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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—a 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—some of India's oldest theatrical traditions in Kerala.

Chapter 3 - Later developments of dramatic techniques

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1 (of 22)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)


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LATER DEVELOPMENTS OF DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES ABHINAYADARPANA - THE BASIC LAY OUT The AD is a small text describing the various aspects of abhinaya which is the basic concept of Indian dramaturgy. More than 300 slokas are there in the AD. Nandikeśvara, one of the followers of Lord Siva, is said to be the author of the AD. Ängikābhinaya with its special aspects and varieties is mainly described here. The text starts with the salutations to Lord Siva followed by the origin of Natya (Nāṭyōtpatti). The propagation of Natya (Nāṭyapracāracaritam), the nature of Naṭya and Nṛtya, the lord of assembly (sabhanayaka), assembly (sabhā), stage (rangamaṇḍapom), danseuse etc. are then described. Next, the fourfold abhinaya - Āṅgika, Vācika, Āhārya and Sātvika is described. In the Angikābhinaya, angas, pratyangas, upāṅgas, Nine types of head gestures, movements, eight types of abhinaya through the eyes, four types of neck-gestures, 28 asamyutahastas, 23 samyutahastas Brahma, the ten incarnations (of Visṇu), the castes like Brahmin, the genders like male and female and relationship are also shown through different hand gestures. Then he describes five hastagatis, 13 nṛttahastas and the hastas to denote the navagrahas. The definition of the mandalas, the sthānakas, the utpḷavanas, bhramaris, cāris and gatis are then given. Thus the AD is a text which explain the fourfold abhinaya in general and Angikabhinaya in particular. all these are described in detail. The deities like 89

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