SANGEET NATAK Journal of the SangeetNatak Akademl, is published quarterly by theSangeet Natak Akademi (National Academy ofmusic. dance and drama for India). Printed atThe Statesman Press. Connaught Circus. NewDelhi•

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sarrgeetnatak 14A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION ON MUSIC, DANCE AND DRAMA

SANGEET NATAK AKADEMI, RABINDRA BHAVAN, NEW DELHI

OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1969

The views expressed in Sangeet Natak are thewriters' own and do not necessarily conformto the opinion of the publishers. Permissionto reproduce, in whole or in part, any materialpublished in this Journal must be obtainedfrom the Secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi,Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi-I,

EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. V. Raghavan

Mrinalini Sarabhai

:or> Lokenath Bhattacharya

Mohan Rakesh

Dr. Suresh Awastlli Editor' "

Contents

5 SOME RARE TALAS IN KERALA MUSIC

Dr. S. Venkitasubramonia Iyer

12 THE MUSIC KERALA - A Study

Leela Omchery

24 SANSKRIT DRAMA - Epic and Romance

Prof. H. W. Wells

30 DAMAYANTI IN NALACHARITHAM AlTAKATHA

L. S. Rajagopalan

40 KABUKI AND KATHAKALI - Some Impressions

Susheela Misra

50 GAYANACHARYA PT.MIRASHIBUWA

Prof. G. H. Ranade

65 BOOK REVIEWS

Cover: Elatalam-s-Govind Vidyarthi

SOME RARE TALASIN KERALA MUSIC

Dr. S. Venkitasubramonia Iyer

Broadly speaking, the music of Kerala is fundamentally identicalwiththe music of the rest of South India, popularly referred to as 'Karnatakmusic'. The name sopanasangita by which the music of Kathakali andthe pre-Svati Tirunal classical music in Kerala has been known, does notindicate a separate system of music, as some people believe, but a style ofsinging in a somewhat slow tempo without prominence to melodic orrhythmic graces. The singing by the marar, the professional musicianhereditarily attached to the Kerala temple, at the flight of steps calledsopana leading to the sanctum sanctorum, typified this music and hence thename. Still, when we carefully examine in detail the original indigenousmusic of Kerala we find in <it certain' distinctive characteristics. Forexample the ragas like Indisa, Navarasam, Kedarappantu, Srikanthi, Kantharametc., we do not meet with elsewhere. Ragas like Indalam; Puranir, Kanak­

etc., have their counterparts only in ancient Tamil music and notmodern Karnatak music. Similarly with regard to the talas also wecertain peculiarities and meet with some rare specimens.

.~ome peculiarities

Of the.six common angas - part of a tala - namely Anudruta, Druta,Laghu, Guru, Pluta and Kakapada, the lasrisveryrarely.met with and isnot an anga in the talas commonly used. The Anudruta is called by itssynonym 'Virama'. The symbols for Laghu,Druta, and. Kakapada are thesame as in Karnatak music namely,a vertical line, a circle and a plus sign

.··respectively. But. Anudruta is. shown. by a small horizontal line followedby a vertical line, something like the English letter 'L' reversed, the PlutabYa<small circle followed by a symbol resembling the Arabic numeral3, and Guru by a symbol resembling the Bnglish Ietter 'S'. For

SANGEET NATAK 6

we can indicate them by their initial letters, L = Laghu, V = Virama,G = Guru, P = Pluta and K= Kakapada.

The duration of each of these angas is the same as in Kamatak music.Thus L has one matra, D half matra, V quarter matra, G two matras, Pthree matras and K four matras. But the concept of Jati for L, by whichweget its different varieties like Chaturasra, Tisra, Misra, Khanda and Sankirna,each with a different time-value,is not seen. Only its normal variety(chaturasra) is recognised. The Virama is always associated with eitherL or D and comes after them, and never before. It does not occur inde­pendently or with other angas.

Differences in gati, however, figure in this music. Gati is denotedby the term Kooru. But the names of the gatis are different. Tisragati isPancharikooru, Misragati Adantakooru and Khandagati Champakooru.The change of gati is perspicuous in the ramifications of talas in playingTayambaka, a kind of systematic elaboration on the percussion instrumentChenda, and in the orchestra called Panchavadya.

The three layas, Druta, Madhya and Vilambita representing the fast,medium, and slow tempos are accepted. The theoretical position thatMadhya is double the Druta and Vilambita is double the Madhya is granted,but in actual rendering the speed is changed in an arbitrary manner parti­cularly when the percussion instruments are played alone. The practicaldirection is that a little reduction of the speed of Druta results in Madhyaand a further reduction results in Vilambita. The change can be likenedto the shift in tempo between the -Purvanga and Uttaranga of a Varnacomposition resorted to by some musicians. In playing the instrumentTimila, however, in temple rituals, each succeeding tempo' should haveeither double or half the number of matras of the preceding tempo, accord­ing as the progress is from fast to slow or vice versa.

Every anga, except V and K, is to be played by a main beat followedin the case of Timila, Maddala etc., by appropriate other sounds for itsduration. These latter are called 'showing the matras' (matrakattuka inMalayalam). V and K are nissabdas and have no beat; so too L if it isconsidered as nissabda. It may be noted that 'Anudruta (Virama) which is asimple beat in Karnatak music is, generally silent in Kerala music, exceptin Champatala in which V is sometimes a beat.

Some rare talas figure in the dance music as well as the temple musicof Kerala. In ordinary secular music we find the common talas of Kamatakmusic but with names different from theirs.

Rare talas fordance

Among the rare talas met with in treatises but not much in voguetoday may be mentioned a. few. These are. particularly indicated

7 RARE TALAS

to be for intricate dances by the famous Malayalam poet Kunchan Nam­pyar in one of his Tullal works named Harinisvayamvaram.

Kundanacchi. This is a tala of 12 matras. Its scheme as can beseen from the description

sadruta laghudvayi sadruta laghutrayi .sadruta laghudvayi sadrutam plutam

is LLD, LLLD, LLD, PD. But Ramapanivada in his Talaprastara givesa slightly different arrangement of these angas. He says,

druto laghudvayam dasca latrayam ca tato drutahlaghudvayam da plutasca tale khantharavabhidhe

and adds 'ghantaravam kundanacchi'. The arrangement according to thisdefinition will be, D, LLD, LLLD, LLD, P. In a manuscript of the workthe symbols are also found given in this order. When the tala is actuallyplayed the difference between the two arrangements will not be perceptible.It is likely that Kuntanacchi is the local name and its original name was'ghantarava', Though Kunchan Nampyar deals with this tala in connec­tion with dance, Ramapanivada has composed a Panchapadi song in thistala in his Sivagitit .

Kumbha. This has 20 matras with the scheme LLLLLDD, LLLDD,LGG, LL, LLL as given by Nampyar. The last three laghusare nissabdas.But it appears that there is another view which considers this tala as havingfifteen matras or a quarter matra more.

Lakshmi. This tala too has 20 matras. The scheme is LLGDD,LG, LLDD, LD, LDDD, LL, LLL, the last three laghus being nissabda.But in the manuscripts dealing with talas we find two noteworthy state­ments about this tala namely that it is identical with Kundanacchi and thatithas28! matrass with the schemeLLLLLV,LLLLLV,LLV, LLV, LLLLLV,GG, L, P. This shows either a confusion between different talas or thefact of different talas having been known by the same name at differentperiods in the development of Kerala music.

Karika. This has 5 matras and the scheme LLLG.

1 Vide L. S. Rajagopalan 'Sivagiti of Ramapanivada' in Journal of the Music Academy,.Madr~ Vol. XXXVI. p. 82. Sri Rajagopalan points out .that the word Kundranchioccurs In Yajurveda as denoting the name of an animal belonging to the lizard family andC!bserves that the name might have been adopted for this tala on account of a possiblesmlili.arity between the cadence of this tala and the gait of that creature. B~t the factremaIns unexplained why this name isnot found in any of the numerous classical workson music, ancient or modern.2 Vide the writer's article 'Keralavum Sangitasastravum' in the Malayalam periodicalMatrubhumi Weekly, 5th OCtober, 1952.

SANGEET NATAK 8

Talas in Temple Ritual

In the different rituals of the Kerala temple certain talas are pres­cribed. These are to be played in the percussion instrument called Timila,

. a long drum with the mouths covered with goatskin of medium thickness,to be played by both palms to the accompaniment of other percussioninstruments like the drum Vikkuchenta, the gong Chengila and the cymbalsKaimani. This is commonly known as Panikottu. Particular talas arelaid down for particular deities and particular occasions. The same talais also found prescribed sometimes for more than one deity and more thanone occasion. The more important talas of this category are the following.

Munam talam.Matras - 7, Angas - PGG, Deities - Brahma,Vishnu, Sarasvati, Garuda, Ananta; . the dikpalas Indra, Soma and Isana.·Occasions - the first inner pradakshina and digbali at Northwest corner.

Mutakku talam. Matras - 5. Angas - GLG. Deities - Brahma,Vishnu, Matrs; the dikpalas Agni, Nirrti and Vayu, Occasions - thesecond inner pradakishina and digbali at Southwest corner.

Takatutalam. Matras - 6. Angas - GGG. Deities - Vishnu,Siva, Virabhadra; the dikpalas Varuna and Kubera. Occasions ---:- thethird inner pradakshinaand digbali at Southeast corner.

Ancham talam. Matras - 9. Angas - PLLGG, the first laghubeing nissabda. Deity - Ganapati. Occasion - the fourth inner pra-dakshina. '

Ekatalam. Matra -1. Anga - L. Deities - Vishnu,Sasta,Shanmukha, Dvarapalas and dikpala Yama, Occasions - the fifth innerpradakshina and the second and fifth outer pradakshinas.

These five are the main talas, but we get the following also,

Sambhutalam. Matras - 3. Angas - DDG. Occasion thirdouter pradakshina.

Mangalatalam. Matras - 4. Angas - GLL. Occasions digbaliat the Northeast corner (druta in 4 matras), bali on the big balipitha (madhyain 8 matras), bali for kshetrapala (vi/ambita in 16matras).

Rantamtalam. Matras - 3. Angas - LG. Occasion --"- first outerpradakshina.

Nalam talam. Matras- 8. Angas -PLGG. Occasion. --'-'the big balipitha at the close of the fifth pradakshina.

Sakatu talam. Matras- 4; Angas-LLG. Occasionouter pradakshina.

fourth

9 RARE TALAS

Karika tala. This tala mentioned earlier is prescribed for digbaliat the,four main quarters.

For the special ritual called Utsavabali, which isa particularly im­portant function to be discharged with meticulous care, an expert is necessaryfor playing the Timila. The sounds in this drum are to be so produced asto synchronise with the mantra uttered by the priest and the mystic gesturesshown by him. For this some talas are prescribed. But curiously, eachof these has two varieties and which variety is to beused for which particularitem in the ritual is decided on the basis of traditional practice. The follow­ing are the talas,

ChempataAdantaRupakaEkaKarika

LLLVor LLG.LVDDLVor LVLLLV.LLVor LG.LorGLLLLV or LLLG.

It may be noted that forEka and Karika one of the varities is the same aswhat we have noticed earlier.

Talas in secular MusicIn secular music we find the talas to be identical in form with those in

Karnatak music but different in name. The name, number of aksharakalaand the equivalent in Karnatak music with regard to each of these are givenbelow»

"

"

"

ChempataAdantaMuriadanta ­ChampaPanchariEkam

8 aksharakalas147

1064

Chaturasrajati Triputa(L4DD)IKhandajatiAta (LsLsDD)Tisrajati Triputa (L3DD)Misrajati Jhampa(~VD)Caturasrajati Rupaka (L4D)Caturasrajati Ekam (L4)

The matras for these according to the values given earlier for Laghu,Drl/taetc., will be respectively 2, 3, 2, 11, I! and 1. But this is totally in­correct because the aksharakala varies according to the jati of the Laghuand, as' pointed out before, the concept of this jati is' not perceptible inpractical Kerala music. The duration ofa particular tala is, therefore,indicated .by additional angas like Druta or ViramaorNissabdalaghll. Forinstance, in Adanta which has LVDDLV,we get 3! matras and taking L asequivalent to 4 aksharakalas (the normal ehaturasrajati) and correspond­inglyD to be of 2 aksharakalasand Vof Iaksharakala, we get 14aksharakalasfor, one avarta of the tala.' And if we take the tala cycle as commencing

IThe numeral beneath L indicates its jati and thereby its.aksharakala or time duration inKarnatak music.

10 . SANGEET NATAK

from the second Laghu, we get LVLVDD which is exactly the same as ourKhandajati Atatala. Similarly in Chempata having LLG the relative time-.interval between the beats is the same as in Chaturajati Triputa, popularlyknown as Aditala; only the Nissabdakriya of counting the fingers shouldbe replaced by another Nissabdakriya of a wave of the palm of equal dura­tion and the tala cycle should commence with Guru. So also in Pancharithe relative time-interval between the beats is the same as in Rupaka and itwill be identical with it if we consider it as Rupakachapu in which the angasare only the beats.

It may be noted that the name 'Chempata' is a modified form of thename 'Jhompata' for a tala of this description seen in classical treatises onmusic in Sanskrit.' The name 'Muriadanta' which means a segmentedAdanta is significant in that its time-value is just half that of Adanta. 'Champa'and 'Jhampa' are only two forms of the same name. The origin of the namePanchari (also known as 'Panchakarika') is not traceable.

Of the seven common talas, known as Suladi talas namely, Dhruva,Mathya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Ata, Triputa and Ekam in their most popularand conventional jatis, all except the first two, have their equivalents inKerala music as can be seen from the above. Mathya also is there becauseona careful examination it can be seen to be the same as Mutakku. The numberof angas and the relative time interval between them are the same for thesetwo talas, for GLG is simply LDL doubled. Similarly Munamtala can beseen to be identical with Tisrajati Triputa. As for Dhruva we find a seriousdifference. Instead of the conventional LDLL, in Kerala music this tala,in its simplest form is given as having a single laghu but as having fifteenother varieties with angas steadily added on resulting in the last varietyhaving 28 matras, but none of these answer to the anga pattern of this talain Karnatak music.' It may incidentally be pointed out that Rantam,Munam, Nalam and Ancham talas which literally mean the second, third,fourth and fifth, are really the respective varieties of Dhruva tala as con­ceived in Kerala.

The name 'Suladi' is familiar in Kerala music, although in its modi­fied form 'Chuzhadi'. According to one view the constituents are Mutakku,Takatu, Dhruva, Eka, Rupaka, Adanta and Champa. According to another,they are Dhruva, Matta, Pratimatta, Nissara, Atta, Rasaka, and Eka and thesehave 16, 6, 4, 6, 6, 3 and 3 varieties respectively. Another source givesthese as Dhruva, Matta, Pratimatta, Ata, Rasaka, Lambhaka and Eka. Itis not possible to equate all these with the Suladitalas now current inKarnatak music. But the varieties of some of these can be seen to be identi­cal with certain talas current in the ritualistic music noticed earlier. Forinstance, Mangala tala is the variety of Matta (Mathya) called Sagona:Mutakkutala is its Raganavariety.

11 RARE TALAS

The five Mahatalas like Chacchatputa, Chachapuia etc., are foundmentioned in musical treaties in Malayalam; so also the 108 talas describedby Sarngadeva and others. But these do not seem to have been in actualvogue at any time.

The above examination of the talas in Kerala music shows that someof them are identical withcertain talas in Karnatak music but some arerare and peculiar to Kerala. Even the talas which have their parallels inKarnatak music have names different from them. The absence of theconcept of jati for laghu has necessitated in many casesa pattern of arrange­ment of the angas different from that current in other parts but having thesame total duration and same positions of the beats. It is also noteworthythat Kerala music has a set of talas exclusively for ritual purposes.

Dr. S. Venktasubramonia Iyer, M.A. studied Kamatak vocalmusic underPalghat.Venka!sriBhagavatar and Attungal Padmanabha Bhagavatar. He is a scholar of S,anskrlt Cfnd Is.alecturer in that department at the University of Trivandrum: Dr. Iyer IS a 'musicologistof repute and has contributed articles to several outstanding Journals.

