Natya Shastra

The Nāṭya Śāstra (Sanskrit: ना य शा , Nāṭyaśāstra) is a

Natya Shastra
Sanskrit text on the performing arts.[1][2] The text is attributed to
sage Bharata Muni, and its first complete compilation is dated to
between 200 BCE and 200 CE,[3][4] but estimates vary between
500 BCE and 500 CE.[5]

The text consists of 36 chapters with a cumulative total of 6000

poetic verses describing performance arts. The subjects covered
by the treatise include dramatic composition, structure of a play
and the construction of a stage to host it, genres of acting, body
movements, make up and costumes, role and goals of an art
director, the musical scales, musical instruments and the
integration of music with art performance.[6][7]

The Nāṭya Śāstra is notable as an ancient encyclopedic treatise

on the arts,[2][8] one which has influenced dance, music and
Shiva as the Lord of Dance
literary traditions in India.[9] It is also notable for its aesthetic
"Rasa" theory, which asserts that entertainment is a desired effect Information
of performance arts but not the primary goal, and that the primary Religion Hinduism
goal is to transport the individual in the audience into another Author Bharata Muni
parallel reality, full of wonder, where he experiences the essence
Language Sanskrit
of his own consciousness, and reflects on spiritual and moral
questions.[8][10] The text has inspired secondary literature such as
Sanskrit bhasya (reviews and commentaries) such as by the 10th
century Abhinavagupta.[11]

Contents
Etymology
Date and author
Historical roots
Structure
Contents
Drama
Song and dance in arts
Music and musical instruments
Male and female actors
The goals of art: spiritual values
Ancient and medieval secondary literature: bhasya
Influence
 See also
References
Bibliography
External links

Etymology
The title of the text is composed of two words, "Nāṭya" and "Śāstra". The root of the Sanskrit word
Natya is Nat (नाट) which means "act, represent".[12] The word Shastra (शा ) means "precept, rules,
manual, compendium, book or treatise", and is generally used as a suffix in the Indian literature context,
for knowledge in a defined area of practice.[13]

Date and author

The composition date of Natyashastra is
unknown, estimates vary between 500 Performance arts and culture
BCE to 500 CE.[5][3] The text may have Let Nātya (drama and dance) be the fifth vedic scripture.
started in the 1st millennium BCE, [4] Combined with an epic story,
expanded over time, and most scholars tending to virtue, wealth, joy and spiritual freedom,
suggest, based on mention of this text in it must contain the significance of every scripture,
other Indian literature, that the first and forward every art.
complete version of the text was likely
finished between 200 BCE to 200 — Nātyaśāstra 1.14–15[14][15]
CE.[3][6] The Natya Shastra is
traditionally alleged to be linked to a
36,000 verse Vedic composition called Adibharata, however there is no corroborating evidence that such
a text ever existed.[16]

The text has survived into the modern age in several manuscript versions, wherein the title of the
chapters vary and in some cases the content of the few chapters differ.[3] Some recensions show
significant interpolations and corruption of the text,[17] along with internal contradictions and sudden
changes in style.[18] Scholars such as PV Kane state that some text was likely changed as well as added
to the original between the 3rd to 8th century CE, thus creating some variant editions, and the mixture of
poetic verses and prose in a few extant manuscripts of Natyasastra may be because of this.[19][20]
According to Pramod Kale, who received a doctorate on the text from the University of Wisconsin, the
surviving version of Natya Shastra likely existed by the 8th-century.[19]

The author of the Natya Shastra is unknown, and the Hindu tradition attributes it to the Rishi (sage)
Bharata. It may be the work of several authors, but scholars disagree.[19][21] Bharat Gupt states that the
text stylistically shows characteristics of a single compiler in the existing version, a view shared by
Kapila Vatsyayan.[22][23] The Agni Purana, a generic encyclopedia, includes chapters on dramatic arts
and poetry, which follow the Natyashastra format, but enumerates more styles and types of performance
arts, which states Winternitz, may reflect an expansion in studies of the arts by the time Agni Purana was
composed.[24]

Historical roots
The Natyashastra is the oldest surviving ancient Indian work on performance arts.[8] The roots of the text
extend at least as far back as the Natasutras, dated to around the mid 1st millennium BCE.[25][26]

The Natasutras are mentioned in the text of Panini, the sage who wrote the classic on Sanskrit grammar,
and who is dated to about 500 BCE.[26][27] This performance arts related Sutra text is mentioned in other
late Vedic texts, as are two scholars names Shilalin (IAST: Śilālin) and Krishashva (Kṛśaśva), credited to
be pioneers in the studies of ancient drama, singing, dance and Sanskrit compositions for these
arts.[26][28] The Natyashastra refers to drama performers as Śhailālinas, likely because they were so
known at the time the text was written, a name derived from the legacy of the vedic sage Śilālin credited
with Natasutras.[29] Richmond et al. estimate the Natasutras to have been composed around 600
BCE.[27]

According to Lewis Rowell, a professor of Music specializing on classical Indian music, the earliest
Indian artistic thought included three arts, syllabic recital (vadya), melos (gita) and dance (nrtta),[30] as
well as two musical genre, Gandharva (formal, composed, ceremonial music) and Gana (informal,
improvised, entertainment music).[31] The Gandharva subgenre also implied celestial, divine
associations, while the Gana was free form art and included singing.[31] The Sanskrit musical tradition
spread widely in the Indian subcontinent during the late 1st millennium BCE, and the ancient Tamil
classics make it “abundantly clear that a cultivated musical tradition existed in South India as early as the
last few pre-Christian centuries”.[32]

