Paper: 1 Detail Study Of Natyashastra, Specially Dance Related Chapters And Sangita Ratnakar Module 2 Relevance Of Natya Shastra Today The Impact of Natyashastra and Traditional Indian Theatre on Contemporary Theatre Practice Bharatamuni’s Natyashastra has remained an akaragrantha / आकारग्रंथ – authentic source book – for centuries, containing within itself a systematic presentation of the conceptual framework of theory and praxis of the tradition of performing arts that is followed in India even today. It is believed that the Natyashastra was discovered sometime in the 19th century, with Sir William Jones being the first scholar to have referred to it in the preface of his 1789 edition of Abhijnanasakuntalam in English translation. Later, in the second half of the 19th century, Natyashastra attracted the attention of several scholars in Europe and India who referred to it in their writings. They include H H Wilson (Select Specimens of the Theatre of Hindus – 1826), Fitz Edward Hall (Dasarupakam – 1865), Paul Regnaud (French translation of Natyashastra, around 1880), Grosset (critical editions of Natyashastra, 1888, 1898), Kavyamala edition (KM) of Natyashastra prepared on the basis of two different copies of one manuscript in 1894, Ramkrishna Kavi (first volume of 1 Natyashastra with Abhinavabharati, Gaekwar Oriental Series (GOS), Baroda, 1926; three more volumes were released in 1934, 1954, and 1964), Batuk Nath Sharma and Baldev Upadhyay (edition of Natyashastra under Kashi Sanskrit Series (KSS), 1927), M M Ghosh (critical edition of Natyashastra in English translation, Kolkata), R S Nagar(text edited with Abhinavabharati on basis of four editions from Delhi). In recent years, scholars like N P Unni (complete edition of Natyashastra with English translation and notes based on Kerala edition by Narayan Pisharoti), R Gnoli (textual studies on the Rasa portion of Abhinavabharati), Ramaswami, K Krishnamurthy, T S Nandi, Rajendra Nanavati, and S K Belvelkar have worked on the Natyashastra. As of now, the Natyashastra editions - the KM edition, the KSS edition, the GOS edition, Kolkata edition, Delhi edition and Kerala edition – are considered worthy of note by academics and scholars. The manuscripts of Natyashastra or their copies have been found from Almora, Andhra Pradesh, Bengal, Darbhanga, Chennai, Nepal, Pune, Thiruvanantapuram, Ujjain and Tamil Nadu. These have been found in Bhojimol / भोजिमोऱ, Newari / नेवारी and Devanagari / देवनागरी scripts. Natyashastra in Modern Times Though India has an ancient and active tradition of indigenous theatre and performance in each region, the influence of colonialism brought with it an onslaught of realistic theatre popular in the United Kingdom and Europe. It led to the emergence of Parsi theatre in India. Rabindranath Tagore in Bengal and Bhartendu Harishchandra at Kashi (Benaras) made 2 strong efforts to regenerate the spirit of Indian theatre, and these efforts lead to a revival of interest in the Natyashastra, and later, to creating the concept of a national theatre, that was taken up by a number of scholars and theatre experts. It ultimately led to the establishment of the National School of Drama in New Delhi, the Kalidasa Akademi at Ujjain, the Kerala Kala Mandalam in Kerala, and so on. Such activities raised the very significant issue of continuity and change in traditional Indian forms of theatre and scholars such as Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan who began the tremendous work on establishing the interlinks between the Natyashastra and regional forms of theatre. Their work has been also able to establish that the interaction between Natyashastra and regional theatre in India has not been a one-way affair but that regional theatric traditions contributed significantly to the re-structuring of the Natyashastra text from time to time. In fact, during what was believed to have been a period of apparent discontinuity of the Natyashastra traditions during medieval times, its legacy continued to quietly thrive in textual traditions through the contributions of authors such as Dhanika-Dhananjaya / धननक - धनन्िय, Ramachandra-Gunachandra / रामचंद्र - गुणचंद्र, Hemachandra / हेमचंद्र, Sarangadeva / सारंगदेव, Saradatanaya / शारदातनय, Sagaranandini / सागरंदीन, Jayasenapati / ियसेनाऩनत, Someshvara / सोमे�वर, Sudhakalasa / सधु ाकऱश, Amrutanandayogina / अम्रतु ानान्दयोगगना, Vishwanatha / वव�वनाथ, Kumbha / कंु भ, Pundarika Vitthala / ऩंडु ररक ववऱ, Shubhankara / शभु ंकर, Raghunatha / रघनु ाथ, Vipradasa / ववप्रदास and others active during the dark decades of the Middle Age. 3 Several such in-depth research studies have also been able to prove that Natyashastra not only exercised its influence on regional Indian theatre traditions but also on the theatric traditions of neighboring