THE MUSIC OF KERALA-A STUDY

Leela Omchery r

"The art-music of Kerala, as distinguished from folk music, is oftenspoken of as faIling ,under two main types, Sopana and Desiya. Theformer is considered as signifying the original music of this land and thelatter as signifyingmodern music, influenced by what is known as Karnatakmusic. But on a close examination one can see that Sopana and Desiyaare only two different styles of singing and that the scientific basis for bothis one and the sarne">,

Such is the opinion of Sri Venkata Subramonia lyer As a supportof this contention, appeared the following report about a performance,

"Sci Palghat Venkata Krishna Bhagavatar next rendered. a fewKathakali padas in the "traditional style". Introducing- the vidvan, Mr.T. V. Rajagopal said that he was learned in Kathakali and Karnatak music.Vidvan T. N. Swaminatha 'Pillai, thanking the. Bhagavatar said, thatKathakali music had unique features (and) Sri Venkata Krishna Bhagavatarhad rendered it in such a manner that the members of the audience wereable to understand and appreciate the "style of singing" of these padas'"

From this statement and report, it is clear that the Music of Keralacalled Sopanais different from .the Desiya or Karnatak traditions and thedifference lies.not in their theory butin their practice. If that. is so thequestion is how do they differ and why. In this article I wish to stress thatmy observations are not conclusions, but only suggestions and possibilitres-,

I. The Journal of the Madras Music Academy 1954, YoI. XXV.2. Ibid p. 37, 1954.

13 MUSIC OF KERALA

It appears to me, that Sopana, is a distinctive style of music in whichwe find elements of Karnatak and Hindustani music. Yet neither of thesesystems can contain this music fully or satisfactorily. It is a systemwith a sound basis and highly developed aesthetic values.

[Kerala music underwent a great change, with the introduction ofGeeta Govinda. Not music alone, even the dance. As in technique andexpression Krishnattam the. predecessor which was modelled after GeetaGovinda and Kathakali, the successor, differ from their neighbouring styles,so also the music which was also developed on the principles of the musicof Geeta Govinda.

Now, the music of Geeta Govinda had its roots in certain old principlesof Indian Music. Scholars like O. C. Goswami, Prof. R. Roy and otherslink its technique with the presentday Hindustani music. The Sthaya­vaga principles, vadi samvaditva, straight note singing, Ranga-anga padhati,purvanga-uttaranga classification, time cycles etc., though they may beslowly disappearing, are still popular among the traditional musicians ofthe North and these are the products of our old culture.

These aspects are very much present in Kathakali music and I haveexplained why they are essential there. This according to me, makes itdifferent from the singing of Karnatak and makes it similar to Hindustanimusic. Since the Kerala dance and its music owe much to the techniquesof Geeta Govinda of Bengal, the similarities cannot just be accidental.

I don't deny that in principle the Hindustani and Karnatak systemagree with each other and perhaps much of the above mentioned aspects toomight originally have been present in the Karnatak system. Yet the stylesnow appear different because they, in order to adjust themselves with theirnew surroundings after the "dark age" (Vide 'Studies in Indian Music')had to select different materials from their original store house and had todevelop accordingly, drifting from each other.] I

To appreciate this idea, it is necessary to trace the origin and develop­ment of this music.

The Origin of Sopana mnsic

The Indian theatre is very old and the conception of the musical ensem­ble has its roots in the Vedas. The growth ofdrama was continuous and theemergence of Gandharva as a blissful combination of dance, vocal and instru­mental music had much to contribute to the ancient stage. The Epics and the

i: When I presented a paper in the seminar on KeralaMusic a.ndTala ~ystem, I presen­ted this point with proper demonstrations. by experts from Hindustani, Kamatak andKathakaIi music.

SifNGEET NATAK 14

Puranas mention the staging of dramas with proper orchestra and ancienttreatises, such as the Natyasastra, Dattila etc. speak mainly about them.Natyasastra has greatly influenced the visual arts of Kerala such as Kuttuand Kudiyattam which. paved the way for Krishnattam and Ramanattam.

Research studies! and scholarly remarks- suggest that the musicdescribed in the Natyasastra has much in common especially with the courtstyle or the dramatic style of music described in the Tamil Epic Cilappadhi­karam. According to Sri R. V. Poduval "the early music of Travancoremay be said to be the same as pictured in the 3rd canto of Cilappadhikaram"sIf that is so, then there is every reason to believe that the ancient art-music ofKerala which was distinct from its pastoral and folk music and which issaid to be identical with the dance and drama style of music in Cilappadhi­karam, might have existed as a developed branch of singing bearing similaritywith the music described in the Natyasastra.

Here I want to point out that the music described in Dattilam, Natya«sastra, Cilappadhikaram etc. is different from the 'Vaidika' style or thepriestly .line of musics, represented in Vedic singing. In principleVaidika music, had much in common with the 'Laukika' music representedin the dramatic style of music which was patronised by Royalty, as well aswith the freer style, patronised by the public. But it was differentfrom them in practice. In structure the yamas (svaras) krushta prathama,dvitiya, tritiya, chaturtha, mandra and atisvarya of Vedic music were the sameas the sapta svaras etc. of the Laukika style, but their grouping was different.The former had a downward scale and movement, while the latter had anupward movement.r The structure and sections of the musical forms likegita, giti, gana, etc. were same in both, but their ideas and the interpretationwas different. In shape and technique, the instruments such as Vana,Nali, Venu, Dundubhi; Karkari were the same. in both, but their use andplaying were different.

This is but natural because the aim of Vedic music used in yajnas andin other spiritual pursuits was different from the Laukika styles meant forentertainment. The former was controlled by strict rules and disciplinewhile the latter was marked for its freedom of expression. This being so,the above styles could have existed only as two different branches of singing.Of course, there might have been. mutual understanding and adaptations.Yet they retained their individuality. It was also true that the prosperity ofof one style of music was often detrimental to the other. As. fortune playedtricks with them they were prosperous in turns.

I. Chilappadhikarattisai nunukka Vilakkom - by Shri Ramanathan.2. Ibid, Introduction by Shri Mudikondan Venkataramayyar.J. Music in Travancore - by Shri R. V. PoduvaI.4. "A history of Indian music" by Swami Prajnanandas. Ibid p.91. .

15 MUSIC OF KERAU

The destiny of Kerala stage-music too was not different from suchtrends.

There might have been a sudden set-back and slow deterioration .ofits stage-music with the emergence of the Bhakti movement of the Southwith its captivating music condensed in the Thevarapans and Nalayiraprabandhom etc. Though this music could have been a later developmentof the ancient Tamil music, it had marked differences from the secularand the dramatic styles, as it represented an entirely different line of music,loaded with philosophical thought and spiritual pursuit. "The composersof these religious hymns have shown an admirable instinct for form, graceand colour, sweetness and spiritual emotion, and they have left for posteritygems of spontaneous songs, mellifluous and well-balanced in diction, havinga delicate beauty of sound and a mounting and piercing melody whichgoes straight to the heart of man". I

The popularity of this religious movement and its music throughoutKerala curbed dramatic progress but nourished a spiritual awareness, withthe result that a new style of singing evolved in the temple which wascommonly called "Sopana", This was the blissful combination of regionaltunes and the new religious music, the reminders of which are still perceiv­able in ragas like Puraniru, Padi, Kanakuranji, Khandaram etc.

The conception of Sopana

It is said that this music acquired its name through the associationof the place called 'Sopana' where it used to be sung in the temples. .Theword literally means a stair-case, or ladder or a base (according to the ancientTamil lexicon Tivakaram). This, when interpreted in the musical sensewould suggest a singing, progressing systematically from the lower octavesto the higher, taking every note as a "base". It has been defined as"singing which is generally slow in time with the notes going higher andhigher and rising in pitch and intensity as they proceed producing sweetmelody and grace,"> '

(By this, the author means only the alapana which is adopted forsinging, ragas and slokas in temples and in Kathakali, such as Nandi sloka,

sucana sloka etc.)

It seems this music did not influence the Kerala stage for some time.The deteriorated condition of the stage and stage-music continued. for quitea long time till the whole Kerala stage underwent a change at the ha?ds .ofPrince Manaveda, who introduced the of Jayadeva, With its

I. Travancore State Manual, Vol. IV,2. Travancore State Manual, Vol.

SANGEET NATAK 16

appealing theme and alluring music in the country. Its influence "causedmodifications in the sentiment of the music and drumming, and in theelaboration of dressing. Out of the changes in subject, sentiments andmethod, arose the distinctive Krishnattam which reached its fullest develop­ment about fourteenth century".'

"Krishnattam was an adaptation of the Ashtapadi of Jayadeva. It isdivided into 8 parts, each designed for a night's performance ... thegeneral construction of Kathakali is more like Jayadeva's Ashtapadi thananything else.">

Since the music and the musical pieces of Kudiyattam was unsatis­factory, naturally King Manaveda, the founder of Krishnattam wrote thesongs and the music for Krishnattam on the model of Geeta Govinda, whichhad already won the appreciation of the people through its repeated per­formances in temples and in public places. This style which was later onadapted in the musicof Kathakali, by Vira Kerala Varma "has on the whole,a strangeness added to beauty, modelled on Jayadeva's Ashtapadi."3

The introduction of the music of Geeta Govinda to the stage, andthroughout Kerala as a whole, "in many respects transmitted the musicalmelodies extant in the country and gave them a profound grace and dignitycombined with majesty. The grace of sound and diction exquisitivelyemployed in them set a standard of musical melody in the state"."Naturally the existing style of singing of the temple too came under itssway creating a mutual understanding between the stage and temple music,at least in certain respects.

Thus grew the music of Kerala, through definite principles into adeveloped branch of singing, which is different from Kachery padhati ofthe Desiya or Karnatak. Let us analyse it in detail from various pointsthrough a comparative study.

Here also I wish to point out that a few attempts have been alreadymade by scholars to ascertain the individuality of the Music of Kerala onthe basis of'a comparative study with the Kacheri padhati of- classicalKarnatak music. As the aim and conception of the concert style, wherethe musician is the deciding authority and musical ability is the mainconsideration, is entirely different from that of the temple, opera and dancemusic, naturally the attempt would not have produced the desired results.For a worthwhile study, only. the above mentioned style has to be taken

I. Travancore State Manual, Vol. IV, p, 549.2. Krishnattam - by Dr. Kunjan Raja, Madras Music Academy 11 (1958).3. Travancore State Manual Vol. IV, p, 557.... Ibid 11. p. 556.

17 MUSIC OF KERALA

into consideration and not the Kacheri pahati with its elaborate vocal out­puts like briga'etc., druta sancara, tanam, svaram singing, anuloma,prati!omaand so on.

The temple music of Kerala is also considered to be typical of Keralamusic. But here the representation is just partial because bhakti bhavaalone is taken into consideration. The devotional colour being universal,the singing will have much in common with not only the devotional musicof the ancient Tamil Nadu out of whose music the land developed its typicalSopana singing, but also with the religious'stylesof the Kamataka Maharash­tra and Punjab. Ideas are common in the religious keertans' of Kerala,Abhang of Maharashtra and the great Grantha Sahib of the Sikhs. Whenideas and feelings are identical there will be some similarities in the ex­pression as well. So one has to tum mainly to the music of Kathakali forKerala music in all its totality, charm an~ individuality.

As elsewhere said, the music of Kathakali, Ashtapadiyattam etc.represents the dramatic line of music, and as such it is worthwhile tocompare it first with South Indian Opera music.

Kathakali and Kamatak Opera

The popular operas of the South of course have similar themes,characters, dramatic situation, dance and songs as in Kathakali. Yet theycannot be compared with Kathakali because a good number of them arestill on the level of folk varieties. A few developed styles like Kuchipudi(here I mean not the one represented by a single male or female dancer butthe one represented by a group of traditional actors and musicians of itsoriginal place) also cannot be considered because in them, we see the actorsthemselves talking, singing and dancing and as such the technique cannotbe the same as that of Kathakali - a performance which depends uponbackground music for its elaborate expression of bhavaand rasa.

A very highly developed classical dance with similar backgroundmusic - both vocal and instrumental - is Bharata Natya. Of all of theother dance styles, this may provide ideal material for a comparative study.But here too also, there are certain limitations.

Bbarata Natya and Kathakali

Bharata Natya is not an opera but a solo dance; ·So may naturallyhave only limited dramatic situations when comparedwith those of Kathakali,the full-fledged dance-drama, which has a number of. charactc:rs ~ndsituations. Moreover, Bharata Natya isa female dance and this-givespredominance·to lasya over ·tandava andiof-. sringara over other vigoroussentiments, which appear only as passing facets.

SANGEEr NATAK 18

This being so, the padas of Bharata Natya have to take sringara astheir main theme. This limitation causes minimisation in the field of raga,tala, and laya. Only ragas which are capable of portraying the sringarain its various shades and stages are chosen. Tala and laya are also fixedaccordingly. As there is no need for such a reservation, in Kathakali therange of raga, tala and laya is vast and varied.

Even in dealing with sringara and identical situations in love, usingsimilar raga and rhythm too, there is a difference. Leaving a few sringarapadas which are often not handled by composers and dancers in public­performances, the well-known padas are loaded with "sringara" outwardlyand ..bhakti" inwardly, since they have to conveythe mortal self in its struggleto merge with the self, through the veil of the sweet male and femalerelationship, immortal love. Pacha sringara is a technical term connec­ted with 'pada' the typical love composition of the South Indian Music. Itmeans expressing erotic ideas without any restrictions or reservation. The

.subdued sense of devotion controls the overtones of passion and this puri­fies the expression of the musicians, dancer and the expectation of thereceptive minds. In Kathakali, there is no such restriction. So theexpression of the sentiment becomes more aggressive or submissive accord­ing to the nature of the character and the demand of the situations. Notonly that. In Bharata Natya, we see the expression of the mortal feelingbecoming nobler and nobler creating a sense of eternity around, whilein Kathakali we see even immortality coming down to the level of mortalitycreating a sense of reality around it with the result that even when a godspeaks words of love to his beloved, the spectator is reminded of hisown experiences. The difference in the interpretation naturally has to bereflected in the music and dance as well.

The instruments, instrumental music and the arrangement of theinstrumentalists and above all the names of the talas, their structures,mnemonics, expression orchestra and rthymic "conclusions" -'- all are ofdifferent nature in these styles. The Kathakali ensemble consisting of chenda,maddalam, ilattalam, idaika and chengala, has nothing in common withthat of.Bharata Natya consisting of the melodious flute, tuneful mridanga;sweet manjira and vina or harmonium. Here the artists. sit at ease andpresent the music peacefully and earnestly, while in Kathakali, although theplay may last for a whole night, the musicians have to stand and perform.This is because, to me it seems, that the orchestra of Kathakali has a promi-

.nent part in creating the dramatic situations by providing suitable assistance.

Another major differenceis in their styles of singing which I feel is.theresult of the difference in their technique as dance forms. I will make.my­self clear. Compared to Bharata Natya, in Kathakali, there is .more scopefor. creative expression not only through collyiyattam but. also throughpadardha vyakhyanam - an indebtedness it owes to kuttu and kudiyattam.

19 MUSIC OF KERALA

Suppose there is an address like "Kamala locane Kante" ("thou my wife Ohlotus eyed one") in both the styles. What I have seen generally in BharataNatya is the expression of these words through hasta mudra, and the reflec­tion of the sentiment through facial expression and the movement of feetaccording to the tempo of the song. Twice or thrice, the mudras of thesewords will be shown by the Nartakiin full harmony with the words and music,i.e., the mudra for "Kamala" would be shown when the musician sings theword "Kamala" and so on. Perhaps some experts may do it a little moreelaborately. But even then it may not be as elaborate as that of Kathakaliwhere the actor does not merely interpret the words in terms of gesturesbut goes on elaborating the bhava and the hidden rasas, extensively. Here Imean not the present-day Kathakali which lasts for one or two hours andwhich minimises the colliyattam etc. to a great extent, those showswhich last through the whole night giving full freedom to the actor to im­provise as he likes. In such situations the musician has to lend adequatemusical support to this elaborate treatment till the dancer gives a hint tohim that he has concluded his improvisation and the musician canproceed to the next line or idea. It is humanly impossible to repeat the linefor such a long time with different sangatis to avoid monotony. Moreover,there is another limitation. He cannot sing all the sangatis or the set patternsof variations which are generally allowed in kritis etc. because certainsangatis may harm the atmosphere. So the Kathakali musician has toresort to some other way of singing which finally leads him to a singingresembling that of the musical elaboration of the pallavi vinyasa or kritiniraval.