The art schools of Shilalin and Krishashva, mentioned in both the Brahmanas and the Kalpasutras and
Srautasutras,[33] may have been associated with the performance of vedic rituals, which involved
storytelling with embedded ethical values.[33] The Vedanga texts such as verse 1.4.29 of Panini Sutras
mention these as well. The roots of the Natyashastra thus likely trace to the more ancient vedic traditions
of integrating ritual recitation, dialogue and song in a dramatic representation of spiritual themes.[34][35]
The Sanskrit verses in chapter 13.2 of Shatapatha Brahmana (~800–700 BCE), for example, are written
in the form of a riddle play between two actors.[36]

The Vedic sacrifice (yajna) is presented as a kind of drama, with its actors, its dialogues, its
portion to be set to music, its interludes, and its climaxes.

— Louis Renou, Vedic India[34]

Structure
The most studied version of the text, consisting of about 6000 poetic verses, is structured into 36
chapters.[3] The tradition believes that the text originally had 12,000 verses.[3][37] Somewhat different
versions of the manuscripts exist, and these contain 37 or 38 chapters.[38][39] Predominant number of its
verses are in precise Anustubh meter (4x8, or exactly 32 syllables in every shloka), some verses are in
Arya meter (a morae-based Sanskrit meter), and the text has some text that is in prose particularly in
chapters 6, 7 and 28.[38][40]

The structure of the text harmoniously compiles aspects of the theatrical arts into separate chapters.[41]
The text opens with the mythical genesis and history of drama, mentions the role of different Hindu
deities in various aspects of the arts, and the recommended Puja (consecration ceremony) of a stage for
performance arts.[3][6][2] The text, states Natalia Lidova, then describes
the theory of Tāṇḍava dance (Shiva), the theory of rasa, of bhāva,
expression, gestures, acting techniques, basic steps, standing
postures.[3][41][42]

Chapters 6 and 7 present the "Rasa" theory on aesthetics in performance

arts, while chapters 8 to 13 are dedicated to the art of acting.[43][44] Stage
instruments such as methods for holding accessories, weapons, relative
movement of actors and actresses, scene formulation, stage zones,
conventions and customs are included in chapters 10 to 13 of the
Natyashastra.[3][6][45]

The chapters 14 to 20 are dedicated to plot and structure of underlying

text behind the performance art.[43] These sections include the theory of The Natyasastra discusses
Sanskrit prosody, musical meters and the language of expression.[41] dance and many other
Chapter 17 presents the attributes of poetry and figures of speech, while performing arts.
chapter 18 presents the art of speech and delivery in the performance
arts.[3][46] The text lists ten kinds of play, presents its theory of plot,
costumes, and make-up.[47][44] The text dedicates several chapters exclusively to women in performance
arts, with chapter 24 on female theater.[3][48] The training of actors is presented in chapters 26 and 35 of
the text.[44]

The theory of music, techniques for singing, and music instruments are discussed over chapters 28 to
34.[43][41] The text in its final chapters describes the various types of dramatic characters, their roles and
need for team work, what constitutes an ideal troupe, closing out the text with its comments of the
importance of performance arts on culture.[3][41]

Contents
The contents of the Natyashastra, states Susan
Schwartz, are "in part theatrical manual, part Dramatic arts
philosophy of aesthetics, part mythological history, [Natyashastra praises dramatic arts] as a
part theology". [8] It is the oldest surviving comprehensive aid to the learning of virtue,
encyclopedic treatise on dramaturgy from India, with proper behavior, ethical and moral fortitude,
sections on the theory and practice of various courage, love and adoration of the divine.
performance arts. [49][50] The text extends its reach into
asking and understanding the goals of performance — Susan L. Schwartz[8]
arts, the nature of the playwright, the artists and the
spectators, their intimate relationship during the
performance.[8][51] Natya topics as envisioned in this text includes what in western performing arts
would include drama, dance, theatre, poetry and music.[8] The text integrates its aesthetics, axiology and
description of arts with mythologies associated with Hindu Devas and Devis.[2][8] Performance arts,
states Natyashastra, are a form of Vedic ritual ceremony (yajna).[52][53]

The general approach of the text is treat entertainment as an effect, but not the primary goal of arts. The
primary goal is to lift and transport the spectators, unto the expression of ultimate reality and
transcendent values.[8][54] The text allows, states Schwartz, the artists "enormous innovation" as they
connect the playwright and the spectators, through their performance, to Rasa (the essence, juice).[8][55]
The "rasa theory" of Natyashastra, states Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, presumes that bliss is intrinsic and
innate in man, it exists in oneself, that manifests non-materially through spiritual and personally
subjective means.[55][56] Performance arts aim to empower man to experience this rasa, or re-experience
it. Actors aim to journey the spectator to this aesthetic experience within him.[55] Rasa is prepared, states
Natya Shastra, through a creative synthesis and expression of vibhava (determinants), anubhava
(consequents) and vyabhicharibhava (transitory states).[55][57] In the process of emotionally engaging the
individual in the audience, the text outlines the use of eight sentiments – erotic, comic, pathetic, terrible,
furious, odious, heroic and marvellous.[55][58][59]

The text discusses a variety of performance arts as well as the design of the stage.[3][60]

