The Indian theater already at the beginning of our era existed in a fully formed form. Therefore, it had to go through a long development, the history of which is, unfortunately, poorly known. Indian theater grew up on Indian soil and is quite original. Fragmentary data of historical traditions and ethnography suggest that an important source of its genesis were spectacular mass performances during religious holidays in honor of some gods (especially Indra and Shiva); the theme of the performances was the myths about the exploits of these gods. The holidays themselves date back to the archaic rituals of hunters and farmers, accompanied by songs and dances. Another source can be considered comic scenes of a domestic nature, played out during the breaks of the main holiday and intended to amuse the audience.
Over time, such representations, which have changed to a large extent, have lost their religious character, begin to play out not only during the holidays, but also outside of them - in market squares, in the palaces of kings and nobility. The court theater, intended for a narrow circle of spectators, and not for a mass audience, developed special forms of theatrical art, a specific repertoire and significantly moved away from its foundation - folk art. It is about this theater that we have more detailed information.
The heyday of classical Indian theater was the first nine centuries of our era. In the era of the Guptas, special treatises on theatrical art began to appear, in which the tasks of the theater and theatrical performances, various genres of theatrical compositions, etc. were analyzed in detail. Until now, one of these treatises "Natyashastra", attributed to Bharata and dated by scientists to the first centuries of our era, has been preserved. "Natyashastra" is rightly called the encyclopedia of ancient Indian theater. It discusses various issues related to theatrical art. For example, about the origin and functions of natya - dramatic art and dance, about the types of plays, sign language, acting, the art of facial expressions, the architecture of the buildings that housed theaters, stage technology, how plays were staged, about makeup, costumes, music , as well as various bhavas (feelings) and rasas (moods).
A play could have from one to ten acts. There were many varieties of one-act plays, such as bhana (monologue), when the only hero talks with an invisible character, or prahasana (farce), which in turn was divided into two types: high farce and low farce. Moreover, the heroes of both high and low farce were courtesans and rogues.
Special theater buildings (natyashala) have not been preserved, although they existed. There were no scenery, props were minimal. The audience got an idea of the situation in which the action took place from the replicas and facial expressions of the actors. In ancient India, plays had to be performed in a small room, as the acting was based on a highly stylized sign language, consisting of barely noticeable eye and hand movements. Ancient Indian stage art was characterized by "this" ... complex and carefully developed sign language, which was comprehended by actors over many years of training and was designed for a sophisticated audience.
In Indian theater, there were two directions: lokadharmi and natyadharmi. In lokadharmi, that is, realistic theater, a person and his character were presented as they are in real life. The audience of this theater was the widest strata of the people. Natyadharmi, or stylized drama, used sign language and symbolism and was considered more artistic.
Structurally, ancient Indian drama was a complex work. The prose text was interspersed with poetry, especially the lyrical monologues of the characters and moral maxims. Song numbers and dance scenes were frequent. There were no representations in the unity of time, place, and action. Events that took place on the same day, and distant from each other for many years, could be depicted. The action took place either indoors, or on the street or in the town square, or in the forest or in heaven. The number of actors could be different. They belonged to the most diverse strata; celestials, jesters, kings, slaves, rishis, getters, monks, warriors, professional thieves, merchants, etc. could be shown on the stage. All this provided great opportunities for the playwright to choose the plot and develop it.
But there were also limits to the playwright's creative imagination, which corresponded to the type of drama he chose. There were several of these types, but the main ones were Nataka and Prakarana. The first was distinguished by sophistication and was intended mainly for the court theater. Her plots were well-known heroic or love stories, borrowed mainly from the epic. The hero in the attack had to be necessarily a king or a deity in human incarnation. Murders, battles, and even more undesirable events for the chosen audience, such as riots and palace coups, should not have been depicted on the stage. There were satirical plays, farces. All this indicates that in ancient times, Indian dramaturgy was distinguished by a variety of genres, was associated with folk art, and was more democratic than in the Middle Ages, when Indian theater suffered from creative impoverishment, and by the 12th century. - almost complete disappearance.
