LYNE BANSAT-BOUDON

THE LASYAIVGAS

IN B H A R A T A ' S

THEATRE

TREATISE

TWO EXPOSITIONS, TWO REALITIES Both in Bharata's Nft.tyaddstra and in the Abhinavabhdrati, its commentary by Abhinavagupta, there are some concepts made conspicuous to the reader's attention through their many occurrences. Among them, the ldsydhgas, dealt with in no less than two long accounts in the Nd.tyagdstra -namely: one in chapter XIX, the itivrttddhydya, treating of the plot, and the other headed tdlddhydya, or rhythm chapter -- and celebrated in many a place by the Abhinavabhdrati for their beauty, theatricality and absolute perfection. For after all, why should there be two expositions on the ldsydhgas in Bharata's treatise? As a vigilant reader, but, most of all, as an accomplished exegete, Abhinavagupta reveals and demonstrates that the answer is to be found in the Nd.tya~dstra itself,~ in that chapter XIX where the ldsydhgas are being first investigated. Such is the answer: the ldsydhgas in chapter XIX are but fragments (indifferently termed amia or bhdga in the Abhinavabhdratt-) borrowed from those ldsydhgas fully stated in chapter XXXI. Abhinavagupta's thesis is a daring one, insofar as no commentator before him would have contemplated such an idea -- which he supports by putting forward two arguments of a different nature. The first one is rooted in kdrikd 138 which closes, in chapter XIX, the development about the ldsydfigas, and whereby the reader is duly warned by Bharata himself against the fragmentary character both of the definitions which have just been given and of the object just defined. The text reads as follows:

etesdm ldsyavidhau vijheyam, laksanam prayogajfiaih. tad ihaiva tu yah noktam, prasahgavinivrttahetos 2 tu "It is in the exposition on the ldsya [in chapter XXXI] that those who have a knowledge of representation must derive the exact definition of these [ldsydtigas]. The reason for not formulating that definition at this stage is the desire to avoid any redundancy." Abhinavagupta thus comments:

Indo-Iranian Journal 34: 247--265, 1991. 9 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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nanu ldsydhgebhyo yo bhdgdn upafivati sa tdvad ihoktah., tes6m tu svarftpam vaktavyam ity d~ahkydha etesdm 16syavidhdv iti " ' A n d yet, it will be objected, that [ldsydhga] which benefits from fragments (bhdga) [borrowed] from the [full-fledged] lgtsydhga is the only one that has been stated here; but their essential nature (svar@a) should be expounded [too['. Fearing the objection, he says: 'It is in the ldsya technique that, from the latter [the exact definition] . . . ' -3 The second argument put forward by Abhinavagupta while concluding is of a formal order: the ldsydhgas of chapter XIX can but be stage adaptations of the ldsydhgas of chapter XXXI, and their given definition can only be a fragmentary one, insofar as Bharata, in the itivrttddhydya, does not conform to the usual protocol of exposition. For, after enumerating the ten ldsydhgas, and reasserting that there are ten of them here as there are ten of them there -- meaning in the account of the ldsya -- Bharata directly proceeds and defines the geyapada (kfi 121) which comes first in the list. But then the canonical exposition order demands, in the case of real definitions-- that is complete ones--, that they should be preceded by this solemn warning:

etesdm laks..an,am. vydkhydsye "I am going to state their definition." 4 One may easily get convinced of this by referring to chapter XXXI, kfi 330, in which things precisely occur as expected:

ldsyam ity eva yat ptirvam maygt yah. pariMrtitam laksan, am tasya vaksyglmi prayogam ca yathdkramam "What I formerly dealt with when I wrote: 'This is what the ldsya is', I am going to give its definition as well as the order of its performance." Therefore -- Abhinavagupta comments -- the complete definition of the

ldsydhgas is to be found in chapter XXXI,5 whereas chapter XIX only offers a fragmentary definition suiting the fragmentary character of its object. Otherwise, one would have to admit that the account -- like an elephant driven to madness -- had broken its chains, and so that the text could have run out of Bharata's control, which is simply unthinkable. 6 Such is the key necessary to the understanding of the ldsydhgas: the

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reason why they are expounded twice within the corpus of the Nd.tyaidstra in spite of its oft-iterated assertions of its obedience to the nonredundancy principle of the ~dstras 7 -- is that there are two different objects. In other words, one should establish a distinction between the ldsyd~gas of chapter XIX and those of chapter XXXI. We shall insist upon the essential character of that point, which, for its having failed to attract either the attention of the theoritieians after Bharata or that of contemporary research-workers, has too often misled them -among other confusions - - into seeing the ldsydfigas as no more than elements of the ldsya dance. 8 As a matter of fact, it all naturally enough starts with the pf~rvarat~ga, a theatralized ritual used as a prologue to the performance, or, to be more precise, with the citrap~rvarafiga, the "variegated", in which, on the instance of Nilakantha himself, the dance has been introduced under the twofold aspect, respectively violent and tender, of the tdn.dava and ldsya. 9 This is where the ten full-fledged ldsyd~gas -- that is those truly defined as elements of the ldsya -- should appear. Endowed with a subject, and even sometimes with a poetical text, they may -- should the occasion arise -- lend themselves to the unravelling of the acting (abhinaya), 1~ but their main characteristic is to belong to the sphere of music, song and dance, thus accounting for the noun they are designated by and the place they are given in the course of the Nd.tyaddstra, since it is in the rhythm chapter that they are dealt with in full detail. 11 Through the commentary on chapter XXXI, we learn about these full-fledged ldsydfigas that all of them are brought into operation in the p~trvaratiga ~2 and set out in the order of a strict protocol, in accordance with a precise strategy which brings them in once the curtain has been removed (page apasdrite): 13 the geyapada at the moment of the first three stages of that Preliminaries' visible phase constituted by the gftaka, the utthdpana, and the parivartana; the sthitapdt.hya and the dsina, at the time of the ndndf; the pus.pagand, ikd at the times of the ~uskdvakrstd and ra~gadvdra; the pracchedaka at the moment of the cdri; the trimfMhaka and the dvim~tdhaka at that of the mahdcdrf, with, in-between, the saindhava at a moment when the drum is being played; the uttamottamaka at the time of the trigata (the last stage but one of the ceremonial); ultimately, the uktapratyukta is probably introduced (though in this respect the Abhinavabhdrati fails to enlighten us) at the moment of the prarocand, insofar as it constitutes the final phase of these Preliminaries. a4 As a matter of fact, the insertion of the full-fledged ldsy&igas in the second part of the pftrvara~ga, the one which articulates with the actual -

