Abhinavagupta's
approach to Dharmi
Kohala, an oft-quoted
name in Natyasastra-tradition, has contributed to the
concept of Indian Theatre by defining the natyasamgraha or the digest of theatre comprising eleven fundamental
elements. Bharata and his commentator
par excellence, Abhinavagupta, have extensively dealt with the components of this natyasamgraha. They are: Rasa, Bhava,
Abhinaya, Dharmi, Vrtti, Pravrtti, Siddhi, Svara, Atodya, Gana and Ranga.1
Abhinavagupta
has viewed the inter-relationship and interdependence of these elements from
various points of view. From the point of view of the creator or the actor, Rasa forms the core and leads him to the expression of Bhava, followed by Abhinaya. This Abhinaya corresponds to dharmi,
which is based on vrttis. These vrttis are formed out of pravrttis,
and so on. From the point of view of the
spectator or connoisseur, Ranga
or theatre with all its paraphernalia comes first, then songs accompanied with
the instruments and this chain of the basic elements of theatric universe
finally leading the samajika to the experience of
Rasa.
Dharmi occupies almost a central position amongst the fundamentals
of theatre. It is the
modus operandi, without which various concepts and aesthetic
principles cannot be put into practice.
Abhinavagupta, therefore, rightly explains it as itikartavyata.Ό2 The author of Samgitaratnakara
upholds his view.3
activity.4
Viewing the concept of
dharmi in a wider perspective,
Abhinavagupta
goes to explain that there are two aspects of all
art and
poetry lokanusaritva and
vicitrayogitva.Ό5 The first
follows the real
practices prevailing in our day-to-day life,
while the latter is highlightened by the beauty of imagination.
That Bharata
was conscious of these two aspects, so vital to art
and poetry is
evident from his division of dharmi in two types,
viz. lokadharmi and natyadharmi. Of
these, the first manifests
where the play
projects natural behavior of characters, depicting
various professions
and activities of the people as observed in
our world, and is
enacted without playful flourish of the limbs-ͺ various conventional gaits and
postures.
On the contrary, if a play contains
speech, activity, beings
and states of extra-ordinary
kind, and requires acting with
playful flourish of
limbs and possesses characteristics of dance,
requires conventional
enunciation, and is dependent on
emotionally carried
persons, it can be said to have been composed
and enacted by natyadharmi or the conventional practice. This
practice has an
exaggeration in speech, actions and
gesticulations,6
framing the things and experiences of our dayάg[1]ά«to-day life in such a way
that they acquire "a local habitation
and a name."
After explaining the basic tenets of natyadharmi, Bharata
enumerates various
theatrical acumen, forming its gamut.
The
asides (svagata), speaking to the sky (akasabhasita),
concealed
speech (apavarita) together with various motives like the
division of stage
into imaginary zones (kaksya-vibhaga), the
appearance of
objects such as hill, conveyance, aerial car,
shield, armor, weapons
or banner staff in human form; assumption
of a different role
by the actor in the same performance after
enacting one role;
dance-steps and graceful movements in place of
natural walking;
representation of human nature and various
sentiments through
gestures; decorative movements all these and
a number of
properties on stage, arrangements and motives are
manifestations of natyadharmi.
Bharata makes it clear that
dharmi is the desideratum in a
performance and it is impossible
to enact a play without
applying the fundamental principle of
dharmi.
As for the two divisions of dharmi, both of these appear
to
be standing poles
apart and in nature alien to each other.
In
the realm of art,
however, they are complimentary to each other.
Their mutual
inter-dependence is necessary in any art-activity.
Lokadharmi constitutes the basic or raw material, while
natyadharmi brings out innovations, gives the play a
perspective,
endowing it with
beauty and puts it in the idiom or language of a
particular performing
art. Bharata very precisely points out theάd[1]ά
distinction as well as the inter-relationship between these two:
Svabhavo lokadharmi tu vibhavo natyameva hi. -NS
XXI, 193.
While lokadharmi is the svabhava or
very nature of things to
be presented in art
or in a dramatic performance, natyadharmi
makes it vibhavaendows it with artistic beauty.
This brings us to the fundamentals of
Indian Aesthetics.
