MR. GORDON CRAIG, who understands so well the noble artificiality of Indian dramatic technique, has frequently asked me for more detailed information than is yet available in this too long neglected field.
"If there are books of technical instruction," writes Mr. Gordon Craig, tell them to me I pray you. The day may come when I could afford to have one or two translated for my own private study and assistance. I dread (seeing what it has already done in other arts here) the influence of the finished article of the East; but I crave the instruction of the instructors of the East. The disastrous effect the Chinese porcelain and the Japanese print has had on us in painting we must try to avoid in this theatre art..... You know how I reverence and love with all my best the miracles of your land, but I dread for my men lest they go blind suddenly attempting to see God's face. You know well what I mean, I think. So I want to cautiously open this precious and dangerous (only to us queer folk) book of technical instruction before the men go crazy over the lovely dancers of the King of Cambodia, before the 'quaintness' tickles them, before they see a short cut to a sensation. If only you knew how unwilling these men of the theatre (most of all those dissatisfied with the old sloppy order) were to face the odds, and how they long to escape obligations (your phrase in 'Sati) you would almost make a yearly tour of England crying 'Shun the East and the mysteries of the East'."
While we still lack a complete and adequate translation, and even a satisfactory edition, of the "Dramatic Science" (Natya Sastra) of Bharata, the present version of a shorter compendium known as the "Mirror of Gesture" (Abhinaya Darpana) of Nandikeśvara may be of use as an introduction to Indian method.
The dramatic scriptures of India were framed by Brahma at the request of the lesser gods, at the very beginning of the Treta Yuga, the last aeon before the present.
THE BHARATA SASTRA, which is most dear to the Lord of Sri, the Creator of every world, and which is the delight of every connoisseur in every world, has been brought into being by Siva, Sambhu, Gauri, Brahma, Madhava, Nandikeśvara, Dattila, Kohala, Yajnavalkya, Narada, Hanuman, Vighraraja, Su- brahmaniya, Arjuna, and the daughter of Bana (i. e. Usa): these are the famous authors of our science. Notwithstanding this, it is known to everyone that in these days our people not merely neglect this lore as though it were of the common sort, but go so far as to declare it to be an art that is only suited for the entertainment of the vulgar, unworthy of cultivated men, and fit to be practised only by play-actors. But it is like the Union- science (Yoga-sastra) which is the means of attaining spiritual freedom (moksa): and the reason why a science such as this has come to be regarded in such a fashion is that it is by movements of the body (angikabhinaya) that the lineaments and interplay of hero and heroine, etc., are clearly exhibited, so as to direct men in the way of righteousness, and to reveal an esoteric meaning; obtaining the appreciation of connoisseurs and those who are learned in the lore of gesture. But if we understand this science with finer insight, it will be evident that it has come into being to set forth the sport and pastime of Sri Krishna, who is the progenitor of every world, and the patron deity of the flavour of love; that by clearly expressing the flavour, and enabling men to taste thereof, it gives them the wisdom of Brahma, whereby they may understand how every business is unstable; from which understanding arises indifference (vairagya) to such business, and therefrom arise the highest virtues of peace and patience, and thence again may be won the Bliss of Brahma.
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