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The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
«The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics»
by Natalia Lidova
Source:Cracow Indological Studies (Cracow Indological Studies), issue: 14 / 2012, pages: 6185, onwww.ceeol.com.
http://www.ceeol.comhttp://www.ceeol.com
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Cracow Indological Studies vol. XIV (2012)
Natalia Lidova(Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian
Poetics
SUMMARY: The Sanskrit
treatise Nāṭyaśāstra is
the most ancient and authoritative Indian text on the arts. Some researchers, trying to single out the most ancient kernel of the text, dated it to the 5th century BCE. Others, meaning the concluding stage of its formation, by which the treatise had incorporated interpolations from different times, proposed much
later dates up to the 7th-8th
centuries CE. It is widely
believed
that the treatise acquired its modern form between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Of an encyclopaedic scope,
the Nāṭyaśāstra
treats a great variety of
topics and comprises a manual for producers and performers, treatises on the theory of drama and aesthetics, as well as the oldest poetic theory in the Indian tradition. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the Nāṭyaśāstra as the earliest available source for the study of the Ancient Indian poetics.
KEYWORDS: Nāṭyaśāstra, poetics, vācika-abhinaya, prosody, pada, kāvya, metre
Five consecutive chapters (XV-XIX)
of the Nāṭyaśāstra1
describe the laws of arranging artistic speech, forming a treatise on the theory of poetry within the book. It analyzes one of the essential categories of the theoretical system of the Nāṭyaśāstra – vācika-abhinaya, which
1
This numeration of chapters follows the one in the Calcutta edition of the Nāṭyaśāstra (MGE, I-II, further NŚ), from which the majority of cita-tions are taken. The corresponding chapters of the Baroda edition (GOS 36; GOS 68; GOS 124; GOS 145) are XIV-XVII.
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62 Natalia Lidova
determined the rules of verbal performance. It was one of the
four basic components of scenic representation on a par with scenic
movement – āṅgika, costume, makeup, decoration of stage, etc. –
āhārya, and the theatrical representation of spontaneous human
emotions as, for instance, blush or tears – sāttvika.
Responsible for the verbal component of acting, vācika-abhinaya
initially concerned solely scenic speech, which the performers
freely improvised following a particular mythological theme. At a
certain developmental stage of the theatre, it spread to the scenic
text, which was no longer improvised but written by an author to be
memorized and acted out. The earliest extant dramas are finished
literary works2 with an elaborate structure (prologue, division
into acts, interludes, etc.), written in prose or verse in Sanskrit
and Prakrit literary languag-es. The drama was the first proper
literary genre in the Indian tradi-tion, so it is natural that the
oldest doctrine of poetic speech, arranged on specific patterns and
differing from the vernacular and the schol-arly idiom alike, was
formulated in connection with it to become part of the theoretical
system put forward in the Nāṭyaśāstra. The part on the theory of
poetics opens with the declaration of the elevated status of
speech. As the treatise says through the lips of Bharata, its
legendary author, who tells the Brahmins surrounding him about the
essence of vācika-abhinaya,
words should be taken special care of because the word is known
as the physical basis [body] of the drama, while movement, costume
and makeup, and sāttvika [abhinayas merely] bring out the meaning
of words. Treatises (śāstras) are made of words and are based on
words. There is noth-ing greater than the word, and the word is the
reason of everything.3
2 These are excerpts from three Buddhist plays found c. 1910 in
Tur-fan, Central Asia, which G. Lüders dated to the Kuṣāṇa era
(1st-2nd cent. CE) (Lüders 1911a; Lüders 1984, 11). However
fragmentary they might be, these texts confirm that the Sanskrit
literary drama had acquired fully developed forms by the first
centuries of the Christian era.
3 vāci yatnas tu kartavyo nāṭyasyeṣā tanuḥ smr̥tā /
aṅga-nepathya-sattvāni vākyārthaṁ vyañjayanti hi //
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63The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
This inspired hymn glorifying the Word is characteristic of
Indian culture, which regarded articulated speech as the supreme
constituting element and one of the most graphic expressions of the
sublime nature of the world. However, in this instance the solemn
passage introduced not a description of the sacral nature or
philosophy of language but an analysis of far more practical
knowledge on poetics and
linguistics.The Nāṭyaśāstra begins the story of artistic speech with the confirma-tion
of two basic kinds of scenic recitation (pāṭhya): “Two kinds of
recitation are known [in the drama] – the Sanskritic (samskr̥ta)
and the Prakritic (prākr̥ta).”4 No doubt, the former was held far
more
important – suffice to say that related grammar rules (śabda-vidhāna)
are first to be described in the text. They concerned vowels and con-sonants,
the rules of euphonic combinations (sandhi), nouns (nāma), verbs
(ākhyāta), prepositions (upasarga), particles (nipāta), nominal
suffixes (taddhita), compound words (samāsa), case-endings
(vibhak-ti), and various kinds of verbal roots and basic meanings
of words.5
After their detailed analysis, the author of the Nāṭyaśāstra posed another criterion for the identification of scenic speech – in this instance according
to the way of its formal arrangement. In this, they sepa-rated
prosaic speech (cūrṇa) from poetic one (nibaddha). The prem-ise was
followed by a description of the rhythmic structure of verse.
With the exception of a number of terminological specifics, this descrip-tion
on the whole corresponded to the theory of prosody characteristic
of
the classic Sanskrit literary period, which found reflection in poetolog-ical treatises that appeared later than the Nāṭyaśāstra (Velankar 1949).6
vāṅmayānīhaśāstrāṇivāṅniṣṭhānitathaivaca/
tasmād-vācaḥparaṁnāstivāghisarvasyakāraṇam// (NŚ XV, 2-3).
4
dvividhaṁhismr̥taṁpāṭhyaṁsaṁskr̥taṁprākr̥taṁtathā (NŚ XV, 5). 5
The analysis of this part of the Nāṭyaśāstra with detailed description
of the Sanskrit sounds (NŚ XV, 8-20) and basic grammar rules (NŚ XV, 20-35) is
extremely interesting from the linguistic point of view and
deserves special study.