Drama
The Natyashastra defines drama in verse 6.10 as that which
aesthetically arouses joy in the spectator, through the medium of
actor's art of communication, that helps connect and transport
the individual into a super sensual inner state of being.[61] The
Natya connects through abhinaya, that is applying body-speech-
mind and scene, wherein asserts Natyashastra, the actors use
two practices of dharmi (performance), in four styles and four
regional variations, accompanied by song and music in a
playhouse carefully designed to achieve siddhi (success in
production).[61] Drama in this ancient Sanskrit text, thus is an
art to engage every aspect of life, in order to glorify and gift a
state of joyful consciousness.[62]

The text discusses the universal and inner principles of drama,

that it asserts successfully affects and journeys the audience to a
supersensual state of discovery and understanding. The stories
and plots were provided by the Itihasas (epics), the Puranas and
the Kathas genre of Hindu literature.[62]

The text states that the playwright should know the bhavas
(inner state of being) of all characters in the story, and it is these
bhavas that the audience of that drama connects with.[62] The
hero is shown to be similar to everyone in some ways, trying to
achieve the four goals of human life in Hindu philosophy, then
the vastu (plot) emerges through the "representation of three
worlds – the divine, the human, the demonic".[63][64] Drama has
dharma, it has artha, it has kama, it has humor, fighting and
killing. The best drama shows the good and the bad, actions and
feelings, of each character, whether god or man.[63][64]
Examples of classical dance arts
According to Natyashastra, state Sally Banes and Andre
Lepeck, drama is that art which accepts human beings are in
different inner states when they arrive as audience, then through the art performed, it provides enjoyment
to those wanting pleasure, solace to those in grief, calmness to those who are worried, energy to those
who are brave, courage to those who are cowards, eroticism to those who want company, enjoyment to
those who are rich, knowledge to those who are uneducated, wisdom to those who are educated.[63][65]
Drama represents the truths about life and worlds, through emotions and circumstances, to deliver
entertainment, but more importantly ethos, questions, peace and happiness.[63]

The function of drama and the art of theatre, as envisioned in Natyashastra states Daniel Meyer-
Dinkgräfe, is to restore the human potential, man's journey of "delight at a higher level of
consciousness", and a life that is enlightened.[66]

The text goes into specifics to explain the means available within dramatic arts to achieve its goals. Just
like the taste of food, states Natyashastra, is determined by combination of vegetables, spices and other
articles such as sugar and salt, the audience tastes dominant states of a drama through expression of
words, gestures and temperaments.[67] These dominant states are love, mirth, sorrow, anger, energy,
terror, disgust and astonishment. Further, states the text, there are 33 psychological states which are
transitory such as discouragement, weakness, apprehension, intoxication, tiredness, anxiety, agitation,
despair, impatience.[68] There are eight temperamental states that a drama can deploy to carry its
message.[69] The text describes four means of communication between the actors and the audience –
words, gestures, dresses and aharya (make ups, cosmetics), all of which should be harmonious with the
temperament envisioned in the drama.[70] The text discusses the dominant, transitory and temperamental
states, for dramatic arts, and the means that an artist can use to express these states, in chapters 6 through
7.[71]

The Natyasastra describes the stage for performance arts as the sacred space for artists, and discusses the
specifics of stage design, positioning the actors, the relative locations, movement on stage, entrance and
exit, change in background, transition, objects displayed on the stage, and such architectural features of a
theatre; the text asserts that these aspects help the audience get absorbed in the drama as well as
understand the message and the meaning being communicated.[72][73][74] After the 10th-century, Hindu
temples were designed to include stages for performance arts (for example, kuttampalams), or prayer
halls (for example, namghar) that seconded as dramatic arts stage, based on the square principle
described in the Natyasastra, such as those in the peninsular and eastern states of India.[73]

Song and dance in arts

The Natyasastra discusses Vedic songs, and also dedicates over 130 verses to non-Vedic songs.[75]
Chapter 17 of the text is entirely dedicated to poetry and the structure of a song, which it states is also the
template for composing plays.[76] Its chapter 31 asserts that there are seven types of songs, and these are
Mandraka, Aparantaka, Rovindaka, Prakari, Ullopyaka, Ovedaka and Uttara.[77] It also elaborates on 33
melodic alankaras in songs.[78] These are melodic tools of art for any song, and they are essential.
Without these melodic intonations, states the text, a song becomes like "a night without the moon, a river
without water, a creeper with a flower and a woman without an ornament".[79][80] A song also has four
basic architectural varna to empower its meaning, and these tone patterns are ascending line, steady line,
descending line and the unsteady line.[79]

The ideal poem produces bliss in the reader, or listener. It transports the audience into an imaginative
world, transforms his inner state, and delivers him to a higher level of consciousness, suggests
Natyashastra.[81] Great songs do not instruct or lecture, they delight and liberate from within to a state of
godlike ecstasy.[81] According to Susan Schwartz, these sentiments and ideas of Natyashastra likely
influenced the devotional songs and musical trends of the Bhakti movement that emerged in Hinduism
during the second half of the 1st millennium CE.[81]
Indian dance (nritta, नृ ) traditions, states Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, have roots in the aesthetics of
Natyashastra.[1][82] The text defines the basic dance unit to be a karana, which is a specific combination
of the hands and feet integrated with specific body posture and gait (sthana and chari
respectively).[83][84] Chapter 4 describes 108 karanas as the building blocks to the art of dance.[83][85]
The text states the various movements of major and minor limbs with facial states as means of
articulating ideas and expressing emotions.[83][86]