Pallavi, Krltl niravaI, and Kathakali pada

Like Pallavi, the Kathakli pada too has a virama .or pada garbha,(stopping point) where the first part of the tala ends and the first part. ofthe song rests on. the principal note of the raga. Like the Pallavi, the padatoo is particular in keeping the right starting point, etc. But the expositionof the pada can be counted only as the simpIifiedimprovisation of thepallavi vinyasa at its beginning stage. .. To be more precise, the complicatedrhythmical patterns, strict adherence to the original structure and the overdependence of the words and letters .to the different angas of the tala andalso the highly intellectual exposition are avoided in the Kathakali pada --­the dramatic song-and this ... brings the difference between pallavi vinyasaand Kathakali pada vinysa.>:Since .. kriti niraval is also a. simplified ra1J..aelaboration, a comparison may be attempted. But in kriti, the virama~not always prominent; music predominates over sahitya(text); a systematicand gradual type of ragalapana from mandra to tara sthayi and from s~ow tofast tempo, forgetting some times even the lyrical: value song IS als~'Permissibleand these aspects make the kriti niraval from Kathakallmusic which has to adjust its vinyasa ae<:or,dilltgt:O

demands of

SANGEEI' NATAK 20

What is this adjustment? In what way is that different from KarnatakzHas it got some affinity towards any other system or style of singing? Toclear these doubts, we first of all, have to know the raga alapanasmapradayaof these two styles.

RagaJapana in KathakaJi and Kamatak music

As I said in the beginning, the basic principles of these two styles arethe same. Apart from the minor ragas like Puraniru, Khandaram, Padietc. which exist in both these styles with identical names but with differentsvara structures; the major section of the ragas like Todi, Mohana, Kalyani,Pantuvarali, etc. is one of and the same in these styles. Yet when they areheard, they appear different. This is because there lies a peculiarity inKathakali in its

selection of certain musical phrases in a raga which I wouldcall sthayas and which are not very common in Karnatak, I

in that particular raga;\

ii fixation of range or sthayis and angas (Purvanga and Uttarangadivision) to ragas which are tri-sthayi ragas according toKamatak conception;

iii application of gamakas like andolan, lina etc. to certain svarasof a raga which may not be a common trait so far as thosesvaras are concerned in Kamatak music.

These peculiarities make an identical raga structure appear differentwhen heard in Kathakali music. The indifference towards a deep study onthese aspectshas already cast a shadow over sopana musicand hascondemnedit as a corrupt form of the Kamatak style. Since that can only be a hastyconclusion, let us set it aside and think about its scientificbasis.

As I said earlier, Kathaka/i is a mime-drama and music is its tonalexpression. As such it consists of an ensemble of voices and instru­ments. Here the musician as well as the instrumentalists are expected toperform - not according to their own will and pleasure, but according tothe demands of the situation. Their aim, therefore, will be to search forvarious musical ways by which they can effectively express the differentmood and situation in all its variety and diversity. So naturally, here themusician has to elaborate those parts of the song which the character choosesfor elaboration. He has to stop where the dancer concludes. Moreoverhis singing should be such as to convey the idea of the song and situation

I ~e sthayas are called "angas" in Hindustani music, where raga and anga pa~~ti arestill In vogue.. One may refer to Prof. Roy's article on "sthayas" appeanng In .theMadras MUSIC Academy Jl Vol. XXIV for more information.

21 MUSIC OF KERALA

at their dramatic best. In short he has to cry, laugh, quarrel etc. throughhis music in order to encourage the actor and strengthen thesituation. Certain sentiments especially like karuna, - cannot be madenatural, if the expression of the sahitya through the music, does not showa sense of helplessness. A raga chosen for expressing the idea may be a

.correct choice. But even then all the svaras may not help the musician inconveying the idea at its best. So he has to concentrate on that note ornotes-let us call it jiva svara or svaras-and certain phrases mainly for hisinterpretation. Thus in Kerala music the sthaya becomes very prominentand it is clear in the words of the late Attoor Krishna Pisharoti - thegreatest authority on Kerala music and Karnatak music.

"Compared to all other systems of music, in Kerala music, there isgreat importance on the 'jiva svara' called Amsa svara. Kerala musiccontains mostly "vicitra sthayas" consisting of 3 or 4 notes with specialprominence to "Raga sthaya" which brings the raga bhava of a raga to itsbest."!

I am immediately reminded of the lines of Pt. Ranande about thealapa in Hindustani music. He says, "The constant aim of the artist istherefore to. make the unique possible effect with a few simple notes un­accompanied by any flourishes, shakes, or such graces.">

The fixation of sthayas often causes fixation of sthayis as well. Anotherreason is also present. Particular sthayas of a raga intensify a certainmood. But in creating such a mood, the musician has to take into consi­deration not only the situation but also the characterisation. Panchali

.and Sruppanakha narrate the story of their molestation to their brothers.But their expression may not be and should not be similar. Nala andKirata express their love for Damayanti. But the expression of their loveshould'not be similar even 'if the songs are set in the same raga, tala etc.While singing for the noble characters the musician has to safeguard theirnobility by making the expression controlled and dignified and vice versa.For sober characters and dignified and refined sentiments mandrq sthayisancharas will be more effective and vice versa. Hence in Kathakali, thesthayi fixation is essential even in: ragas which are tristhayi according toKarnatak music.

Being the voice of the character, the musician. has to •attack' some­body at the top of his voice in wrath or to appeal to somebody in a tiredtone of despair. Sometimes it so happens that the musician has to giveexpression to these different .sentiments through the same raga. He. ablycarries out his job not only by restricting his higher or lower

I. Radio talk, published in the MathrubhumiHindustani Music by Ranade,

SANGEET NATAK 22

octaves but also by changing the tonal qualities of the same notes andphrases of the raga. Different timbres have different significant data,like Ratri, Rajani, Nisa Yamini etc. have different significance, though theydenote the general meaning "night". Likewise the same note also can lenddifferent meaning under different contexts when used in a straight-forwardway, or with certain gamakas or with controlled or amplified tones. Todenote an out-cry or order, or to make a tense situation effectiveand realisticthrough music, straight notes are often used in Kathakali. Sober and solemnmoods willhavegamakas like andolan and lina and for other lively situations,other matching gamakas. This explains why notes of a raga are often usedin a straight way, and certain gamakas not in practice for certain svaras ofragas in Kamatak music are introduced in this style.

In this context Attoor remarks "In Kerala Sangit prominence is alwaysgiven to the swinging type of gamaka called andolanam, and other gamakaslike akarshanam/'t

Such traits cannot be illustrative of a corrupt version but could onlybe of a very highly developed musical tradition, the origin of which may beas old as' the music of Geeta Govinda, if not as old as that which is describedin the Natyasatra or Cilappadhikaram. To understand its scientific basis,a comparative study of this music with North Indian music system withparticularstress on its sthaya and ragaprinciples, vadisamvaditva and purvanga­uttaranga rules may be most helpful. Not the janaka janya raga krama,but the sthaya anga paddhati is followed here. Hence ragas arising out ofthe same svara krama like Deshkar, Jayat Kalyan and Bhupali or Marva,Puriya and Sohani, are common here. These ragas, though they have'thesame notes, sound different because their sthqyas (characteristic phrases),sthayis, application ofgamakas etc. are different. I am inclined to believethat in Kathakali though we call a raga Mohana or Todi, they may. notexpress the same ragasvarupa or svabhava when they are used in differentsituations to depict different moods for reasons already explained.••• Forits science, we may look to the principles of Hindustani music. Not.onlythe raga rupikarana and alapana sampradaya of both the styles seem to besimilar, even the musical form khyal and its elaboration, which accordingto Sri Rajamannar is "the simplifiedform of pallavi singing," provide soundmaterial for a comparative study with the Kathakali pada. But this doesnot mean that Kathakali pada and style of singing, are completely identicalwith Hindustani music-. In certain respects there are someThat is all. After all, khyal and its singing represent the concertline.such how can it contain the Kerala opera music completely?

ConclusionI have attempted to study Kerala Music as a distinctive of

I. Radio talk, published in the Weekly Mathrubhumi. ..

23 MUSIC OF KERALA

singing. which is different .rr~m. the Karnatak and Hindustani systemsof mU~lc, thoug~ bears similarity with them in many respects. This,according to me IS due to the fact that Kerala music especially the musicof Kathakali represents the dance and drama line of music, where the~u~ician .and t~e instrumentalists are not leading but assisting a play bygiving VOice to Its characters and situations.

I have tried to analyse its distinctive features. More work is neededto substantiate my findings.. This task may be a tedious affair because thegenuine system seems to be on the verge of extinction and what we generallyhear as sopana often tends to be a caricature of the old style. Many of theKathakali singers are not familiar with the Kerala styleor even the Karnatakmusic, in their purity and originality. In their indifference to learn any ofthese in their proper form and perfection they mix up the whole thing andpresent something which does not have either the simplicity and appealof the original old style or the scope and refinement of the Karnatak tradi­tion. Quite often the ignorance of Karnatak music principles, indeed notmerely Karnatak, but even basic music principlesare passed off as a genuinefeature of Sopana. The pada 'Samyamakannorudyanam' will have its firstline sung in Pantuvarali raga, and second line in Purvakalyani or in bothand this "peculiarity" if questioned, will be interpreted as the sopana wayof singing! It seems that taking libertieswith the ragas, singing them inand out of tune, etc. is to be accepted as the traits of sopana music. Thisis alittle too much for genuine art lovers and critics to accept.

Restoring a noble musical tradition that was once Kerala's pride andpreserving it as the land's typical music style isa great task. But nourish...ing faulty singing in its name is very dangerous. It is better to have thedance music of the Karnatak system introduced in Kathakali rather than toallow this trait to continue. A typical style of music was absolutely nece­ssarywhen the elaborate technique of Kathakali and its traditional presenta­tion lasting for several nights continually were in full swing. Now the situa­tion has changed and' the presentation.hasbeenreduced to a coupleof hours, if not just an hour. Kelikottu has lost its significance as the audi­ence arrive by invitation.cards. and are punctual to the second. The ela­borate purappadu, colliyattam rasabhinaya etc. have just a nominal existence,

the audience - often of a cosmopolitan nature-does not wish for themdetail. . Characters move .swiftly and the. story passes off dramatically

within the fixed period of time. Any good music can satisfy the musicalrequirements -of such a •. presentation.· A few promising young musicianstrained in Karnatak style are already faring well.inthesetypesof abridged

Kathakaliperformances. /i ••.•••.• . •. .....ii/ .'. ...:>./ •.One feels happyiri welcoming this.trend. Though it is not Sopana

.and as such' it has a few.limitations, itiprovides- gOOdIIlUsicto the greatart of Kerala named Kathakali.

. . Smt, Leela Omchery---SeeSangeet.Natak.S• ...

SANSKRIT DRAMAEPIC AND ROMANCE

Prof. H. W. Wells

It may plausibly be held that a review of Sanskrit drama in relationto the familiar conceptions of epic and romance has for a considerabletime been overdue. Although almost all the noteworthy plays are obviouslyseen to advantage, both from viewpoints of comparison and contrast,against the background of the earlier masterpieces of Sanskrit literature,they have rarely been so considered in a systematic manner. Nevertheless,from the earlier poetry the drama emerged and into a decadent poetry itat last returned. .It is true that most scholarly editors of the plays withepisodes clearly derived from the narrative poems, have offered somecomments on the indebtedness of the dramatists to their sources or theirdepartures from them. But remarkably few general conclusions havebeen reached.

A partial explanation of this critical default lies in the relativelybelated discovery of the manuscripts of thirteen plays now described as"The Trivandrum Plays" and, chiefly for convenience' sake, ascribed tothe. dramatist Bhasa. With only four exceptions, these are directly basedon either the Mahabharata or the Ramayana. Unknown to scholars untilearly in the present century, they obviously contributed nothing to thedescriptions of Sanskrit drama for over a century after this literaturebecame known to the West. They were, of course, lost also to India itself.Seven of the plays derive their materials exclusively from the Mahabharata,two from the Ramayana and all show at least some influence from thesemost celebrated of Sanskrit poems. The nine plays chiefly in question areThe Five Nights, Potsherd as Envoy, The Embassy, Kama's Task, The BrokenThighs, The Middle One, and The Adventures of the Boy Krishna, all derivingtheir principal characters and situations from the Mahabharata, and TheCoronation and The Statue Play, derived chieflyfrom the Ramayana. These

25 SANSKRIT DRAMA

are not only in thought but in style decidedly different from the mainstreamof Sanskrit drama and closer to the earlier poetry. Also, though withoutconclusive evidence, scholars are unanimous in holding that all the Bhasaplays belong to an earlier period in Sanskrit drama than do the master­pieces by which this dramatic literature is still chiefly known. Thoughall dates are conjectural, this view is distinctly plausible. Considered interms of spirit and poetic 'style, the evolution is well indicated by thedifference between the peculiarly forthright maimer of the Bhasa play,Charudatta in Poverty, and the singularly rich texture of its successor,Sudraka's Little Clay Cart.

In presenting the view expressed here there is small temptation torepeat any of the well-known definitions of epic or romance or even toformulate new definitions with the intention implied in all definition,generalisation. Only two narrative' poems need' be considered, thoughthese, to be sure, comprehend in themselves a very considerable body ofhighly diversified literature and may virtually be regarded as compilations.They are many times longer than all the works at any time ascribed toHomer, their content consisting of myths, legends and exhortations.Nevertheless, for preliminary purposes a few general statements are calledfor.

By an epic is understood a narrative work accepted by an entire peopleas a major imaginative composition, marked by violent and heroic action,rich in mythological imagery and in expression of ideals accepted as domi­nant in the culture of its origin. It is commonly described as an accumula­tion of poetic tradition, even where a divine or half-legendary author isassumed. It is a literature of belief rather than of entertainment. Manyworks share in a few of these distinctions, yet in other qualities are markedby important departures and hence preferably termed romances. In suchcases a less masculine and a more feminine consciousness prevails. Ideal­ism in the moral or ethical sense gives way to sentiment, grandeur to pathos.The militant spirit is on the whole overshadowed by the erotic. Epicpoetry has in general the gravity of hymnology; romantic poetry, the glowor warmth of fiction. The epic poet, in short, assumes belief both in thevalidity of his mythology and the historicity. of his narrative whereas theromantic poet is relatively content. to move the heart.

It is further customary to speak. of an "epic age" as well as of epicpoetry. One begets the other. An epic. age is characterized by austerityand severity. Romantic poetry, on the contrary, derives from a later andsofter culture, a feudal period attended by a marked dew:ee o~ elegance,refinement and. sophistication.•'. This is .not to deny keen intelligence andvigorous thought to an epic period but only to deny such a

romantic sensibility.

SANGEET NATAK 26

These distinctions have, doubtless, some general force and broadapplication but are even peculiarly applicable to Indian literature. Someconfusion has arisen from the popular and unqualified description of theolder Mahabharata and the younger Ramayana as alike epics. No onetruly familiar with them will question that in terms of the foregoing des­cription the older poem is essentially and indubitably epic, the younger onthe whole better described as romantic. Like Vedic literature, many ofwhose qualities it shares, the former was, incidentally, accepted as of divineorigin, the latter described as dictated by the gods to Valmiki. Thus ahuman author is at least named. A long step had been taken in thedirection of romance, even though all readers will admit that in the Ramayanathe epic background remains visible. One poem in its austerity suggeststhe Himalayas, the other, a fertile plain lying at the mountains' foot. Orbetter, one suggests the north of India, the other, the south.

It should be clear that the so-called "Bhasa" plays stand closer tothe epic tradition than do the works of those playwrights too long describedas the unrivalled masters of Sanskrit drama, as, notably, Kalidasa, Harsha,Sudraka and Bhavabhuti. It would be better said that as time advancedthe heroic and epic elements tended to diminish, the pathetic and courtlyelements to increase. It is scarcely too much to say that the scene of onegroup of plays is laid in a "fair field full of folk," that of the other in asingularly elegant princely harem.

Obviously, in any consideration of an art, spirit or style is more im­portant thansubject-matter. The Bhasa plays contain a remarkable dramalong considered the finest in the collection, The Vision of Vasavadatta, awork in the erotic and subjective moods. But its style is much closer tothe epic than is Kalidasa's.It clearly represents an earlier phase in Sans­krit drama than any of Kalidasa's three plays preserved to us. It may beadmitted that occasionally a later. playwright, strongly influenced by hisepic sources, may at least approach the epic style, as Bhata Narayana inhis Venisamhara. More often a late playwright when treating a romanticsubject, as Bhavabhuti in his Uttararamacharita; will far outdo the Ramayanaitself in what is commonly regarded as the romantic style and spirit.