6
The Chandaḥ-śāstra or Chandaḥ-sūtra, ascribed to the sage Piṅgala, is
considered the earliest extant
treatise on Sanskrit prosody (Weber
1863;
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64 Natalia Lidova
Just as these treatises, the Nāṭyaśāstra dealt with a
quantitative metric system based on the count of prosodically
shorter and longer syllables in a line. The so-called vr̥tta was
the pivotal block of Sanskrit verse and the basis of all syllabic
metres. Its characteristics were deter-mined by the rhythm and the
ictus, when it was used.7 The syllabic metre was a sequence of
metric matrixes organizing the poetic line. The rhythmic pattern it
created was clearly perceived in recitation.
Sanskrit versification saw its ideal in the stanza (padya) of
four lines, compared to the cow, which personified speech, firmly
stand-ing on four legs. Thus, each line of the tetrametric stanza
was named “pāda” – literally, “foot” (NŚ XV. 39) – the smallest
possible poetic unit.8 The Nāṭyaśāstra recommended to “know the
poetic pada, as well as the prosaic one”.9 The sole difference
between them was that the for-mer possessed an organized rhythm,
caesuras and a regulated number of syllables, of which the latter
had none. Its structure depended only on the author’s taste and
semantic demand.
Piṅgala 1871-74; Piṅgala 1938). The Chandaḥ-sūtra is divided
into eight chapters and describes metres considered transitional
between the Vedic and classical epic metres. The precise time of
its writing is unknown. Howev-er, Piṅgala’s name is mentioned in
Patañjali’s Mahābhāṣya, so it is considered to be written no later
than the 2nd century BCE. Indian tradition regards Piṅgala as a
real teacher (often identified with Patañjali himself) and a
mythical char-acter with the appearance of a Nāga serpent (e.g.,
MBh I, 1554). The part of the Nāṭyaśāstra under consideration is
close to Piṅgala’s treatise. Ch. 104 of the Br̥hatsaṁhitā, the part
of the Agnipūraṇa on prosody, and numerous medi-aeval treatises
base on these two sources.
7 Thus, unlike the European prosodic theory, the Sanskrit
doctrine refers the term “foot” not to rhythmic arrangement but to
a line in a quatrain.
8 “The wise should know the prosaic pada, which consists of many
lines and is unorganized, with an indefinite number of syllables
and hav-ing syllables picked out proceeding from consideration for
the meaning” (anibaddhaṁ padavr̥ndaṁ tathā cāniyatākṣaram /
arthāpekṣākṣarayutaṁ jñeyaṁ cūrṇapadaṁ budhaiḥ, NŚ XV, 37).
9 padaṁ jñeyaṁ nibaddhaṁ cūrṇam eva ca (NŚ XV, 36).
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65The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
Consequently, the author of the treatise regarded prosaic speech
as less perfect than verse while regarding it as a subcase of
poetic speech. Indian tradition certainly regarded metrically
arranged lan-guage as a more sublime and universal phenomenon than
structur-ally unorganized speech. That was why they said only a few
words on prosaic speech (cūrṇa)10 to go on to the other kind of
speech, based on “the verse line (nibaddha pada), (which should) be
known (as) consisting of organized syllables, and possessing
pauses, caesuras and a particular rhythm”.11
The introduction of the category of the poetic pada – the pivot
of the tetrametric stanza – allowed to go on to the description of
diverse rhythmic patterns or, literally, syllabic feet (vr̥tta) and
syllabic rhythm-types or types of meters (chandas). The latter
divided in three basic types: homogeneous (sama), where all the
four padas were similar, semi-homogeneous (ardha-sama), in which
the metres of the alter-nating even and odd lines coincided, and
heterogeneous (viṣama), where all the four padas differed (NŚ XV,
41). However, according to the Nāṭyaśāstra, they all rested on the
word, for “as there are no words without a rhythmic pattern, so
there is no rhythmic pattern without words, and their combination
is known as the luminary of the drama”.12
The difference of metres mainly depended on the number of
syllables in a pada, so their number was formally unlimited.
How-ever, as acknowledged by experts to whom the author of this
chapter of the Nāṭyaśāstra refers, not all potentially existent
metres were of whatever practical use. The Nāṭyaśāstra and later
works on prosody
10 “The wise should know the prosaic pada, which consists of
many lines and is unorganized, with an indefinite number of
syllables and hav-ing syllables picked out proceeding from
consideration for the meaning” (anibaddhaṁ padavr̥ndaṁ tathā
cāniyatākṣaram / arthāpekṣākṣarayutaṁ jñeyaṁ cūrṇapadaṁ budhaiḥ, NŚ
XV, 37).
11 nibaddhākṣarasaṁyuktaṁ yaticchedasamanvitam/ nibaddhaṁ tu
padaṁ jñeyaṁ pramāṇaniyatākṣaram // (NŚ XV, 38).
12 chandohīno na śabdo’sti na cchandaḥ śabdavarjitaḥ / tasmāt
tūbhaye saṁyukte nāṭyasyodyotake smr̥te // (NŚ XV, 42).
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66 Natalia Lidova
(about them see Apte 1959, 648-658) make detailed descriptions
of 26 basic classes,13 with the number of syllables in a line
varying from one to 26. Though mention is made of metres with even
more syllables in a pada, they are not classified as separate
classes and are referred to under the common name of mālāvr̥tta (NŚ
XV, 49).
Each of the 26 classes included a great number of metres, which
emerged through varying combinations of prosodically short (or
light14) and prosodically long (or heavy) syllables in a pada. For
instance, every syllable might be prosodically short or long in
such a metre as gāyatrī, whose pada included six syllables, so the
potential number of combina-tions made 2 to the power of 6, which
makes 64, out of which no more than six metres were practically
used. The uṣṇih metre, with seven syl-lables in a pada,
theoretically had 128 variants, anuṣṭubh, with eight syllables 256,
br̥hatī with nine 512, etc.