The very
phenomena of our own mundane world are taken up in art
but they are
transformed. Explaining the process of rasaͺrealization, Mammata rightly suggests that the very causes,
resultants, etc.
that we find and experience in our day-to-day
life tend to
become vibhavas, anubhavas and sancari bhavas in
poetry and drama.
The concept of dharmi also enshrines within its fold the
principles of
realism and idealism. Natyadharmi means deviation
from realistic
method, i.e., presenting things as they apparently
look.
enables us to see
them in a way different from the common
practice. Kalidasa has termed
this process as anyathakarana.
But anyathakarana or
making things look different does not really
mean distortion;
rather, the deviation from portraying worldly
phenomena as they
outwardly appear, is an outcome of the artist's
search for the inner
truth.
The concept of dharmi also brings out the two successive
stages of creative
process. The artist does not create a
world
away from his
surroundings and environment, upon which he depends
for his creative
activity. He has to acquaint himself
with theάd[1]ά
life around him and equip himself with an authentic knowledge of
his contemporary
scene. This has been called
vyutpatti by our
rhetoricians. Mammata points out:
lokasya sthavajangamatmakalokavrttasya...vimarsanad
vyutpattih.
But then comes the second and more
important stage in the
creative
process. The artist moulds the crude
material thus
derived by his vyutpatti in a coherent shape and invests it with
his idealogy and his individual power of expression. When
Kalidasa speaks of anyathakarana and Bharata of
natyadharmi they
in fact are laying
emphasis upon this sublimation of worldly
phenomena in a
subtle creative world. Abhinava falling
in line
with these
savants, says that by prakhya
and upakhya, or the
capability of the
artist to perceive and express, a world more
beautiful, more
harmonious and absolved from the shortcomings of
God's
creation is created.
Abhinavagupta contributes to the
concept of dharmi in
considering its
application in other forms of art.
Besides
Theatre, the
principle of dharmi with
its twofold division is
equally applicable
to various forms of belles lettres. All
offshoots of poetic
imagination, transcending the historical or
phenomena realities,
fall under the gamut of dharmi. With this
proposition,
Abhinava cites various examples from poets and
dramatists to bring
out the manifestations of dharmi.
Accordingly,
the demon disguised as Dasaratha at the time of
Rama's banishment in
the drama Balaramayana of Rajasekhara, is an example of natyadharmi. If a character is portrayed as doing
things that are not
expected of him, then also it is the
natyadharmi-way. The
buffoon Vasantaka (probably from Ratnavali
of sri Harsa), is an example.
of a minister in him
and he is actually presented as playing the
minister for the
king. The creative imagination of the
dramatist
leads him to various
devises in the plot of his play also come
under natyadharmi. To establish the viability of the concept of
dharmi for each and every form of art and literature,
Abhinava
quotes the following
stanza from his teacher, Bhattatauta:
Tadatra
Yanna
sambhavi yatra syat sambhavati atra tu dharmatah.
The poet and the artist, by his power
of imagination, does
not only present the
things which are possible in our world, he
can also represent
things which are impossible in this world.
To sum up, Abhinava says that natyadharmi is the very
life
of all performing or
plastic arts and also that of literature:
Yammat kavigata natyagata vagalankaracesta natyadharmirupa
sarvapranavati.
Natyadharmi is a
deviation from common practice, from normal
behavior and
ordinariness. Yet it does not mean an
escape from
the realities of our
world. Lokadharmi
or the worldly phenomena
always remain behind
the most charming outbursts of creative
imagination. Abhinava says that lokadharmi is the upajiva
(enlivening
factor) of natyadharmi. Nothing can be conceived in
art by
putting aside the laukika dharma:
The creativity the deviation from the
norms is
introduced to interpret
the basic nature of outer realities and
to explore their
inner view. Rightly do the theorists form
Bharata to
Abhinavagupta therefore emphasize on lokadharmi as
primafacie the background which is based on lokasvabhava, or
the nature or behavior
of the people. Abhinava says that both
these dharmis follow lokasvabhava.