Of course the nominal prestige of the M ahabharata and the Ramayanahas scarcely diminished in India through the centuries. But attitudestoward both have unquestionably changed. It is no surprise, then, thatthe so-called Bhasa plays were allowed to pass into obscurity while laterand far more romantic works won their well deserved fame. Here thereception of Indian classical drama by the West is likewise significant.This literature became known. for the first time ·at the very height of theromantic period. Goethe, as often observed,praisedSakuntalawithwordsalmost as romantic as the play itself. The warm Indian playwrights wereideally qualified to please the Western romantics.. In the general termsin

27 SANSKRIT DRAMA

which romanticism is described it may be doubted if any poet has been 'moreromantic than Bhavabhuti; one may even go so far as to declare thatno scene in drama surpasses in this regard the third act of his masterpiece,the Uttaramacharita, unless it be the celebrated fourth actof Sakuntala.Here lay the highlygratifying image of the ancient Indian drama as this wasunderstandably reflected for well over a century in Western criticism.

The West and even India itself have been slow to adjust themselvesto the new outlook so much encouraged by the discoveryof the Bhasa plays.On rare occasions honest and enterprising Indian scholars have actuallyexpressed a preference for the Bhasa plays, but this view has remained verymuch the exception. Accordingly, at the present juncture it seems timelyto re-examine the entire field from the standpoint of drama in relation toepic and romance, where quite possibly the most fruitful clues for inter­pretation lie.

The viewpoint of. comparative literature affords helpful analogiesandsuggestions. It is clear, for example, that Greek drama grew out of epicpoetry in particular and poetry inspired by the epic spirit in general. Italso step by step progressed in the direction of romance. Dramatic litera­ture being everywhere, a laterdevelopment than the other important formsof poetry, at no time does the Greek drama now known to us and derivingfrom the period of Athenian supremacy conform strictly to the epic manner.No important dramatic. literature. is, 'indeed, . known . anywhere to haveflourished in an epic age. But in its earliest known stages, that is, in theearly works of Aeschylus, Greek drama does come remarkably close tothe epic, as such early works of Aeschylus as The Persians and The SevenAgainst Thebes witness. Sophocles is still heroic but represents a riperphase of Greek humanism.', He is less impetuous and heroic than thegreat master who, as his apologists cogently remind us, fought at Salamis.Euripides, their successor, the master of pathos, is far advanced on the road­way to romanticism." Aeschylus, in short, stands close to the heroic poet,Pindar,' Euripides to the romantic poet, Callimachus. .Clearly, this pattern

... of development in Greece,parallels and elucidates that in India.

Moreover the essentials of'.a dramatic as distinguished from a non­dr~matic style 'appear, of'course, in each.Iiterature while the divergentclaims of-epic and stage became conspicuous. A presentational art de­mands a stricter economy than a purely recitational art; The Mahabharata,considerably older than the Iliad, is much more leisurely in its s~yl: andvastly more expansive than the remarkably succinct Bhasa plays.S~arly,

(Aeschylus is more condensed than Homer..• The Greek drama assumlatedthe lyric style, the. odes in Aeschylus approximating those of Pin~ar, muchas .the Sanskrit drama gradually assimilated the mo~es < of lyr;.c poe~ry,~lthough this, ..being .,. embry?nic. in the Bhasa plays,. IS of relat1ve~y bttl.e

·iconsequence. Even the ..Greek. style in narrative ,verse.tended. to yield bit

SANGEET NATAK 28

by bit to the romantic, as well-known through the contrasting moods ofthe Iliad and the Odyssey.

. Breathtaking dramatic gestures occur in the Mahabharata but perhapsno book so clearly defies the theatrical spirit as the Sanskrit epic by indulg­ing in its amazing elaborations, leisurely expansions and monumentaldigressions. To the poet of this epic, time, it seems, signified nothing butto thesuccessful dramatist, even in ancient India, time perforce means every­thing. Drama is tension. An audience leaves when the excitement wanes.A Bhasa play and the great primal epic in India are, as it were, the face ofa single clock where the epic is the hour hand, the play, the second hand.

The poignant irony, the paradoxical conjunction of idealism andpessimism, that everywhere mark the epic spirit, invigorate the Bhasa plays,as they do those of Aeschylus. It is noteworthy that the Indian playwrightowes much more to the Mahabharata than to the Ramayana and that evenhis two plays leaning chiefly on theRamayana are cast more in the mold ofthe earlier than of the .later poem. The pungent moral casuistry so typicalof the pure epic is everywhere conspiuous in the Bhasa plays. Perhapsit may be said that only a close inspection of such plays as The Five Days,The Embassy and Kama's Task reveals the intensity of the ironic moods.There is an austerity here quite lacking in the masterpieces of Kalidasa orBhavabhuti. The Later History of Rama is indeed, the very last word inpathos not only because of its perfervid emotionalism but because of thepurity of its sentiment, where tenderness rises to its apex without suspicionof sentimentality. A Westerner, nursed in a pure classicism, may well findits scenes cloying but will hardly question their sincerity.

Few persons will, we trust, care to dispute the long-establishedeminence and high splendor of the obviously mature Sanskrit drama asrepresented by Kalidasa, Sudraka and Bhavabhuti. But a few more wordsmust be said here on the much less understood though no less approach­able Bhasa plays and especially of those based on the purest epic tradition.Quality, which should always take precedence over quantity, must beevoked. The Middle One is clearly a casual study in the grotesque, withmuch humor in the burly, anti-heroic manner represented in the considerablenumber of humorous scenes in the Mahabharata and in such mock-epicsas the early Greek Battle of the Frogs and Mice, long attributed to Homerhimself. At least weknow from the "Battle of the Gods" in the Iliad whatgreat talent the robust, early Greeks themselves possessed for laughing attheir own gods and heroes. The chief serious plays relevant here are, asalready observed, but five in number, each brief and only one extending tomore than a singl~ scene...We are reminded of the old fables of the elephantand the fly: nothing more diffuse than the colossal and (at present, it mustbe confessed) often fatiguing Mahabharata, nothing more succinct thanthese capsule epics for the Indian stage" The final interview between the

29 SANSKRIT DRAMA

divine Krishna and the blind king of the Kurus in The Embassy is, I think,one of the most completely surprising, deeply moving and adroitly con­ceived episodes known to me in drama. But it is only an instance. Themassive power of The Broken Thighs has at least been occasionally con­fessed. Surely, the last-mentioned work refutes the familiar remark,repeated by the most widely read historian in English of the Sanskrit drama,A. B. Keith, that the Indians lack the sense of tragedy! Or perhaps wemay hold that epics attain purer tragedy than the stage? What scene inAeschylus or Sophocles, for example, in this respect surpasses the last bookof the Iliad or, for that matter, the final episode in the Niebelungenlied?What image in tragic irony surpasses that of the horses of Achilles withdrooping heads weeping for the follies of mankind? (0 for only one ofthose horses to comment on American Asian or astral policy!)

.Similarmoments of tragicgrandeur and emotionare actuallycommoninthesefive Bhasa plays, especially in passages dealing with the young and ill­fated hero, Abhimanyu. I have myselfattempted to indicate the concertedforce of these brief but momentous plays by recalling that several suchwere undoubtedly presented, like Noh dramas, in sequence on singleoccasions and thus in my translations in Sanskrit Plays from Epic Sourcesrecognized their obvious arrangement as scenes or acts in a single drama.When these works are considered as such, itmaywell be thought that noteven the incomparable richnessof the masterpiecesof Kalidasa, Sudraka orBhavabhuti surpasses infinal estimation the epic severity of the Bhasa work.No strict categorical evaluation is here implied. Quite the contrary, theonly claim made here is that in such matters any preference that is morethan personal must be pedantic, just as in final analysis a critic would beequally rash and foolish to rate either of the so-called Indian epics abovethe other. The argument is not that we should esteem Kalidasa less (hecan never be overpraised) but that we should esteem Bhasa more and re­interpret his accomplishment. All that is contended is that all the playsalluded to in these pages are masterful to a high degree, the larger and better­known group best understood as expressing the warm spirit of romance,the smaller group, both numericallyand physically, as expressing the austerespiritof epic poetry.

Although a romantic strain seemsinevitable in modern man,. a roman­tic age now lies behind us. . We live in an epic age, unhappily as yetpowerless to produce an epic. Let us not forget one of .the ~eat ~pisodesin Sanskrit. drama nor the words of Queen Gandhari designating theconflicts ofheroes as "fratricidal wars." Suchtho~ght and art gather forcethrough. the centuries.

DAMAYANTI INNALACHARITI-IAM ATTAKATHA

L. S. Rajagopalan

As a rule Attakatha authors have bestowed little care and less thoughton characterisation as such. Nor are the reasons far to seek. Even innovels and prose drama skillful characterisation is rare enough. In poeticdrama only a genius can deal with it with success. The plays of Shaw,for instance, are deservedly famous mostly for the masterly characterisa­tion of the dramatis personae achieved through a shrewd plot with appro­priate situations, highlighted by piquant, brisk and suggestive conversationof a high literary standard. Shakespeare achieves the same results by thesame means except that the language used is sublime verse. In .fact allgreat dramatists set great store by characterisation and that is the reasonmany of their great characters have become .more real than .historicalpersonages.

In Attakathas characterisation seems to have been neglected for twoobvious reasons. In the first place the subject matter in Kathakali isborrowed frompuranas like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana or theBhagavatha. So the scope to manipulate. the plot or the events is verylimited. Secondly the actors are dumb and express their ideas by faeialexpressions and well regimented gestures while the text (padas and slokas)is sung by the Bhagavathas. To be sure, . the author can makedevia­tions from the orthodox story to make the characters stand out or. makethem more impressive. But with puranic or divine characters. this is easiersaid than done. ErayimmanThampi who has written three outstandingAttakathas justly famous for their matchless music and literary merit hasattempted one such deviation in his Daksha Yagam with, to my mind,disastrous consequences. Sati, the spouse of Siva having gone to attend.the yagam performed by her father, disregarding the advice of her lord,is disowned and, metaphorically, turned out publicly from the yagasala

31 DAMAYANTI

by Daksha. In the original Bhagavatham, Sati, consumes herself inyogagni and Siva coming to know of it by his divineinsight sendshis servantsto punish Daksha. In the Attakatha Sati returns to Siva and complainsinlanguage which would not sound well from a noble lady, let alone adivine character, like Sati. Nor is the reply of Siva quite befitting thatdivine personage. In attempting to humanize divine characters one shouldnot lower them beneath those human characters whose sublimity andidealism bring heaven well within their reach.

Nalacharitham is a classic among Attakathas. The literary standardof its composition is so high that it has often been deservedly prescribedas a text for College classes. The music is charming. The rhythm andriot of rhymes of the padas and slokas and dandakas (a sort of tunefulnarrative - descriptive prose-verse) surcharged with nuances and a thinveneer of Puck-like humour help the actors and the discerning audiencediscover fresh vistas of novelty and enjoyment even when the show isrepeated for the n'th time. But I am here concerned only with one uniqueaspect of this Attakatha which distinguishes it from other compositions inthe field. " The characterisation in Nalacharitham is superb. A study ofa single character should give an insight into what is in store for the studentof Unnayi Varier who, like Thoms Gray, established his fame with a singlecomposition. .

Ail the characters in this play are drawn with exquisite care andminute attention to details. The basic limitations of Kathakali in the fieldof characterisation have been. side-tracked by the author by. crisp padasthat invade the actor overflowing from the Bhagavatha and a hint fortheir right interpretation is hidden in the sloka that precedes or follows.It is in this context that the rather topsy-turvy practice of the author inclothing many of his slokas in manipravalam and his Sanskrit-mixing inpadas has. to be viewed. He has made few deviations in the. original plotbut the details have been carefully rearranged and presented with dramaticeffect.

Damayanti isaDesdemona .with.a trace of Portia thrown in. Onemay wonder how the meeknessand blind adoration of the one could go withthe competency and ability of the other. The genius of Varier works themagic without disclosing any incompatibility or divided personality.

.Damayantihaving heard of the qualities,of head and heart of Nala,the •• king. of Nishaada, .fell for him while still young, on her own initiative.But she knows how to keep her dignity and hides her secret even from herintimate handmaids. When the Swan-messenger of Nalaarrives,Damayantitakes little time to assesshim. The Hamsam is another characterin the play .drawn •with consummate'. skill. and .unexcelled human interest.While Damayanti proves equal his psychologicalplay ofwits, she willingly

SANGEEI' NATAK 32

givesin, albeit in chaste and suggestive language, when she is. sure of hispurpose.

In the original story in Mahabharata,Indra's messenger discloseshimself as Nala to Damayanti. In the play .he deliberately hides hisidentity and Damayanti only notes the resemblance to her hearsay image,To all the eloquent pleadings of the messenger her capable mind is readywith crushing answers. When he threatens her finally on behalf of thedevas, she meets it with the unanswerable retort that those to whom theirlords are gods are bound to be protected by the devas. . With the samesense of bizarre humour she prays to the very devas who have taken on theguise ofNala to help her spot the genuine Nala to wed him at the swayamvara.

The orthodox Attakathas begin with a love scene which is scarcelydecent either in the padas or the acting. If they do not look positivelyvulgar, that is because of the supra-human make up of the actors and thetime-lag in the apperception of the modern audience. In Nalacharitham,as a welcome contrast, there is only asingle love scene in all the four parts,together. And that scene is so chaste and psychological that it could wellbe a model for all newly-weds in the world. Nala begins the scene byrelating how their true love had to face various hindrances and how allof them except one have been overcome. He hopes that that too woulddisappear in the course of time. Put like this not many would guess thatNala refers to the. natural shyness that is nature's gift to Eve. He goeson in the same delicate strain and the poet in the suceeding •manipravalasloka hints that Damayanti was favourably moved by his 'chatuvakyam',a keyword implying the kind of wooing. Damayanti's reply is quiteinkeeping with her dignity and at the same time, warmth of feeling. Ostensi­bly she describes the garden but there are indirect references to the godof love and her excitement.

When she found her husband was losing everything in dice play shequietly arranged to send her children to her parents and remained herselfto share the fortunes of her lord. When Nala suggested she could go backto her parents she recalls the laws of dharma likea Daniel come to judgement.Even when he deserts her in the forest while asleep she is unable to blamehim. To her, her lord and master can do no wrong. It does not take longfor her shrewd mind to guess the real culprit and curse that evil spirit. Evenin her helpless state, her worry is onlyfor the safety of her lord.

In her forlorn wanderings in the forest the heroine is caught in thecoils of a python and cries out for help from her lord. A Kattalan (forest­dweller) hears her and comes to her help. The author has painted even

Illustratlons z P, 33.Na/a and Damayanti from "Nalacharitam Attakatha":impersonator plays the part of Damayanti in traditional Kathakali, P. 34. Damayanticonfused by the gods made up to look like Nola - ..Swyambara" scene." .

37 DA.MA. YANTI

this minor character with meticulous care and delicacy' of touch. In theoriginal. the kattalan saves her: from the snake and attempts to embraceher and is promptly killed by her curse. Varier on the other hand, makes

'. the kattalan a refined fellow in his own way. He is attracted by the sweet­ness of the sound, the beauty of the person and makes tentativeoverturesto her to test on his body while freeing her from the snake and evenhintsthat no one could be expected to come to her help in the forest. But theauthor makes him scrupulously eschew. force. Damayanti with feminineinsightreads the signs, thanks him hurriedly, says thatbeingsavedfromdeathis too great a gift to be requited and requests him to leave her alone. Itis only when he begins to plead his cause and persists, that Damayanti thinksof the boon given by Indra that anyone who attempts to besmirch herchastity would be burned out. Notice that here there is no question of acurse. The feelings of Damayanti are only pity for the infatuated, erringfool and sorrow at her own predicament that she should become the un­witting cause of the demise of a benefactor. Lest the point should bemissed by the actor or the audience, the author has carefullymentioned inthe succeeding sloka that. half-way through the thought of the boon thekattalan was bumedup. (No doubt there is the word 'Chapam' in theslokaout that refers only to the result), The episodeillustrates the author'sdelicacy of touch regarding details of characterisation.

The puranic version of her interview with the queen of Chedi is thatDamayanti says she is a sevant-girl born, but Varier advisedly makes herown she is a King's daughter and cleverly side-tracks the conversation toavoid the identity of her. husband and her self. Were she to pose as aplebeian it would have been difficult for her to secureasylum there with heruncommon and uncompromising conditions that she would not eat left-overfood, that she would not even conversewith males and that anybodymakingovertures to her should be summarily done to death.

One of the messengers (spy) sent by King Bhima to find-out thewhereabouts of his daughter and her husband spots her and Damayantireturns home to her children and parents. Immediately she takes chargeof the arrangements. to search for her husband throughout the land. ~einstructions she gives'her messengers are worthy of a Scotland Yard Chief.Apart from using their eyes and ears they areto recite a sort of c,,?emessage of a provocative nature toall and sundry and should make a specialnote of any, response thereto; Pamadhan,·.one of the messengers gets.aresponse. from Bahuka,thechariot-driver of King Rythupama...

'. . Too capable-to bebetrayed'into anY1ulsty~~nclusi~~S,DamaYantiiplans her next step with great care andfiness~ ~?clinchthelssue, . Uttara

"iillistrations: P.35. Above: Thej,dlting.·~tJ1a t~~'e~;thes1eeping Da='r~~:... :~a, :cu:,,~;depa::/;:~r::t::;:,,:::r;::z:l!o~': ~'fw:i;N%Jt:'dnle:Mn~··ii·i·(!i·· .. ·••".

SAN.GEET NATAK 38

Kosalam, the land of Rythuparna was far away and (in those days) thejourney would take at least two or three days. She would so arrange thingsthat a rumour that Damayanti proposes a remarriage for herself, reachesthe ears of Rythuparna, a candidate for her hand even at the time of herswayamvara, The catch would be that he would have barely a few hours toreach Kundinapura. If his charioteer were Nala it would be child's playfor him with his knowledge of aswahrydaya, a magic spell which could makehorses of the right type, almost fly. Because the ruse was somewhat un­orthodox and capable of misinterpretation Damayanti is careful to takeher mother into her confidence and procure her previous consent to thescheme. But with the self assurance of a Portia she keeps her father in thedark lest that august personality should object. She selects Sudeva whohad proved his shrewdness and tact by discovering her in the court of theChedi queen, as her messenger.

In this context one unique skill that Varier displays in planning hisnarrative deserves special notice. In many Attakathas a messengeris given detailed instructions by the sender in one place and whenhe delivers the message to another the same is repeated again causing lossof interest in the audience. Varier, in delightful contrast, not onlyavoidsrepetition but rouses fresh interest and admiration by the novelty of histreatment of such situations. For instance, Damayanti praises Sudevaand simply tells him that he should undertake a journey to Rythuparna forher sake. In his reply the brahmin briefly refers to the task set him butmakes plain the vital aspects of the message. The audience gets a fullpicture of the message only when Sudeva actually delivers the message toRythuparna in which, as an encore, is added a pregnant hint that the secondmarriage date is postponed for a day for the sake of a particular person.This delightful pattern is adopted by the author whenNala asks the Hamsamabout details of his interview with Damayanti, In the reply of the Swanthere is not only no repetition but there is a help (to the audience also) for aright interpretation of his conversation with her. (The Swan says he hasshaken her love for him to fix it more firmly).

When towards evenfall of the day previous to the one fixed for thealleged second marriage Bhaimi heard the .roar of Rythuparna's ·chariot,she was beside herself with joy with the expectation of meeting her heart'sidol. When the chariot arrived she found to her utter despair, Nala was notthere. .It is a tribute. to. her. capacity arid competency that, torn between'these extreme emotions, she could summon her intelligence. to probe themystery to the very end.: She sends her trusted. companion Kesini to soundBhahuka thoroughly and also to get confirmation about his response to hercoded message once communicated through Parnadhan.. •As an additionalprecaution Kesini was to observe unnoticed Bahuka's ways. Her favourablereport confirming the special attributes of Nala like calling up fire or waterat will, drooping flowers blooming at his touch etc., convinced Damayanti

39 DAMAYANI'I

that Bhahuka was Nala in fact exceptforhisphysicalappearance. Damayanti,immediately. sought the permission of her parents - this time she includedher father too, presumably because it was a crucial step - and sent forBhahuka and their interview is one of the highlightsof the drama. .Finallywhen Bhahuka becomes Nala wearing the dress presented by the snakeKarkotaka, and accuses her of mental lack of chastity because the thoughtof a remarriage had passed through her mind, Damayanti's defence is amasterpiece of affection and eloquence, emotion and logic, meekness anddignity, leading to the climax that just as she had once ignored even thedevas to win him for herself she now did sin, if she sinned at all, to get himback.

, .Damayanti in Na/acaritham Attakatha has a place in the galaxy of

world-famous women in literature.

KABUKI AND KATHAKALI

Some impressions

Susheela Misra

When India was at the pinnacle of her glory in the world of arts,several of her fine arts like music, dancing, and architecture, spread farinto the East. Japan was one of the Asian countries which adapted andassimilated some of these influences. For instance, Bugaku, one of heroldest dances is said to have been imported along with Buddhism fromIndia through Tibet and China nearly 1,300 years ago. Some of theGagaku melodies which accompany Bugaku still have their old Sanskritnames. From some of the beautiful carvings in the Ajanta caves and otherIndian shrines, musicologists and historians have inferred that "danceswere in vogue in Buddhist temples as a part of the rituals on the occasionof certain feasts". Any similarities between Indian and Japanese dances,therefore, are not accidental. Dance-lovers have detected many Indianelements in the general structure, and even in some of the details of Kabukiand Noh. Indian influence is evident also in the close relationship betweenthe "sung words" and their dramatic expressions through stylised gestures,'facial expressions, and dance-movements.

While witnessing a Kabuki show, it is very interesting to note thesimilarities as well as the many marked differences between Kabuki andKathakali. The apparent differences between Indian and Japanese artsare due to the difference in the basic approach to aesthetics in the twofultures. Dance in India is one of the highest forms of yoga, throughwhich human beings can achieve complete oneness of soul and body.The concept of rasa is a unique feature of Indian arts. The object of thearts in India is the evocation of rasa - an impersonal absorption in theaesthetic mood causing ananda, a sort of bliss. The Hindu eclectic visionstrives through elaboration to include the essential. A rasa can be de­picted in several ways; a phrase is sung, and a mood is futerpreted in avariety of ways; it is this approach that makes Indian art so rich.

41 I KABUKI &: KATHAKAi:.i \".

Japa~es~ ae.sthetics on the other hand attempts to distil the essentialthroug~' elimination, In Japanese classical dancing, miming is ' highlysymbolic ~n~ pared down to its aesthetic quintessence. The principle is tofind the ultimate gesture, phrase, pose or graphic line that contains theessence. I.n short, it reflects the Zen Buddhist austerity and the strivingfor the point nearest to nothingness that is still highly expressive.

In order to enjoy Kathakali, one has to be steeped in the stories of theHindu Epics, and be willing to be transported into the world of Hindumythology. When going to witness a Kabuki dance-drama, the spectatormust be ready to forget realities for the time being, and also be preparedfor a complete and "willing suspension of disbelief" as Kabuki containsmuch fantasy, myth and symbolism which cannot stand rational analysisor criticism. As one critic said: "One might as well climb a tree in questof fish as to expect logic and rationality in a Kabuki play.

The Temples of Kerala have been vast repositoriesof musicand dance.The.great art of Kathakali had its origin in the 17th century from theatricalarts like Koodiyattam and Krishnattam which flourished in these temples.It is, in fact, a harmonious fusion of the religious beliefs and artistic tradi-

of two great cultures,- Dravidian and Aryan. .To this, the Nayars,the warrior-class of Kerala, brought their excellent physical training InKalaris (gymnasia), their skill in the art of miming, and their virile martialdances '- somewhat like the war-dances of Japan's Samurai. "In spite ofits comparatively short history, Kathakali achieved tremendous popularitywith all classes, and its repertoire grew under the cultured rulers ofKeralamany of whom -were great patrons, artists and composers themselves;Centred around' the endless,' stories drawn from the two great HinduEpics,Kathakali isa marvellous combination of natya, nritta, nrityaandabhinayaagainst a background of classical'Kerala music (vocal) and a percussionensemble.

Of all the dances Japan, the mostcol~urf~I,'pOptil~and widely-known is the Kabuki dance-drama. Kabuki is¥ spe~culiu'combination, of 'song' (Ka), ,dance' (Bu), andicting (Ki)~,AIong wi,thBuddhism, Japan must also have importedfr?IIi: Indi~',the~adition,ofemploying. female ., dancers attached. to religious", ~hrine.s·' ,,' Th~ .~e:ltor ofKabuki. was Okuni..- a shrine-maiden in the gre:ilt shrine of Izumo, towardsthe close of the ,16th century. ',Realizing ~tthe pUlJli~,'\\,asgro\Ving ratb~bored with the primitive Prayer-DanfC~,lo10Wn a~ !(emb'!tsu O,d0r,(, ,this

,Shrewd.actress created a new form "of,'danee-dr~a, "inc?I:J>0ra~~gse,,~features,.fromth~ancientNoh •••PlaYS,.~f {ap,a,i·f'",;,t;.r;'!"i("""_;'•• ;;rn·'r';i:~

Kabuki the new form ofd~~ce-drama,achievedgreat popularityand. so "did the actresses who,perf0rmed"th~rtl·,.: ,l,J1ese. shrine-maide,I1~b~to perform in the Buddhist temples as well as in the Shinto.s~es,~~,~~,~~

SANGEET NATAK 42

perhaps not unlike the devadasis of the ancient South Indian temples. Thus,Kabuki began as an exclusive female show. Later on, when the Govern­ment banned the appearance of women-dancers, Kabuki gradually becamean exclusive monopoly .of male actors. The best-looking boys wereselected for playing female roles, for which they had to undergo long yearsof intensive training. They were known as Oyamas or Onnagata. Thetraining given to these male-impersonators of female roles was so thoroughthat many of them are said to have "surpassed real geishas in beauty, andrefinement of manners". Prior to the Meiji Restoration (1868) period,these Oyamas used to dress in female costume even off-stage, and theywere encouraged to look, behave, and even think like females in real life.

This Kabuki tradition of having only male-actors has survived to thepresent-day just as in the Kathakali. Perhaps some of the reasons forthis tradition in both these forms of dance-drama are the same­the rigorous training required, the vigorous style of the dances, and theheavy costumes in both. One .reason advanced in Japan for this strangesystem is that the small, petite and dainty Japanese actresses with theirdoll-like beauty "cannot project the strong personality required for thefemale characters in Kabuki plays", whereas the specially-trained maledancers with theirexaggerated female gestures give the impression of a more­than-life-like impersonation.

Female roles it1 Kathakali being played by young boys and men, theyare not realistic but "a stylised type of woman consciously developed formale actors impersonating women". Actors who specialise and excel inimportant female roles are held in high esteem and they bring to their roles"a certain cultivated grace, a gentle fluid lyricism, and radiant beauty."Similarly, good Onnagatas have always enjoyed a large following ofadmirers.

The artistes in all these ancient forms of dance, whether it be theNoh and Kabuki of Japan, or the Kathakali, Bharatanatyam of India, haveto devote themselves to long and arduous years of training with single-

. minded. devotion. The dance-life of a Kathakali student has "all theausterity, reverence, and dedication of a student of Yoga" ~ The Kabukiactor's training also is very exacting and stringent; right from childhood,he must accept the laws of "complete obedienceto his instructor, a thorough

. grounding of classical forms", and immense concentration. The atmos­phere of "religious dedication" in the green-rooms, and the long process ofcomplicated make-up, afford the dancers a period of "spiritual concentrat­tion", which is esseritial for enabling them to get into the full spirit of theroles they are going to play on the stage.

IUustrations:P. 43 Renowned Kabuki actor Onoe Shuruku as Benkei in the play ..Kanjincho""P. 44 Famous female-impersonator, Nakamura. .Utaemon as Shirabyoshi Hanako in theKabukiplay"Dojojr. . .. ..

47KABUKI &:KATHAKAU .

Kathakali::aramas all being based on Puranic stories, the charactersare the gods, their spouses, rakshasas, demons, godly and saintly mortals,and various other mythological andsupernatural beings. Kabuki, on theother hand, abounds in worldly characters such as Ohimesama."(daughters from aristocratic families), Oiran or courtesans (charming syrn­boIs of the culture and aesthetic tastes of the Edo period), Geishas (refinedgay-quarter. beauties) of Yoshiwara, lovely princesses, brave Samurai;'swashbuckling nobles, loyal servants, jilted lovers, wicked impersonators,and wierd characters like revengeful ghosts, and wicked demonesses dis-

. guised as beautiful damsels (like the rakshasis of the Hindu epics).

The repertoire of Kabuki was greatly enriched by borrowings fromthe famous Puppet-plays (Ningyo Joruri) of Osaka. As in Kathakali, thecolours used for the facial make-up of Kabuki characters vary.accordingto the nature of each. For instance, red lines denote bravery, chivalry,loyalty etc. blue is for ghosts and other evil roles, and so on. Bharata'sNatyasastragives definite symbolic values to colours. Kathakali -charac­ters fall under a few broad categories, and the nature of each can be re­cognised from the details of facial make-up. Pachcha or green make-upindicates noble, heroic, excellent figures like Rama, Krishna and Arjuna;Kari or black, means low, sinful tamasic characters; "Red Beards" denotefierce, demoniacal persons; "White" is for pure, benign, radiant roles;Minukku is the name of the softly-shaded facial make-up for female roles,and so on.

In order to understand and appreciate Kathakali dances fully, one hasto be acquainted with the meanings of the numerous mudras .and of theaccompanying songs. Kabuki, no doubt, is spectacular enough to be afeast for the eye, but one cannot enjoy it fully unless one can follow boththe gestures and the music. There is, however, one difference betweenthese two. The Kathaka/i-dancer can express every nuance of meaningthrough his perfect handmudras and facial expressions; .even in such ahighly stylised art, as in all the classical arts of 'India, a gifted artist hasample scope to •exercise-his •gift of improvisationor manodharma. AKabuki-actor also can become a creative one within the ancient rules, butonly after he has established his excellence in a particular type of role afterdecades of acting behind him. The Kabuki dancer expresses a lot of thingswith the aid or 2 main accessories -- the Folding Fan or Sensu, and theJapanese Towel or Tenugui. Who, but the initiated spectator, cap followthe subtle gesture-differences by which the Sensu in the hand is made to

Illustrations: P. 45· No masks are used in Kathakali or Kabuki. Instead faces are pointed~a mask-like manner Above' Two demonic characters Kali and Dwapare from Kathakaliwith beards mtd1UJs~ knobs• • Below: A scene from" Kanjincho" showing simple but stylised.facifJ! make-u • P. 46 Above: "Terunooku">« the .. curtain look-s-of H.(lIfU11lf11l• .. The firstappearance :J:mport(llft characters in Kathakoliis madebehinda .half-cUrfOln held by.pr0perty­men", to heightm dramatic impact. Below: H(lIfu11lf11I- a benign deml-god. .. ,

SANGEET NATAK 48

. signify "the whole universe and everything in it", and also to representthings as widely varied as Mt. Fuji, an umbrella, a sword, a sake-cup, abutterfly, a writing-brush, a flute, an arrow, wind, waves and so on, byholding it in different positions! Similarly, the Tenugui is used to indicatethings.as different as a love-letter, a stick, a mirror, a stream etc. "Symbolicrepresentation is thesoul of Kabuki". The Kathaka/i dancer needs noextraneous aids to create the mood and atmosphere of a Puranic scene or toevoke any of the 9 rasas. With his exhaustive vocabulary of hundreds ofmudras, and perfect control over movements of head, neck, eyes, eye-lids,eye-brows, cheeks, and lips, he has a language more eloquent .than anyspoken one.

Kabuki is a complex mixture of gesture and mime (furi), movementsof the upper part of the body (rnai), and (odori) quick lively leaps, jumpsand other movements of the lower part of the body. In Kabuki, theactor generally revolves around a pivot "like a statue on a turn-table."Legs are rarely shown. But these seem somewhat simple compared withthe intricate rhythms and astounding foot-work executed by the ghunghroo­bound feet of India's classical dancers. They dominate the entire stageeven in solo performances, and, in fact one cannot enjoy these dances unlessone can also watch their superb lightning-footwork.

