THEATRE
in the world, yet sufficiently distanced from it by the operation of
imagination. Lokadharmi or acting after the manner of the world is allowed as a kind of foil to the dominant style of acting which is known as natyadharmi Tlie use of touryatrikam (singing, dancing, and instrumental music) enhances the natyadharmi or theatrical aspect of stage presentation. The texts of the plays are so composed as to provide scope for exploiting the musical and dancing resources of the actors and actresses. The four types of abhinaya (angika, vacika, aharya and sattvika) help to suggest that there is no attempt to merely represent external reality through the performance of the play. Angika refers to the use of an elaborately coded alphabet of symbolic gestures or mudras, while vacika or speech is highly stylized or even sung, sometimes by the actor, but often by singers employed for that purpose. Aharya or make-up and costume is also too stylized to be realistic. When superhuman characters or supernatural forces are to be presented on the stage, realistic or period costume and make-up would serve no purpose. The fourth type of abhinaya, namely, sattvika or mental acting, is defined in Sangita Ratnakara as 'the indication of the internal feelings of the actor (also reciprocated by the spectators)5. The Ekaharya or Pakarnnattam style of rendering where the same actor impersonates different characters without change of make-up or costume also destroys the impression of realism aimed at in illusionistic drama. The tendency to improvize for hours without any textual support, so frequently resorted to by performers in the Indian theatre, where the skill of a gifted actor is displayed in his manodharma or free play of imagination, is yet another factor that emphasizes the absence of illusionism. Siegfried Melchinger explains the non-illusionistic nature of the Indian theatre (after mentioning the fact that Goethe's Trologue in tlie Theatre' came from Kali-dasa's Shakuntala):
It uses no scenery, only costumes which have a definite symbolic significance. It clearly appears to be derived from shadow and puppet plays, and consequently has a great deal of mimicry and gesture, elements which are as strictly regulated and familiar to the audience as in the Chinese drama. The pantomimic element has the greatest significance; it figures in the theory of the feelings applied to practical production in the manuals ofNatya-Sastra: the feelings are as varied as they are artificial. Naturalness is intended only nominally. Breclit refers to this when he speaks of the Indian 'Masters of delicate feelings'. (In his play A Man's a Man, which is
July-September 1983