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performance and takes place in front of the curtain -- hence the generic term of bahiryavanikd used for this second volet -- testifies to the properly spectacular dimension of these Preliminaries whose vocation is a halfreligious and half-theatrical one. As for the ldsydfigas of chapter XIX, the itivr.ttddhydya, in which Bharata first addresses the poet in order to teach him the rules of dramatic poetry, they are ldsydhgas of the theatre, those which appear in the course of the performance itself, after it has been introduced by the long and complex pltrvarahga ceremonial.

HOW ONE CATEGORY

O F L A S Y A I q G A IS D E R I V E D

FROM ANOTHER

Likeable parasites, they derive -- as underlined by the Abhinavabhdratf -their very existence from the ldsyd@as of the pfirvarafiga, as clearly indicated by the verb upafiv, 15 generally found under its krtya form, which appears time and time again like a leitmotiv. This assertion is supported by the introductory sentence of the commentary on the puspagan, d.ikd:

puspagand, ikdkhyaldsydhgdd upafivydm~am dha "He [Bharata] says which fragment borrowed from the [fullfledged] ldsy6hga headed puspagand, ik6 should be operated [here, by the similarly-named Idsydhga]. ''16 It is what we also learn from the commentary on kfi 138 in which the verb upafiv for once appears in the indicative of the active present:

nanu ldsydhgebhyo yo bhdgdn upafivati sa tdvad ihoktah. [...] "But, it will be objected, that [ldsydhga] which benefits from fragments borrowed from the [full-fledged[ 16sydhga is the one that has been stated here [...],,17 The full process whereby both poets and practicians -- whether actors or stage-managers 18 -- endeavour to extract one ldsydftga from another can be reconstituted from the elements of information provided in a scattered way by the Abhinavabhdrati. This is how we learn that its first phase is a borrowing one, most often signified by the combined use of the noun bhdga or amda and of the ablative, or from-case, applied either to the term ldsydhga, or to the name it bears at this stage of the exposition, or again to both of them. 19 This syntactic structure is sometimes replaced by adverbial forms of

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similar value such as tatas or, at some other times, though more seldom, by verbal forms, as is the case in the commentary on kfi 135:

dvitiyena tata gtkrsya vaicitryabh@o ngt.tyopayogi kathyate "In the second [half of the kdrikd] he says, after [that fragment] has been borrowed (dkrsya) from it [the definition in chapter XXXI], which fragment of wonderful beauty is [likely to be] useful to na.tya.''2~ Thus does the ldsydhga of the theatre live at the expense of the fullfledged ldsyfthga -- the pf~rvarahga one. Thus does the former exploit (upafivati) the piece of beauty is has extorted from the latter. 21 Through what means? Needless to say, by appropriating it, since, living at someone's expense amounts to appropriating some part of his property. In order to signify this appropriation, the verb svikr is the one selected by the gloss, as, for instance, when dealing with the trimf~dhaka:

tata iha vacasi rasopayogi gundlahkdrdm~ah, svikartavyah. "What should be appropriated here [by borrowing it] from the latter [the full-fledged ldsydhga] is that fragment which, in the speech, is useful to rasa, that is qualities and ornaments ''22 or, when dealing with the saindhava:

alaukiko 'yam artho rahjanopayogi ldsydhgdt svikrto bhavati "Such is the extraordinary content, conducive to the [spectator's[ pleasure, that one appropriates [by borrowing it] from the [fullfledged] ldsydhga.''23 But then how can one appropriate it? By strictly adjusting it to the nd.tya proper, as is indicated in the commentary on the pracchedaka:

atha pracchedakdhgakrtam, vaicitryam, yojayitum dha "Now, and in order to adjust (yojayitum) the wonderful beauty derived from the ahga pracchedaka [to the nd.tya], he says...-24 or in the one dealing with the uttamottamaka:

uttamottamakam ahgam nd.tya upayojayitum dha "He says [how to[ adjust the ahga uttamottamaka to the nd.tya.''25

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The idea of adjustment can also be conveyed through the verb bandh instead of yuj, as is the case in the general introduction:

[...] kag cid vaicitrydm. ~o [...] kaviprayoktr.bhir nd.t.ye nibandha-

niyah. "A fragment of marvellous beauty should be linked to nd.tya by poets and practicians. "26 Thus no detail of the process is omitted. As it is from now on clearly demonstrated that the ldsydhgas of chapter XIX are entirely dependent on those of chapter XXXI and derive from them -- within the nd.tya -- that fragment of wonderful beauty of which they are constituted, 27 we shall sometimes be terming them respectively ldsydhgas 2 and ldsydhgas 1 for the sake of convenience. Therefore one may say that the ldsydhgas 2 are adaptations for the theatre of the ldsyd~gas 1 or, in other terms, designs which sometimes thin out till they are no more than the particular staging of only one of the aspects of the full-fledged ldsydhgas, as happens for instance with the pracchedaka expounded in chapter XIX, in which the uddipanavibhdva, or the rise of the full moon, is what is borrowed from the original ldsyd~ga, and magnified. MINIATURE LOVE DRAMAS