Music and musical instruments

The Natyashastra is, states Emmie Te Nijenhuis, the oldest surviving text that systematically treats "the
theory and instruments of Indian music".[87] Music has been an integral part of performance arts in the
Hindu tradition since its Vedic times,[88] and the theories of music found in the Natyasastra are also
found in many Puranas, such as the Markandeya Purana.[7]

Musical instrument types mentioned in the Natyashastra (string, flute, drums and cymbals).[89]

The ancient Indian tradition, before the Natyashastra was finalized, classified musical instruments into
four groups based on their acoustic principle (how they work, rather than the material they are made
of).[90] The Natyashastra accepts these four categories as given, and dedicates four separate chapters to
them, one each on stringed instruments (chordophones), hollow instruments (aerophones), solid
instruments (idiophones), and covered instruments (membranophones).[90]

Chapters 15 and 16 of the text discuss Sanskrit prosody in a manner similar to those found in more
ancient Vedanga texts such as the Pingala Sutras.[91][92] Chapters 28 through 34 are dedicated to music,
both vocal and instrument based.[93] Chapter 28, discusses the harmonic scale, calling the unit of tonal
measurement or audible unit as Śruti,[94] with verse 28.21 introducing the musical scale as follows,[95]

त वराः –
ष ज च ऋषभ चै व गा धारो म यम तथा ।
प चमो धै वत चै व स तमोऽथ िनषादवान् ॥ २१॥

— Natya Shastra, 28.21[96][97]

 Musical scale in Natya Shastra[98][99]

Svara Sadja Rsabha Gandhara Madhyama Pañcama Dhaivata Nisada Sadja

(Long) (ष ज) (ऋषभ) (गा धार) (म यम) (प चम) (धैव त) (िनषाद) (ष ज)

Svara Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa
(Short) (सा) (र ) (ग) (म) (प) (ध) (िन) (सा)

(shadja-
graama)
Varieties C D♭, D E♭, E F, F♯ G A♭, A B♭, B CC

The music theory in the Natyashastra, states Maurice Winternitz, centers around three themes – sound,
rhythm and prosody applied to musical texts.[100] The text asserts that the octave has 22 srutis or
microintervals of musical tones or 1200 cents.[94] This is very close to the ancient Greek system, states
Emmie Te Nijenhuis, with the difference that each sruti computes to 54.5 cents, while the Greek
enharmonic quartertone system computes to 55 cents.[94] The text discusses gramas (scales) and
murchanas (modes), mentioning three scales of seven modes (21 total), some of which are the same as
the Greek modes.[101] However, the Gandhara-grama is just mentioned in Natyashastra, while its
discussion largely focuses on two scales, fourteen modes and eight four tanas (notes).[102][103][104] The
text also discusses which scales are best for different forms of performance arts.[101]

The Natyashastra describes from chapter 28 onwards, four types of regular musical instruments,
grouping them as stringed giving the example of veena, covered giving the example of drums, solid
giving the example of cymbals, and hollow stating flutes as example.[89] Chapter 33 asserts team
performance, calling it kutapa (orchestra) which it states to have one male and one female singer with
nine to eleven musical instruments accompanied by players.[89]

Male and female actors

The Natyashastra enshrines the male and female actors in any performance art to be the most
important.[105] The brightness of performance, or its lack, impacts everything; a great play that is poorly
performed confuses and loses the audience, while a play that is inferior in significance or meaning
becomes beautiful to the audience when brilliantly performed, states Natyashastra.[105] A performance
art of any form needs auditors and director, states the text, whose role is to work together with the actors
from the perspective of the audience and the significance or meaning the playwright of the art work is
attempting to convey.[106]

The text dedicates significant number of verses on

actor training, as did the Indian dramaturgy literature Training actors
that arose in its wake.[108][109] The ideal actor For an actor who is not yet perfect,
training, states Natyashastra, encourages self- the techniques described in the Natyashastra,
development within the actor and raises the actor's are a means to achieve
level of consciousness, which in turn empowers him perfection, enlightenment, moksha,
or her to express ideas from that higher state of and run parallel to reaching this state through
consciousness.[108][110] Acting is more than physical yoga or meditation practices.
techniques or rote recitation, it is communication
— Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe[107]
through emotions and expression of embedded
meaning and levels of consciousness in the
underlying text.[108][109]

The actor, states the text, should understand the three Guṇas, that is Sattva, Rajas and Tamas qualities,
because human lives are an interplay of these.[111][108][112] The actor must feel a specific state within, to
express it without. Thus, states Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, the guidelines in Natyasastra employ the ideas
in Yoga school of Hindu philosophy, with concepts mirroring asanas, pranayama and dhyana, both for
actor training and the expression of higher levels of consciousness.[108]

Specific training on gestures and movements for actors, their performance and significance, are discussed
in chapters 8 through 12 of the Natyashastra.[113][114] Chapter 24 is dedicated to females in performance
arts, however other chapters on actor training include numerous verses that mention women along with
men.[115][3][48]