Further growth of the number of rhythmic variants in the
relevant metres produced bizarre figures, reaching the top in the
utkr̥ti metre – a breathtaking 87,108,864. To all appearances, the
author of this part of the Nāṭyaśāstra fell victim to the spell of
huge numbers. At any rate, they found it necessary to specify the
total number of variants in all syllabic metres they analyzed. It
was 134,217,726 (NŚ XV, 77-79).
This giant number has a bearing rather on the mathematical
pil-lars of the universe, studied with the help of metres and
rhythms,15 than
13 The Nāṭyaśāstra terms the unisyllabic metre uktā, of 2
syl-lables atyuktā, of 3 madhyā, 4 pratiṣṭhā, 5 supratiṣṭhā, 6
gāyatrī, 7 uṣṇih, 8 anuṣṭubh, 9 br̥hatī, 10 paṅkti, 11 triṣṭubh, 12
jagatī, 13 atijagatī, 14 śakkarī, 15 atiśakkarī, 16 aṣṭi, 17
atyaṣṭi, 18 dhr̥ti, 19 atidhr̥ti, 20 kr̥ti, 21 prakr̥ti, 22 ākr̥ti,
23 vikr̥ti, 24 saṁkr̥ti, 25 abhikr̥ti and 26 utkr̥ti (NŚ XV,
43-49).
14 The light or short syllable, laghu, is a syllable with a
short vow-el. When the vowel is followed by several consonants,
anusvāra or visarga, the syllable is considered heavy, guru, or
prosodically long.
15 Sanskrit prosody was always closely connected with
mathemat-ics. Even Piṅgala operated several crucial mathematic
ideas that were far ahead of his time. Thus, in describing metres
with prosodically short and long syllables (in modern
interpretation, 0 and 1), he was the first to intro-
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67The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
on practical versification. It might make a good ending of the
chapter on prosody. However, the author of the treatise carries on
their analy-sis of the theme to characterize another way of the
rhythmic arrange-ment of speech, which describes syllabic matrixes
lying at the basis of the entire vast diversity of poetic metres –
the basic metric pat-terns (gaṇa). These are three‑syllabic groups,
or triads (trika),16 each of which is a combination of three
prosodically short (light) or long (heavy) syllables.
As the later prosodic theory, the Nāṭyaśāstra also identifies
eight triads (Apte 1959, 648). They all had names and were recorded
as fol-lows: the gaṇa ‘bha’ consisted of one prosodically long and
two pro-sodically short syllables (— U U), ‘ma’ of three long
syllables (— — —), ‘ja’ of two prosodically short ones with a long
syllable in between (U — U), ‘sa’ of two prosodically short and one
long (U U —), ‘ra’ of two prosodically long syllables divided by a
short one (— U —), ‘ta’ of two prosodically long and a short one (—
— U), ‘ya’ of one pro-sodically short and two long (U — —) and ‘na’
of three prosodically short syllables (U U U), which exhausted all
possible combinations of prosodically short and long syllables in
the triadic structure.17
duce binary calculus. His characteristic of metric combinations
corresponds to the Newtonian binomial, contains the basic idea of
the Fibonacci num-bers (which he termed mātrā-meru) and operates
ideas allowing to construct the Pascal triangle (meru-prastāra),
which was done by Piṅgala’s commenta-tor Halāyudha (10th cent. CE).
See for details: Bag 1966, 68‑74.
16 These eight syllabic matrixes are mentioned by all the later
authors writing on prosody.
17 According to the Nāṭyaśāstra, these eight basic metric
patterns ascend to Brahmā: “These eight triads are known to the
wise as having the nature of Brahmā” (ete hy aṣṭau trikā prājñair
vijñeyā brahmasambhavāḥ, NŚ XV, 84). Corresponding to these gaṇas
in Greek prosody were the follow-ing groups: dactyl (— U U),
molossus or trimacrus (— — —), amphibrach (U — U), anapaest or
palimbacchius (U U —), amphimacrus or cretic (— U —), antapaest (—
— U), bacchius, or antidactyl (U — —), and tribrach (U U U).
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68 Natalia Lidova
Being subdivided into divine (divya), semi-divine (divyetara)18
and divine-human (divyamānuṣa) (NŚ XV, 100),19 the metres bear
allu-sion to the divine patrons, such as Agni (NŚ XV, 91), and are
asso-ciated with different colours,20 which usually had a sacral
message in the Nāṭyaśāstra context.
The next chapter, XVI, continues the theme of poetic metres
though characterizing them from the practical, rather than
theoreti-cal point, as it cites specific examples of the most
widespread syllab-ic metres in each of the 26 types. The
description of diverse metres was made according to a unified
pattern. It opened with a rule, often formulated in the metre under
consideration,21 next to cite verse as an example. The quoted verse
followed the principal themes of court poetry (kāvya) with refined
portrayal of women’s beauty, the lan-guor of the lovelorn hero, his
sorrow in parting with his beloved, and the anticipation of a
reunion.
Most probably, an overwhelming majority of these poetic
exam-ples were not borrowed from other sources but were composed to
illus-trate particular variants of a metre. At any rate, many of
them includ-ed or paraphrased its name, which usually had a
striking metaphoric character and appeared in the example not as a
term but as a keyword, which determined the content of the quoted
poem. Thus, this chapter
18 divyetara, lit.: “pertaining to deities and other (beings)”.
19 The author of the Nāṭyaśāstra regarded the following metres
as divine: gāyatrī, uṣṇih, anuṣṭubh, br̥hatī, paṅkti, triṣṭubh
and jagatī. Atijagatī, śakkarī, atiśakkarī, aṣṭi, atyaṣṭi, dhr̥ti
and atidhr̥ti were considered semi-divine, while kr̥ti, prakr̥ti,
ākr̥ti, vikr̥ti, saṁkr̥ti, abhikr̥ti and utkr̥ti were regarded as
divine-human.
20 “Thus the colours of prosodic metres, beginning with white,
must be known here” (śvetādayas tathā varṇā vijñeyāś chandasām iha,
NŚ XV, 94).
21 The text of the Nāṭyaśāstra in itself has a poetic form and
is writ-ten, for the main part, in the śloka metre. However, in
this particular chapter the stanzas keep changing, and occasionally
assume the form to which the rule refers. Due to this, not only
exemplary verse but also the text of the treatise itself
illustrates the metre described.
