharashtra where playwrights started writing plays in their respective
regional languages. Vishnudas Bhave's plays in Marathi and Yakshagana of Karnataka are
cases in point. In the 19" century in South India, the translations and adaptations of
Shakespeare's plays were popular. P. Samband Mudalier in Tamil, Gubbi Veranna in Kannada, T. Raghavachari in
Telegu are the leading examples of this trend.
The situation changes in the 1940s as most of the theatre groups
companies lost interest in this business
tace severe problems in terms of funding, and competent management. The theatre
and started looking for other avenues, These theatres degenerated further into a state of affairs
that pandered the In 1943-1944, the IPTA (Indian People's Theatre Association) was formed.
to common taste.
IPTA had leftist leanings, and treated theatre means of social change. Mostly influenced by ideas, this new
as a western
Broadcasting, Govt
of India, 1956.
creative and culturai expression. It has become an agent for creating
oday theatre is used as a means of
They technique.
in Indian theatre. all were innovators in terms of theme and Their
objective play writing with a strong identity. The establishment
was to evolve a tradition of Indian
of institutions such as Sangeet Natak Akademi, and National School of Drama, etc. in the post- independence era encouraged
and promoted theatre in Indian languages. Contemporary theatrical groups, public private,
both and
supported by Ministry of Culture, are taking great initiatives in popularizing theatre in almost 24
the
languages
of the Country.
from Kerala, Vijay Tendulkar from Maharashtra set a new tradition
Sircar from Bengal, Rakesh Mohan from North India, KN Pannikar
India. Habib Tanvir from Chattrishgarh, Sambhu Mitra, Badal
there were lots of researches regarding the traditional theatre of
against the western proscenium theatre. After 1960 all over India.
or traditionally blended theatre pertormances and also in protest
theatre had its origin from its enthusiasm to pertorm indigenous
experimentation was carried out all over India. The modern dian
Post 1960, extensive reasearch on traditional theatre and
indigenous theatre traditions.
protest incorporafee and theatre proscenium Western the against not
originate. Theatre Indian Modern life. of understanding better a for mcant Was 1t entertaiment, mere
as viewed
for adan..
and translated were classics European American, the as Theatre provinces. lndian dilterent in performances stage
PERFORMANCCE
EsSAYS ON TEXT AND 20