Again, he points out that the
very idea of dharmi in art comes out from a study of mannerisms,
aspirations or the
habits of the people; so that nothing can be
conceived or created
in art in isolation from these. For an
ideal artistic
creation, there has to be a fusion of realistic
method and the
idealistic creativity. Thus the concept of dharmi
indicates the subtle
equilibrium which creative imagination tends
to achieve,
depreciating too much emphasis on outer reality,
particularly when
such an emphasis violates the very conditions
of art or would
obliterate the inner view of things.
Mere
imitation produces
only laughter says Abhinava with reference
to Bharata.
imitative naturalism
established with the onslaught of European
and Parsi theatres in
...if there is too much imitative
naturalism, the inner view
becomes
clouded. To express the inner turmoil of
a character,
the actor very often
takes to violent gestures and declamation.
The reason,
I think is that he aims at imitating truth instead of
expressing it. Scenic illusion, therefore is not a sine qua non for the
stage. There are directors like
discard adornment on
the stage. "The human body does not
seek to
produce the illusion
of reality, since it is in itself reality" ͺ- says Appia
"We must free stage of everything that is in
contradistinction
with the actor's presence....Scenic illusion is
the living presence
of the actor."
Realism in fact does not mean
imitation of realities. The
concept of dharmi in the Natyasastra-tradition views the
principle of
realism in its right perspective.
Lokadharmi
forms the basic structure, while natyadharmi
leads to the
creation or adoption of new idioms and stylizations
that later on become
motifs and conventions. But the very
idea
of natyadharmi is to
free art from mere conventionalism. In
Natyasastra-tradition, this is achieved by introducing a
variety
of styles, divisions
and sub-divisions in the treatment of the
fourfold abhinaya. Abhinaya is largely dependent on the idea of
dharmi. Abhinava rightly says:
Abhinayas
ca laukikam tanmulama eva tadupajivinam samayikam
natyiyam
dharmam va anuvartante iti tad anantaram dharmi.
An example of the practice of the
principle of dharmi on
modern stage can be
seen in the experiments of
contrast against the
so called dramatic theatre of Greek
tradition. His use of interpretative method, i.e.,
introduction
of songs and poetry
and intrusion of a narrator or singer (like the sutradhara
or the bhagavata in Sanskrit or traditional Indian
theatre) and
elimination of scenic elaborations furnish examples
of the application
of the principle of dharmi. In his drama Die
Mutter, the
old lady is shivering from cold in the snowy winds,
but there is no snow
on the stage, the gesture of shivering is
sufficient to
indicate it. In
man is bathing and
the lady is pouring water out of a bucket.
There is
neither water nor bucket on the stage.
Various conventions are applied on Brechtian theatre to
bring out the alienation
effect. Such conventions are based on
the ideas of dharmi on Bharata's theatre. The conventions like
the intrusion of a sutradhara or adopting songs in place of
dialogues tend to
evolve alienation effect here also.
The principle of dharmi is vital and relevant for modern
theatre and
aesthetics. In 1908,
search for an actor
who would allow his strings to be pulled like
a puppet, and yet
should be something more than a puppet.
named this ideal
actor as uber-marionette. Later on, he found an
answer to his quest
of uber-marionette in Bharata's Theatre,
encompassing Natyadharmi methods
of representation.
The later theorists in the field of
Sanskrit dramaturgy,
like Dhananjaya or Dhanika, Saradatanaya,
Ramacandra-Gunacandra,
Sagaranandin,
Visvanatha, Vidyanatha etc. have not dealt with the
theory of dharmi. Sarngadeva, Vema and Kumbha are exceptions
amongst them. Considering this, Abhinava's exposition of Dharmi
becomes
significant. After Bharata, he is the
only great theorist to have dealt with this subject in depth and detail. He
has also made his
own contribution to the theory by viewing it in
a wider perspective,
covering the vast range of poetry and
performing arts and
establishing connection between dharmi and
the creative
process.
REFERENCES:
1.
Siddhih svaras tatha atodyam ganam rangas
ca samgrahah.
Natyasastra VI.10
2.
Abhinavabharati, Vol. II, p.214.
3.
Sangitaratnakata, Vol. IV, p.9.
4.
Yasmat kavigata natyagata vag-alankaranistha natyadharmirupaͺ sarvapranavati...- Abhinavabharati, Vol. II, p.218.
5. Ibid, Vol. I, p.269 and
6.
Natyasastra XIII.69,72-82.