365bet

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 4 - Hastalaksanadipika—a study

Page:

7 (of 29)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


Download the PDF file of the original publication


Copyright (license):

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


Warning! Page nr. 7 has not been proofread.

of some rāgas in the music of Kūṭiyāṭṭom resemble with the devāram music tradition in Tamil. Inclusion of the rāgas like Indaḷa, Śrīkāmara and Kaisiki points to the same period. The essence of Kūṭiyāṭṭom is in the Ångikābhinaya. Drama or Rūpaka is called vākyārthābhinaya while Uparupaka and forms of dance-drama are called padarthābhinaya. The actor has first to express the whole or bhāva which is the vākyārtha and then come to its break-up and interpret word by padartha. The vākyārtha is shown prominently by the actions of the parts of the face chiefly by the eyes, that is, in terms of Bharata, by the abhinaya of the upangas. The second aspect of this abhinaya, especially of the beautiful verses which blossom forth on the dialogues like flowers on the boughs, is the improvisation. Several ideas and sentiments are unfolded and elaborated through the techniques of abhinaya. The very scheme of sañcaribhāvas and the detailed description of the anubhāvas, and again the elaboration of the interpretation through the six stages of Śārīrābhinaya - all set forth by Bharata, show that this should have been the ancient and traditional way of interpreting the text of the plays. Although there are no old manuals of such abhinaya handed down in Sanskrit for the classical plays, some indications of the time of interpretation in the actual manuals for a play are there in Kuṭṭanimata in the Kūṭiyāṭṭom tradition. 114

Let's grow together!

I humbly request your help to keep doing what I do best: provide the world with unbiased sources, definitions and images. Your donation direclty influences the quality and quantity of knowledge, wisdom and spiritual insight the world is exposed to.

Let's make the world a better place together!

Like what you read? Help to become even better: