set in India, Brecht has shown as another characteristic trait ot this theater: playing with toys; an elephant is represented by means of toys.) Music and dance are not dispensed with; the connection with mime is strong, particularly with reference to the vidushaka and other characters who resemble the types of the Commedia delParte. Unlike the Greek drama, the Indian drama is npt tragic. All the productions of the Indian theater (basic authority: Silvain Levi, Theatre indien, 1890) show the incredible artificiality, refinement, subtlety, and sublimation for which this non-illusionistic theater strives in its great creations, particularly in those of Kalidasa. The connection between Strindberg's Dream Play and Indian drama goes beyond the similarities of subject matter. There was an Indian renaissance in the Russian theater revolution: Tairov opened his theater in Moscow in 1914 with Shakuntala.2 While most of the characteristic features mentioned above may be found in all forms of traditional Indian theatre, they are more common in classical Sanskrit theatre such as represented by Koodiyattam. Ritual theatre still preserved by many communities in different parts of India helps to keep alive the link between theatre! and yajna or sacrifice, as maintained by M. Christopher Byrski in his Concept of Ancient Indian TIzeatre (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1974). Among the features special to ritual theatre may be mentioned (a) the element of cruelty and violence, often kept out of classical theatre; (b) the idea of theatre as therapy whereby a patient devotee may be cured of illness or demoniac possession through theatrical exorcism, or a performance is arranged as an offering to the deity to propitiate him or as a form of ancestor worship; and (c) the use of surrealistic devices so as to produce dreamlike or nightmarish effects. The most important aspect of ritual theatre is perhaps the active participation of the audience. Martha Bush Ashton has brought out these aspects of the Spirit Cult festivals in'South Kanara: Meanwhile the priest comes before the altar. Wearing a simple costume (either short red pants adorned with bells or a* silk cloth wrapped around his torso and anklets and sometimes a white turban), he is given the spirit's sword, bell and yaktail fan to hold. After he is sprinkled with water, the audience throws rice or flowers on him to signify its request'that the spirit enter his body. He begins to shake from his feet up until his entire body is trembl- Journal of Arts and Ideas 7