Thus one can see how what was at first but a piece cut off from the material of ldsydhga 1 conquers its autonomy and really becomes a "piece" as one speaks of a piece of music -- that i's a short work whose performance, by adjusting itself and adding to that of the play proper, aims at enhancing its beauty. This is what can also be found in kfi 117 which gives the general definition of the ldsydhgas of the theatre: -

-

anydny api ldsyavidhdv ahgdni tu ndt.akopayogini asmdd vinih, sr.tdni tu bhdna ivaikaprayojydni "But then others, yet [to be found] in the exposition on the ldsya, are ahgas favourable to the ndtaka. For all their being external to the latter, they should, like the bhdn.a, be performed by a single actor. ''% For truly, the ldsydngas expounded at the end of the itivrttddhydya, after

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the sandhis, sandhyahgas and sandhyantaras, 29 are, after their fashion, nd.tydhgas, or constitutive elements of the nd.tya. Furthermore -- what is their main characteristic -- they have but one interpreter (ekaprayojydni), like the bhdna (bh6na ira), one of the ten rftpakas, or superior forms of the nd.tya. That means they include the abhinaya, which is the absolute condition for a form to belong to the nd.tya. Therefore bhdna iva is the key-expression of the kdrikd whereby the total assimilation to the nd.tya of these ldsya-originated aftgas is fully confirmed. The ldsyd~gas reach the statute of nd.~a insofar as they share its nature: bhdna iva = ndtakam iva = n6.~am iva:3~

bhdna iti ivadabdena ndtakam dha, bhdne nd.tyarftpatd samasti "'Like bhdna' [Bharata says]. By the word iva, he says: 'It is a ndtaka', since the nd.tya statute belongs to the bhdna. ''31 Thus the double condition of the ldsydhgas is demonstrated by the gloss: at the same time as they are constitutive elements of the plot (nd.tydhgas) to the same degree as the sandhis, sandhyahgas, etc, they also are, though on a smaller scale, full-fledged nd.tyas, that is to say dramatic forms defined by the association between a text and its stage representation. Adjusted to the main nd.t.ya, the ten ldsydhgas 32 intervene within the course of its performance as as many small dramas within the main one, enacted, like the bhdn.a, by one actor only, whatever the number of protagonists involved in the plot. 33 Therefore they demand an accomplished artist, capable of embodying all by himself, in turn and sometimes almost simultaneously, two or even three characters -- as the Cfikyars of the Kfitiyfit.tam do. And yet the ldsydhgas of the theatre retain something of their original nature, not only owing to the fact that they borrow from the ldsydhgas 1 the piece of wonderful beauty of which they are constituted, but also because, to various extents, they are coloured by love, which is a fundamental component of the ldsya they are derived from:

lasandl ldsyam iti uktam strfpumbhdvasamd~rayam "It is called 'ldsya' on account of the amorous game (lasana) [which it stages], linked as it is with the love feeling of the man and woman [for each other]"? 4 As a matter of fact, all the lglsydhgas, including those whose title or definition seems unrevealing in this respect - - in such a case, the missing

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information is provided by the gloss -- are particular stagings of the grhgdrarasa. Thus these short love plays stand out against the canvas of the performance as as many spectacular interludes which, though self-sufficient within the major form, work nevertheless in it as a main spring of the action, their vocation being to underline its theatrical character and to enhance its lustre. 35 THE PLACE OF THE LASYAIqGAS IN THE AESTHETIC PROCESS However, whatever their origin may be, the ldsydhgas 2 fundamentally belong from now on to theatre (nd.tya), hence their being -- after its fashion -- alaukika, as opposed to dance (ldsya) which is laukika. In effect - - a point unmistakably emphasized by the gloss -- each of them is a piece of beauty (vaicitrydmia) such as has never been seen in this world (lokdparidrsta) and, consequently, of an extra-ordinary nature (alaukika). For all its opposition to the term laukika, that of alaukika does not signify a pure and simple negation of reality (loka). In fact, after the manner of its synonym lokottara, it designates a superior, supra-worldly reality which the poet can perceive better than anyone else, and whose experience he shares with the sahrdaya, that sensitive man "whose heart is akin to his". As Bhatta Tauta - - Abhinavagupta's master -- wrote:

yady atrdsti na tatrdsya kavir varnanam arhati yah ndsambhavi tatrdsya tad varnyam saumanasyadam deio 'dridanturo dyaur vd taditkund, alaman, d.itd Mrk sydd athavd na sydt kim kadd cana kutra cit "The poet is not compelled to describe there [in his work] what is here [in this world]. On the other hand, he should describe there what is not impossible here, for it is a source of joy for the mind. The earth, whose teeth are the mountains, or the sky adorned with the ring of lightning: that such things should exist or not is of no importance. May it not be this way, some day, somewhere? "36 It is precisely in this respect that the ldsydhgas are alaukika, as much so as the theatre whose essence they somehow represent:

tathd hy dsinapdthyapuspagan, d.ikddi loke na drst.am/ na ca tan na kim cit, katham cit sambhdvyatvdd iti "True as it is that the [ldsyd~gas] such as the dsinapdt.hya, the

