The Sanskrit drama : $b in its origin, development, theory and practiceKeith, Arthur Berriedale
History
The Sanskrit drama : $b in its origin, development, theory and practice
Keith, Arthur Berriedale
Sanskrit drama -- History and criticism
The heroine is accorded even a more generous allowance of excellencies
than the hero. [649] The first three are physical, the first display of
emotion in a nature previously exempt (bhāva), the movement of eyes and
brows betokening the awakening of love (hāva), and the still more open
manifestation of affection. The next seven are inherent characteristics
of the heroine; the brilliance of youth and passion; the added touch of
loveliness given by love, sweetness, radiance, courage, dignity, and
self-control. Then come ten graces; the sportive imitation of the
movements or words of the beloved one, the swift change of aspect at
his arrival, tasteful arrangement of one’s ornaments to increase
radiance of appearance, studied confusion of ornaments, hysteria
(kilakiñcita), in which anger, fear, joy, and tears mingle,
manifestations of affection (moṭṭāyita) on hearing the beloved
mentioned or seeing his portrait, pretended anger (kuṭṭamita) on the
lover touching hair or lip, affected indifference (bibboka), born of
excess of pride, a graceful pose (lalita), and the bashfulness which
forbids speech even when an opportunity presents itself. To these
twenty Viçvanātha adds eight more graces; the pride which is vain of
youth and beauty, the ennui which besets the maiden in her lover’s
absence, the naïveté which displays itself in pretended ignorance and
innocence, the distraction evinced by ornaments in disorder, wandering
glances, and truant words, curiosity, the meaningless laugh of youth
and high spirits, the tremors of fear causeless but common in the
presence of the lover, and the sportive play of young affection. The
same source gives us in great detail the modes in which the different
types of heroine display their affection, in maidenly modesty or in
shameless boldness, an analysis showing keen and deep insight into all
the outward manifestations of love at an Indian court. Less
praiseworthy is the perverse ingenuity which enumerates the different
types of heroine, and educes first 128 from the combination of the
eight forms of relationship to the lover with the sixteen kinds based
on the division of wife, another’s, and hetaera. These are then
multiplied by three on the basis of the division of all characters as
high class, middle class, and low class.
The same division of classes is applied to all the other characters
(pātra) which can appear in a play, but a much more fundamental
classification is that by sex, masculine, feminine, and neuter. Most of
the rôles are such as are incidental to the life of a palace, for the
normal drama deals with the amours of a king, and his entourage and
that of the queen account for practically all the normal characters of
the drama.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account