The goals of art: spiritual values

The Natyashastra and other ancient Hindu texts such as the Yajnavalkya Smriti assert that arts and music
are spiritual, with the power to guide one to moksha, through empowering the concentration of mind for
the liberation of the Self (soul, Atman).[75] These arts are offered as alternate paths (marga or yoga), in
strength similar to the knowledge of the Srutis (Vedas and Upanishads).[75] Various medieval scholars,
such as the 12th-century Mitaksara and Apararka, cite Natyashastra and Bharata in linking arts to
spirituality, while the text itself asserts that beautiful songs are sacred and performance arts are holy.[75]

The goal of performance arts, states Natyashastra is ultimately to let the spectator experience his own
consciousness, then evaluate and feel the spiritual values innate in him, and rise to a higher level of
consciousness.[8][54] The playwright, the actors and the director (conductor) all aim to transport the
spectator to an aesthetic experience within him to eternal universals, to emancipate him from the
mundane to creative freedom within.[55][116]

Ancient and medieval secondary literature: bhasya

Abhinavabhāratī is the most studied commentary on
Natyasastra, written by Abhinavagupta (950–1020 When is a play successful?
CE), who referred to Natyasastra also as the Drishtaphala [visible fruits] like banners or
Natyaveda.[117][118] Abhinavagupta's analysis of material rewards do not indicate success of
Natyasastra is notable for its extensive discussion of a play production.
aesthetic and ontological questions, such as "whether
human beings comprehend performance arts as Real success is achieved when the play is
tattva (reality and truth in another plane), or is it an performed with skilled precision,
error, or is it a form of superimposed reality devoted faith and pure concentration.
(aropa)?[118] To succeed, the artist must immerse the
spectator with pure joy of rasa experience.
Abhinavagupta asserts that Natyasastra and
performance arts appeal to man because of "the The spectator's concentrated absorption and
experience of wonder", wherein the observer is appreciation is success.
pulled in, immersed, engaged, absorbed, and
satisfied.[119] The performance arts in Natyasastra,
states Abhinavagupta, temporarily suspends man — Abhinavagupta on Natyasastra (Abridged)
from his ordinary world, transfers him into another Trans: Tarla Mehta[51]
parallel reality full of wonder, where he experiences
and reflects on spiritual and moral concepts, and in
there is the power of arts to transform the inner state of man, where the beauty of the art lifts him into the
goals of Dharma (correct living, virtues, duties, right versus wrong, responsibilities, righteous).[119]
Abhinavagupta is also known for his Advaita Vedanta treatises and a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita,
where he touches upon the aesthetics in Natyasastra.[120]

The detailed Natyasastra review and commentary of Abhinavagupta mentions older Sanskrit
commentaries on the text, suggesting the text was widely studied and had been influential.[121] His
discussion of pre-10th century scholarly views and list of references suggest that there once existed
secondary literature on the Natyasastra by at least Kirtidhara, Bhaskara, Lollata, Sankuka, Nayaka, Harsa
and Tauta.[121] However, all text manuscripts of these scholars have been lost to history or are yet to be
discovered.[121]

Influence
The first chapter of the text declares that the text's origins came after
the four Vedas had been established, and yet there was lust,
covetousness, wrath and jealously among human beings.[123] The
text was written as a fifth Veda, so that the essence of the Vedas can
be heard and viewed, in Natya form to encourage every member of
the society to dharma, artha and kama. The text originated to enable
arts that influence the society and encourage each individual to
consider good counsel, to explain sciences and demonstrate arts and
crafts widely.[124][125] The text is a guide and progeny of what is in
the Vedas, asserts the Natysashastra.[125] The text re-asserts a
similar message in the closing chapter, stating for example, in verses
36.20–21 that performance arts such as drama, songs, music, and
dance with music are equal in importance as the exposition of the
Vedic hymns, and that participating in vocal or instrumental music
once is superior to bathing in river Ganges for a thousand days.[126] The Natyashastra influenced
other arts in ancient and medieval
Nāṭyaśāstra, states Natalia Lidova, has been far more than "a mere India. The dancing Shiva
compendium on drama". It provided the foundation of theatrical and sculpture in Badami cave temples
(6th–7th century CE), for
literary works that followed, which shaped the post-Vedic culture.[3]
example, illustrates its dance
It has been an important source book of Hindu performance arts and movements and Lalatatilakam
its cultural beliefs regarding the role of arts in the social (dharmic) as pose.[122]
well as the personal inner life of man in Hinduism.[8][54][121]

The Natysashastra text has been influential in other arts. The 108 dance forms described in the
Natyasastra, for example, have inspired Shiva sculptures of the 1st-millennium BCE, particularly the
Tandava style which fuses many of these into a composite image found at the Nataraja temple of
Chidambaram.[127][128] The movements of dance and expression in the Natyashastra are found carved on
the pillars, walls and gateways of 1st-millennium Hindu temples.[129]
The specifications provided in the Natyashastra can be found in the depiction of arts in sculpture, in
icons and friezes across India.[8]

[In Indian arts] the imagery of the Upanishads and the elaborate ritual of the Brahmanas is
the ground plan for each of the arts, be it architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance or
drama. The artist repeats and chisels this imagery by giving it concrete shape through stone,
sound, line or movement.