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puspagand, ikd etc. cannot be seen in the world, yet it does not imply that they do not exist at all, so long as they are in some way possible. ''37 This is why, in his commentary on chapter VI, Abhinavagupta makes use of them, like the tdla and the recital of the dhruvds, to demonstrate that the theatre is no mere imitation of ordinary life:

na ca munivacanam evamvidham asti kva cit sthdyyanukaran, am rasa iti / [...] pratyuta dhruvdgdnatdlavaicitryaldsydhgopafivanam nirftpanddi viparyaye lihgam iti "As for the Muni, he has never said anywhere: "The rasas are the imitation of a sthdyi [bhdva]". Rather, the formal appearance etc. [of the performance] which only exists thanks to the ldsydhgas and to the wonderful beauty of the rhythm (tdla) and of the vocal recital (dhruvdgdna) points to the contrary.''38 Besides, the ldsydtigas are enumerated, along with the various ways of speaking 39 and the divisions of the theatrical space, among the nd.tyadharmis that aim at preventing the spectator's first degree identification with the character moving before his eyes, or else with the actor who embodies him. 4~ In effect, the objective of theatrical conventions is to dismiss the second of the three obstracles to rasa (rasavighna), namely the immersion of the spectator within a space-time he thoroughly acknowledges as his own, or as that of such and such one in particular. 4~ According to the Indian theory, aesthetic pleasure is only made possible when the emotion felt by the spectator is the pure, impersonal as well as universal one resulting from this essential step of the aesthetic process: the sddhdranfkarana. Such a vocable could be translated as "generalization", provided the term is understood as meaning the depersonalization of the emotion, liberated from any kind of reference to the ego, as well as its universalization since it may be then shared by all. Simultaneously, the dance, the music and the song, the beauty of the actresses, the decoration of the theatre-hall contribute to enchanting the audience, which is yet another means of tearing them away from subjectivity. Those auxiliaries of the abhinaya, which are pure pleasure and beauty, truly aim at penetrating so deep down into the hearts as to make them forget the preoccupations and affects of a worldly order: thus they turn them into clear mirrors, which can reflect anything put before themJ 2 At that stage comes the second moment

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of the aesthetic process, that of the correspondence between hearts, or

hrdayasam, vdda. As the show has been contributing to his perfecting, the spectator has, in effect, become a sahrdaya, or, in other words, that sensitive man who is the only one entitled to experiencing rasa. Such sensitiveness (sahrdayatva) 43 in turn reaches its peak in the spectator's identification (tanmayibhdva) with the emotions and feelings being impersonated before his eyes by the actor. However - - and that is the sine qua non condition of the rasa's manifestation -- it is nothing but an identification tempered by the effect of alienation, the one that produces and upholds the actor's art as well as the one previously operated by the consciousness one has, when going to the theatre, of getting ready to behold, after Claudel's words, "something not real as if it were real. ''44 That is a complex process, and, to unravel it, it needs no less than the expanded time of the performance. And yet the ldsydhgas, at Once elements of convention, and pure beauty -- nd.tyadharmis and vaicitrydmgas -- offer all the conditions of aesthetic pleasure, as fully as the performance they are inserted in, or even perhaps better than it, since within the limits and with the perfection of a brief form. To that extent they may be termed favourable to rasa (rasopayogin), hence to nd.t.ya (nd.tyopayogin), by virtue of the equivalence that is stated time and again: "Flavour is theatre" -- nd.tyam eva rasah. 45 Better still, Abhinavagupta proceeds, they are synonymous with rasa (rasaparydyin), since they condense within them whatever is essential in beauty as well as in theatrical equipment -- abhinaya, kgtvya, gita, dtodya -to the exclusion of dance, from which they are yet remotely derived but which they have carefully evicted. The ldsydhgas are absolutes -- as the alchemists understood the term -- and deserve to be called "the best", as we learn from the gloss to the uttamottamaka, which is itself "The best among the best": uttamdni tdval ldsydhgdni tebhyo 'pidam uttamam. , sarvam hi rasaparygtyiti dargitam pr6k "The fact is that the lrsygtfigas are what is best and that, among them, this one is the best [of all]. In effect, each [of them] is synonymous with rasa, as has been formerly demonstrated. ''46 Moreover, there are in chapter XIX some lrsydhgas which are pure moments of theatre, understood in its restricted meaning, that is the one which implies only a text and its interpretation by the actor. For instance,

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the sthitapdt.hya and the pracchedaka 47 (besides, two loving situations reflecting each other, as both of them tell about love experienced when being apart from one another, though the second one is shown as a happy episode) which are devoid of singing, music and, naturally, of dancing. 48 Others still -- such as the trim6d,haka, which the kdrikd explicitly presents as a na.tya,49 and the uttamottamaka whose definition mentions its being endowed with "more than one extraordinary rasa", meaning more than one extraordinary sthdyibhdva, and its being "wonderfully hued" with those elements of the acting called held, hdva, etc. 5~

