Essay name: Hastalaksanadipika a critical edition and study
Author:
E. K. Sudha
Affiliation: Government Sanskrit College (Tripunithura) / Department of Sanskrit
This is an English study on the Hastalaksanadipika鈥攁 manual depicting the Mudras (gestures) of the Kerala theatre. It is a very popular text supposedly dating to the 10th century A.D. This study also touches the subject of Krsnanattam, Kathakali and Kutiyattam鈥攕ome of India's oldest theatrical traditions in Kerala.
Chapter 3 - Later developments of dramatic techniques
8 (of 22)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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STUDY OF BALARAMABHARATA
叠膧尝础搁膧惭础叠贬础搁础罢础
Kerala the Southern most part of India has been famous for
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its cultivation and preservation of Sanskrit studies. The cultivation of
Sanskrit language has flourished in Kerala in unbroken tradition for at
least twelve centuries. The growth of Sanskrit literature in Kerala
includes almost all its branches Vedic exegesis, philosophy, religion,
general literature, grammar, arts and architecture, Mantra and Tantrasastra,
astrology, astronomy, poetics and dramaturgy. Though there is a rich
collection of Sanskrit works in several of these branches, we have only
a few, unique works connected with the stage like the Vyangyavy膩khya
on Tapatisamvara峁嘺 and the Subhadr膩dhananjaya of Kulasekhara Varma
the Natanku艣a of unknown authorship and B膩lar膩mabharata of K膩rtika
Tirun膩岣� Mah膩r膩ja. While the Vyangyavy膩khy膩 discusses in detail how the
Sanskrit plays should be staged and the Natanku sa severely criticises
the liberties taken by the c膩ky膩rs in their performance of Sanskrit plays
in K奴峁璱y膩峁弓om, the B膩lar膩mabharata deals with the techniques of Indian
classical dance and drama in accordance with Bharata's N膩峁瓂a艣膩stra. Since
the work is also the result of the practical knowledge of the author about
the Kerala stage, it is a rare and unique contribution of Kerala to
Sanskrit dramaturgy. The BRB details the rules of expressive dance and
records the authors views in many places.