— Kapila Vatsyayan, The Square and the Circle of the Indian Arts, [130]

The Rasa theory of Natyashastra has attracted scholarly interest in communication studies for its insights
into developing texts and performances outside the Indian culture.[106]

See also
Dance in India
Raga – melodic mode
Rasa – aesthetics in performance arts
Dattilam
Brihaddeshi
Sangita Ratnakara – one of the most important medieval era Sanskrit text on music and
dance
Tala (music) – musical meter, beat

References
1. Katherine Young; Arvind Sharma (2004). Her Voice, Her Faith: Women Speak on World
Religions (https://books.google.com/books?id=xUoEw0IQvPEC). Westview Press. pp. 20–
21. ISBN 978-0-8133-4666-3.
2. Guy L. Beck (2012). Sonic Liturgy: Ritual and Music in Hindu Tradition (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=UzUMCAAAQBAJ). University of South Carolina Press. pp. 138–139.
ISBN 978-1-61117-108-2. "Quote: "A summation of the signal importance of the
Natyasastra for Hindu religion and culture has been provided by Susan Schwartz, "In short,
the Natyasastra is an exhaustive encyclopedic dissertation of the arts, with an emphasis on
performing arts as its central feature. It is also full of invocations to deities, acknowledging
the divine origins of the arts and the central role of performance arts in achieving divine
goals (...)"."
3. Natalia Lidova 2014.
4. Tarla Mehta 1995, pp. xxiv, 19–20.
5. Wallace Dace 1963, p. 249.
6. Sreenath Nair 2015.
7. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, pp. 3–4, 7–25.
8. Susan L. Schwartz (2004). Rasa: Performing the Divine in India (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=-BXVSmT1WhMC). Columbia University Press. pp. 12–15. ISBN 978-0-231-
13144-5.
9. Sunil Kothari & Avinash Pasricha 2001, p. 117, 163.
10. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe (2005). Approaches to Acting: Past and Present (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=-KiJn_o4R5MC). Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 102–104, 155–156.
ISBN 978-1-4411-0381-9.
11. Ananda Lal 2004, p. 308.
12. Chandra Rajan (1999). Loom Of Time, Kalidasa (https://books.google.com/books?id=sj9hZ
YZrcFEC). Penguin Books. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-14-400078-4.
13. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Shastra" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-
Z, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, page 626; See also शा (http://www.sanskrit-le
xicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/2014/web/webtc/indexcaller.php?input=HK&output=SktR
omanUnicode&citation=zAstra) in Monier William's Sanskrit-English Dictionary, 2nd Edition,
Oxford University Press, Archived by Koeln University, Germany
14. "Natyashastra" (http://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/natya01.pdf) (PDF). Sanskrit
Documents.
15. Coormaraswamy and Duggirala (1917). "The Mirror of Gesture" (https://archive.org/stream/
cu31924012568535#page/n5/mode/2up). Harvard University Press. p. 4.; Also see chapter
36
16. Ghosh, Manomohan (2002). Natyasastra (https://archive.org/stream/NatyaShastra/natya_sh
astra_translation_volume_1_-_bharat_muni#page/n87/mode/2up). p. 2 note 7–12. ISBN 81-
7080-076-5.
17. Nina Mirnig, Peter-Daniel Szanto & Michael Williams 2013, p. 350.
18. Kale Pramod (1974). The Theatric Universe: (a Study of the Natyasastra) (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=yRdNBKIHnjkC). Popular Prakashan. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-81-7154-
118-8.
19. Kale Pramod (1974). The Theatric Universe: (a Study of the Natyasastra) (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=yRdNBKIHnjkC). Popular Prakashan. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-81-7154-118-8.
20. Pandurang Vaman Kane 1971, pp. 11–15.
21. Maurice Winternitz 2008, pp. 9–10.
22. Kapila Vatsyayan 2001, p. 6.
23. Manmohan Ghosh, ed. (1950). Natyashastra,. Calcutta: Asiatic Society. See introduction p.
xxvi for discussion of dates
24. Maurice Winternitz 2008, p. 11.
25. Ananda Lal 2004, p. 16.
26. Natalia Lidova (1994). Drama and Ritual of Early Hinduism (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=3TKarwqJJP0C). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 111–113. ISBN 978-81-208-1234-5.
27. Farley P. Richmond, Darius L. Swann & Phillip B. Zarrilli 1993, p. 30.
28. Tarla Mehta 1995, pp. xxiv, xxxi–xxxii, 17.
29. Natalia Lidova 1994, p. 112.
30. Rowell 2015, p. 9.
31. Rowell 2015, pp. 11-12.
32. Rowell 2015, pp. 12-13.
33. Natalia Lidova (1994). Drama and Ritual of Early Hinduism (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=3TKarwqJJP0C). Motilal Banarsidass. p. 112. ISBN 978-81-208-1234-5.
34. ML Varadpande (1990), History of Indian Theatre, Volume 1, Abhinav, ISBN 978-
8170172789, pages 45–47
35. Maurice Winternitz 2008, pp. 181–182.
36. ML Varadpande (1990), History of Indian Theatre, Volume 1, Abhinav, ISBN 978-
8170172789, page 48
37. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, pp. 1–25.
38. Maurice Winternitz 2008, p. 7.
39. Pandurang Vaman Kane 1971, p. 11.
40. Pandurang Vaman Kane 1971, pp. 15–16.
41. Kapila Vatsyayan 2001.
42. Radhavallabh Tripathi 1991, pp. 14–31.
43. Tieken 1998, p. 171.
44. Maurice Winternitz 2008, p. 8-9.
45. Radhavallabh Tripathi 1991, pp. 32–46.
46. Biswanath Bhattacharya & Ramaranjan Mukherji 1994, pp. 161–163, 292–293.
47. Trimbak Govind Mainkar 1978.
48. Tarla Mehta 1995, pp. 104–106.
49. Katherine Brisbane; et al. (2005). The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre:
Volume 5: Asia/Pacific (https://books.google.com/books?id=E2qKAgAAQBAJ). Routledge.
pp. 159–160. ISBN 978-1-134-92978-8.
50. Theo D'haen; David Damrosch; Djelal Kadir (2011). The Routledge Companion to World
Literature (https://books.google.com/books?id=soqoAgAAQBAJ). Routledge. p. 45.
ISBN 978-1-136-65576-0.
51. Tarla Mehta 1995, p. 24.
52. ML Varadpande (1990), History of Indian Theatre, Volume 1, Abhinav, ISBN 978-
8170172789, page 7
53. Martin Banham (1995). The Cambridge Guide to Theatre (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=8qMTPAPFGXUC). Cambridge University Press. p. 519. ISBN 978-0-521-43437-9.
54. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe (2005). Approaches to Acting: Past and Present (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=-KiJn_o4R5MC). Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 155–156. ISBN 978-1-
4411-0381-9.
55. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe (2005). Approaches to Acting: Past and Present (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=-KiJn_o4R5MC). Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 102–104. ISBN 978-1-
4411-0381-9.
56. Sreenath Nair 2015, pp. 15–38, Section 1, Chapter by Vatsyayan.
57. Radhavallabh Tripathi 1991, pp. 22–28.
58. Ananda Lal 2004, pp. 61–64.
59. Wallace Dace 1963, pp. 249–254.
60. Kapila Vatsyayan (1997). The Square and the Circle of the Indian Arts (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=vwLJc3pBzzUC). Abhinav Publications. pp. 43–46, 61–65, for various arts
see 39–70. ISBN 978-81-7017-362-5.
61. Tarla Mehta 1995, p. 3.
62. Tarla Mehta 1995, p. 5.
63. Sally Banes; Andre Lepecki (2012). The Senses in Performance (https://books.google.com/
