TALES FROM THE HINDU DRAMATISTS - Awaken Video

supplemented with prose dialogues improvised by the performers. These
earliest forms of Hindu dramatic literature are represented by those
hymns of the _Rig-Veda_ which contain dialogues such as those of Sarama
and the Panis, Yama and Yami, Pururava and Urvaci.
The words for actor (_nata_) and play (_nataka_) are derived from the
verb _nat_, the Prakrit or vernacular form of the Sanskrit _nrit_, "to
dance." Hence scholars are of opinion that the Sanskrit drama has
developed out of dancing. The representations of dramas of early times
were attended with dancing and gesticulation. There were rude
performances without the contrivances of stage and scenic arrangements,
dancing and music forming a considerable part. The addition of dialogue
was the last step in the development, which was thus much the same in
India and Greece. This primitive stage is represented by the Bengal
_Yaeras_ and the Gitagovinda. These form the transition to the fully
developed Sanskrit play in which lyrics and dialogue are blended.
Sakuntala belongs to the mytho-pastoral class of Sanskrit plays;
Probodhchandraudya, to the metaphysical. The Hindu theatre affords
examples of the drama of domestic, as well as of heroic life; of
original invention as well as of legendary tradition.
The Hindus did not borrow their dramatic compositions from foreigners.
The nations of Europe possessed no dramatic literature before the
fourteenth or fifteenth century, at which period the Hindu drama had
passed into its decline. Mohammedan literature has ever been a stranger
to theatrical writings, and the Mussalman conquerors of India could not
have communicated what they never possessed. There is no record that
theatrical entertainments were ever naturalised amongst the ancient
Persians, Arabs, or Egyptians. With the exception of a few features in
common with the Greek and the Chinese dramas, which could not fail to
occur independently, the Hindu dramas present characteristic features in
conduct and construction which strongly evidence both original design
and national development.
Angustus William Von Schlegel observes:--
"Among the Indians, the people from whom perhaps all the cultivation of
the human race has been derived, plays were known long before they could
have experienced any foreign influence."
THE CHARACTER OF THE HINDU DRAMA.
Sanskrit plays are full of lyrical passages describing scenes or persons
presented to view, or containing reflections suggested by the incidents
that occur. They usually consist of four-line stanzas. The prose of the
dialogue in the plays is often very commonplace, serving only as an
introduction to the lofty sentiment of the poetry that follows.
The Sanskrit drama is a mixed composition in which joy is mingled with
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