Plays were supposed to have happy endings. The actors had to speak different languages and dialects - according to their position and education. Kings, Brahmins, Kshatriyas were explained in Sanskrit. All women and common people used the so-called dramatic prakrits. There were seven of them, and there was a certain order in which prakrit which character had to use: Shauraseni was the language of women of high social status and men of middle; Magadhi - the language of the lower classes; in Maharashtri, those who spoke Shauraseni in prose were explained in verse, and so on. An indicator of the high level of development of theatrical art in ancient India is special theoretical treatises. One of them has come down to us - "Natyashastra" ("Treatise on theatrical art"), compiled, probably, in the II - III centuries. AD and attributed to Bharata, of whom, apart from his name, nothing is known.
They say that to create the Natyashastra, it is considered the fifth Veda, Bharata took the word from the Rigveda, the gesture from the Yajurveda, the music from the Samaveda, and the mental state from the Atharvaveda. It must be said that representatives of the lower castes did not have the right to read the Vedas, and therefore Brahma ordered that the fifth Veda be created for them, i.e. treatise on theatrical art. However, it can be assumed that the theater in India existed long before the advent of Bharata, otherwise it is difficult to find a logical explanation for the fact that a treatise on drama was created, if its creation was not dictated by necessity, to explain the spontaneous existence of the theater.
A simple villager could not do without music, dance, acting. His uncomplicated art was associated with and at the same time complemented daily rituals, festivities that occurred at one time or another of the year, and was an integral part of the rituals associated with the natural life of a person: birth, maturity, wedding, death.
The folk theater is nothing more than a reflection of the ordinary life of people inhabiting a vast subcontinent. The main instrument of communication with the audience in this theater is the actor himself, his body and those mental states that he can express with a kind of orchestration of arms, legs and torso, voice, gesture, emotions. Of course, the goal of the traditional theater actor is to imbue the viewer with the feelings that the actor is trying to portray. To do this, he chooses material that can evoke aesthetic empathy, and uses all the means available to him on stage to achieve contact with the audience.
The main goal of the theater was to deliver aesthetic pleasure (rasa) to the audience. For the ancient Indian drama as a whole, the open posing of acute social issues is not typical. Rare are clashes of characters, outbursts of feelings, scourging satire or angry denunciation. The general tone in the surviving pieces is soft, subdued. But even at the same time, in the best dramatic works, the authors were able to show the truth of life, the complexity of its manifestations and the dramatic intensity of situations.
One of the most interesting in ancient Indian drama is Shudraka's play (4th-5th centuries) "The Clay Cart" ("Mrichchakatika"), which provided the author with an honorable place in the history of ancient Indian theater and literature. The drama tells about the love of the impoverished brahmin Charudatta and the hetaera Vasantasena, love that overcame all social obstacles erected by difficult life circumstances. The plot is taken not from mythology, but from life itself, the main characters are not gods and kings, but ordinary people. The author holds the idea that true nobility, honesty, devotion and sublime love are inherent not only in the upper strata of society, but also to ordinary people no less. The humanistic and democratic orientation of the play, which belongs to the prakarana type, is clearly opposed to the complacent style of the natak court drama. In addition, the "Clay Wagon" describes such events that other ancient Indian playwrights tried to avoid: there is an assassination attempt, and the overthrow of the king, and popular unrest. It is not known who the author of this remarkable work was, but the drama itself gives sufficient grounds to consider him a truly folk writer.
One of the pearls of ancient Indian literature are the works of Kalidasa (late 4th - early 5th century AD) - a poet, playwright and writer, whose work is a bright page in the history of world culture. Translations of Kalidasa's works became known in the West at the end of the 18th century. and were immediately enthusiastically received by the readers.
By the end of the period of antiquity is the flowering of religious poetry. The verses praised the ideal of an ascetic life, detachment from everything worldly, the illusory nature of being. Kalidasa, singing life with all its joys and sorrows, opposed the religious ascetic ideas of his time. A whole trend of Indian literature, which followed humanistic ideas about the harmony of the human personality and an optimistic outlook on life, is associated with Kalidasa. Without breaking with the previous tradition, Kalidasa acted as an innovator in many respects. Therefore, his work is so understandable and close to the peoples of India for many centuries.
When Europe became acquainted with the first examples of ancient Indian drama, many scholars wrote that the Indian theater was of ancient Greek origin. However, it has now become quite clear that the theater in India arose independently, independently of external influences. Moreover, the Indian theatrical tradition is older than the ancient one and theoretically much richer. The Indian theater differed from the Greek theater in its temperament and staging concept. The Trinity, which the Greeks strictly followed, was completely unknown to the Sanskrit playwrights. The Sanskrit drama, with its subplots and numerous characters and moods, occupied more time than the three tragedies and farce that the Greek theater consistently offered to its audience. The Greeks gave priority to the plot and the lines of the characters, while in the Indian theater the main attention was paid to the four types of performing arts, plasticity and gestures. For the Greeks, people were a participatory audience, for the Hindus they were outside spectators. The aesthetic canons were also different. In Sanskrit drama, the Greek concept of tragedy is completely absent, as well as the aesthetic principle that the viewer should not see the death or defeat of the hero on the stage.
Theater of India
Theatrical art of India originated several millennia ago. A bronze figurine of a dancing girl, found during excavations in the city of Mohenjo Daro, dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. e. It was the ritual dance that became the core around which the Indian classical theater was formed. In ancient India, theatrical performances were an obligatory part of the holidays dedicated to the gods. For example, the central event of the holiday in honor of Indra (the god of thunder) was the hoisting of the "banner" of Indra. The banner was symbolized by a tree that was brought from the forest and decorated. After the ceremony, the tree was solemnly drowned in the river to give strength to the water and earth. Wrestlers, magicians, tightrope walkers, musicians and entertainers, who were called "nata" (later a professional actor was called that) took part in the action. The mention of nata is found in the monuments of Indian literature from the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Long before the new era, a folk theater developed in India, the performances of which are still very popular in the country.
One of the most common forms of such theater in North India is the musical-dance drama called lila. Performances sometimes last more than a month. Mandatory lila characters are evil and good demons, animals. So, in battles with evil demons, the hero Rama was always helped by the brave and cunning monkey Khanuma. Performers of performances perform in colorful costumes and masks. The action takes place without scenery. Funny interludes - shoms - are sometimes played between episodes. Actors, preparing to perform in the following episodes, change clothes or rest in front of the audience. In the south of the country, another form developed - the mystery theater. It is somewhat similar to the northern lilas, but there are differences. Theatrical performances of the south are associated with the art of temple storytellers - chakiars, who read verses in Sanskrit (the classical language of antiquity), and then explained the text in the language of local residents. At the same time, the chakiar used facial expressions and gestures. Over time, actors began to perform together with the reader in the temple. They read Sanskrit texts and accompanied the recitation with dances. The performance was called kutiyattam (Sanskrit "collective dance"). In kutiyattama, both the word and the dance were equally significant. In the middle of the first millennium BC. e. classical Indian theatre. Many performances are dramatizations of myths and legends. However, in India, the classical drama in Sanskrit was also created. Its heyday came in the 1st-9th centuries. The most famous playwrights are Bhasa, Kalidasa and Shudraka. The dates of their life are very approximate, the information of researchers sometimes diverge for centuries. Of the thirteen works of Bhasa (II or III century), Vasavadatta Appearing in a Dream is considered the best - a play about the king's love for his wife Vasavadatta.
The authorship of the famous "Clay Cart" is attributed to King Shudrake (presumably the 4th century). The play outlived its creator a lot: it went on the stages of world theaters even in the 20th century. The essay tells not about gods and demons, not about kings and their faithful wives (which is traditional), but about an actress courtesan. The heroine fell in love with the Brahmin Charudatta - a man who belonged to the highest caste and, moreover, married. Many trials befell the lovers until they were reunited.
The troupe of the classical Indian theater certainly included suhtradhara (leading actor, at the same time director and director of the theater), nati (wife of the first actor and leading actress), sthapaka (first assistant, make-up artist and costume designer), pripersvika (second assistant who performed various assignments ). A special form of Indian theater is classical dance. In essence, this is not a dance in its purest form, but a drama dance, in which dance, word, and sometimes singing are combined. One of the most ancient styles, bharatnatyam, has survived to this day thanks to temple dancers who dedicated their lives to serving the deity. Future dancers are trained from childhood: they are sent to the temple, and there the girls grow up under the vigilant supervision of the priest. The dancer, dressed in a bright, embroidered costume, first bows to the guru (teacher) and the audience, then for a short time it seems to freeze, listening to the sounds of cymbals and singing, and finally the dance performance itself begins. It is a combination of nritya (skaz dance) with nrita (pure dance). This is followed by an interlude - give: the singer performs the song, and the dancer conveys its content with emphatically expressive facial expressions and hand gestures. The same line sounds again and again, and each time the dancer gives her a different interpretation. In the 16th century, the Kathak style flourished in Northern India. By that time, a Muslim state had developed, within which Hindu and Muslim arts interacted. Kathak is the result of a fusion of two cultures: dances were performed in Persian costumes, but Indian legends about the love of Radha and Krishna were told at the same time. In the 17th century in the south of India, in the land of transparent lakes and lagoons, sandy beaches, rice fields and spice plantations, a pantomimic dance drama is taking shape - kathakali.
The performance is given either in the courtyard of the temple, or in the open air. A drama that tells about gods and demons, their love and hatred, is usually played out against the black background of the night. Actors in bright makeup (green, red and black) and masks appear from the darkness and disappear into the darkness. They don't say a word during the entire act. The prologue of the performance is a furious drumming, which is designed to fill the actor with energy. The skill of a kathakali performer is learned from childhood under the guidance of a guru. The actor must understand the inner essence of the depicted - be it people, flowers, birds, etc. Particular attention is paid to accuracy and expressiveness
India has the longest and richest theater tradition in the world, dating back at least 5,000 years. The origin of Indian theater is closely linked to the ancient rituals and seasonal festivals of the country. The Natyashastra (2000 BC - 4th century AD) was the earliest and most complex treatise on drama and dance throughout the world. Traditionally, the Natyashastra states that the Indian theater is of divine origin, and its origins are attributed to the Natyaveda, the sacred book of drama created by Lord Brahma.
The Natyashastra brought together and codified the various traditions of dance, pantomime and drama. Natyashastra describes ten classifications of drama, ranging from one act to ten acts. No book of ancient times in the world contains such an exhaustive study of dramaturgy as the Natya Shastra. It has guided playwrights, directors and actors for thousands of years, for in Bharata Muni the three were inseparable in creating the Sanskrit drama Natyaka, whose name comes from the word for dance. In traditional Hindu drama, the content of the play was expressed through music and dance, as well as through action, so any production was essentially a combination of opera, ballet and drama.
According to legend, the very first dance was performed in the sky when the gods, having defeated the demons, decided to celebrate their victory. Hindu theorists since ancient times have staged dance performances of two types: lokadharmi (realistic), in which the dancers on stage displayed human behavior, and natyadharmi (ordinary), which used stylized gestures and symbols (this type of dance performance was considered more artistic than realistic) .
Theater in India began with a descriptive form, so recitations, singing and dancing became integral elements of the theater. This emphasis on narrative elements led theater in India to embrace all other forms of literature and the visual arts in its physical manifestation: literature, pantomime, music, dance, movement, painting, sculpture and architecture all blended together and began to be called " natya" or "theater".
Music.
Classical Indian music (namely, we will talk about it) has always played a significant role in the life of society: it brought calm to the hustle and bustle of everyday life, gave poetry to religious rites and labor processes. Knowledge of music was considered obligatory for a noble person. An ancient Indian proverb says: A person who knows neither music, nor literature, nor any other art, is only an animal, even if without a tail and horns.
The music of India, originating from the sacred books of the Vedas, was closely connected with religious beliefs and was perceived as a universal means of knowing God ( Remember the name of the Veda, which contains chants). It gave a person a certain emotional experience and aesthetic pleasure.
Indian musical culture is based on rhythm (tala) And melody (raga). Raga is, as it were, the original general melody that conveys the main mood/emotion of the composition. Basically, they are limited. The musician does not invent his own raga, but takes an already existing one, and specifically his skill lies in the fact that he can improvise on the theme of this raga. If stews are sung, they often just sing notes. It is important to know that the topics of the raga are related to a specific time of day or year, i.e. each stew must be listened to at its favorable time, then it will produce the right effect. Raga performance is a great art. A piece of music is never rehearsed in advance, its performance is not subject to strict rules. It's more of an art of improvisation.
Since ancient times, Indian philosophy has attributed to musical sound the power to create and maintain harmony in the world. It is generally accepted that the sound of a musical instrument is perfect if it is close to human singing. The main instrument of Indian music is human voice, it has always been given great importance. Most string and wind instruments replicate certain qualities or features of the human voice.
