Knowra Natya Shastra Natya Shastra An ancient Sanskrit treatise on drama, dance, music, stagecraft, and performance, traditionally attributed to Bharata Muni. It systematizes theatrical practice and explains how performance evokes aesthetic experience.
Rasa : An aesthetic flavor or emotional essence evoked in an audience through artistic presentation. The treatise’s account of drama culminates in the audience’s experience of rasa.
Vachika abhinaya : The expressive use of speech, verse, song, and vocal delivery in performance. Bharata treats spoken and sung sound as one of acting’s principal channels.
Bharatanatyam : A classical Indian dance tradition from Tamil Nadu combining expressive storytelling and codified movement. Its performance vocabulary draws on concepts and techniques associated with Bharata’s treatise.
Bharata Muni : The sage traditionally credited as the author of the Natya Shastra. The treatise presents Bharata as its teacher and transmitting authority.
Textual criticism : The study of how written works change across manuscripts and how earlier textual forms can be reconstructed. Multiple versions and layers make the treatise’s composition history difficult to establish.
Bhava : A performed or represented emotional state that contributes to an aesthetic response. Bharata links portrayed states of feeling to the rasas they produce.
Angika abhinaya : The expressive use of bodily movement, including gesture, posture, and facial expression. The treatise details how bodies make dramatic meaning legible onstage.
Kathakali : A dance-drama tradition of Kerala known for elaborate makeup, gesture, music, and mythic narratives. Its codified acting and expressive gestures invite comparison with the treatise’s performance system.
Sanskrit drama : A literary and theatrical tradition of plays composed in Sanskrit and related languages of ancient India. The treatise is a foundational theoretical account within this dramatic tradition.
Sanskrit manuscript : A handwritten document containing a text in Sanskrit, transmitted through copying traditions. Manuscript variation underlies uncertainty about the treatise’s wording and structure.
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