books?id=gLPBni9awkYC). Routledge. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-1-134-46070-0.
64. Tarla Mehta 1995, pp. 5–19.
65. Adya Rangacharya 1998.
66. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe (2005). Approaches to Acting: Past and Present (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=-KiJn_o4R5MC). Bloomsbury Academic. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-4411-0381-
9. "Quote: (...) "the function of the art of theatre, described in the Natyasastra is to restore
full human potential, life in enlightenment. The concept of beauty in Indian tradition is,
therefore, conceived and presented as the experience of delight at a higher level of
consciousness.""
67. Ghosh 2002, pp. 105–106.
68. Ghosh 2002, pp. 102, note the text lists all 33.
69. Ghosh 2002, pp. 102–103.
70. Ghosh 2002, p. 103.
71. Ghosh 2002, pp. 103–147.
72. Kale Pramod (1974). The Theatric Universe: (a Study of the Natyasastra) (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=yRdNBKIHnjkC). Popular Prakashan. pp. 13–31. ISBN 978-81-7154-
118-8.
73. David Mason; et al. (2016). Siyuan Liu (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre (https://
books.google.com/books?id=H1iFCwAAQBAJ). Routledge. pp. 222–225. ISBN 978-1-317-
27886-3.
74. Chris Salter (2010). Entangled: Technology and the Transformation of Performance (https://
books.google.com/books?id=ZBJbIP0fMr0C). MIT Press. pp. xxii–xxiii. ISBN 978-0-262-
19588-1.
75. Pandurang Vaman Kane 1971, pp. 45–46.
76. Susan L. Schwartz (2004). Rasa: Performing the Divine in India (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=-BXVSmT1WhMC). Columbia University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-231-
13144-5.
77. Pandurang Vaman Kane 1971, p. 46.
78. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, pp. 29.
79. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, pp. 30.
80. Manjusree Tyagi (1997). Significance of compositional forms in Hindustani classical music
(https://books.google.com/books?id=GXgHAQAAMAAJ). Pratibha. p. 89. ISBN 978-81-
85268-63-7.
81. Susan L. Schwartz (2004). Rasa: Performing the Divine in India (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=-BXVSmT1WhMC). Columbia University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0-231-
13144-5.
82. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe (2005). Approaches to Acting: Past and Present (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=-KiJn_o4R5MC). Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-1-4411-
0381-9.
83. Sunil Kothari & Avinash Pasricha 2001, pp. 117–118.
84. Nina Mirnig, Peter-Daniel Szanto & Michael Williams 2013, pp. 186–187.
85. Nina Mirnig, Peter-Daniel Szanto & Michael Williams 2013, pp. 174–177.
86. Ananda Lal 2004, pp. 95–99.
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88. Guy L. Beck (2006). Sacred Sound: Experiencing Music in World Religions (https://books.g
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89. Rachel Van M. Baumer; James R. Brandon (1993). Sanskrit Drama in Performance (https://
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90. Rowell 2015, pp. 13-14.
91. Nina Mirnig, Peter-Daniel Szanto & Michael Williams 2013, pp. 350–351.
92. Ghosh 2002, pp. 248–292.
93. Maurice Winternitz 2008, p. 9, 654.
94. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, p. 14.
95. NA Jairazbhoy (1985), Harmonic Implications of Consonance and Dissonance in Ancient
Indian Music (http://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/prevol2.pdf), Pacific
Review of Ethnomusicology, University of California Los Angeles, pages 28–31
96. Sanskrit: Natyasastra Chapter 28 (http://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_z_misc_major_works/n
atya28.html?lang=sa), ना यशा म् अ याय २८, ॥ २१॥
97. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, pp. 21–25.
98. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, pp. 13–14, 21–25.
 99. Cris Forster 2010.
100. Maurice Winternitz 2008, p. 654.
101. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, p. 32-34.
102. Emmie Te Nijenhuis 1974, pp. 14–25.
103. Reginald Massey; Jamila Massey (1996). The Music of India (https://books.google.com/boo
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104. Richa Jain (2002). Song of the Rainbow: A Work on Depiction of Music Through the
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105. Kale Pramod (1974). The Theatric Universe: (a Study of the Natyasastra) (https://books.goo
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106. Kirkwood, William G. (1990). "Shiva's dance at sundown: Implications of Indian aesthetics
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108. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe (2001). William S. Haney and Peter Malekin (ed.). Humanism and
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110. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe (2005). Approaches to Acting: Past and Present (https://books.goo
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4411-0381-9.
111. Sreenath Nair 2015, pp. 75–76.
112. Michael Groden; Martin Kreiswirth; Imre Szeman (2005). The Johns Hopkins guide to
literary theory & criticism (https://books.google.com/books?id=N6QRAQAAMAAJ). Johns
Hopkins University Press. p. 518. ISBN 978-0-8018-8010-0.
113. Ghosh 2002, pp. 148–212.
114. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe (2005). Approaches to Acting: Past and Present (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=-KiJn_o4R5MC). Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 104–109. ISBN 978-1-
4411-0381-9.
115. Ghosh 2002, pp. 148–212, 489–490.
116. Susan L. Schwartz (2004). Rasa: Performing the Divine in India (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=-BXVSmT1WhMC). Columbia University Press. pp. 14–15, 56–60, 96–98.
ISBN 978-0-231-13144-5.
117. Ghosh, Manomohan (2002). Natyasastra (https://archive.org/stream/NatyaShastra/natya_sh
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7080-076-5.
118. Ananda Lal 2004, p. 308, 492.
119. Dalal 2014, p. 7.
120. Dalal 2014, p. 1-2.
121. Kale Pramod (1974). The Theatric Universe: (a Study of the Natyasastra) (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=yRdNBKIHnjkC). Popular Prakashan. pp. 9–10. ISBN 978-81-7154-118-
8.
122. Archana Verma (2011). Performance and Culture: Narrative, Image and Enactment in India
(https://books.google.com/books?id=iAArBwAAQBAJ). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
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123. Natalia Lidova 1994, p. 113.
124. Tarla Mehta 1995, pp. 8–9.
125. Natalia Lidova 1994, pp. 113–114.
126. Ghosh 2002, p. 555.
127. Dalal 2014, p. 278.
128. Brenda Pugh McCutchen (2006). Teaching Dance as Art in Education (https://books.google.
com/books?id=C0yjXGJ3EEoC). Human Kinetics. p. 450. ISBN 978-0-7360-5188-0.
129. Frank Burch Brown (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=GkvSAQAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-19-
517667-4.
130. Kapila Vatsyayan (1997). The Square and the Circle of the Indian Arts (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=vwLJc3pBzzUC). Abhinav Publications. p. 41. ISBN 978-81-7017-362-5.

