Indigenous Performance Arts in India: A Glorious Past to Colorful Future

Arts contribute an inevitable part to the culture and tradition of India, different art forms being part of our day-to-day functioning and routine. Art forms are also seen as a means of knowledge transfer, passing on information through the forms of songs, drama, stories and dance. They are also seen as a means of dealing with emotions, both positive and negative, helping as a tool for venting out. (Majumdar, 2021).

The Natyashastra and different ancient Hindu texts like the Yajnavalkya Smriti assert that arts and music are religious, with the ability to guide one to moksha, through empowering the concentration of mind for the liberation of the Self (soul, or atma). These arts are offered as alternate methods (marga or yoga), in strength the same as the information of the Srutis (Vedas and Upanishads), numerous medieval students, like the twelfth century Mitaksara and Apararka, cite Natyashastra and Bharata in linking arts to spirituality, whereas the text itself asserts that lovely songs are sacred and performance arts are holy. The goal of performance arts is ultimately to let the spectator expertise his consciousness, then appraise and feel the religious values innate in him and rise to the next level of consciousness.

The dramatist, the actors and also the director all aim to move the spectator to associate degree aesthetic expertise inside him to eternal universals, to emancipate him from the mundane to inventive freedom inside as is said by a Philosopher Popularly known as DVG. Where the poet explains the 3 types of the arts, Music, dance, and drama, and the appropriate consolidation of these arts will be an auspicious fusion.

The arts can be classified into performing arts, visual arts and applied arts. Performing arts include dance, music and drama whereas the visual arts include paintings, photography, and sculptures. The applied arts are an evolving field of work, including forms such as pottery, interior decoration and other aesthetical components aimed at adding beauty and purpose to objects (Bertran, 2019). Of the above, the present paper concentrates on performing arts, summing their contributions to the enhancement of physical and mental well-being.

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Performing Arts

The beginning of performance arts can be traced back to the time of Sage Bharata, 2nd century BC through his works on “Natyashastra”, the science of drama, an exposition on Performing arts (Ghosh, M. 2002). The work includes 36 chapters of text, throwing light upon various aspects of the performing arts, an all-inclusive manual for the readers, such as mythic creation of theatre, structure of theatre buildings, dance, pre-show activity, rasa, bhavas, acting, voice, poetic figures, mood, costume, music, role etc. (Das, 2015). The four Vedas are considered to be the source of the Natyaveda (Marulasiddayya, 1973) adding to the religious, spiritual, cultural, aesthetic and traditional value of art.

People have made use of these art forms since the period of the ancient civilization for entertainment, education and to attain the state of pure consciousness, Turya. Religion has also played an excellent role in the origin and development of the Indian performing arts. The epics Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhasa’s Balacharita have exemplary annotations of the performing arts.

The Maurya dynasty has also corroborated the glory and the flourishing of the performing arts. The Natyashastra promotes and enhances the understanding of original Indian art forms in general. The enormous scope of Natyashastra has guided and described the growth and development of Indian classical music, dance, drama and art from their inception.

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Music

According to Lewis Rowell, a professor of Music, specializing in classical Indian music, the earliest Indian artistic thought included three parts:

• Syllabic recital (vidya),
• Melos (gita) and dance (nritta), as well as two musical genres, Gandharva (formal, composed, ceremonial music) and Gana (informal, improvised, entertainment music).

The Gandharva sub-genre also implied celestial, divine associations, while the Gana was free from art, including singing. The Indo-Aryan musical tradition was reported to unfold wide within the Indian land throughout the late first millennium BCE, and therefore the ancient Tamil classics made it “abundantly clear that a cultivated musical tradition existed in south Bharat as early as the previous few pre-Christian centuries” (Tingey, 1994).

The explanation given by Sangeet Acharya Pt. Sharngdeva shows that music has 3 paths as Geeta (Vocal Music), Vadya (Instrumental Music) and Nritya (Dance) whereas Sangeeta Ratnakar, the utmost musicological text, explains that Geeta (poem), Vadya (an instrument), and Nritya (dance) are three factors that constitute music. These are called Turyatritaya. meaning “the pathways leading to the state of pure consciousness”. It is also proclaimed that Gayana (singing) is of the most significance in adding to the three factors mentioned above, Nada (rhythm) and Laya (speed) are also considered important instruments (Paranjape. 2015).

