Natyashastra
Kartavya Desk Staff
Source: PIB
Subject: Art and Culture
Context: During the 20th Session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in New Delhi, IGNCA organised an academic programme on Natyashastra.
About Natyashastra:
What it is?
• The Natyashastra is the foundational Sanskrit treatise on drama (natya), dance (nritya and nritta), music (sangita), aesthetics, and stagecraft in the Indian tradition.
• It is regarded as the Natya Veda (Fifth Veda)—intended to communicate ethical, aesthetic, and social values to all sections of society through performance.
Authored by: Traditionally attributed to Bharata Muni.
Language: Composed in Classical Sanskrit, primarily in śloka (verse) form, with a few prose explanations in later recensions.
History and Composition:
• Broadly dated to c. 200 BCE – 200 CE (scholarly consensus range).
• The text evolved from an oral performance tradition before being codified.
• The most influential classical commentary is Abhinavagupta’s Abhinavabharati (c. 10th–11th century CE).
Key features of the text:
• Consists of 36 chapters (some traditions count 37).
• Covers the entire lifecycle of theatrical production.
• Rasa theory (core contribution): Explains aesthetic experience through Rasa–Bhava framework; classical rasas include Shringara, Hasya, Karuna, Raudra, Veera, Bhayanaka, Bibhatsa, Adbhuta (later tradition adds Shanta).
• Four-fold acting tools (Abhinaya): Describes Angika (body), Vachika (speech), Aharya (costume/props), Sattvika (inner emotion) as essential to performance.
• Dramaturgy & stagecraft: Details plot construction, roles, performance styles, theatre space, costumes, make-up, and direction—making it a complete production manual.
• Dance & gesture codification: Elaborates mudras/hastas, body positions, facial/eye movements, and units like karanas, enabling standardised training.
• Integration of arts: Treats performance as a synthesis of music + rhythm + movement + expression, making “theory and praxis” inseparable.
Significance:
• Civilisational foundation: Provides the theoretical base for India’s classical performing arts ecosystem—dance, theatre, music pedagogy and aesthetics.
• Cultural continuity: Helps reinterpret classical forms for contemporary theatre and performance training without breaking tradition.