Libre Magazine

Theatre has been part and parcel of all civilizations; Vedic Theatre was one of the earliest forms of theatre according to sources.

The origin of theatre in ancient India or rather folk theatre and dramatics can be traced to the religious ritualism of the Vedic Aryans. This folk theatre of the misty past was mixed with dance, food, ritualism, plus a depiction of events from daily life. It was the last element which made it the origin of the classical theatre of later times. Many historians, notably D. D. Kosambi, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Adya Rangacharaya, etc. have referred to the prevalence of ritualism amongst Indo-Aryan tribes in which some members of the tribe acted as if they were wild animals and some others were the hunters. Those who acted as mammals like goats, buffaloes, reindeer, monkeys, etc. were chased by those playing the role of hunters.

In such a simple and crude manner did the theatre originate in India about 3500 years back in the Indo-Aryan states of Rig Vedic times. There also must have existed a theatrical tradition in the Harappan cities (civilizations).

Natya Shastra

Indian history about theatre cannot be explained without taking the name of Bharat Muni . Bharata Muni (2nd century BC) was an ancient Indian writer best known for writing the Natya Sastra of Bharatha, a theoretical treatise on Indian performing arts, including Theatre, dance, acting, and music, which has been compared to Aristotle’s poetics.

Bharata is often known as the father of Indian theatrical arts. His Natya Shastra seems to be the first attempt to develop the technique or rather art, of drama in a systematic manner. The Natya Shastra tells us not only what is to be portrayed in a drama, but how the portrayal is to be done. Drama, as Bharata Muni says, is the imitation of men and their doings (loka-vritti). As men and their doings have to be respected on the stage, so drama in Sanskrit is also known by the term roopaka which means portrayal.

The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope. It consists of minutely detailed precepts for both playwrights and actors. Bharata describes ten types of drama ranging from one to ten acts. In addition, he lays down principles for stage design, makeup ,costume , dance (various movements and gestures), a theory of Aesthetics (rasas and Bhavas),Acting , Directing and Music each in individual chapters.

Bharata sets out a detailed theory of drama comparable to the poetics of Aristotle. He refers to bhavas(feelings), the imitations of emotions that the actors perform, and the rasas (emotional responses) that they inspire in the audience. He argues that there are eight principal rasas: love, pity, anger, disgust, heroism, awe, terror and comedy, and that plays should mix different
rasas but be dominated by one.

According to the Natya Shastra, all the modes of expression employed by an individual through his speech, gestures, movements and intonation must be used. The representation of these expressions can have different modes, according to the predominance and emphasis on one mode or another. Bharatamuni recognises four main modes: speech and poetry (bharati vritti), dance and music (kaishiki vritti), action (arabhatti vritti) and emotions (sattvatti vritti).

Classical Indian Theatre

The Ramayana and Mahabaratha can be considered as the first recognized plays that originated in India. These epics provided the inspiration to the earliest Indian dramatists and they do even today. Indian dramatists such as Bhasa (c.2nd century BC) wrote plays that were heavily inspired by the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Kalidasa (1st century BC) is arguably considered to be ancient India’s greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist. Three famous romantic plays written by Kalidasa are the MALAVIKAGNIMITRAM and ABHIGNANA SHAKUNTALAM (The Recognition of Shakuntala), it was the first to be translated into English and German.