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69The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
of the Nāṭyaśāstra presented a sophisticated play on semantics
and metres, which corresponded to the refined linguistic techniques
char-acteristic of the entire classical Indian poetry.
As in the preceding chapter, the description of various metres
begins with the gāyatrī, with its six syllabic padas.22 The author
of the treatise regarded four metric varieties, known as
tanumadhyā,23 makarakaśīrṣā,24 mālinī25 and mā-+latī,26 in this
class.
The tanumadhyā metre in the gāyatrī rhythm, in which the two
first syllables and the last one were prosodically long,27 was
illustrated with the following example:
santyakta-vibhūṣā bhraṣṭāñjana-netrā / hastārpitagaṇḍā kiṁ tvaṁ
tanumadhyā // (NŚ XVI, 3)
Thou of slim form (lit. tanumadhyā), why hast thou discarded
thine adorn-ments? Why hath mascara left your eyelashes, and why
art thou (pensive), resting thy cheeks on thy hands?
22 Metres with a smaller number of syllables were most probably
not used.
23 Lit.: “mid‑riff”, “waist” or “torso”.24 Lit.: “the head as a
makara”. Makara is a semi‑mythical water monster
combining the features of a crocodile, shark and dolphin.
Sometimes it is rep-resented with an elephant’s trunk and fish’s
tale. Possibly, the name of the metre is a wordplay, because the
makara, of fearsome appearance, was the emblem on the banner of
Kāma the love god.
25 Lit.: “garland‑maker’s wife” or “woman garland‑maker”.26
Mālatī is a variety of jasmine. Its fragrant white flowers open at
night.
It is also the name of the heroine of Mālatīmādhava, early 8th
century drama by Bhavabhūti.
27 It should be noted that the name of this metre can be
con-sidered to reflect its metrical structure, which is “slim” in
the middle (SSIISS, i.e. guru-guru-laghu-laghu-guru-guru).
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70 Natalia Lidova
The makarakaśīrṣā metre, with the first four syllables
prosodically short and the two last prosodically long, was
illustrated with this verse:
svayam upayāntaṁ bhajasi na kāntam /bhayakari kiṁ tvaṁ
makarakaśīrṣā // (NŚ XVI, 4)
O thou awesome one, why dost thou not greet thy beloved, who
hath come to thee of his own (will)? Thou of a makara’s head! (lit.
“makarakaśīrṣā”).
The mālinī metre, with the second of the six syllables of each
pada prosodically short, and the rest prosodically long, was
illustrated thus:
snāna-gandhā-sragbhir vastra-bhūṣāyogaiḥ / vyaktam evaiṣāṁ tvaṁ
mālinī prakhyātā // (NŚ XVI, 6)
Aromatic ablutions, fragrances, wreaths, (elegant) attire and
jewellery, all testify: thou art known (to all) as garland‑maker’s
wife (lit. mālinī).
The last example of the gāyatrī metre termed mālatī, with the
second and fifth syllables of each line prosodically short and the
others long, was illustrated with this verse:
śobhate baddhayā ṣaṭpadāviddhayā / mālatī-mālayā māninī līlayā
// (NŚ XVI, 8)
In her feigned wrath, she sparkles adorned with a jasmine
garland, round which bees are hovering.28
The other most widely used metric variants received similar
characteristics. The author of the Nāṭyaśāstra pointed at two
rhythms
28 Lit.: “adorned by a mālatī garland pierced by bees”.
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71The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
– uddhatā29 and bhramara30-mālikā31 – for the uṣṇih
heptasyllabic metre. They cited as many as four metres –
siṁhalila,32 mattaceṣṭita,33 vidyullekhā34 and cittavilāsita35 –
for the octosyllabic anuṣṭubh, of which the widespread śloka was a
variant.
Following a detailed analysis of the entire list of homogenous
(sama) metres with four similar padas, up to utkr̥ti, of 26
syllables, the treatise described two other kinds of metres – the
semi-homoge-nous (ardha-sama), with coinciding rhythms of the
alternating (or even and odd) lines, and completely heterogeneous
(viṣama), in which all the four padas differed from each other.
The irregular structure of these metres also rested on basic
metric matrixes, known as gaṇas or triads, to which several
syllables might be added as a new metre was made. As they described
these metres,
the author of the Nāṭyaśāstra retained their previous type of descrip-tion,
which opened with a rule formulated, to be followed by an
illus-trative example in verse.
The end of the chapter was dedicated to other types of metres,
mentioned to make the analysis exhaustive because, as the
theoreti-cians confessed, they could not add to the beauty of a
drama, and so should not be included in it. However, they could be
recommended
as devices for writing the lyrics of songs (NŚ XVI, 150-151) accompa-nying
the performance of literary Sanskrit dramas.
These musical metres, known as āryā,36 varied in the num-ber of
syllables. There was for each of them a strictly observed
fixed length of the pada,
measured in mātrās or, in other words,
29 Lit.: “loud-voiced”, “excited”.30 Lit.: “bee”.31
“garland-maker” or “gardener”.32 Lit.: “lion’s play”. 33 Lit.: “The
behaviour of one intoxicated with passion”. 34 Lit.: “lightning”.35
Lit.: “wit”.36 The Nāṭyaśāstra mentions
five metres of the āryā type: pathyā,
vipulā, capalā, mukha-capalā and jaghana-capalā
(NŚ XVI, 153).
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72 Natalia Lidova
in “measures”.37 The mātrā was the minimum unit of rhythm
measure-ment, roughly corresponding to the time it takes to utter a
short vowel (there were two mātrās in a long vowel).
The length of the pada in the āryā metres could also be counted
with a set of steady metric blocks, or gaṇas. In this case, they
were not ternary but quaternary structures, which made up groups of
four unary mātrās (equivalent to a prosodically short syllable) or
a relevant num-ber of duplicate (prosodically long syllables)
ones.38
The chapter ends with an instruction to playwrights: in keeping
with the above rules and with combinations of different measures,
they were to make formally perfect poetic compositions
(kāvyabandha), endowed with 36 characteristic features, termed
lakṣaṇa (NŚ XVI, 172). This instruction not merely summed up the
lengthy chapter on metres but also allowed to pass to the next,
17th chapter, headed Kāvyalakṣaṇa – literally, “The Attributes of
Poetry”.
