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 7 - Vacikabhinaya according to Bharata’s Natyasastra
24 (of 29)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
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E.g. (i) for the end of an act: Ascaryacūdāmaṇi Act VI 'रक्षोवधात् विरतकर्म विसृज्� चापं ... ( [rakṣovadhāt viratakarma visṛjya cāpa� ... (] ii) For description of dusk time: Dhananjaya Act II 'अपरगिर� निषण्ण� वासर� वासरश्री ... ( [aparagiri niṣaṇṇa� vāsara� vāsaraśrī ... (] iii) description of noon: Ascaryacūḍāmaṇi, Act I �तापात् तल्क्षणघृष्टचन्द�.... [tāpāt talkṣaṇaghṛṣṭacandana....] ' (iv) for killing an evil person: Bālacarita: 'सन्ध्याकाल� सभाद्वार�.... [sandhyākāle sabhādvāre.... ] ' (v) for bhakti the invocation beginning with ‘clafarg�...'in Rāmāyaṇam Prabandha THE ROLE OF RAGAS IN THE EXPOSITION OF SENTIMENTS It is very difficult to identify the rāgas (svaras) in Kütiyāṭṭom. The training is not given by teaching the names of the svaras or their applications. The practice is that each ślōka is recited in a particular manner. When it is tallied with the prescriptive rule of the svara it is usually found to be correct. 46 While describing about the svaras in Kutiyattom the NKD says:
Svaranāmannaḷivaṇṇam pattum pattumatayiṭum". But it has already
been found that there are twenty-four ragas in Kūṭiyāṭṭom with defini-
tion of twenty-one of them.
In Pañcamatraya, Māṇi Mādhava Cäkyär mentions only two:
Cetipañcama and Bhinnapañcama. In kramadīpikā of Āścaryacūḍāmaṇi,
K.P. Nārāyaṇa Piṣāroty even raises the question whether there are more
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