The main instruments in classical Indian music are, first of all, guilt, the queen of musical instruments (it is believed that the goddess of wisdom and art Saraswati gave wine a singing human voice); also widely used sitar, plucked musical instrument, tablets, inimitable Indian drums, vestibule, is used to create background accompaniment when playing a raga, and, oddly enough, violin. (Well, here, of course, you need to listen to it all, see the vidyuhu).
Dance.
Indian dance is over 5,000 years old and has always been a fairly developed art form. Creator and patron of dance art in India counts Shiva, he is even called the god of dance (because it is in dance that he creates the whole world). Before the arrival of Islam in India, the dance was performed in temples, as a prayer, as a special offering to the deities. It was performed by girls who constantly lived in temples. With the advent of Muslims, Indian dance became a means of entertainment for the nobility.
IN India There are 2 types of dance: folk and classical. They differ in that classical dance follows all the canons set forth in the treatise on the theater (Natyashastra).
classical indian dance surpasses yoga in its complexity. The alternation of fast movements and phases of complete rest makes the dance a multi-level training for the whole body. In the process of mastering the dance, such qualities as flexibility and endurance, high concentration of attention and artistry develop.
In dance, there are rules for the positions of the feet. Dancers are also taught various jumps. There are rules that define the language of the hands. The special position of the hands is called - mudra. There are 24 single hand motions, 13 double hand motions, 10 whole arm motions, 5 chest motions, and 5 each for the torso, abdomen, and hips. There are types of eyebrow movements, as well as 36 types of looks. Each dance begins with movements that salute the god. In total there are 7 types of classical Indian dance, but we will not list them. VIDEO
Indian dance is more than a dance. It has always been and is a means of communication between people with each other and with God. Any movement of the body, the eye has its semantic meaning. The language of Indian classical dance is much richer and more expressive than ordinary speech.
For several millennia of its existence, indian dance has not lost any of its attractiveness and attractiveness and continues to amaze the minds of many people with its perfection.
Theater.
And finally, theater. A characteristic feature of the Indian performance is precisely the unity of music, singing and dance. The musicians are very visible and active in the theatrical performance. Usually musicians do not play from notes, but improvise right on stage. The performance often opens the dance, serving as a kind of introduction to the action. Those. theater is a combination of all that we have talked about before.
But let's find out how theater appeared in Indian culture. Theatrical art of India dates back to ancient times. The myth of the origin of the theater is described in the first chapter " Natyashastra"- a genuine encyclopedia of theatrical and dance art.
According to legend, the god of war, Indra, asked the creator Brahma to come up with entertainment that would appeal to all people: monks and warriors, merchants and peasants. Brahma plunged into a state of deep meditation and simultaneously extracted recitation, chanting and melody from the four Vedas. Brahma taught the secrets of the art of the sage Bharatu(it is believed that he was the author of the Natyashastra) and ordered him, along with his hundred sons and heirs, to protect and establish art on earth. Bharata took up learning the first piece, dedicated to the victory of the gods over the demons. The demons did not like this plot. Considering themselves deeply offended, they began to disrupt the rehearsals of the actors with the help of numerous intrigues. Then the sage Bharata ordered the heavenly architect to design a theater space that could be consecrated through rituals and thus protect the actors from being persecuted by demons. Brahma solved the problem and formulated the main tasks of the theatrical performance: teach and entertain.
From the Natyashastra we learn that the ancient theater troupes had their own leader, who was the main actor and led a group of singers, dancers, assistant musicians and playwrights. The troupe was clearly dominated by men, women sometimes also participated as singers or dancers. The actor performing on stage combined the art of plasticity, voice, costume, make-up, and expression. The actors had to train a lot, follow a special diet, perform daily exercises to strengthen muscles, increase flexibility and endurance. The favorite plots of Indian playwrights are folk tales and legends (it must be said that Indian playwrights almost never invented plots themselves, they took well-known plots from epics or myths and reworked them), heroic deeds and, of course, love. As in other literary genres in India, the theatrical laws ruled out a tragic ending. There was no shortage of tense or heartbreaking scenes, but the ending was bound to be happy. From a European point of view, this demand often leads to implausible and forced intrigues. Note, however, that the Indians of antiquity, rejecting tragedy, preferred melodrama.