The section opens with a long list of lakṣaṇas, which includes
the ornamental quality (bhūṣaṇa), due word combinations
(akṣara-saṁghāta), beauty (śobhā), example (udāharaṇa), motivation
(hetu), hesitation (saṁśaya), graphic illustration (dr̥ṣṭānta),
attainment (prāpti), confidence (abhiprāya), counter-argument
(nidarśana), ety-mology (nirukta), success (siddhi), recognition
(viśeṣana), contrast of virtues (guṇātipāta), special virtues
(guṇātiśaya), persuasion through comparison (tulya-tarka), lengthy
statement (padoccaya), descrip-tion (diṣṭa), apt statement
(upadiṣṭa), progress (vicāra), transposition
37 The mātrā coincides with the mora of Greek prosody.38 There
were five types of such gaṇas: ‘na’, of four unary mātrās, cor-
responding in verse to four short syllables (U U U U); ‘ma’, of
two double mātrās, or two prosodically long syllables (— — ); ‘sa’,
of two unary mātrās and one double, i.e. the verse has two short
syllables followed by one long (U U —); ‘ja’ of two unary mātrās
with one double between them (U — U) and ‘bha’, with two unary
mātrās following one double (— U U). Thus, as with the ternary
gaṇas, all possible variants of constructing quaternary metric
matrixes are exhausted. The Nāṭyaśāstra does not characterize them
though repeatedly referring to them (e.g., NŚ XVI, 158).
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73The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
( viparyaya), slip of the tongue (bhraṁśa), mediation (anunaya),
gar-land (mālā), reasonable conduct (dākṣiṇya), hypocrisy
(garhaṇa), admission (arthāpatti), progress to success (prasiddhi),
query (pr̥cchā), identity (sārūpya), hint at a desire (manoratha),
wit (leśa), affliction (saṁkṣobha), extolling virtues
(guṇa-kīrtana), vague success (anukta-siddhi) and pleasant speech
(priyokti).39
The author of the treatise does not confine himself to simple
enlist-ment, but defines each lakṣaṇa. The proposed definitions
show that these attributes of poetry were, in fact, diverse
utterances whose com-binations could make the poetic idiom
beautiful and expressive (NŚ XVII, 42). Though the Nāṭyaśāstra was
the first to advance the doctrine of the 36 lakṣaṇas, the treatise
brought it to a complete development. However, the doctrine was not
widely recognized in the later Sanskrit poetic theory. Of
incomparably greater significance to it were two other categories,
which the Nāṭyaśāstra was also the first to describe – the
ornaments (alaṁkāra40) and merits of speech (guṇa).41 In the
con-cept of the Nāṭyaśāstra, they were subordinate to the lakṣaṇas,
serving to increase their euphony and make their meaning more
profound.42
The Nāṭyaśāstra also formulated the principle which later became
the cornerstone of classic Sanskrit poetry. That was
ornamentation.
39 The list of lakṣaṇas in the mediaeval treatises on poetry
differs from that of the Nāṭyaśāstra. Another exhaustive list is to
be found in the Sāhitya-darpaṇa (14th cent.) and the Agni-purāṇa.
For details on the concept of the lakṣaṇa and its place in Sanskrit
poetics see: Raghavan 1973, 1-52.
40 The Nāṭyaśāstra analyses four alaṁkāras, which are the
following poetic figures: upamā, or comparison; rūpaka, lit.
“imparting the appear-ance”, or metaphor; dīpaka, lit. “luminary”;
and yamaka, consonance or alliteration. A major part of this
chapter is dedicated to their description. Apart from the concisely
described rūpaka and dīpaka, it analyzes five varie-ties of the
upamā and ten varieties of the yamaka (NŚ XVII, 42-87).
41 For details, see: De 1923. 42 This chapter characterizes
another poetic category – the doṣa, whose
meaning is contrary to the guṇa. It describes the errors and
drawbacks of the poetic speech (NŚ XVII, 87-93). For details, see:
Jha 1959, 218-225.
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74 Natalia Lidova
Indicatively, the ornamental quality (bhūṣaṇa) opened the list
of the lakṣaṇas. It emerged when sophisticated verbal patterns
arose from
the mosaic of the figures and merits of speech.43
Thus, a large number of categories and theoretical premises of
the Nāṭyaśāstra turned out to
be much broader than the
announced theme – a description of the artistic idiom of the
literary drama. These premises became topical for the theory of
poetry as a whole. Though not all genres described in the treatise
were connected with the ornamental kāvya poetry,44 their artistic
perfection was so superb that the subsequent tradition recognized
the drama as the best kind of poetry45 (Keith 1924, 276; Pandey
1959, 1-2).
The next chapter, XVIII, continues the description of the
vācika-abhinaya, characterizing the basic attributes of dramatic
recital in other written languages than Sanskrit. Termed
bhāṣā in the Nāṭyaśāstra, they included
several varieties.46 First, these were the seven dialects known
43 “Endowed with abundant ornaments and merits, and as if
oriented on decoration, this attribute of poetry is named bhūṣaṇa”
(alaṅkārair guṇaiś ca iva bahubhiḥ samalaṅkr̥tam / bhūṣaṇairiva
vinyastais tad bhūṣaṇam iti smr̥tam
// (NŚ XVII, 6).
44
Only two of the ten genres described in the Nāṭyaśāstra – the nāṭaka
and the prakaraṇa – for certain possessed the literary form.
45 We refer to the opinion
of Vāmana (8th cent.). In his treatise
Kāvyālaṁkāra-sūtra-vr̥tti (1.3.30), he recognized ten types of
drama (rūpaka) as the most important of all literary genres.