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As Sir Mathew Arnold has rightly said music is a pursuit of sweetness and perfection. The combination of the Sapta Swaras, such as sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dh and ni, the 7 notes make up both the ecological and anthropological aspects that make music representational in terms of acoustics and conception even though it is abstract in its core (Beck, 2012). The psychological and cognitive benefits of music have sparked the interest of researchers, widely influencing studies exploring the effect of music on the brain. Research efforts aim at understanding aspects of music like language, competence developed through exposure and the effects of practising along a typical timetable (Croom, 2011).

Ideally, music produces ecstasy, along with tranquillity in the listener. It carries the listener through the realm of imagination, influences his inner state, and introduces him to an elevated state of knowledge, suggests the Natyashastra (Beck, 2012). Though music is pursued with a lot of discipline and commitment towards gaining mastery there is no such limitation or specific way prescribed to be followed for an artist, hence making the art form accessible to all.

According to Schwartz (2008), these sentiments, and ideas of Natyashastra likely influenced the devotional songs and musical trends of the Bhakti movement that emerged in Hinduism during the second half of the 1st millennium CE. Music was said to serve the purpose of entertainment initially but immersing in the ocean of music leads one to the enrichment of self and the personality of an artist, guiding him/her to the ultimate purpose of reaching the state of self-actualization (M.C. Beardsley, 1966).

The more one knows of music and the more one lives with it, it elicits a varied myriad of emotions, challenging the mind and the body to rejuvenate itself, fascinating and crafting the experiences of the listener, composer and deliverer, benefitting all. Music has been influencing human life since time immemorial. Right from birth music embraces life with its tunes and melodies till the very end in all walks of life. (Bassett, 1975).

Rasa according to sage Bharat must be understood about the bhava of an artist. Bhava without Rasa and vice versa leads us nowhere. In the 6th and 7th chapters of Natyashastra, the concepts of rasa and bhava are elaborately explained. Rasa-bhava’s concept of art is always explained in its continuation in performance. It can also be understood that in music the rasa can be understood through Raga, Tala, Laya, and Sahitya, the Lyrical text.

As far as dance is concerned rasa can be comprehended with the help of bodily gestures, and music in its holistic scope. Rasa is exhibited through abhinaya, scripts, and stage performances. This is unique to all the exponents but Sage Bharat, the author speaks from the point of view of not just the performer but also the audience. Bharata’s sense of in what way theatre affects audiences, unmoving in his understanding of the Sanskrit terms bhava and rasa, area unit quite comparable to Aristotle’s literary study of Greek drama and keep illuminate and challenging however we predict of what theatrical performances will do. (Das., S. 2015)

The fundamental nature of artistry is influenced by life itself. Among many theories of art, there are well-liked approaches by philosophers like philosophers, philosophers that delineated art because of the interpretation of nature and art as a mirror to life itself. D. V Gundappa in his verses of Kagga from his famous creation “Mankutimmana Kagga” elucidates that the arts stimulate the feelings, emotions and untapped innate nature of the human subconscious. These arts are the critical appraisal of the creation of God.

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Art is predicated on intuition. Psychological approaches considered art as a typical expression of the disguised nature of artists. Pragmatic theories explain art as its work and effect of its. The expression is reflected in varied sorts like singing, dancing, drawing, Music, Dance and Drama, Painting, arts and design painting, acting, and sculpture a number of these area units are expressed through live performances et al. through visual arts. Sketching, painting, sculpture area unit visual arts.

Singing, dancing, and acting are unit attributes of arts. These various qualities build an effect on human life by influencing the core of the temperament, the perception and therefore the orientation of a private towards life. “Every soul is an associate degree creative person and within the moment of creation, we tend to area unit at our most sane, most healthy, and most fulfilled” (Rohd, 1998).

This justifies the unimaginable impact that art has on our lives to seem into ourselves by participating in creative activities by reflecting upon our emotions and expressing them naturally through numerous sorts of arts we tend to faucet into intellectual also as inventive components of our temperament to achieve what Kant (1724-1804 )calls it pretty much as a good life.

Dance

The Sangeet Natak Academy an academic organization of India for Indian Music, Dance Drama has segregated Indian Dance into eight types Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Sattriya, Manipuri and Mohiniyattam. “Bhakti or devotion was the underlying essence of the varied dance forms that developed in Bharat. Through this representation of devotion, it sought to uplift both the viewer and the performer and therefore, the practice of performing arts was a high form of ‘yoga”. Herein, the dancer goes through all the states of meditation or ‘yoga’.

