Natya Shastra

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Natyashastra consists of four elements namely pathya or text, including the art of recitation and rendition in performance taken from the Rig Veda. The other one is gita or songs, including instrumental music from the Sama Veda, abhinaya or acting, the technique of expressing the poetic meaning of the text and communicating it to the spectator from the Yajur Veda, and rasa or aesthetic experience from the Atharva Veda. It is, at the outset, the anukarana or `redoing` of the triple universe and life in its entirety, but ultimately it is the anukirtana of bhava i.e `re-telling` of emotive states in order to create a new world of `imagination`. Movement requires well-defined blocking, so immediately afterwards the Natyashastra lays down the principle of kakshyavibhaga in the thirteenth chapter. The extremely flexible and easy principle of establishing space on stage and altering it through parikramana or circumambulation is a unique characteristic of traditional Indian theatre and dance and are subtly dealt in the next chapters of Natyashastra.

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notes from AK Warder's Indian Kayva Literature, Vol 1

on the Natya Shastra