RESPONSIBILITIES A sentence of the avataranikd brilliantly sums up what is essential, namely what Abhinavagupta terms "the text's intent" (tdtparyam):

tenedam tdtparyam -- ydni ldsydhgdni vaksyante tebhyah ka~ cid vaicitrydm~o lokdparidrsto 'pi rafijanavaicitrydya kaviprayoktrbhir nd.tye nibandhanfyah. "From the ldsydtigas to be expounded [in the tdlddhydya] a fragment of marvellous beauty [should be borrowed] which, though nowhere to be found in reality, should be linked with the nd.tya by the poets and the practicians with a view to endowing it with charm and marvellous beauty. ''51 In this instance, Abhinavagupta insists on a point already called to the reader's attention at the beginning of his commentary. The playwright -- or, in Indian terms, "the poet" (kavi) -- and the practician (prayoktr) are jointly responsible for the insertion of one or several ldsydhgas within the course of the performance. 52 However, the ldsydhgas are first of all the poet's province, as is certified by the situation of their account at the end of a chapter -- chapter XIX -the vocation of which consists in teaching the playwright the rules of his art: in effect, it is up to the poet to create the dramatic situation favourable to the unravelling of a ldsydhga; then, it is the practician's task to recognize it as such and to display it fully on stage. But, one will say, is the poet content with providing the starting point, the occasion of a ldsydfiga, or does he write its text as well? That is of little importance. In either case, it is up to the poet to give to that peripeteia -or even to that text -- the special treatment they deserve: the ldsyrhga,

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latent in the poet's text, only acquires its final statute and really comes into being at the time of the performance, thanks to the stage expert. AN EXAMPLE One may understand why examples of ldsydhgas are nowhere to be found, the texts which have come down to us bearing no trace of the practician's initiative. The only instance provided by the Abhinavabhdratf is therefore a particularly precious one, the more so as it concerns ~akuntald, a most famous work, and as it allows us to witness the performance given of it, some nine centuries ago, as if we had been there. It is an exceptional stage effect disclosed by Abhinavagupta's commentary on the ldsydhga uktapratyukta: in act VII, at this time of intense emotion when the heroine is about to see the end of her pains, arises a song which recalls them to her mind. A song which does not appear in the poet's work -- as it comes only thanks to the practician's initiative -- and whose words Abhinavagupta reveals to us. Thus the protocol of the performance can be reconstituted without too much difficulty: Dusyanta and ~akuntalfi are facing each other after many years of living apart. At first, ~akuntalgt does not recognize the man who once was her lover, and the king begs forgiveness from the beloved one he had disowned a long time ago: "My love! I have been barbarous to you. But today comes the end of my expiation: please recognize me!" Such an evocation of a painful past is enough to start the mechanism of memory. The song which can be heard then, and that ~akuntala carefully listens to, is the very song of her heart which remembers the undergone sufferings at the exact moment when they are about to melt away. These are the words of the song: "She abandons her body, deprived of its strength, upon the lotus petals, she who knows a thwarted passion for an extraordinarily inaccessible lover . . . " While the song is arising, gakuntal~, or, rather, the actress in charge of ~akuntalgt's part, interprets its meaning before saying and performing her own text: "O my heart, breathe, breathe at last. Destiny has done with jealousy, and has at last pitied me. He truly is my husband. ''53 The long-time anger and pain are calming down at last. Everything goes back to order. The drama is coming to an end. It concretely confirms the assertion of the Abhinavabhdrati which proclaims the poet's and the stage expert's joint responsibility as to the use of the lg~sydhgason stage. In this respect, it is particularly meaningful that their account should be coming last, that is at the articulation of the itivrttddhydya aimed for the poet's use and of a whole range of chapters

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respectively dealing with the vrtti, the dhdrydbhinaya, the sdmdnydbhinaya and the citrdbhinaya, that is dedicated to the theatre practice, s4 In fact, as is stressed by Abhinavagupta in his commentary on the uktapratyukta, while the theatrical interpretation (or abhinaya) of the ldsydhgas is set out in chapter XXII -- the samanydbhinayddhydya --, what is dealt with in chapter XIX is truly their writing, which, ultimately, is the practician's work as much as the poet's one. It is a veritably modern conception which is akin to the one widely prevailing today in the western world: the stage producer is in this respect as much of a demiurge as the playwright, and the staging as much writing as reading:

[...] kavind tddrkkdryam prayoktrd ca tgMrggitam kartavyam iti diksangtya [...] r@akdhgatvenehdsydbhidhdnam, sdmdnydbhinaye tv abhinayatvendsya nir@anam bhavisyati. "[What is at stake] here [is] the denomination of that object considering its quality as a constitutive element of the drama, with a view to teaching the poet which kind of action, and the stage expert which kind of song each of them has to set. On the other hand, in the chapter of the s6mgmydbhinaya [...], it will be examined from the point of view of its interpretation. ''55 As for the third dimension of the ldsydhgas, namely their musical and vocal one, the prayogajha -- the one who is expert in the art of the performance -- can refer to chapter XXXI, the tdlddhydya. As a matter of fact, although the latter mainly deals with the ldsydhgas of the pfirvarahga, the teaching provided in it can also be applied to those among the ldsydhgas of the theatre which require the intervention of music and songs. EXCELLENCE

It is not the author's purpose to enter, at this stage, into the details of the ldsydfigas. From the ldsy&igas of the theatre we shall only recall what follows: except for three of them, the geyapada, the saindhavaka and the uttamottamaka apparently devoid of any plot as such, 56 they are delicate outlines representing almost as many love situations, love plays -- as it were declining in ten or twelve scenarios the theme of love as experienced when being apart from each other, so much more emphasized and celebrated in India than fulfilled love, that sambhogadr.tigdra where the lovers enjoy each other's presence. Therefore, whereas the drama stages love stories which, though subject -