46 There is an academic opinion that the bhāṣā varieties
described
in the Nāṭyaśāstra had not yet reached the degree of norm that would allow to
regard them as Prakrits, or middle Indo-Aryan literary languages,
devel-oped in the period of the middle of the 1st millennium BCE –
1st millenni-um CE. These were most probably local languages or
vernacular dialects of various parts of India, which eventually
developed distinct literary styles, used in the drama for the
greater credibility. Most probably monologues in these languages
were originally improvised. Later on, they were included in the
texts of Sanskrit literary dramas out of reverence for tradition.
As was noted more than once, the list of the deśa bhāṣā
in the Nāṭyaśāstra does not include
Mahārāṣṭrī, which was the basic language of classic Sanskrit
poetry
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75The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
as Māgadhī, Āvantī, Prācyā, Śaurasenī, Ardhamāgadhī, Bāhlikā and
Dākṣiṇātyā47 (NŚ XVIII, 47). They were local dialects of Indo-Aryan
origin (deśabhāṣā), later on termed languages. Second, several
non-Indo-Aryan aboriginal dialects were used as languages of the
dra-ma. They were termed in their totality “vibhāṣā” or “mleccha”.
They comprised scenic speech ascending to the Munda languages
(śabara and cāṇḍāla), Iranian (śakara), Dravidic (dramila and
āndhra), and the vernacular speech of semi-savage forest tribes (NŚ
XVIII, 48).
These languages were not so much truly reproduced on the stage
as imitated with a number of conventional rules. In particular, the
speech of heroes coming of such parts of India where Indo-Aryan
dialects considered pure (śuddha) were spoken could be based on
these local languages and the Śaurasenī language48 (NŚ XVIII, 45).
Actors play-ing people from places where Vibhāṣā languages were
spoken used not the true aboriginal speech but a far more regular
idiom stylized
(the first nine chapters of the later grammar by Vararuci is
dedicated to its description. See: The Prākr̥taprakaśa 1868).
47 About half of these languages – namely Āvantī, Prāchyā,
Bāhlikā and Dākśiṇātyā – never occur in literature and are known
solely from the Nāṭyaśāstra. Most probably, they were used on the
stage in the pre-literary period of the theatre, and went out of
use later. Another three languages – Śaurasenī, Māgadhī and
Ardhamāgadhī – underwent literary treatment and entered the classic
Sanskrit drama (see: Cowell 1875). Aśvaghoṣa’s Śāriputra-prakaraṇa
is the earliest testimony to their use in the literary drama. Later
on, Ardhamāgadhī went out of theatrical use while the other two
varieties of the early bhāṣās acquired the status of Prakrits and
joined the number of the basic literary languages of the classic
Sanskrit drama. Later theoreticians mentioned more varieties of
Prakrits, for example the Sāhitya-darpaṇa (VI. 159-164) refers to
Śaurasenī, Māgadhī, Ardha māgadhī, Āvantī, Prāchyā, Dākśiṇātyā,
Mahārāṣṭrī, Paiśācī, Śākarī, Vāhlikī, Drāviḍī, Ābhīrī and
Cāṇḍālī.
48 Śaurasenī is assumed to be among the first to undergo
transformation from a dialect into a literary language.
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76 Natalia Lidova
and saturated with the non-Indo-Aryan vocabulary (so-called
mleccha) (NŚ XVIII, 44).
The author of the Nāṭyaśāstra distinguished three types of
recital in these languages: the one where pronunciation coincided
with San-skritic (samāna-śabda); one with mispronounced words
(vibhraṣṭa) and one that included borrowings from local languages
(deśi).49 In fact, these types characterized the contemporaneous
correlation between Sanskrit and other literary languages taking
shape in its con-text. The first type was the closest to all these
languages as it fixed everything that Sanskrit shared with the
other literary and pre-literary languages. The second type
described linguistic forms that underwent greater changes. As their
name testifies,50 they also followed specif-ic normative laws
though they had broken away from Sanskrit (NŚ XVIII, 5-24). The
third and last type represented the farthest seces-sion from the
Sanskritic canon as it supposed inclusion of authentic vocabulary
from the dialects of many parts of India in the generally regular
scenic idiom.
Indicatively, the analysis of this latter type of the bhāṣā was
pre-ceded in the treatise by the introduction of another, more
general classi-fication of languages, which concerned all kinds of
speech in all the ten dramatic genres (NŚ XVIII, 25). According to
the Nāṭyaśāstra, the dra-ma postulated the following languages: the
divine language (atibhāṣā), the language of the noble (āryabhāṣā),
and the clannish (or folk) lan-guage (jātibhāṣā) and the language
of animals (yonyantarībhāṣā).51
It is further explained that the divine language is for the gods
and that of the noble for kings. Both possess perfection and are
widespread
49 In the later Prakrit grammars (Prākr̥taprakaśa 1868, Dandin
1952 et al.) these three types were respectively correlated with
tatsama (lit.: “lan-guage just like (Sanskrit)”), tadbhāva (lit.:
“having its (Sanskrit’s) nature”) and local languages, deśi.
50 vibhraṣṭa, lit.: “abandoned” or “deformed”.51
atibhāṣāryabhāṣā ca jātibhāṣā tathaiva ca /
tathā yonyantarī caiva bhāṣā nāṭye prakīrtitā // (NŚ XVIII,
26).
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77The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
in the seven continents,52 i.e. throughout the inhabited
world.The third, folk language, was considered the language of
ordinary
people. It could have two forms in a drama – the dialectal one,
which supposed an abundance of borrowed mleccha words, and the more
authentic one, widespread in India, or Bhārata-varṣa.53
The last scenic language – the language of the unborn –
trans-lated the speech of domestic animals, wild beasts,54 and
birds. Howev-er, as they are speechless in reality, the theatre
represented their speech not by means endowed with verisimilitude
(lokadharmī) but by means of conventional scenic practice
(nāṭyadharmī) (NŚ XVIII, 29).
It is noteworthy that the division of language in four parts can
be regarded as one of the hallmarks of Ancient Indian culture. The
ear-liest example of this is in hymn I.164.45 of R̥gveda:
Speech is measured in four fourths. The Brahmans, who are wise,
know them. They do not use the three secretly made (fourths).