What is Indian theater based on?
It is important to remember that the highest goal of theatrical performance was to achieve race ( means "taste" in Sanskrit ) , i.e. the feeling that should arise in the viewer, as a result of the skillful play of the actors. The Natyashastra says that there are only 8 such races: amorous, comic, tragic, furious, heroic, awesome, disgusting And magical . They correspond to 8 basic emotions (love, comedy, tragedy, rage, heroism, fear, disgust, amazement), which were in the arsenal of the actors. It was on them that their game was basically built. Those. race is such a pure emotion, the reaction of the viewer to the performance of the actors. The Natyashastra compares this to eating: When intelligent people want to know different tastes, they eat food prepared with different sauces and experience joy and pleasure in doing so. It's the same with theater.».
Scientists attribute the emergence of theatrical art to the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The earliest plays that have come down to us are written in the classical language of India, Sanskrit. The heyday of classical Indian theater falls on the 1st-9th centuries, when the famous works of Sanskrit drama were created. The most famous Indian playwright is Kalidasa (known all over the world, his plays are still staged), it is believed that his plays are an example of Sanskrit poetry. The most famous and popular play among Europeans, the true pinnacle of Indian literature is the classic drama "Shakuntala" (approximately 5th century) à As a task, you can give a retelling of the plot of Shakuntala.
In the period between the 10th and 15th centuries, in connection with the establishment of Islam as the main religion, the theater lost royal patronage and state support. To survive, the actors became storytellers, acrobats, jugglers and singers.
In the 17th century, a theater developed in southern India. kathakali, which is a pantomime dance drama about love and hate, gods and evil demons. The performances of such a theater were usually played out under the cover of night in the courtyard of the temple. From the darkness emerged actors with bright makeup on their faces. Particularly impressive was the skill of transforming the actors into animals, flowers, birds, etc.
No cultural country can be imagined without a theatre. And India is no exception. Therefore, when booking hotels in India, do not forget that in all Indian major cities you can get to the theatrical performance. Moreover, the canons and style of Indian theater are very different from domestic dramas and comedies, and therefore no less interesting and even brilliant.
Theater came to India from Ancient Greece. Although many experts dispute this thesis, nevertheless, many features of the Indian theater were inherent in Greek tragedies and comedies.
However, as in any other country, in India there were talented people who began to independently prepare scripts for Indian works. At the same time, local traditions and customs were put on the Greek basis.
At the dawn of the theater, only local rulers and very rich people could afford such a luxury. Therefore, their servants became the first actors. With the spread of the theater in breadth, professional actors also appeared.
As for the Indian plays, they are quite diverse, although many of the rules for them remained common. The scope of the work was very different. Among Indian dramas, you can find both small sketches and skits, lasting a few minutes, and large-scale works, the actions of which stretch for whole days.
Most Indian stage directors and playwrights followed strict rules. There are several. First of all, regardless of the idea and plot, violence was not allowed on the stages. In ancient India, it was enough even without a theater, so it was not customary to transfer scenes of cruelty to the stage.
The second rule, which was strictly observed, concerned the finale of the work. Therefore, you should not think that the happy ending of a play or a movie is an invention of Hollywood. It was known and used in ancient India several centuries BC. Therefore, all Indian plays, both ancient and modern, strictly follow this rule. At the same time, the plot can be tragic and even heartbreaking, however, in the end, everything will end well.
A special issue is the arrangement of the theater. Much attention was paid to this part of the theatrical performance. The costumes for the characters were carefully selected. For them, the most expensive matter was used, and jewelry cost a lot of money. Although the theatrical props were not the property of the actors.
The rules for staging Indian plays also applied to stage equipment. There were no screens or curtains between the audience and the actors. Therefore, the actors, going on stage, immediately caught the eye of the audience. There were also few scenery in the Indian theater. And the abundance of props was replaced by increased gestures, facial expressions and dancing.
Interestingly, the Indian actors said almost nothing. All actions were expressed by gestures and dance. And the public could guess what was happening only by understanding the special symbols that were expressed by gestures.
Indian theater is desirable to see with your own eyes. This is a very interesting and captivating sight.