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to adversity, nevertheless culminate to the uniting, or re-uniting of the two heroes, the ldsydt~gas, encased within the major form, rather emphasize, after the tradition of the kdvya, the dark side of the grhgdra: the whole of love is thus displayed on stage. Undoubtedly, the ldsydhgas are what is best (uttamdni), as is underlined by the gloss on the most remarkable of them all, the uttamottamaka. Being the quintessence of theatre, they enhance and magnify the theatrical nature of the nd.tya they are inserted in.57 Being the quintessence of rasa, they make the hearts of the spectators throb in unison with that of the poet. 5s Being the quintessence of love, as they are the quintessence of beauty, they are -- more than any other constitutive element of the drama and of its performance -- entitled to manifest the kaigiki vrtti, the graceful Manner, without which neither beauty nor love would be displayed in a sufficiently spectacular way, and, therefore, without which the lustre of the theatre would be somewhat dimmed.59 So many remarkable features justify the fact that a performance in India cannot be conceived without such fragments of wonderful beauty as the ldsydhgas are:

ldsydhgdny api kaviprayoktrbhir abhinetavyakdvyavisaye sarvathaiva yolyanttt "The ldsydhgas too should be used by the poets and practicians everywhere, that is in any poetical work meant for the stage. ''6~

NOTES 1 See ABh. [= Abhinavabhdrati] ad Ng [= Nd.~ag(tstra] XIX 117--138, vol. III, pp. 65--76. Though sometimes at the cost of a few corrections, we shall constantly refer to the Parimal edition, vol. III (Nd.tya~dstra of Bharatamuni with the commentary Abhinavabhdrati. Ed. by R. S. Nagar. Delhi/Ahmedabad: Parimal Publications, 1981--1984. 4 vol. (Parimal Sanskrit Series, 4). 2 Insofar as vinivrtta is not attested as nominal adjective, one should rather expect prasat~gavinivrttihetos here. 3 ABh. ad Ng XIX 138, vol. III, p. 75. 4 ABh. ad Ng XIX 117, vol. III, p. 66. 5 ABh. ad Ng XIX 117, vol. III, p. 65:

tatraiva hi sam.pVtrnam ahgdnfm rt~pam "As in this place only [in the account of the ldsya] is the complete form of the [ldsya] ahga to be found". 6 ABh. ad N~ XIX 117, vol. III, p. 66:

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anyathd [...] etad vigrfikhalam sydt "A different analysis would mean admitting the account had been able to break its chains".

grtikhala most specifically points to the chain which hobbles the feet of the domesticated elephant. 7 See in particular Ng XIX 138 (see supra, p. 247, n. 2). Similarly, one can see Abhinavagupta holding this principle an interpretation rule (see especially his commentary on Ng XXII 8 which defines bhrva in its restricted meaning as sdttvikdlatikdra: "Though one reads 'through voice, body, mukhardga, etc', the gloka of the bhdvddhydya is not similar to this one. The reason is that the meaning here is altogether different - - and gafikuka has no reason for considering that the meaning [in both of the two instances] is the same." 8 On the topic of the ldsydfigas, one may usefully refer to LEVI 1890: 119--120; KONOW 1920:32. sqq.; KEITH 1924:338; TARLEKAR 1975:32. sqq.; BHAT 1975:XCIX of the introduction; GNOLI 1968:66. All of them understand the ldsydhgas as elements of the ldsya dance. Noticing the absence of the ldsya in the ldsydfigas definitions, KEITH is the only one to acknowledge that they little correspond to what the etymology of the word suggests. However, he ventures an explanation (KEITH 1924:338) -- and a rather unsatisfactory one for that matter. As to GHOSH's interpretation, quoted by TRIVEDI 1966:99, which interprets the term ldsydhga as a bahuvrihi instead of a tatpurusa (ldsyam afigam. yasya sah.), it finds no justification (whatsoever) in the Nd.tya~dstra (see Ng XIX 117 and Ng XXXI 330--331). To our knowledge, the only real study available to us is the one given by RAGHAVAN (1978:556 sqq.) in his article: "The bhdna and the ldsydhgas". And yet RAGHAVAN establishes no differentiation between the two ldsydfiga categories -- those of chapters XIX and XXXI - - neither does he deal with the personality of each of them. We also draw the reader's attention to Prof. TARLEKAR's study (with an outlook and conclusions different from ours) on the subject which he has kindly communicated to us prior to its publication to come in: H. P. Alpern and S. Visuvalingam, ed., Abhinavagupta and the Synthesis of Indian Aesthetics, State University of New-York, Kashmir Shaiva Series. 9 See Ng IV 13--16a. ~0 See, for example, the exposition on the pracchedaka in chapter XXXI:

[...] helddibhir alatikrtam (kfi 350) "Adorned by the held etc." and the gloss:

helddayah, sdmdnydbhinayoktdh. "Endowed with the sdmdnydbhinaya consisting in held etc."

held, hdva and bhdva belong to the category of the sdttvikdlatikdras, which in turn belong to the sphere of acting (abhinaya) zl See Ng XXXI 330--367. ~z At least in the citraplirvarmiga and when it belongs to the sukumdra category. See ABh. ad Ng XXXI 330 sqq., vol. IV, p. 268. ~3 See Ng XXXI 333 which defines the geyapada. Let us recall that there are two phases in the ptirvarariga according to whether the acts that constitute it take place behind the curtain (antaryavanikd) or in front of it (bahiryavanikd). 14 See RENOU 1961: 291--292, on the successive phases of the pf~rvarahga, and the author's thesis: Le Nd.tydsdstra et la pratique thddtrale (Paris 1989), pp. 93--103. ~5 Literally speaking "derive one's existence from", "live at someone's expense", "take advantage of", "exploit" etc.

