Recently, manuscripts of the Bhagavad Gita and Natyashastra were added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register among 74 new entries. Introduced in 1992, the works selected by Memory of the World programme, are of “world significance and outstanding universal value… guarding against collective amnesia...” The two Indian manuscripts selected for MoW were preserved by the famous Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune.
Bhagavad Gita, a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjun in the middle of a battlefield provides spiritual and ethical basis for leading one’s life. Composed between first and second century BCE, Gita is celebrated globally and has been translated into over 80 languages of the world. Though not obscure, study of Natyashastra is limited to Indian classical dancers and theatre practitioners.
“There is no such compendium in the world that points to significance of arts in a life, society, civilization and in a nation’s history like Natyashastra; it is unique,” observes Padma Vibhushan Dr Sonal Mansingh, Odissi and Bharatanatyam exponent.
Bharat Muni and Aristotle
The encyclopaedic work on art by Bharat Muni -- Natyashastra is the world's oldest treatise on art and aesthetics. More than 2,500 years old, it is divided into 36 chapters and contains more than 6,000 verses in Sanskrit, encompassing all aspects of art—not just performing arts—as is commonly believed. The misconception about it being a dancer’s guide book stems from the many sculptures of karanas (dance postures) found in South India, especially at Chidambaram temple of Tamil Nadu, where all the 108 postures, as mentioned in the 4th chapter of Natyashastra, are sculpted aesthetically.
Aristotle’s Poetics, internalised by the students of art and literature globally, contains just five chapters and deals with two genres-- tragedy and comedy-- while Natyashastra classifies 7 genres, based on 49 different emotions human beings experience.
The 7th chapter of the treatise in Sanskrit, entitled Bhava Adhyaya is universal in scope especially, for the study of psychosomatic responses generated by emotions. The 49 emotions elicit 500 different expressions—each one explored by Bharat Muni in detail. “We don’t find such nuanced study of emotions and expressions anywhere else,” comments Dr Arjun Bhardwaj, scholar of comparative Greek and Sanskrit literature.
“Poetics is a subset of Natyashastra,” he adds, “It encompasses paintings, sculpture, architecture, poetry, theatre, costumes, set design, music, dance, yoga… even the process of making musical instruments. The most important aspect of it is a chapter on Rasa-- Rasa Sutra is the hallmark of this work,” he adds.
The Nine Rasas
Since creation of art is aimed at offering solace from the harsh realities of life by evoking different rasas; the rasa is evoked not only to entertain, it must also carry an undercurrent of dharma, to bring about a positive transformation in the viewer, according to the treatise.
Each aspect of life was touched by art in ancient India following the rules of Natyashastra across the length and breadth of the country. Therefore, manuscripts of the treatise are found in all the regions as also in a few Southeast Asian countries. In Thailand the mask of Bharat Muni is worshipped by artists before any art performance. In Cambodia it is a living tradition.
Natyashastra’s relevance invited hundreds of commentaries in almost all languages of the land, the most popular and authoritative being the thousand- year- old Abhinavgupta’s Abhinavbharati, which explores the theory of rasa, the aesthetic experience, and its relation to the spiritual and inner self. Abhinavgupta was a polymath from Kashmir.
Relevance for Modern Arts
Natyashastra gives tools to evaluate any art form in an aesthetic framework; whether it has eternal impact or is ephemeral. The tools as well as aesthetic frameworks are eternal and are applicable across cultures and geographies.
The Rasasutra also offers theory of colours, applied in plastic arts. Renowned artist, late Akbar Padamsee once mentioned in a YouTube interview to this writer that the theory of colour espoused by Natyashastra corresponds with the modern scientific theory of colours.
Good art carries timeless appeal; epics like Bhagwat Gita have become more relevant in the modern times. Great art also follows the principles of social and spiritual responsibility, as delineated by Bharat Muni in Natyashastra. The inclusion of Natyashastra in MoW will help artists across the globe to rejuvenate and reevaluate their art with the principles of Rasa Utpatti that is not mere entertainment.
By Vandana Shukla
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