Even the audience is not left untouched by it because the emotional process that occurs during any dance performance, transports the audience too along with the dancer, into a realm of beauty binding them together in the thread of ‘rasa’ (or ultimate bliss). It is this experience and realisation of spiritual ‘ananda’ (sublime joy) that is emotionally satisfying, and which goes beyond mere entertainment.

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Drama

The Natyashastra defines drama in verse 6.10 as an art that aesthetically arouses joy in the spectator, through the medium of the actor’s art of communication, which helps connect and transport the individual into a brilliant sensual inner state of being. The Natya connects through abhinaya, i.e. applying body-speech-mind and scene, wherein the actors use two practices of dharma (performance), in four styles and four regional variations, accompanied by song and music in a playhouse carefully designed to achieve siddhi (success in production).

Drama in this ancient Sanskrit text is, therefore, an art to engage every aspect of life, to glorify and gift a state of joyful consciousness. The text discusses the universal and inner principles of drama that it asserts successfully affect and journeys the audience to a super-sensual state of discovery and understanding. The stories and plots were provided by the itihasas (epics), Puranas and the Kathas genre of Hindu literature.

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Abhinaya

Abhinaya is the notion in Indian dance and drama derived from Bharata’s Natya Shastra. though currently, the word has come back to mean ‘the art of expression’, etymologically it derives from Sanskrit abhi + nii, therefore accurately (leading the audience towards a sentiment, a rasa).

Actors should be aware of Body, voice, make-up, props and the gestures and postures of acting to enable them to express various temperaments. Abhinaya has been an important factor in the study of mimetic dances and theatre art in India. The etymological meaning of Abhinaya is to ni ‘leading/guide’ Abhi-‘towards’ (prefix), exposition, it means a ‘leading towards’ is to bring the essence in front of the audience (Natya shastra 1984, Aadya Rangacharya, Ninasam Theatre Institute, Heggodu, shivamogga).

The term Abhinaya has many meanings but the most appropriate and accepted meaning by many scholars is ‘to take (audience) towards the meaning’. Thus, whatever the technique employed, be it Abhinaya, Dharmi, Vritti or Pravritti etc., it ought to convey an eloquent explanation. An amalgamation of Bhava, Raga, Tala, and Rasa can determine the positive mental state, the very purpose of human existence. A Fascinating fact about our country is, that India also called Bharata is because of the Assimilation of Bhava, Raga, and Tala said by Bharata muni.

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The concept of natya therefore combines and complements its three factors to make it a path for actualizing one’s fullest potential. Music is an indispensable and indispensable accompaniment to dancing. It is a journey of dancing to divinity. The function of drama and the art of theatre, as envisioned in Natyashastra, is to restore the human potential, man’s journey of ‘delight at a higher level of consciousness’ and a life that is enlightened.

The text describes the stage for performance arts as the sacred place for artists, and discusses the specifics of stage design, positioning the actors, the relative locations, movement on stage, entrance and exit, change in background, transition, objects displayed on the stage, architectural features of a theatre. It asserts that these aspects help the audience get absorbed in the drama as well as understand the message and the meaning being communicated

देवानामिदमामन्ति मुनयः कान्तं क्रतुं चाक्षुषं
रुद्रेणेदमुमाकृतव्यतिकरे स्वाङ्गेविभक्तं द्विधा ।
त्रैगुण्यो‌द्भवमत्र लोकचरितं नानारसं दृश्यते
नाट्यं भिन्नरुचेर्जनस्य महुधाप्येकं समाराधनम् ।।

(मालविकाग्निमित्र । अ, 1, श्लोक 4)

The author calls performing arts shakshuka yagnya- Meaning a ritual sacrifice performed with a specific objective by Eyes. The performing arts lead the artists to the state of pure consciousness (Sat Chit Ananda) by their characteristic features. This can be confirmed with the following verse by sage Bharat.

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Conclusion

The field of performance arts is vast. The positive impact of indulging in these art forms has not been documented about their benefits more authentically or effectively. More in-depth psychological analysis or multidisciplinary approaches are attracted to unleash the core substance of these art forms in India.