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16 ABh. ad Ng XIX 126, vol. III, p. 68. 17 The passage is given in full supra, p. 248, n. 3. ~s prayoktr is the word used both by the Ng and the ABh. It designates "the one who is concerned with the prayoga" i.e. the singer, the musician, the dancer, even such craftsmen as the crown or the wreath-maker, the actor of course as well as the stage-manager who is nearly always the Sfitradh~ra, the director of the troupe at the same time as one of its actors. It is true that, in the passages we are translating, the word "practician" especially refers to the actor or to the stage-manager, however, in order to render thoroughly the area of meaning of the term, we literally translate prayoktr by "practician." 19 See ABh. ad N~ XIX 126, quoted supra, p. 250, n. 16. 20 ABh. ad N~ XIX 135, vol. III, p. 72. 21 The commentary on kfi 125 (vol. III, p. 67) which defines the 6sina, provides an explicit gloss of the verb upafiv:

tatra hi 1...] tasydgrayamdnd ca sthitih. [...] "It is upon it (tatra), ]upon that extraordinary fragment], 1...], that the existence of the former ]the ldsydliga dsina] depends." .,2 2.~ 24 25 26 27

See ABh. ad Ng XIX 130, See ABh. ad Ng XIX 131, See ABh. ad N~ XIX 129, See ABh. ad Ng XIX 134, See ABh. ad Ng XIX 117, ABh. ad Ng XIX 134, vol.

vol. III, p. vol. III, p. vol. III, p. vol. III, p. vol. III, p. III, p. 72:

69. 70. 68. 71. 65.

vaicitrydmgo 'sau nd.tye ldsydtigaprasadopanata eva 28 R A G H A V A N (1978:561) derives from a variant reading, a - - fragmentary - - translation of the text of the N~ which reads as follows: "The atigas which form the ldsya are seen in the ndtaka and are, as a matter of fact, derived or "secreted" out of the ndtaka. These are strung together and played by one." The interpretation suggested for "asmdd vinissrtdni" does not seem to be relevant, as is confirmed by the gloss:

asmdn ndtakdd [...] vinissrtdni bahirbhfttdni, and by the ensuing discussion on the difference between ldsya and nd.tya: the ldsydhgas set out in chapter XIX are external, - - i.e. foreign - - to the ndtaka, as they originate from the ldsya; and yet their nature is akin to that of the ndtaka, that is of the nd.tya. One should bear in mind that the first of the "ten forms" (dagar~paka) assumed by the Indian theatre is frequently used as a synonym for nd.tya, thus taking, according to the case, either the meaning of "theatre", or that of "play". 29 About these notions, see the following references: N~ XIX 36b--50, N~ XIX 50--106a, N~ XIX 106b--109. 3o ABh. ad Ng XIX 117, vol. III, p. 65. 3~ The bhdna iva comparison (maybe understood as "in the same way as in the bhdna", at the cost of the restitution of a locative case: bhdne, under the sandhi) is probably at the origin of the misunderstanding entertained by some of the theoreticians who came after Bharata - - Dhanalp.jaya (Dagarftpaka), gfirad~tanaya (Bhdvaprakdiana), S~garanandin (Ndtakalaksanaratnakoga), Gunacandra and Rfimacandra (Nd.tyadarpana) --, who claim the ldsyd~gas to be constitutive elements of the bhdna only. A n d yet, in chapter XXXI, the

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text, commenting upon itself, and recalling bhdna iva by bhdnavat (kh 332a), confirms the right interpretation as being: "like the bhfm.a", so that Abhinavagupta, when commenting (in vol. IV, p. 267) upon the kdrikd: bhdnavac caik~h~ryam, sydd [...], underlines this: "Let us recall at this stage what has been stated in the sandhyadhydya [that is to say chapter XIX]: bhdna ivaikaprayojyam." 32 Let us remark that a tradition -- or is it a recension? -- of the Ng, the one that reproduces the Parimal edition and which is refuted by Abhinavagupta, provides two supplementary ldsydhgas: the citrapada and the bhdvika. 33 Confer more especially the dvimfM,haka, trimFtdhaka and pracchedaka, dramas with two characters. 34 Ng XXXI 331a. A definition taken up in the Bhdvaprakdsdna (II, p. 46, 1. 10):

[...] tal ldsyam, manmathddrayam // "The ldsya is in relation with love." 3s See the example of uktapratyukta Abhinavagupta borrows from ~akuntald, and its analysis, infra, pp. 258--259. Also refer to ABh. ad Ng XXXI 332, vol. IV, p. 268, in which the nd.tyasamskdra compound replaces the adjective nd.tyopayogin which comes back time and again in the commentary upon ch. XIX, echoing the nfztakopayogin of the Ng definition (ka 117):

dagaldsydhgdni sandhyadhydye [...] nd.tyasam,skdrdya nirt~pitdni "The ten l(lsydhgas have been examined in the chapter of the sandhis [...] in order to ]contribute to] the perfecting of the nd.tya." 36 ABh. ad Ng XIX 129, vol. III, p. 169. 37 See ABh. ad Ng VI 32, vol. I, p. 279. 38 See ABh. ad Ng VI 32, vol. I, p. 275. 39 The Sanskrit, reserved for male characters of a high rank, and the multiplicity of the Pr~krits, spoken by the other characters -- among whom the women, even if they are princesses or goddesses. 40 See ABh. ad Ng VI 32, vol. I, p. 279:

[...] ptirvarahgdnigrhanena [...] prastdvandvalokanena ca yo nataritpatddhigamas tatpurassarah, pratigirsak~dind tatpracchfManaprakftro 'bhyupayo laukikabhdsddibhedaldsydhgarahgaphhamandapagatakaksyddiparigrahand.tyadharrn[sahitah "Through the unveiling of the prrvarahga [...], the actor, -- insofar as he is a shape --, is revealed [to the spectator], [this revelation being] preceded by such means as consist in hiding behind the mask etc. and accompanied with these kinds of extraordinary theatrical conventions which include the variety of the languages, the ldsydhgas, the stage areas arranged on the stage within the theatre etc." 41 ABh. ad Ng VI 32, vol. I, p. 280:

tatah sa esa svaparaniyatatftvighn(tpasdran,aprakdro vydkhydtah. "Thus the means [for the spectator] of eliminating the obstacle [which consists in considering the space-time conditions] as relative to himself or other spectator has been explained." 42 See ABh. ad Ng I 107, vol. I, p. 35:

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[...] ucitagitdtodyacarvandvismrtas(l.msdrikabhKvatayd virnalamukurakalpibht~tanifahrdayah. "[...] The heart then becomes like a clear mirror, for, by dint of savouring the appropriate songs and music, the preoccupations of a worldly order have been forgotten." 43 sahrdayatva and hrdayasamvdda are synonymous terms. 44 These are Lechy Elbernon's words in "The Exchange" by Claudel - - second version -act I. This coincides with Abhinavagupta's analysis in his commentary upon the Ng I 107, vol. I, p. 35:

nd.tye tu p~ramdrthikam kim cid adya me krtyam bhavis.yatTty [,..] lokottaradar~anagravanayogf bhavis.yamfty abhisamdhisamskdrdd [...] "When we get ready to watch a performance, we do not feel in the least inclined to think: 'I am going to accomplish something real today', but rather to think: 'I am going to watch and listen to something extraordinary today' [. - 1". 45 ABh. ad Ng VI 33, vol. I, p. 288. 46 ABh. ad Ng XIX 134, vol. III, p. 72. 47 See respectively N~ XIX 123 and 129. 48 It is interesting to note that, on the contrary, in chapter XXXI, the pracchedaka is defined as a dance and not as a song. 49 See N~ XIX 130. 5o See N~ XIX 134. 51 ABh. ad N~ XIX 117, vol. HI, p. 65. 52 See ABh. ad Ng XIX 117, vol. III, p. 64, quoted and translated infra, p. 260, n. 6. s3 The analysis, including the prfikrit text of the song, is to be found in ABh. ad Ng XIX 135, vol. HI, p. 73. 54 They are respectively chapters XX, XXI, XXII and XXV. 55 ABh. ad N~ XIX 135, vol. 11I, p. 73. 56 However, these three ldsydhgas are, similarly, variously hued with the drt~gdra, even though they are not organized by a precisely set love-scenario. See the author's thesis p. 479, n. 3. s7 Let us recall that they are defined as constitutive elements of the nd.tya (nd.tydtiga) at the same time as they share its nature: bhdna iva = ndmkam iva (see above p. 253). Enacted as the bhdna is by one single actor, they make use of all the theatrical means except for dance, thus confirming they have achieved freedom from the ldsya from which they originate. 58 See ABh. ad Ng XIX 134, vol. III, p. 72:

tams cgmyatararahjanopakramavineyahrdayasamvddivaicitrydmdo ldsydhgaprasddopanata eva

'sau nd.tye

"That is why, in nd.tya, what one is indebted to the ldsyd/tga for is a fragment of marvellous beauty (vaicitryd.rnda), thanks to which -- through [a singular capacity to] please [the audience] altogether different [from that of a rasa-less kdvya] -- the poet's heart converses (samvddin) with that of the one who should be taught." 59 See ABh. ad N~ XIX 117, vol. HI, p. 64:

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adhund tu yasydh prasddena ddstretihdsddibhyo 'bhyuddharakandharfbht~tam sarvafandharan, iyatdspadatvam, tu nd.tyam [...] "And now, those [the Idsydhgas] which manifest it [the kaidiM vrtti], thanks to which the ndt.ya, whose part it is to enrapture all creatures, sticks up its neck above the ddstras, the itihdsas and other texts." 60 ABh. ad Ng XIX 117, vol. III, p. 64.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bhat, G. K.: Bharata-Nd.tya-Mahjari, A Selection from Bharata's Ngqyaddstra, ed. with English translation, explanatory notes, and introduction, Poona: BORI, 1975 (Past-Graduate and Research Department Series, 12). Bhdvaprak6~ana of gfiradfitanaya ed. with an intr. and indices by Yadugiri Yatiraja Swami of Melkot and K. S. Ramaswami Sastri Siromani, Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1930 (GOS, 45). Gnoli, R.: The Aesthetic Experience According to Abhinavagupta, 2nd rev. ed. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1968 (CS Studies, 62). Keith, A. B.: The Sanskrit Drama in Its Origin, Development, Theory and Practice, London: Oxford University Press, 1924. Reprint 1970. Konow, S.: Das Indische Drama, Berlin und Leipzig, 1920; Engl. transl.: Ghosal, S. N.: The Indian Drama Calcutta: General Printers and Publishers, 1969 (Ref. to Engl. ed.). Levi, S.: Le thd&re indien, Paris: H. Champion, 1890, 2~me tirage 1963 avec introd, de L. Renou. 2 tomes r4unis en un volume (Bibl. de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Sc. philologiques et historiques, 83). Raghavan, V.: Bhoja's ~rhgdra Prakdda, 3d rev. enlarged ed., Madras: Punarvasu, 1978. Renou, L. Anthologie sanskrite, Paris: 1961 (Bibl. historique). Tarlekar, G.H.: Studies in the Nd.tyagdstra, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975. Trivedi, K. H.: The Nd.tyadarpana of Rdmacandra and Gunacandra: A Critical Study, Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute of Indology, 1966 (Labbhai Dalpatbhai Series, 9).