A fundamental similarity between the various classical dances of Indiaand of Japan (in fact, all the classical dances of the East), is the closerelationship between the "sung words" and the dance. The words of thesongs, and the dance-gestures and images - all merge into the lovelystream of artistic expression. In Kathaka/i, the vocalist, and his assistant,the drummers and cymbalists make up the entire orchestra. .They aremore than mere accompanists because they participate in the dances aspassionately as the dancers. The vocalist is the leader.. but the drums playa vital part in evoking the right atmosphere. "The drums in Kathakalihave.many melodies, reflect many moods, sweeping life a mountain torrent,or thinly trickling; they can wail or thunder or whisper in tender confidence,or perform the finest intricacies of rhythm,counterpointing or reinforcingthe sung words of the musicians, or the silent dance or mime of the actors.The drumbeats sometimes echo thunderously , while sometimes they fallas lightly and as fast as flowers scattered". (Beryl De Zoete). Althoughthey perform in fuUview of the audience, pure white clothes of the musiciansare marked by extreme simplicity.

The Kabuki musicians are, on the other hand, colourfully dressed andprominently seated. Dressed uniformly in the karnishimo or feudal cos­tumes, they occupy a two-tiered, red-carpetted dais (hinadan) at the back­centre of the stage, facing the audience. The samisen (a long 3-stringedfinger-board plucked with a plectrum), the koto( a long 12-stringed harpor dulcimer), and a number. of drums like the. tatko; otsuzumi, kotsuzumi

49KABUKI & KATHAKALl

and tsuzumi are used. With the aid of all these instruments, the vocalisthas to produce the necessary atmosphere for various emotional situations,and effects.

TumuItous drumming on the maddalam announces that a Kathakaliperformance is about to be staged. The prelude to Japan's Gagaku is alsosaid to begin with a series of "reverberating thuds" on the giant-drum,taiko. "The heavily carved, wooden, oval-shaped frame represents thesacred flames whichencompass the Hindu God Shiva." (Faubian Bowers).

The famous hanamichi or flower-way in the Kabuki Theatre whichis an extended approach to the stage through the audience, brings the actorscloser to the audience. It enables them to perform important movementsof the plays "literally in the midst of the spectators", and to pause indramatic poses on this extended "acting-arena". Although there is nosuch specially built-in passage for Kathakali, the actors can encroach uponthe auditorium. Sometimes, the demons or other wicked charactersmaking wierd noises, crash about among the spectators - turning theminto actual participants in the play.

Kabuki excels in many spectacular stage-devices. Beautiful andappropriate backgrounds of mountains, bamboo-groves, boats, lovelygardens, palaces etc. are all recreated on the vast stage. The trap-lift(seriage) and the revolving-stage are 2 of their original devices. With itsspectacular scenes, colourful. settings, gorgeous costumes, and fanciful

\. stories, Kabuki manages to present even the unreal and the unnaturalbeautifully. "The art of Kabuki consists not in making the real look real,but in making the unreal look real".

In .Kathakali; the hand-held terissheela (curtain), the huge bell-metaloil-lamp casting a goldenglow and wierd shadows, and an ordinary woodenstool are about the only stage-accessories used. The dancers who emerge

. from the dark and vanish into the darkness, have to create the entiremythological scenes and supernatural atmosphere through their sheerartistry: .While the dance-drama lasts, the spectators are transported intoa different world where they.experience the essence of the primal passionsin an unreal, unearthly,' atmosphere. .When the play ends at dawn, theygo home. "cleansed and uplifted,': having witnessed and walked with theGods".... In the words of the great Kabuki actor, Kichiemon: "The stage

.becomes reality, and the rest of the world a dream."

'Smt. Susheefa Misra took her Master ofArts .Degree in Eng/ish Langunge and pteraturefrom the Madras University, and her Music Degree from the Bhatkhande MUSIC. College,Lucknow• . For the past 17iears she has beenon the staffolA//lndia Radio-firstas MusicAdvisor and then as Producer Music. She is a regular contributor 01articles on music innumerous journals. She has written a book on "Music Profiles" and. has trave/Iedwidelyin this country and abroad. .

GAYANACHARYAPANDIT MIRASHIBUWA

Prof. G. H. Ranade

Gayanacharya Pt. Mirashibuwa's family belongs to Ichalkaranji,a petty old Jagir but historically of note under the Kolhapur State of thepre-merger days. Mirashibuwa belonged to that branch of MaharashtrianBrahmins, which is locally known as karhadas. 'Pandit' is the true surnameof the family, but its members used to be better-known as mirashis, as theywere the holders of a hereditary service-Inam of the mirashi-class.

Mirashibuwa was born at lchalkaranji at his maternal uncle's placeon Friday the 3rd of the bright-half of Kartik of the Shaka year 1805 orin 1883 A.D. On the day of his birth, the members of his maternal uncle'sfamily were in great anxiety, as that was the very day on which the decisionof an important criminal case, in which his maternal uncle was maliciouslyincriminated by some of his enemies in the town, was going to be declaredby the Criminal Court - and according to rumour, the maternal unclewas sure to be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment and also a heavy fine.So nobody was in a mood to rejoice at the birth of the child, thefirst of its parents and a son, but all thought that its birth was inauspiciousas they took it for granted that the maternal uncle was sure to be convicted.But within about two hours from the birth of the child, to their great joyand relief, the news came that the magistrate had declared the maternaluncle as 'not-guilty' of any offence and as such had discharged him com­pletely.

Instantly, the scene changed from one of great anxiety, to one ofboisterous jubilation and mirth and the birth of the child was hailed asvery auspicious and as a precursor of great good fortune for his parentsas well as his maternal uncle, in particular. To celebrate the great good

51 Pt. M1RASH1BUWA

fortune, they named the child 'Yashwant' meaning the 'Victor' or 'thesuccess - getter'.

Yashwant's father was the eldest member of his family, and he,(Yashwant) being the eldest male-member of the next generation wasdestined to succeed his father some day in the hereditary service. As suchhe was dearly loved by all the members of his family and was brought upwith great care. He was familiarly called Balu, as Hindu parents,particularly the mothers, do not call their eldest son by his proper or firstname directly. Balu was gifted with great personal charm. He had a clearcomplexion, a pair of bright eyes, and an aquiline nose and was smart inappearance. Day by day he grew in stature and developed into a fineyoung man. His progress at school was also quite satisfactory and hisModi as well as the Devanagari handwriting was the envy of his school­mates. He had also the gift of an effortless silver voice and could recitemany ~anskrit-Slokas and poems from his school-books in a very tunefulmanner.

After completion of the course of the lower Primary School, Balujoined the local English School, which had provision only up to the FifthEnglish standard of those days - the equivalent of the Ninth standardof today. Bhatebuwa and Dattubuwa Kale, though junior to him byone year, were two among his intimate school-mates who had the gift ofgood voices. They also had some little training in music of an elementarycharacter. But Balu had none. So, at the time of the annual School

. celebrations, these two used to be invariably selected for singing theReception-songs etc., while Mirashibuwa in spite of his silvery voice usedto be passed over by his teachers.

During this very period, a small incident - ordinarily of little signi­ficance - took place, and things, though small, sometimes count inshaping the destiny of men and often take root in outwardly simple things.It was so, at least, in the case of Pt. Mirashibuwa.

The Ruler of Ichalkaranji was an ardent lover of music and hadgreat admiration for Pt. Balkrishnabuwa, a famous musicianof the Gwalior­Gharana, and the guru of such great musicians as Pt. Vishnu Digambar,Pt. Gundubuwa Ingle, Pt. Anant Manobar. So, he was pleased to appointBalkrishnabuwa to the post of Darbar-musician, about the year 1898 A.D.After a short stay in some other part of the town, Balkrisbnabuwa, by sheeraccident, went to stay in a house just opposite to Balu's own house atIchalkaranji,

It was a new experience for the residents of that lane and most ofthem felt annoyed.at the non-stop music-practice that went on at Balkrishna­buwa's place. . At that time Balu had no liking for music, and he, along

SANGEEI' NATAK 52

with the' other members of his family and his neighbours, considered suchpractice as a veritable nuisance. Occasionally, some of the boys in thelane, Balu included, used to mock those practising within, by imitatingthem from the lane outside or from the door-steps of Balu's own house,just facing that of the Buwa.

Though Balu was drawn into the game, first as a matter of mere fun,in course of time, he developed a capacity to imitate the music heard andreproduce it fairly faithfully with most of the melodic nuances withoutmuch effort. During the hours when Balkrishnabuwa used to go out ofthe house, like most neighbours, Balu began to drop into the former's houseoccasionally and in course of time formed a friendship with Annabuwa,the Buwa's only son and the other pupils. A pair of tab/as used to liethere in a comer, and out of sheer curiosity Balu would try his hand atplaying in any manner he liked. It was almost a nuisance and a wanton,waste of time and so Annabuwa and the other pupils advised Balu to learnplaying a few thekas in the regular manner, and under their guidance andwith some practice for a few months further, he was able to play some oftbem fairly well.

By and by he began to test bis ability of playing the tabla by accom­panying the pupils when they used to practise singing. Thus Balu hadthe opportunity of knowing the wording of the chijs and their melodic andrhythmic structure in greater detail and could remember them easily as thepupils used to revise singing the same chijs over again for many days insuccession. Although, on the surface of it all, he happened to be only acasual listener, he had the benefit of knowing all the chijs in their repertoire,first-hand. Like all amateurs, Balu used to hum these chijs in bis ownhouse; but took special care to see that nobody from among the Buwa'spupils overheard him. But one day, the cat was out of the bag. . On thatday, Wamanbuwa Chafekar, one of the most distinguished disciples ofBalkrishtiabuwa chanced to hear Balu's music and after careful listeningcame to realise the potential merit of bis remarkable power of imitation.He continued listening to Balu's music-practice for some more days andfeeling assured that Balu was able to imitate the original in all its beautyand form, reported the matter to bis guru, Pt. Balkrishnabuwa, As a result,Balkrishnabuwa sent Chafekar and others to fetch Balu to his place andafter great reluctance on. bis part, Balu was somehow persuaded to singsome of the chijs he used to imitate at home. Pt Balkrishtiabuwa wasgreatly pleased with bis remarkable power of imitation and the great poten­tiality his voice posessed and. allowed Balu to remain present thepupils used to be trained.

Just about this time, Balu had completed bis English-education atIchalkaranji and to continue it had to go to Kolhapur, as there was noHigh School then at Ichalkaranji.At Kolhapur, Balushowed good

53 Pt. MIRASHIBYWA

progress, but the living there was rather costly and his father soon came torealise that it was beyond his means to support Balu at a place like Kolha­pur any further. So he asked Balu to discontinue his eduction at Kolhapurand .return to Ichalkaranji, with a view to qualify himself for the hereditaryservice, But as Balu had not completed either the Primary or High Schoolcourses, he was asked to appear for either the P.S.C. or the S.S.C.examination and produce a certificate of having passed either of them.Thus Balu had no other alternative but to join the Higher-Primary Schoolagain, and appear for the P.S.C. Examination. It took him some goodtime to take such a decision, but he was fed up with this period of forcedidleness and monotony.

His love of music however soon came to his help. His attitude towardsmusic had by then changed from one of passing interest or indifference,and his respect, for Pt. Balkrishnabuwa and his great art, had transformeditself into almost personal devotion. Fortunately for him, Balkrishnabuwahad by then shifted his lodgings to another part of the town and so, there

.was no fear of his being observed by any member of his family, if he wereto visit the Buwa's house for taking music lessons. Accordingly, he usedto go to the Buwa, and like the other pupils volunteered to do any householdwork at his place. In those days, water had to be fetched from far-awaypublic cisterns in jugs, mounted on a hand-cart which was pushed throughthe public streets all the way to one's house. Balu too used to participatein fetching water for his guru's house,' in like manner. When Balu'smother came to know of it, she was full of rage and in a fit of fury, wentstraight to the Buwa's .place, and asked him for an explanation with ademand for an apology for such an act, which according to her had out­raged the honour of a highly respected family of lnamdars, like hers.

Balkrishnabuwa somehow managed not to lose his temper and coollyreplied to her that tradition allowed the guru to take any kind 'of personalservice from his pupils and even Sri Krishna used to do such service whilehe was studying under his guru Sandipani. According to this tradition,all work at the guru's place is considered as quite dignified and honourable.He himself had followed that tradition quite rigorously, during his periodof training under his gurus. So he strongly protested against Balu's mother,saying that he was not to blame for taking service from her son Balu, andit was up to her to take him back and not send him to his place on anyaccount in future. From that day the door of Balkrishnabuwa's house wasclosed to Balu and his relatives. Balkrishnabuwa had high hopes aboutBalu's future music-career, but they were shattered' by this untowardincident. The matter touched him deeply but the Buwa did not say a wordabout it to anybod~

Balu felt very miserable on' account of this unexpectedincidenthaving nothing else to do decided to join the Higher Primary School imme-

SANGEET NATAK. 54

diately and appear for ·the P.S.C. examination. In due course, he passedthat examination and after a small period of apprenticeship was allowedto join the hereditary service as a qualified incumbent. In this mannerhe happened to serve there in his routine capacity as a clerk and wouldhave continued to serve in that capacity for an indefinite period further.He was now of about twenty years of age and was already married. Butas luck would have it there was a sudden turn in his fortune.

At this time a touring phrenologist from Mangalore happened to paya visit to Ichalkaranji. To test his powers of prediction, the Ruler ofIchalkaranji presened before him different persons belonging to differentwalks of life and among them Balu was one. The phrenologist correctlynarrated the major incidents in the past life of Balu and also predictedgreat good luck in his future, saying that he was destined to be ranked asone of the greatest musicians. The Ruler was surprised to know of thiscurious prediction in Balu's case as till then he was not in the know of anyfacts showing his special aptitude or even inclination for learning music.So he treated the prediction as a professional stunt while Balu's friendsused to jeer at him by caIling him a "a great Buwa!"

The Ruler of Ichalkaranji was an enlightened person and used toencourage young men of promise to exert themselves to their best to acquirenew knowledge or master some useful art. Towards that end he had found­ed an 'Endownment Trust' and it is not unusual to meet many high officialsand public servants who in their student-days had availed themselves ofit. The Ruler however' earnestly desired that more persons from amongsthis subjects, proper; took advantage of it. As for music, he knew thatthere was such a great musician as Pt. Balkrishnabuwa in his service andthat he had trained such pupils as Pt. :Vishnu Digambar, who later. onbecame very famous. But he very much deprecated (the fact) that nonefrom among his subjects showed his keeness to learn.

Just about this time Pt. Paluskar .happened to.visit Jchalkaranji toplay his respects to his guru, Balkrishnabuwa after an absence of twelvelong years, since he left Maraharashtra. This visit Was .the immediatecause which added to- the keeness of the Ruler's desire that some onefrom his own subjectslearn music under Balkrishnabuwa and win. laurelslikewise. With such a thought uppermost in his mind, he opened his heartto Balkrishnabuwa and exhorted, him to train some pupils in music fromIchalkaranji proper, butat the same time deplored the fact that till then ithad not happened. So heasked the Buwa to, recommend some names ofpromising young persons belonging to Ichalkaranji to, learn music. underhim. . Among other names Balakrishnabuwa mentioned that of BaluMirashi, but then pleaded that as he belonged to a family of some status,his parents might not allow him to learn music, and that if they did,Balumust get ample time topractise.inwhich case he must be relieved from his

55 Pt.':MIRASHlBUWA

regular service. As expected, Balu's parents took strong objection to thisas he was the only support and earning member of the family.

The Ruler was however keen on diverting Balu to learn music andtowards that end was pleased to grant him leave with full payor threeyears, with the additional benefit of having his meals at the palace. Balu'sparents could take no objection to this plan and had to bow to the wishesof the Ruler.

Beyond these facilities, Balu wished that the Ruler should not makeany special recommendation about him to Balkrishnabhuwa or ask forexemption from doing household work at his place. On the other hand,he said that he would do all such work with devotion and due care, and tryto endear himself to his guru and learn as much of his music as possible.The Ruler was highly pleased with the humility of Balu's attitude andblessed him with his ashirvad.

