Time Period of Natya Shastra

In Hindu rituals 11, 101 are all auspicious numbers. Offerings are made to Gods in these numbers. So, I also took a break after my 11 weeks of blog writing! You don’t believe me? Ha-ha. The true reason is, my house got painted. Now, speaking about paints and also offerings, it reminds me of the colors used for the offerings for the various pillars constructed in the play houses. For the Brahmin stambha (pillar), white offerings symbolizing purity and knowledge were used, for Kshatriya stambha red offerings symbolizing strength and valorous exploits were offered and for vaisya stambha yellow offerings symbolizing gold were used. Vaisyas being tradesmen who dealt with gold, yellow color is justified.

Now, let us talk about the 3^rd type of play houses. The play house as well as the stage is triangular in shape. One door is at the corner of the play house and the other door is at the back of the stage. The rest of the rules are the same as the square play houses. This play house carries the name, ‘Trayasra’. This brings us to the end of the 2^nd chapter of Natya Shastra.   

In the introduction of the English translation of Natya Shastra by ‘Sathguru Publications’, the time period of Natya Shastra is discussed in detail. One thing which caught my attention is the interpretation of the name Bharatha Shastra. Bharatha is a term used for an artist or performer and Shastra means rules. So Bharatha Shastra can be expanded as Rules for performing artists. The commentaries for the book were written in early centuries A.D. Then, is it not written by Bharatha? The feasible explanation can be this. Just as our 4 Vedas Natya Shastra might have been given to generations verbally without any documentation. Later on in early centuries A.D. it was documented by scholars. We can see the names of these scholars and discuss this in detail next week.

A few years back during a dance lecture, there was a discussion on Tandavam and Lasyam. Tandavam is the masculine, strong and powerful dance of Siva. Lasyam is the feminine, soft and garaceful dance of Shakthi. Don’t take it as Tandava is the dance of males and lasya is the dance of females. Why? Let me give you the examples. When Siva dances it is Tandavam. When Parvati or Shakti dances it is Lasyam. When Kali dances….? It is Tandavam. When Krishna dances with Gopikas…? It is Lasyam. It is the masculine or feminine nature of the dance form. Not the male or female dancer.

Square Play Houses

Sometimes, greatest of thoughts may come from humblest of people. Once a court dancer, singer wanted Swami Vivekananda to watch her sing and dance. Swamiji being a sanyasi (saint) refused her request, saying that sanyasis should not indulge in such art forms as the person performing may lead their mind away from God towards worldly pleasures. But he decided to hear her sing from his room. In her song she questioned Swamiji how he can see her different from others, who always says all souls are same and potentially divine. The greatest practitioner of Advita was stunned at this question. He immediately left his room, went in person to the performance and even apologized to her.

The characteristics of the play house we spoke until last week were all characteristics of rectangular play houses. Let us see how the Chaturasra or square play houses were built. The plot should be an exact square, divided into the requisite parts by means of a measuring string. Strong bricks were used for the construction of the outer walls. Inside the stage ten pillars are to be raised in the relevant directions. These support the roof. Externally to the pillars seats are constructed in the form of galleries. Successive rows are little higher than the previous ones for the audience to watch the performance clearly. The seats should overlook the stage.

More pillars are raised in order to support the roof of the play house. Proper fasteners are to be used to fix the pillars to the roof. They are then decorated with sculptures. The green room is to be constructed scrupulously. One door leads to the stage. Another door faces the auditorium. In case of rectangular play houses the plinth in which the green rooms are built is higher than the stage. In square play houses, both the stage and green rooms are at the same level.

Concentration is very important while performing dance. Once, a friend of mine was performing ‘Parijatha Patalam’ of Krishna. In this, Rukmini is supposed to take a flower and smell it. My friend acted taking the flower in her hand and lost concentration at that point. Instead of smelling the flower, she nicely put it inside her mouth. We friends sitting with the audience looked at each other and tried not to laugh.

  

No lights and mikes! How was it then?

People usually ask me, what we actually achieve from learning art forms like classical music and dance. The achievement they are talking about is popularity and money. Money is very important for life. No argument there. But, what do we need money for? That is the question. For getting education to earn more money? For buying gold and silks? For extravagant life style? For status? Most of the people will answer these questions, yes. Remember, art forms will help you relax in the right way and make you concentrate more in your work, so that you can earn more money. Or they will help you have peace of mind when you are not able to earn the amount of money you wanted. Remember. Needs and wants are very different.

There are degrees of popularity. You may be popular inside your house, within your near and dear, within your town or city, in your state, country, or more. Learn art forms just like learning sports like cricket or shuttle cock. If you achieve, great! If you don’t, still your knowledge will remain your friend.

Natya Shastra.

After the construction of the plinth of the stage, comes the decorative part. Wooden decoration consisting of ornamental designs, animal figures like elephant, tiger etc, are done. Latticed windows are fixed in different parts of the floor. After this, a furnishing touch is given to the walls.

Air-conditioners were not available then, right? Mikes and lights were also not available! So, they have to plan perfectly so that there is enough light and air for all. There should not be too much of disturbance from outside for the viewers. Then only, the performance will have complete reach to all inside the playhouse. How did they achieve it? Let us see. The playhouse should resemble a mountain-cave and consist of two floors of different levels with small windows. Windows should be of right size and too much of wind should not blow in. It should enhance the acoustic or audio quality so that sound of musical instruments and the utterances of actors are perfectly audible.

After finishing the construction of walls the plaster work and white washing is done. Thereafter, painting work is under taken. Men, women, creepers etc are painted decoratively on the walls. All the details spoken about until now, is for the rectangular playhouse. What about square and triangular playhouses? We will see next week.

Kalki’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ (drama), is coming alive on stage. Historical dramas have become very rare. I had the opportunity of watching a few dramas of the great historical drama artist and movie villain ‘Manohar”. Details like fish in water, rain, mountains etc used to come alive on stage with lighting, screen drops and sound. No animation! Three hours of visual feast!