Asian countries – Bali, Indonesia, Siam/Thailand, Japan (Noh theatre). M L Varadpande / म ऱ वरदऩांडे re-examined the question of inter-relationships between the Indian and Greek traditions of theatre and aesthetics during the pre-Christian era. Bharata Gupta / भरत गुप्ता studied links between Sanskrit drama and Greek drama through various existing models of ancient Greek theatres. Among the latest in researchers is Klara Gonc Moacanin whose work questions Greek influence on Sanskrit theatre to reaffirm the divergences between the two streams. Natyashastra therefore is not just a text, it is a tradition of theatre that has remained vibrant till today. Traditional Indian Theatre and Natyashastra: Through the efforts of Maria C. Bryski and F B J Krupier as well as several Indian scholars, the question of the origin of Indian drama has been resolved – it is now proven that the most obvious source of Indian theatre is the Vedic tradition that itself was an assimilation of other streams of tradition as well. The publication of Bharata’s Natyashastra, complete with Abhinavabharati / अभभनवभारती from Baroda in 1964, coincides with a fresh interest of theatre-persons not only in the Natyashastra but also in Kutiyattam and numerous forms of traditional folk theatre scattered throughout India. Natyashastra also covers a wide range of artistic disciplines 4 such as music, dance, prosody, dramaturgy, aesthetics, architecture on the one hand, and philosophy, psychology, myth, ritual, grammar, phonetics and geography, on the other. It is an astonishing, seminally rich work which brings together all the theatrical traditions of every region of the sub-continent. Natyashastra has been a continuous and significant source for Sanskrit theatre to draw upon from the days of Kalidasa and other Sanskrit playwrights such as Shudraka / शद्रू क, Vishakhadatta / ववशाखाद配त, Bhavabhuti / भवभनू त, Harsha / हषष, Bhattanarayana / भनारयण, Bodhayana, and Mahendravikrama / महᴂद्रववक्रम. It has also been a determining force for the genesis of later forms of traditional Indian theatre. Researchers have found how a number of uparupakas (minor plays) had emerged in pre-medieval India that had their source traced to Kohala, a student of Bharata. Abhinavagupta / अभभनवगुप्त, Bhoja / भोि and Saradatanaya / शरदातनय have offered a lot of important information on these uparupakas. This new development related to Sanskrit theatre is likely to shed more light on the aspect related to continuity and growth of the traditional Indian theatre. The praxis part of Natyashastra is often understood through the commentary by Abhinavagupta that is presented under Natyavedavivritti / ना絍यवेदवजृ 配त or Abhinavabharati / अभभनवभारती, combined with the stage directions provided in Sanskrit plays and references found in literary sources, old commentaries on Sanskrit plays, texts on dance, drama and 5 music as well as commentaries found on dramatic texts of regional theatre forms. Sanskrit theatre as well as several pre-medieval and medieval traditional theatre forms such as kutiyattam, yakshagana, kathakali, ankiyanata-bhavana, ramalila, raasa, bhavai and so on that developed in different parts of India have been inspired by Natyashastra even when they continued to be very deeply rooted into their own regional traditions and texts. These traditions and texts were kept active and changed according to the trends of their times. There was a marked shift as a number of the new trends emerged forcefully. Those largely responsible for this were Kulashekharavarman / कु ऱशखे रवमनष in the south and Rajashekhara / रािशेखर in the north, who introduced innovation in Sanskrit drama-writing and provided fresh stimulus by assimilating new trends prevailing in their own regions. Kulashekharavarman infused new strength in the ancient kutiyattam / कु टियम tradition of Kerala preserved by the Chakyars and also composed new plays. Rajashekhara wrote plays in Sanskrit as well as Prakrit. His Prakrit play, Karpuramanjari / कऩरुष मंिरी, is an example of Sattaka. Sattaka / सक is a variety of uparupaka. Another well-known playwright, Vatsaraja / व配सराि revoked older forms like the samavakara / स륍वकार and dima / डीमा of the rupakas and introduced new content and themes. The playwright Ksemisvara brought about revolutionary change in the basic concept of nataka / नािक. While there were numerous regional theatre traditions, there are three that stood out in their strong connection to the continuity of Sanskrit theatre. These are the kutiyattam of Kerala, the yakshagana of Karnataka and the ankinayata- 6 bhavana of Assam. Kutiyattam continued to follow the tradition of Sanskrit drama with only pure Sanskrit text; it is often termed as the only surviving form of Sanskrit theatre tradition in entire India. It also provides