Humans speak the fourth.55
Another text of the Vedic time, the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, offers a
principally different description of the four fourths of speech. It
says that only one of the fourths can be understood by humans. That
is the human language. The three others – the language of birds,
beasts and small reptiles – are closed to human understanding
52 atibhāṣā tu devānām āryabhāṣā tu bhūbhujām /
saṁskāraguṇasaṁyuktā saptadvīpapratiṣṭhitā // (NŚ XVIII, 27).
53 “Two kinds of folk language are mentioned in the performance:
the one widespread in foreign countries and the one spoken in
Bhāratavarṣa” (dvividhā jātibhāṣā ca prayoge samudāhr̥tā /
mlecchadeśaprayuktā ca bhāratavarṣam āśritā, NŚ XVIII, 28).
54 According to the Nāṭyaśāstra, “the language of the unborn
consists of the speech of domestic animals and wild beasts” (atha
yonyantarībhāṣā grāmyāraṇyapaśūdbhavā, NŚ XVIII, 29).
55 catvāri vāk parimitā padāni tāni vidurbrāhmaṇā ye manīṣiṇaḥ /
guhā trīṇi nihitā neṅgayanti turīyaṃ vāco manuṣyā vadanti, R̥̣V
I.164.45.
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78 Natalia Lidova
(ŚBr IV. 1.3.16).56 The same text also contains the division of
speech in two parts, divine (daivī) and human (mānuṣī) – a division
fairly widespread in Vedic literature (ŚBr VI. 2.1.34).57To all
appearances, the classification of scenic languages in the
Nāṭyaśāstra ascends to this very context: the first two – the
divine language and the language of the noble – were closer to
divine speech, while the third, folk, corresponded to human
speech,58 while the last of the languages correlated with animals’
speech.We can only regret that the Nāṭyaśāstra does not contain
detailed descriptions of the first two languages of the fourpart
hierarchy. The treatise makes do with stressing their sublime –
divine, in fact – status, as it declares their universal scope (as
borne out by the occurrence of the āti and āryā bhāṣā in the seven
dvīpas (continents). We cannot even say with any degree of
assurance that Sanskrit was used on the stage to recreate the āti
and āryā bhāṣā, though the use of Sanskrit was transparently hinted
at in the mention of the special refinement of those languages. It
is also vague to this day which language was used to reproduce or
imitate animal speech, whose examples have not come to us in extant
literary dramas.
Of all the four languages the Nāṭyaśāstra makes a detailed
description of only one, the folk language, which its author
considered the basis of the literary Sanskrit drama. Most probably,
the three other languages had no direct bearing on it and were
introduced only for complete representation of the pattern
according to which Speech of the universal scope was to be seen as
hierarchic and consisting of four parts. However, even if the
testimony to the four languages of the drama
56 Peculiarly, to confirm this opinion in the next passage
(IV.1.3.17) the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa refers to the abovequoted verses
of the R̥̣V I.164.45.
57 See also: KathS XIV, 5; MaitS I, II.5; AitBr. VII, 18.13;
AitAr I, 3.1. For details see: Macdonell, Keith 1912, 279280.
58 According to Bhoja, 11th century theoretician, as formulated
in the Śr̥ṅgāraprakāśa, ātibhāṣā is the Vedic language, āryābhāṣā
the language of epics and the purāṇas, and jātibhāṣā the human
vernacular.
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79The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
was mere tribute to tradition, which allowed to legalize the
conven-tional linguistic practice that emerged on the Indian stage
in the era of the classic theatre, and describe the language
practiced on that stage, the sheer reference to this tradition is
highly indicative. It shows that
as they referred to the poetic idiom, the author of the Nāṭyaśāstra did not
forget the ontological essence of Speech, and acknowledged that
though the poetic idiom was above animal speech, it could not by
far lead the linguistic hierarchy.
Thus, jāti bhāṣā, based on everyday speech, was the basic
lan-guage of the Sanskrit drama. To all appearances, it reproduced,
to an extent, the linguistic situation in Ancient Indian society.
Indica-tively, it was spoken by the four varṇas, who used both
kinds of scenic recitation at once: the Sanskrit, correlated to the
more correct speech of the people of
Bhārata-varṣa, and the Prakrit, or
dialectal, which abounded in mleccha borrowings.59
It all created a unique linguistic interplay as none of the
heroes of the Indian theatre used Sanskrit as the only language of
com-munication, this regards not only secular characters but also
gurus and adepts of diverse religions, whom one would expect to
speak only San skrit due to
their status. However, according to
the Nāṭya-śāstra, San skrit was spoken on
the stage only by wandering ascetics (pari
vrāj), sages who took the vow of silence (muni), adepts of Bud-dha
(śākya), learned Brahmins (śrotriya), and all the twice-born well
versed in the Vedas, who appeared on the stage in vestments
indicating
their religious status (NŚ XVIII, 36).
Once these heroes appeared in disguise, they could speak other
literary languages. These languages were also spoken on the stage
by persons in disguise, Jain or Buddhist monks (śramaṇa), ascetics
prac-tising the tapas (tapasvin), religious mendicants
(bhikṣu). Peculiarly,
59 “Two kinds of recitation used in the folk speech are
known: the Prakritic and the
Sanskritic, both used by the
four varṇas” (jātibhāṣāśrayaṁ pāṭhyaṁ dvividhaṁ
samudāhr̥tam / prākr̥taṁ saṁskr̥taṁ caiva
cāturvarṇyasamāśrayam, NŚ XVIII, 30).
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80 Natalia Lidova
the Nāṭyaśāstra mentioned them side by side with tricky conjurers and disguised spies (NŚ XVIII, 34), possibly meaning that all those seek-ers of the truth, who did not belong to the Brāhmaṇa class and did not enjoy great respect, could also appear in such disreputable roles.
The situation of secular characters was similar. On the one hand, Sanskrit
was the basic means of
communication for the four
types of male characters mentioned in this context – the steadfast in feroc-ity (dhīroddhāta),
the steadfast
in merriment (dhīralalita),
the stead-fast in high-mindedness
(dhīrodātta) and the steadfast in
aloof-ness (dhīraśānta) (NŚ XVIII,
31).60 On the other hand,
according to the Nāṭyaśāstra theory,
these dramatis personae –
protagonists, in fact – could not speak Sanskrit all the time. Whenever was required, they could easily switch to Prakrit. It’s a different matter that the use of lower linguistic forms was always a token of adverse circumstances. In particular, it could come because the highborn hero lost the sense of reality,
intoxicated with his alleged omnipotence or, on
the contrary, lost his status and fortune for a time (NŚ XVIII, 32-33).
Thus, though the use of
Sanskrit or other literary
languages on the stage depended on a given character’s religious or social status that was not the only factor determining the language spoken. The plot of the drama had a far greater influence – which means that the choice of language was consistently theatrical in essence.
The last, 19th chapter of the poetological part of the Nāṭyaśāstra also describes the poetic idiom of the drama as it characterizes the various
60
All these heroes figured in Sanskrit literary dramas, the only differ-ence between them lying in the treatment of their character. Thus, the fierce hero was
proud, passionate, quick-tempered and
blusterous, perfidious
and egotistic, and excelled at witchcraft. The merry hero was an amorous, hap-py-go-lucky
person, and a patron of the
arts. The high-minded hero
was the noblest of all – modest, resolute and purposeful. The lofty hero was usual-ly a Brahman and man-about-town, e.g., Cārudatta in Śūdraka’s Mr̥cchakaṭika or Mādhava in Bhavabhūti’s Mālatīmādhava. Characteristics of those types of heroes are prominent in Chapter XXXIV of the Nāṭyaśāstra and Chapter II of the Daśarūpa.
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81The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
kinds of addresses (vākyavidhāna) accepted between Sanskrit
literary drama heroes. Of the greatest interest in general
information provided by this chapter is the description of devices
that determined the rules of scenic poetic recital. According to
the Nāṭyaśāstra, these devices based on the distinction between the
seven basic musical notes (svara), three vocal registers (sthāna),
four kinds of pronunciation (varṇa), two kinds of intonation
(kāku), six ornaments (alaṁkāra) and a similar number of elements
(aṅga) of diction (NŚ XIX, p. 102).
In this, the seven notes coincided with the seven diatonic
inter-vals of the Indian scale; the three registers, just as in the
vīṇā stringed instrument, were localized in the chest, throat and
head; and the four manners of recital were divided into the high
(udātta), low (anudātta), melodic (svarita) and vibrant (kampita)
ones. Intonations were divided into apprehensive (sākāṁkṣa) and
expressing an absence of anticipation (nirāsākāṁkṣa), while the six
ornaments comprised the use of high‑pitched sounds (ucca), deep and
colourful sound (dīpta), the use of descending (mandra) and
especially low pitches (nīca), and an empha-sized speed (druta) or
slowness (vilambita) of recitation.
Last but not least, the six elements of diction were the
so‑called division (viccheda) during a pause (virāma); recital
proper (arpaṇa), which was of a representative nature and filled
the auditorium with a beautifully modulated voice; the conclusion
(visarga) marking the end of a sentence; coherence (anubandha),
which prevented pauses between words linked by meaning, up to the
prohibition to inhale dur-ing the utterance; colourfulness
(dīpana), responsible for the gradual increase of vocal power as
the sounds of the three basic pitches were pronounced; and
abatement (praśamana), which allowed lowering of the pitch without
accompanying dissonant sounds (NŚ XIX, 38‑60).
The description of these devices backed by practical examples
and instructions on their use in practice testifies to the refined
and extremely sophisticated culture of recitation in the Ancient
Indian the-atre. In this, a great number of attributes of this
culture and, above all, its pronounced musical quality show that,
most probably, it ascends to canticles and chanted hymns.
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82 Natalia Lidova
This is all the more probable since the tradition of recital,
pāṭhya, was not only widespread in the ritual sphere, where the
uttered word bore a unique message, but also made the basis of the
entire Ancient Indian system of education. According to this
concept, deeply rooted in Indian culture possibly since its
inception, the most important sacral texts of the class of śruti
(which means “heard”) could not be record-ed and were to be passed
only orally. Through centuries, recital was the only way to
preserve and reproduce them. Its principles were pre-cise and
reasoned thoroughly enough to pass on vast ritual knowl-edge from
generation to generation without major distortions. Natu-rally,
large expert schools worked at them. These schools consisted of
Brahmins with special education (śrotriya), who created an
elabo-rate and precise system of methods and devices. It was
considered of tremendous importance not only to pronounce words
correctly from the grammar point of view but also to repeat the
accents and pauses with the utmost precision. In other words, one
and the same mode of speech was reproduced every time to be
perceived only by ear.
Apart from education proper, the verbalization of such texts
always supposed a ritual context when, in particular moments of
sac-rifice, the priests made a prescribed speech that acquired its
full sacral status and especial impact due to none other than the
matter of recital. Possibly, the influence of this tradition on the
development of recita-tion in the Ancient Indian theatre was not
oblique but direct and dated to the era of the inception of the
theatre and its development, for some time, in the ritual context.
At any rate, it is certain that the prayers of the pūrvaraṅga
preceding the drama were not pronounced but chanted, i.e. recited
in the melodic manner which, as this particu-lar chapter of the
Nāṭyaśāstra shows, eventually spread to the verse of the Sanskrit
literary drama.
The description of the rules of recitation concludes the last
chap-ter of the poetological part of the Nāṭyaśāstra. Its general
appraisal allows us to assume that its chapters make a consistent
characteristic of the process of composing a drama in verse and the
basic devices of its scenic enactment. In essence, they determine
the canonical linguistic
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83The Nāṭyaśāstra: the Origin of the Ancient Indian Poetics
norms of the Sanskrit literary drama. Though some features of
this canon reflect rather early ideas of the Word, on the whole,
this part of the Nāṭyaśāstra is none other than a treatise on
poetry – the first in Indian history, on which all subsequent
doctrines of the arrangement of poetic speech were based to a
greater or smaller extent.
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