Accordingly, Balu's music-training started from that day in rightearnest in the company of the brilliant and gifted .Annabuwa, the Buwa'sonly son. A proverb runs that 'there is nothing better to wish for, than tobe invited to dinein the company of a person's son-in-law, to get an oppor­tunity to learn an art in the company of the guru's own son'. MirashibuwaWas fortunate to secure both. Further, Annabuwa was generous by natureand immune to jealousy or malice. He was also very studious in his habits

.and unsparing in his daily practice. So Mirashibuwa felt he was fortunatein learning music in the company of Annabuwa.

The training thus continued rigorously for over three years, duringwhich BaluandAnnabuwa among other pupils, used to accompanyBalkrishnabuwa in his annual visits to surrounding. placesand take partas accompanists .• in his concerts. at the various utsQl'o-celebrations held inthe different States. .Their training took place in the old gurukul style.No writing or the use of a pencil and note-book was allowed. All workhad to be memorised.• completely and. to do .so .needed repetition and con­stant .revision...••·• Thus, in due course, Balu .Mirashi became a full-fledgedrnusician..' The Ruler of Ichalkaranji, his .patron, .however wished .to givea finishing touch to his music-training by sending him out on a professionaltour, all by. himself, .to develop self-confidence: so as. to •be equal to. any

.. occasion in the future.<. .. .'.:. "c' ........ -.... : .. "'" .. ',' ,,_..," .... ,":.. , .." .. '.• 0." ....:',' .. " " .0',:. -:', ... : .... :~

.T~e~uler ••·•;ave.some·lettersiofint~oductionto·BalU-~O~ Balubuwa-e­before he sent him. out on the tou~.•••. Accordingly,.Mirashibuwa first wenttoSatara, giving a performance or two at some minor places on the way.

. At Satara; he gave a few public performances and also one at the Court oftheChhatrapati Maharaj of Satara who, pleased with his performance,rewarded him handsomely and at the same tinie wished himto acceptservice.

SANGEEI' NATAK 56

at his Court at Satara. Mirashibuwa agreed to the proposal provided theMaharaja was pleased to wait and allow him to complete the tour as pre­viously planned by his patron, the Ruler of Ichalkaranji. To this theMaharaja gave his consent.

Mirashibuwa then went to Baroda. There he saw the Darbar-Bakshiand requested him to see if the Maharaja of Baroda would be pleased togrant him audition. But the Darbar-Bakshi told him that unless he wasfirst tested by the Darbar's Committee of musicians and was certified as aduly qualified musician, his name could not be recommended for thepurpose. So Mirashibuwa appeared before the Committee of musicians,who on putting him to all rigorous tests, found his knowledge sound andhis performance quite pleasing. As such, on recommendation of his name,he was handsomely rewarded by the Baroda-Darbar. There Mirashibuwahad to go through another ordeal which was more difficult and also ratherqueer.

At Baroda, Appa Kolhatkar the elder brother of the once very famousand unparalleled actor and singer 'Bhaurao Kolhatkar' of the Marathi­Stage was supposed to be a. great connoisseur of music. He also passedas an expert tabla-player and had earned for himself the privilege of actingas the Bada Dada (big brother) in the appraisal of the art of visiting musi­cians. If Appa Kolhatkar were to recommend a musician's name, thenalone was there some chance of his being heard by the local music-fanswho used to be generally unsympathetic to outsiders. Mirashibuwa wastherefore sent first to Appa Kolhatkar by his well-wishers, to perform forAppa Kolhatkar and his circle of friends. Appa however insisted that hehimself would accompany the Buwa on the tabla and in the performanceproper, put all possible hurdles in the way of Mirashibuwa. Mirashibuwawas however more than a match for Appa,who though satisfied by theexcellence of his performance charged him saying that his performancewas more. like that of Bhaskarbuwa than that of Balkrishnabuwa whosepupil he claimed to be! Mirashibuwa pleaded his innocence saying thatupto that time he had not seen Bhaskarbuwa even once, and that what hehad sung was strictly according to his guru's style. Still Appa Kolhatkardid not believe it and challenged the Buwa to give another performancein proof of his style. Accordingly, Mirashibuwa sang again on the secondday but sang only such chijs as were the pride of Balkrishnabuwa's stylebut were not in the repertoire of any other musician. Appa was nowappeased and expressed his admiration for Mirashibuwa's performanceand also granted that his music was fully after Balkrishnabuwa's style.

Thus Mirashibuwa's way at Baroda was happily rid of all obstaclesand he could establish his reputation as a musician of a high order by hisvery first visit to the place. Next he went to Ahmedabad and many otherplaces in Kathiawad and returned to Baroda, but on an. urgent call from

57 Pt. MIRASHlBUWA

the Chhatrapati Maharaj: he had to go back to Satara to report himselffor s~rvlce. In time. While the conditions of service were being explainedto Mirashibuwa by the Secretary of the Maharaja, Mirashibuwa receivedan urgent telegram from his patron, the Ruler of Ichalkaranji, calling himback to Ichalkaranji by the earliest possible train. So he had no otheralternative but to go back to Ichalkaranji immediately.

The Ruler of Ichalkaranji was a person of great foresight and cultureand had earlier visited England and other European countries. He honestlybelieved that unless and until our educated men were prepared to take anactive part in the advancement of our arts like music, drama, dance orpaintings, there would be no progress worth the name or comparable withthat of similar arts in Europe and other civilised countries. So he haddecided to send Mirashibuwa to join-as a male actor-cum-singer- a famousdramatic company, 'The Natya Kala Pravartak Mandali', Mirashibuwa'sparents who earlier had protested against Balkrishnabuwa takingservice from their son, had to swallow this bitter pill administered by theRuler as they were,' in duty-bound, his hereditary servants. Pt. Bal­krishnabuwa furiously protested against this decision of the Ruler and feltmuch dejected. In a fit of remorse he is said to have remarked to hisfriends that his profession was like that of a potter - when one pitcherwas sold or found broken, he had to manufacture another in succession.In like manner there was no otheralternnative left for him but to train freshpupils right from the beginning without losing heart or hope.

For twenty years, i.e.. from 1912 to 1932 Mirashibuwa servedwith the Natya Kala Pravartak Mandali and acquired great fame as anactor and greater stilI as a singer in a class by himself.

In those days there was no rivalry among the languages'of the differentregions. So his Company used to stage plays written in three differentlanguages, Marathi, Hindi and Urdu, and the actors used to perform themwith equal facility in each language. The Company had therefore a muchwider circle of admirers outside Maharashtra and used to visit such placesas Belgaum, Dharwar.. Hubli and Bijapur in Karnatak, and as the Kanna­digas are by nature music-minded, they used to go to the plays primarilyfor the music of Mirashibuwa and Bhatebuwa. The Company had anexceptional reputation for staging Urdu plays which. were very popularat places like Nagpur and Hyderabad Dn., in particular, and were a box­office success. .It used to stage plays for five out of the seven days of theweek, leaving hardly any time for Mirashibuwa for his private practice.Yet the Buwa did not allow his form to suffer even by a bit. He couldnot take any outside tuitions as the company had to keep on moving fromplace. to place. So the benefit •. of the. Buwa's tuition was limited.to somefew among the .. actors who were in the service of the company. Apartfrom these, he taught music to Kashitai Marathe, the daughter ofone of

SANGEET NATAK 58

the four joint-owners :'of the company.. According to Mirashibuwa, shewas by far the best of all the pupils he had taught till now. But unfortu­nately she died a premature death while yet in her teens. Among thosewhom the Buwa taught music while serving with the company may bementioned the names of Shri Ranade of Akola, Shri Dattopant Sane ofJubblepore, and Shri Khire ofPoona,

After his retirement from the Company's service, the Buwa wished togo back to Ichalkaranji, but as a temporary measure first stayed at Poona.As there were no good prospects at Ichalkaranji, the Buwa prolonged hisstay at Poona. But though known to the senior musicians of his age asa great musician he had remained unknown to the younger generationand to the public in general. So at Poona, only a select few used to takeadvantage of his tuition in classical music. Yet in spite of this his stay atPoona proved to be fruitful in training many young men who are nowhigh-class musicians and scholars of music. Among them may be mentionedthe names of Utturkar, Yashwantbuwa Joshi, Prof. Powar, Malini Joshi,Kanebuwa and Dayanand Kamat. Shri Utturkar is a successful teacherof music and is serving as a music teacher in a High School at Belgaum.He has an effortless voice and his music is a protoype of his guru's music.He also performs over All India Radio. Yashwantbuwa Joshi is knownas one of the leading musicians of Bombay and is an efficient teacher ofclassical music. Prof. Powar is a teacher of music in the GovernmentTraining College for Men. at Poona and though reticent by nature his re­pertoire excels that of any other pupil of Mirashibuwa. He specialises insinging any unknown composition in all its beauty from notation as printedby Mirashibuwa in his Raga-Vistar volumes. Malini Joshi (now Mrs.Phatak) is the sister of Yashwantbuwa Joshi and possesses a very finenatural voice and like Prof. Powar can sing any unknown compositionat sight of the printed notation. Dayanand Kamat is a graduate and nowowns a printing establishment at Poona. He was once the craze of thePoona audiences and while under training by Mirashibuwa used to carryaway the first prizes in many open music competitions. Prof. Paradkarbuwa,a famous musician of Bombay, had his music-training under Mirashibuwafor some time.

Among the amateur pupils may be mentioned the names of Sau.. Sanjivani Marathe a well-known and gifted poetess of Maharashtra andSau. Kalindi Gokhale, daughter of the late Prof. S. G. Sathe of Poena.

Prof.. Mirashibuwa's association with me began while I was" at ' theWiIlingdon College of Sangli. It ripened into intimate friendship aftertransfer to the Fergusson College'of Poona, in .1940 and resulted in givingdramatic turn to the former's life after the age of sixty. The Buwa wasthen.' suffering from blood-pressure and. it was long' before. he ..•. was curedof it. Along with his other admirers 1 wished .to felicitate the Buwa on his c

59 Pt. MIRASHIBUWA

recovery, particularly as he had just then completed sixty years' Aceremon~ was held accordingly and it was followed by many similarceremonies at .Poona and Bombay, and the series was crowned by the onehel~ at. the Tilak Smarak Mandir at Poona on behalf of all the MusicInstitutions .of Poona and was presided over by the late Dr. R. C. Bhada­kamkar, a well-known physician, a geat philanthropist and a patron ofArts. In appreciation of Mirashibuwa's great service in the cause of musicand music-education, in. his speech as president of. the meeting, Dr.Bhadakamkar made a. grat announcement, all on his own and much to thesurprise of everyone present. He declared that he would give scholarshipsto deserving young pupils willingto learn music under Mirashibuwa on thecondition that they maintained training till they finished their music-educa­tion to the Buwa's satisfaction and the Buwa himselfwould receive a hand­some monthly honorarium for training them. With my help thePoonaBharat Gayan Samaj was entrusted with the work of assessing the pupilsmonthly progress and of holding a performance at Dr. Bhadkamkar's :place for testing their knowledge, once every three months. It was out ofthis generous provision that many of the Buwa's disciples could continuetheir music-education and attain proficiency in it.

Training on these lines required a definite syllabus, and as a first steptowards it I exhorted Mirashibuwa to put each one of his chijs into correctmusic-notation with the help of an expert if necessary - as till then the Buwawas a stranger to the art of music-notation. The Buwa however flatlyrefused to part with the chijs in his repertoire as that would have meanta permanent loss to his own disciplesand free booty for unworthy strangers.I earnestly appealed to the Buwa saying that his guru the greatPt, Bal­krishnabuwa, . though. remembered by the older generation was hardlyknown to the present generation and even his name was sure to be forgottenby generations to come as he had not left behind any material or objectivetestimony ofhis geat art•. .If however Mirashibuwameant to do such workhe could do it and in that case his name would be remembered with grati­tude by futuregeneratons and would be writ large in .the history of ourmusic and rmusi-traditions.

ci The appeal went home and the Buwa felt convincedof the greatnessof the cause and promised to take up the .work in hand with all possiblezeal. After his lunch the .Buwa used to pass his time in playing a game ofpatience for an hour or two...••• After this incident, he stopped that practiceand devoted his entire leisure to-revising his chijs and putting them intonotation, one by o~e. For some months, .itwas a trying experience evenfor the Buwa, as till then he had neverinterested himself in. the mechanicalaspect of putting •... chijs .. into notation. /c . Prof..• Yinayakbuw~ •~atw~dhanwas .• kind.enoughto help.himin the initial stage••·•.. ·· But onceMirasbibuwa .• ·developed a facility forputtingchijs •• into notation, he becamea masteran~ .did the work with greatdetermination.andsuccess. That he could doit

SANGEET NATAK 60

after the age of sixty is a matter worthy of emulation by those muchyounger than himself.

It was an ardent desire of the late Pt. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar topublish in music-notation all the chijs in his own repertoire as well as that ofhis guru, Balkrishnabuwa, and accordingly he had published many of them;but a major part even of his own repertoire has still remained unpublished.Regarding Balkrishnabuwa's repertoire, there were only a few of his directdisciples who knew it thoroughly and fewer still who had mastered it. Pt.Mirashibuwa was one such fortunate disciple, and M. M. Potdar, thePresident of the Bharateeya Sangeet Prasarak MandaI of Poona and Pt.Vinayakbuwa Patwardhan, one of the MandaI's founders and also anaccomplished disciple of Pt. Paluskar, attached geat importance to thework done by Mirashibuwa.But for the timely resolution (of the MandaI)to publish all these chijs in notation in three successivevolumes, they wouldnot have seen the light of day and would have remained unknown tothe younger generation. In appreciation of his notable work, the MandaIhonoured Mirashibuwa publicly, and also gave him an honorarium.Mirashibuwa, on his own part, was generous enough to give a donation ofRs. 1,000to the MandaI on the occasion of the SilverJubilee of its GandharvaMaha Vidyalaya, at Poona. From the interest accruing on that sum, prizesare awarded annually in Memory of the Buwa's guru, Pt. Balkrishnabuwa,to competitors who show proficiency in singing the chijs back at sight of theprinted notation.

Pt. Vishnu Digambar further published the Raga Vistars of some19 ragas. I made a written analysis of these Vistars for my own use, andduring one of his periodic visits to my house, Pt. Mirashibuwa by chancehappened to see it. On closer examination, and with some explanationon my part Mirashibuwa was convinced that the Vistar-procedureagreedperfectly with that of Balkrishnabuwa, only that it was rather brief andsimple. He said he too could to similar work but with more depth and indetail and for many more ragas not known to the other disciples of hisguru. Accordingly, he wrote the Raga-Vistars for five major ragas of theGwalior G/zarana to begin with, and trained some of his pupils to sing themfrom the printed notation, in all their detail. When Mirashibuwa assured

. himself of the accuracy of the notation and also of the infallible capacityof his pupils to sing correctly at sight, he held a demonstration to prove itsefficiency before Sardar Mujumdar, Shri Bhole and myself,. who grantedthat it was a complete success.

On one occasion, Pt. Anantbuwa, Mirashibuwa's elder guru-bandhu;happened to be his guest and while saying hisprayers in the inner sanctuarywas listening to the practice of his pupils outside and was surprised at thegraded and orderly elaboration of the raga in all its details,which easilylasted for half-an-hour. He then congratulated Mirashibuwaon training

61Pt. MIRASHIBUWA.

~is pupils so perfectly and casually saw a note-book with notations, lyingin . fro~t. He ~sked the purpose it was intended to serve, upon whichMirashibuwa said that wh~t was sung by the pupils was sung at sight eventhou~h they had not studied the chijs before. Pt. Anantbuwa was greatlysurprised at the statement and to assure himself of its truth, took the note­book away and asked them to sing again. They could not however do itin the same graded and orderly manner, but could do it perfectly well onreference to the note-book again.