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Ananda Lal (2004). The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre (https://books.google.com/boo
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External links
Natya-shastra full English translation by Manomohan Ghosh (https://www.wisdomlib.org/hin
duism/book/the-natyashastra), including additional footnotes and commentary extracts. The
Bibliography and Table of Contents of vol. 1 (1951) are missing from the web version. It contains a
number of typos and of notes missing and generally skips Sanskrit quotations present in the printed
version, providing only their English translation. On the other hand chapters 28 to 36 from vol. 2 (1961)
are included in the web version whereas vol. 1 stops at chapter 27 and contains only a preliminary
version of chapters 34, 35 and 36.
Manomohan Ghosh (Transl) (1951). "Natya Shastra (Chapters 1–27)" (https://archive.org/de
tails/NatyaShastra). Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta.
 Manomohan Ghosh (Transl) (1961). The Natyasastra : a treatise on Hindu dramaturgy and
histrionics (Chapters 28–36). OCLC 603994750 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/603994750).
Natya sastra (http://sanskritdocuments.org/sanskrit/by-category/natyashastra.php)
Manuscript (with 37 chapters), in Sanskrit (Chapters 31, 32 and 34 missing)
Natya Shastra with Commentary of Abhinavagupta (https://archive.org/stream/NatyaShastra
WithCommentaryOfAbhinavaGuptaByMRamakrishnaKavi/NatyaShastraWithAbhinavaGupt
asCommentaryByMRamakrishnaKavi#page/n1/mode/2up), 10th-century commentary,
Compiled by M Ramakrishna Kavi, in Sanskrit (Vol. 2 only; the complete work is in 4 vols.)
Theatre layout with diagrams according to Natyasastra (http://www.bharatiyadrama.org/thea
treacc.htm), Prachi Shah, Bhartiya Drama
Related Bibliography: Judy Van Zile (1973). Dance in India: An Annotated Guide to Source
Materials (https://books.google.com/books?id=8T9Fk2Xqbj0C). ISBN 978-0-913360-06-4.

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