Indian Theatre
Indian Theatre

Author: Farley P. Richmond

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 518

ISBN-13: 9788120809819

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Indian Theatre expands the boundaries of what is usually regarded as theatre in order to explore the multiple dimensions of theatrical performance in India. From rural festivals to contemporary urban theatre, from dramatic rituals and devotional performances to dance-dramas and classical Sanskrit plays, this volume is a vivid introduction to the colourful and often surprising world of Indian performance. Besides mapping the vast range of performance traditions, the volume provides in-depth treatment of representative genres, including well-known forms such as Kathakali and ram lila and little-knowa performances such as tamasha. Each of these chapters explains the historical background of the theatre form under consideration and interprets its dramatic literature, probes its ritual or religious significance, and, where relevant, explores its social and political implications. Moreover, each chapter, except for those on the origins of Indian theatre, concludes with performance notes describing the actual experience of seeing a live performance in its original context. Based on extensive fieldwork, Indian Theatre is the first comprehensive account of the subject to be written by Western specialists and addressed to the needs of readers in the West. It will be a valuable resource for all students of Indian culture and a standard work in the history of theatre and performance for years to come.

A Yoga of Indian Classical Dance
A Yoga of Indian Classical Dance

Author: Roxanne Kamayani Gupta

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2000-03-01

Total Pages: 625

ISBN-13: 1594775273

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The yoga and classical dance traditions of India have been inextricably entwined for millennia. The exacting hand gestures, postures and movements of Indian classical dance can only be achieved through yogic concentration. Conversely, the esthetics, symmetry, and dynamism of dance enhance the practice of yoga. These two traditions, so complementary and essential to one another, are united and explicated for the first time in A Yoga of Indian Classical Dance. Twenty-five years ago Roxanne Kamayani Gupta embarked on a journey of dance and yoga, yearning to unlock their mysteries and discover their common origins. As a twenty-year-old student from America she was miraculously and mysteriously absorbed into Indian culture, became a Hindu, and began an odyssey so unusual and unique that the reader will be enchanted by its telling. Choosing the path of the dancer, Roxanne Gupta accomplished what no Western woman had done before: being accepted and trained by Indian masters and then performing in the Indian classical traditions--from the palaces of maharajas to the arts festivals of Europe and America--while at the same time achieving a doctorate in the anthropology of religion and being initiated into a number of yogic traditions. Having mastered the classical form of Kuchipudi dance and studied with teachers of the hatha and kriya yoga traditions, she brings together these two great streams of consciousness and practice. In this tantric approach to yoga and dance, expressed through the body and through a yoga of emotions, we see the traditions embodied in a manner that embraces the totality of the human experience. The result is the dance of the yogini, the sacred feminine initiatress who dances with one foot in nature and the other in the realm of the gods. With extensive photographs of innovative yoga routines, Roxanne Kamayani Gupta distills her experience into techniques for yogic study certain to assist students of all levels to achieve a dynamic, beautiful, and graceful practice.

Thirteen Plays of Bhasa
Thirteen Plays of Bhasa

Author: A. C. Woolner

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass

Published: 2015-01-01

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 8120809084

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This translation is of thirteen Sanskrit plays discovered in South India by the late Pandit Ganapati Sastri and edited by him in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. It comprises the following titles: 1. Pratijnayaugandharayana, 2. Svapnavasavadatta, 3. Carudatta, 4. Pancaratra, 5. Madhyamavyayoga, 6.Pratima-nataka, 7.Dutavakya, 8.Dutaghatotkaca, 9.Karnabhara, 10.Urubhanga, 11.Avimaraka, 12.Balacarita, and 13.Abhiseka. Sastri attributed all the thirteen plays to Bhasa and the prevailing opinion of the scholars is in agreement with him, though the available evidence is not conclusive and so the question still remains open. The translation was done by two eminent Sanskrit scholars. It was published s early as 1930 and a reprint is now issued in view of a persistent demand of scholars. Pandit Ganapati Sastri attributed all thirteen plays to Bhasa, a famous dramatist earlier than Kalidasa. Some verses are ascribed to Bhasa by medieval anthologies, but only ten with unanimity. We are told that he composed a Svapnavasavadattam (his best play) and that in another play the device of the wooden elephant was used. Characteristic features of his work are described by Bana, and other poets evidently held him in high estimation. One or two verses from his plays are quoted by writers on poetics. Otherwise, the text of BhasaÍs numerous plays had completely disappeared. The learned editor of the Trivandrum plays found that they contained a Svapnavasavadattam (the best play in the collection), and, in the Pratijna-Yaugandharayanam, a scene dealing with the wooden elephant. He noticed also certain peculiarities in the technique of the plays which he regarded as signs of antiquity. All these points confirmed the opinion that Bhasa was the author.