Later, Mirashibuwa prepared and published five volumes of suchRaga-Vistars, in sucession, with five ragas in each volume. The serieswas intended to cover the volumes in all and has also received the patronageof the Sangeet Natak Akademi,

Ustads like the late Vilayatkhan, the Sawai Gandharva, Pt. Ratan­jankar and the late Govindrao Tembe, listened to such demonstrationslater on and highly complimented Mirashibuwa on his originality andpatience. In recognition of his. accomplishments as a great khyal-singerof the Gwalior Gharana and also of the meritorious work he had done inthe field ofmusic-eduction, he was honoured with the Rashtrapati's Awardfor the best vocalist of the Northern School for the year 1961,indeed a rareand: coveted distinction, instituted by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

The specialities of his individual art may be mentioned here. Hisstyle was in complete agreement with that of his guru, Pt. Balkrishnabuwa,whose style, as vouchsafed by the connoisseurs of the last generation ortwo; was in perfect conformity with that of his guru, Pt. VasudevabuwaJoshi, the most distinguished of all the disciples of Miya Hassukhan 'ofHaddu-Hassu fame.. Some of his recordings, made while he was young,are a standing testimony to. the rare brilliance and beauty of his voice.He was an expert in negotiating the alapa and bol-alapa over the full rangeof three successive octaves in all their variety and was a master of tanas andhol-tanas of various patterns. The Gwalior Gharana is famous particularlyfor its skill in negotating the dhal-tana whichgoes with a sudden leap to thehighest note in the tara or the third octave and negotiates the completetana with swiftly descending notes with the brilliance and speed of lighten­ing, with akars as well as hols. Still the Gharana is reticent in its per­formance and makes a judiciously balanced use ofall the three angas ofgayaki viz. swar, tala and raga. Its swar-angais always bright and pleas­ing and shines with great lustre when it stays on, the shadjaand pancham,All the great musicians of the Gwalior Gharanawete able to reach theati':'tara shadjaor the third Sa with complete ease and confidence without t~eleast change in their voice-quality. Pt. Mirashibuwa. like his guru wasone such illustrious artist;

"_-~o'- .: ','.._ ,;. .. :,---;,-,-_, ,,<,,;,,<- --,' - -,': -',< '. ,", -:,;- ", ",,-: ..-.:---:,-~

The laya and tala anga of the Gwalior Gharana is of the gayaki-type,

SANGEEr NATAK 62

and is governed by' the rules of musical composition, the melodic formof the raga, and the poetic substance of the chij and not by the mechanicalportioning of the matras or time-units according to the Kayada-rules of thetabla-experts. So, only such tabla-players, as know the rules of musicalcomposition and who also have experience of accompanying' expertmusicians, can correctly accompany the music of the Gwalior Gharanawithout allowing its charm to suffer. On the surface the laya-anga ofthe Gwalior-gayaki seems simple but is bedecked with the atit and anagatvarieties everywhere, with all the three species of laya freely interspersedover the different parts of the composition or the chij. The free use of thegamakas also requires an accompaniment which must accentuate theireffect but without obtruding.

About the raga-anga, it is a mistake to suppose that there are butabout fifty-five ragas in vogue in the Gwalior-gayaki. It is true that themore common ragas have been a speciality of the Gwalior School, but inno way does it mean an exclusion of the uncommon or rare ragas. Therewere not less than one-hundred ragas even in the repertoire of Pt. Mirashi­buwa and many of them are not current in other Gharanas. Evidentlythere must have been many more in the repertoire of his guru. GwaliorGharana has the reputation of making an exceptionally artistic use of thevarjya or the very notes a raga must omit conventionally. It is easy toverify the truth of such a statement from the notations already publishedby Pt. Mirashibuwa. '

Thus the Gwalior gayaki makes use of all the three angas in a perfectlyjudicious and balanced manner. The Kirana -Gharana lays stress on theswar-anga only, the Agra-Gharana revels in the laya and bol-angas, whilethat of Alladiyakhan deals more with the uncommon ragas and shows itsmastery over tanas of the vakra-type. .

As regards the talas it is now-a-days a fashion with almost all Gharanasto use the Ekatala alone for its vi/ambit part, almost to the exclusion of theother talas of the vi/ambit category. Again this Ekatala is of a hybrid naturein that whereas the ordinary Ekatala-measure consists of twelve matrasor units of time, this new Ekatala employs twenty-four or occasionally evenforty-eight matras or units of time - with the result that, the words of thechi] get stretched and distorted in a very unfortunate manner.' Thefollowers of Alladiyakhan use only the vi/ambit tina-tala almost to theexclusion of other talas, and this makes their music monotonous aftersome time. On the other hand Pt. Mirashibuwa handled all the talas suchas the Tilwada, Zumra, Adachautala, Tina-tala, Eka-tala, Addha and evenSawari-a very trying and rare Tala indeed,. but with equal facility. Pt.Mirashibuwa was thus a master of all the three angas previously mentioned.

In his private '.life,. Pt. Mirashibuwa was most unassuming in. his

63Pt. MIRASHIBUWA

manners, and simple in his tastes and habits. In the matter of his religiousbeliefs and observances, he belonged to the old orthodox school and evenwhile he was in the service of the dramatic company, he used to stick tothem strictly. He was intelligent by nature and also possessed of a strongmemory. During what little leisure he could snatch in-between his duty­hours, while in the service of the company, he used to exert his best to main­tain his original form. After a few years of his service with the Company,he happened to visit Ichalkaranji for a holiday. Balkrishnabuwa, his guru,was sceptical about his form and thought it must have suffered a lot onaccount of the changed circumstances. When, however, Mirashibuwasang at his guru's bidding he was happy to know that his form had notsuffered.

Once the Company bad gone to Sangli where Raja-Vaidya AbasabebSambare, a great physician and an intimate friend of his guru used to live.As usual Mirashibuwa went to his place to pay his respects to Abasaheband at his express desire, the Buwa sang at his place. The music continuedfor well over two bours. Mirashibuwa had however no knowledge that thegreat Alladiyakhan was staying at Sambare's place as his guest for somedays past. When the music stopped the Khansaheb at once entered the innerroom and without reserve highly complimented Mirashibuwa on the excel­lence of his performance and the depth of his knowledge. The Khansahebused to narrate his impressionsabout the performance of Mirashibuwa to hispupils so that he should serve as an incentive for them during their owntraining.

Paradoxically enough, Mirashibuwa's life was interwoven with manydramatic turns of both fate and facts, and has a moral and also a messagefor educationists as well as students of music. The problem it has posedfor the educationist is 'at what age should one take one's first lessons inmusic so that its study becomes less taxing but more fruitfull' Anotherquestion it has raised is 'has heredity anything to do with an inherentaptitude for musicT Mirashibuwa's life answers both these questions in asingular way. None of his ancestors was a musician, nor did Mirashibuwacommence taking his first lessons in music till after his teens. So 'environ­ment', rather than heredity, seems to create an aptitude for music andadvanced age makes its study less taxing yet more fruitful would appearto be the right answers to the two questions. Again, if music is learnt at alater stage, there is no fear of the voice cracking later, though if learnt at atender age there is this possibility. When older one's understanding andanalytical powers are developed so what might take three or four years tolearn at a tender age, can be learnt in a year's time at a later stage.

Fifty yearsago, music was taboo to the educated and cultured sectionsof the society,.and their attitude towards music .was one of patronising the

rather than •.. of learning it, themselves. ... This was but quitenatural. in

SANGEET NATAK 64

a society which followed the different professions in a hereditary manner.So only the children of the professional used to learn music. The problemof deciding the most suitable age for learning music had not arisen then, asthe children of professionals acquired the art through the force of habit

. rather than by taking actual lessons. Today, music, at least in its ele­mentary form, is consideredas a necessary part of the general educationof every citizen. So the problem of deciding the most suitable age fortaking first lessons in music, has assumed a magnitude of more thancursory notice by our educationists. Pt. Mirashibuwa's.life-was an inspira­tion and a pointer in such research.

BOOK REVIEWS

Fundamental Questions in Aesthetics. P. C. Chatterji, Indian Institute ofAdvanced Studies, Simla, Pp. 202. Price: Rs. 20. 1968.

Mr. Chatterji doubts 'whether the discipline of aesthetics has advancedvery much as a result of'.the work of the modern philosophers of beautyand suggests that we should go back to the. more healthy and vigoroustradition "which can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle, in which aes­thetic theory kept much.closer to the facts and was concerned with raisingspecific questions about the interpretation and evaluation of particularart-forms.'" •And, further, " .... neither Plato nor Aristotle tried to laydown a definition of art." From this point of view Mr. Chatterji, hasexamined representative modern aestheticians like Langer, Collingwood,Croce,Richards, Stevenson, Hare and other.' While agreeing that "littlepurpose is served by speculative aesthetic theories such as those of Hegel"he goes on to say that "there is no empirical fact about a work of art whichexcludes the possibility of a definition of works of art" But since "thereare no kinds of value or species of value which we designate as aestheticvalue, moral value and so on", it would be fruitless to try to give a defini­tionof beauty as such. Despite this, •beauty does not reduce itself to achimera. For specific classes of objects which we designate as beautifulthere are specific c~teria. ·.But that is not all.•• We can also have somegeneric criteria for all classes. of objects which we call beautiful. Mr.Chatterjiwarns us that in our search for a philosophy of beauty we mustnot jettison our commonsense and fidelity to empirical facts. Empiricallywe find certain things beautiful. and call certain works of men works of art.But to think that there isbeauty over and above the empirical data presentedto us and to profound general theories of art and beauty as Kant andHegel did is to hypostatize the abstract. ..•. And to think that there is nothingcalled i the beautiful, .all statements about the beautiful' are nothing butexpressions of our likings, approval, etc. is to go against common-sense•.•••..

'Mr.ChatterjLrecommendsthat we should try to steer clearof the syclla()f idealistic. metaphysics and the charybdis of neo-positivisticv nihilism! .In this regard his effort is reminiscent of G. E. Moore's. endeavour to. bring

. ····phiIosophydo\VI1.to earth. The reader may find that like Moore's common- ..•.

SANGEEl' NATAK 66

sense and empiricism, Mr. Chatterji's common-sense and empiricism arealso very uncommon and supra-empirical.

However, Mr. Chatterji tries to give us some criteria for distinguishingworks of art from other objects. "There are criteria which are applicableto works of art generallyor at least to most works of art .. .. (And) withinparticular arts or groups, there are some additional criteria which apply."While naming some of the generic qualities Mr. Chatterji writes: "order,simplicity, compactness, etc., are aesthetic qualities and .. there cannotbe a work of art which does not exhibit at least one of these qualities."And he confesses that "the presence of any single quality is not itself aguarantee of aesthetic merit." One may go a bit further and ask whetherthe presence of all the qualities - order, simplicity and compactness ­would alone make a thing beautiful. Moreover, the author does not tellus why he regards such qualities as aesthetic qualities or under what condi­tions they become aesthetic qualities. Possibly his answer would be againan appeal to commonsense and empricism. We shall, then, be not toofar from a computerised theory of beauty. But, we are afraid, neitherPlato and Aristotle nor Mr. Chatterji would suggest that. For, at theend of the book he writes about "a metaphysic" expressed in poetry.

Taking about the specific criteria the author confines himself to thecriteria for evaluating poetry. Among the criteria for evaluating poetryhe discusses specially only one. "The value of literary works will .. bedetermined not only by the manner in which assertions are made but alsoby what it is that is asserted. Our evaluation of literary works will beaffected by the truth or falsity, the importance or triviality of what theysay." But poets should not be judged by a truth table. It is not reason- .able to ask: "Is this view true, if we expect the answer to take the formof a simple yes or no. On the other hand it would be more reasonable toask the question: how true is this poet's philosophy or how far does it go?The answer could not be given in any precise terms. But broadly it wouldinvolve a comparison with other views and an assessment of the poet'sgrasp of some basic pattern of experience."

The reader may say that all this is acceptable to him as useful guidelinesfor determining the aesthetic quality of a work of art; but do they constitutea theory of aesthetics? Mr. Chatterji has given us some criteria to dis­tinguish a work of art from. other objects. Doubtless the criteria and thething which is to be distinguished by the application of the criteria, criss­cross; so do the authors criteria of art and his "definition of a work of art."Possibily he will maintain that the job of aesthetics is to tell us the criteriawhich we implicitly or explicitly apply when we calI a thing beautiful.The. reader may disagree with .the criteria provided by Mr•.• Chatterjidistinguishing a work of art from other objects; but he will have. to take

67 BOOK REVIEW

book seriously as, indeed, the problems raised in it are serious. The bookdeserves careful reading.

-M. K. Haldar

Hindu-Javanese Musical Instruments, by Jaap Kunst. Revised EnglishEdition. (The Hague, Martinos Nijhoff, 1968). pp. xii + 156, 121figures (photographs and sketches).

What is known as Greater India comprises various areas of Centraland South Eastern Asia. This colonization must have started in the periodjust. before the commencement of the Christian era. As for the SouthEastern Asian regions, Java and Sumatra ware known during the age ofRamayana and Mahabharata; modern Kedah is mentioned as the port ofKataha. Even Ptolemy talks of the Yavadwipa (Java). Borneo had comeunder Indian influence by the 4th Cent. A.D.; and Fa Hien, the Chinesepilgrim was in India during the first decade of 5th Cent. and returned to hisnative land via Java where he found Brahminism flourishing. Indiancolonists settled in the coastal areas of Indonesia and traded at ports suchas Tamralipti (Kalinga) and Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu). Indian influencedecilned during the 3rd and 4th Cent. but gained ground under the greatmaritime rulers ofSailendras. By the end of 15th Cent. Hindu andBuddhist trends were gradually superseded by Islamic thought

With the Indian invaders and traders went their art and culture ­including the caste system. They took with them Ramayana, Mahabharataand other ancient lores of the mother country. Borobodour (8 -9th Cent)and Angor Wat (9th Cent.) are some of the finestexamplesof Indian-inspiredarchitecture and sculpture. Music from India was also taken along bythese people and for a long time was a basic component of Indonesianmusic. Both literary references and sculptural representations bear testi­mony to this fact

The book under review deals with the pre-Islamic period of JavaneseHistory.•.. The earliest sculptural reference is from the Candis Sari reliefs- c. 750 A.D.; the oldest textual and epigraphic source are of 821 A.D.and the latest is of the end of 15th Cent.; a period covering the later Hindu

Buddhist times.

Chapter 2 deals with chordophones (tata vadya), comprising harps,lutes, bar-zithers (finger board instruments), celmpung and guntang. Ofthe harps, the makara (makara yazh),· andvipanchi are of particular interest;for the former is one of the oldest Tamil instruments and the latter anancient Aryan one.> What is of greater significance is the case of ravena­hata•..... While it is now a bowed'instrument in India, it is taken to be lute inJava -.by Kunstr: He even suggests that it might have been a plucked

SANGEEI' NATAK 68

instrument at some early stage. Indeed, there is no reference or descriptionof any bowed instrument at all!

In Chapter 3 are studied aerophones (sushira l'adya) - flutes, glotto­phones and trumpets. Of the flutes, the horizontal one - ti wang - is ofinterest; probably, wang is related to wangsi (Skt. vamsi). While in Javaglottophones are extinct, in Borneo they are known as kedire, keluri andso on. There is a description of rice stalk aerophones.. Among the trum­pets there are discussions of the .conch (sangka=sankh), turya (turahi) andkahala. There is a paragraph on sondari, an Aeolian flute.

Membranophones are described in Chapter 4. Of these there arepadahi (pataha ?), muraba (muraja?) mrdangga and mardala. These namesare too familiar to us for further discussions. However, of special interestto organologists is the discussion on the naming of drums. Thisshouldbe an eye-opener to our musicologists who would rather rely on their fanciesthan facts; it is a fine eassay of meticulous care in research.

Idiophones form the subject matter of Chapter 5 and, as may beexpected, this is the largest one in the book; for Javanese music has develop­ed mainly on the lines of scales produced by such instruments. The des­criptions cover scrapers, goblet-shaped cymbals, kakhara tops.-bellswithoutclappers, kulkuls (slit drums), taluktak (water-clatterer), variouscompo:.c:nents of gamnelans, and gongs.v-What is curious is the name bheri which isa drum in India but a gong in Indonesia.'

The next Chapter gives a list of unidentified names of instruments andorchestras, followed by Tables of' Javanese and Balinese manuscripts'(chronological and alphabetical) and a chronological list of preservedinstruments.

The information given in the book isa careful collection of facts show­ing the ancient cultural ties of India and the Indonesian islands," But thereis a surprising aspect: as one scans the names of the instruments, one findsonly the Indo-Aryan, but no Dravidian ones at all - unless makara isabridged word of makara yazh (Even here 'only yzah is Dravidian); yethad close political, mercantile and cultural relations with South India! .

A very informative book, revealing the admirable acuity of the author'smind. A fine guideline for Indian organologists.