Bharata Muni (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: भरत मुनि) was an ancient
sage
Sage or SAGE may refer to:
Plants
* ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb
** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family
** ''Salvia'', a large ...
who the musical treatise ''
Natya Shastra'' is traditionally attributed to. The work covers ancient
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n
dramaturgy and
histrionics, especially
Sanskrit theatre. Bharata is considered the father of Indian theatrical art forms. He is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary between 500 BCE and 500 CE.
[Dace, W. (1963). "The Concept of "Rasa" in Sanskrit Dramatic Theory". Educational Theatre Journal. 15 (3): 249.]
The ''Nāṭya Śāstra'' is notable as an ancient encyclopedic treatise on the arts, which has influenced dance, music and literary traditions in India. It is also notable for its aesthetic
"Rasa" theory, which asserts that entertainment is the desired effect of performance arts but not the primary goal and that the primary goal is to transport the individual in the audience into another parallel reality, full of wonder, where he experiences the essence of his own consciousness and reflects on spiritual and moral questions.
Natya Shastra by Bharata Muni and "Abhinaya Darpana" by
Nandikeshvara
Nandikeshvara ( sa, नन्दिकेश्वर) (5th century-4th century BC) was a major theatrologist of ancient India. He was the author of the .
Influence on Bharata
Nandikeshvara seems to have preceded Bharata, according to Rama ...
are considered to be the original sources of
Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...
(an Indian classical dance form).
See also
*
Nava rasas
*
Nandikeshvara
Nandikeshvara ( sa, नन्दिकेश्वर) (5th century-4th century BC) was a major theatrologist of ancient India. He was the author of the .
Influence on Bharata
Nandikeshvara seems to have preceded Bharata, according to Rama ...
*
Natya Shastra
References
4. Daumal, Rene: RASA. Essays on Indian Aesthetics & Selected Sanskrit Studies. New Directions, NYC 1982. REPR. Shivastan, Woodstock-Kathmandu, 2003 & 2006, forthcoming, Cool Grove Press, NYC.
* "Revealing the Art of Natyasastra" by Narayanan Chittoor Namboodiripad
External links
*
Indian musicologists
Indian male classical musicians
Theatrologists
Sanskrit writers
Dance education
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