65-398: A bansuri is an ancient side-blown bamboo flute originating from South Asia . It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal like material used in many Indian and Nepali Lok songs. A bansuri is traditionally made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with seven finger holes. Some modern designs come in ivory, fiberglass and various metals. The six hole instrument covers two and
130-490: A comprehensive aid to the learning of virtue, proper behavior, ethical and moral fortitude, courage, love and adoration of the divine. — Susan L. Schwartz The contents of the Natyashastra , states Susan Schwartz, are "in part theatrical manual, part philosophy of aesthetics, part mythological history, part theology". It is the oldest surviving encyclopedic treatise on dramaturgy from India, with sections on
195-483: A bansuri is generated from resonance of the air column inside it. The length of this column is varied by closing or leaving open, a varying number of holes. Half-holing is employed to play flat or minor notes. The 'sa' (on the Indian sargam scale, or equivalent 'do' on the octave) note is obtained by covering the first three holes from the blowing-hole. Octaves are varied by manipulating one's embouchure and controlling
260-531: A classic Sanskrit bhasya ("reviews and commentaries") – written by Abhinavagupta . The title of the text is composed of two words, "Nāṭya" and "Shāstra". The root of the Sanskrit word Nāṭya is Nata (नट) which means "act, represent". The word Shāstra (शास्त्र) means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise", and is generally used as a suffix in the Indian literature context, for knowledge in
325-452: A defined area of practice. Performance arts and culture Let Nāṭya (drama and dance) be the fifth vedic scripture . Combined with an epic story, tending to virtue, wealth, joy and spiritual freedom, it must contain the significance of every scripture, and forward every art. — Nāṭyaśāstra 1.14–15 The composition date of Nāṭya Shāstra is unknown. Estimates vary between 500 BCE to 500 CE. The text may have started in
390-422: A desired diameter is cut, dried and treated with natural oils and resins to strengthen it. Once ready, the artisans examine the smoothness and straightness and measure the dried hollow tube. They mark the exact positions for the holes, then use hot metal rod skewers of different diameters to burn in the holes. Drilling and other methods of hole making are avoided as it is believed they damage the fiber orientation and
455-879: A direction perpendicular to the flute's body length. Transverse flutes include the Western concert flute , the Irish flute , the Indian classical flutes (the bansuri and the venu ), the Chinese dizi , the Western fife , a number of Japanese fue , and Korean flutes such as daegeum , junggeum and sogeum . This article relating to flutes is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Natya Shastra Divisions Sama vedic Yajur vedic Atharva vedic Vaishnava puranas Shaiva puranas Shakta puranas Traditional The Nāṭya Shāstra ( Sanskrit : नाट्य शास्त्र , Nāṭyaśāstra )
520-507: A drama can deploy to carry its message. The text describes four means of communication between the actors and the audience – words, gestures, dresses, representation of temperament and aharya (make ups, cosmetics), all of which should be harmonious with the temperament envisioned in the drama. The text discusses the dominant, transitory and temperamental states, for dramatic arts, and the means that an artist can use to express these states, in chapters 6 through 7. The Natyashastra describes
585-545: A form of Vedic ritual ceremony (yajna). The general approach of the text is treated entertainment as an effect, but not the primary goal of arts. The primary goal is to lift and transport the spectators, unto the expression of ultimate reality and transcendent values. The text allows, states Schwartz, the artists "enormous innovation" as they connect the playwright and the spectators, through their performance, to Rasa (the essence, juice). The "rasa theory" of Natyashastra , states Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, presumes that bliss
650-407: A half octaves of music. The bansuri is typically between 30 and 75 centimetres (12 and 30 in) in length, and the thickness of a human thumb. One end is closed, and few centimeters from the closed end is its blow hole. Longer bansuris feature deeper tones and lower pitches. The traditional design features no mechanical keys, and the musician creates the notes they want by covering and uncovering
715-598: A higher level of consciousness, suggests Natyashastra . Great songs do not instruct or lecture, they delight and liberate from within to a state of godlike ecstasy. According to Susan Schwartz, 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. Indian dance ( nritta , नृत्त) traditions, states Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, have roots in
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#1732775926601780-475: A more ancient Central Asian flute design. It is, however, not clear whether there was any connection between the Indian and Chinese varieties. The early medieval Indian bansuri was, however, influential. Its size, style, bindings, mounts on ends and playing style in medieval Europe artworks has led scholars, such as Liane Ehlich, a flute scholar at the music school in the University of Lucerne, to state that
845-529: A play and the construction of a stage to host it, genres of acting, body movements, make up and costumes, role and goals of an art director, the musical scales, musical instruments and the integration of music with art performance. The Nāṭya Śāstra is notable as an ancient encyclopedic treatise on the arts, one which has influenced dance, music and literary traditions in India. It is also notable for its aesthetic "Rasa" theory, which asserts that entertainment
910-477: A super sensual inner state of being. The Natya connects through abhinaya , that is applying body-speech-mind and scene, wherein asserts Natyashastra , the actors use two practices of dharmi (performance), in four styles and four regional variations, accompanied by song and music in a playhouse carefully designed to achieve siddhi (success in production). The verse details the eleven essential components of drama and dramatic production: The text discusses
975-808: A supersensual state of discovery and understanding. The stories and plots were provided by the Itihasas (epics), the Puranas and the Kathas genre of Hindu literature. The text also states that the god Brahma combined the elements of acting from the four Vedas: "recitation from the Rigveda , music from the Samaveda , mimetic art from the Yajurveda , and sentiments from the Atharvaveda ." The text states that
1040-407: A variety of performance arts as well as the design of the stage. The text details three architectural styles for the playhouse: Drama, in this ancient Sanskrit text, is an art to engage every aspect of life, in order to glorify and gift a state of joyful consciousness. The text discusses the universal and inner principles of drama, that it asserts successfully affects and journeys the audience to
1105-424: Is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts . The text is attributed to sage Bharata , and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The text consists of 36 chapters with a cumulative total of 6,000 poetic verses describing performance arts. The subjects covered by the treatise include dramatic composition, structure of
1170-412: Is a desired effect of performance arts but not the primary goal, and that the primary goal is to transport the individual in the audience into another parallel reality, full of wonder, where they experience the essence of their own consciousness, and reflect on spiritual and moral questions. The text further inspired secondary literature such as the 10th century commentary Abhinavabharati – an example of
1235-418: Is able to perform complex facets of Raga music such as microtonal inflections , ornamentation , and glissando by varying the breath, performing fast and dexterous fingering, and closing/opening the holes with slow, sweeping gestures. Transverse flute A transverse flute or side-blown flute is a flute which is held horizontally when played. The player blows across the embouchure hole, in
1300-400: Is achieved by variations in length, inner diameter of the instrument and the relative size and placement of the finger holes. This allows the musician to select a bansuri constructed in the key of the music they want to create and share. A bansuri is typically held horizontally slanting downwards towards right by the bansuri player. The index, middle and ring fingers of the right hand cover
1365-511: Is also used in Nepal, under the name Bām̐surī (बाँसुरी). Nepalese also use the word murli (मुरली), but that word can mean not only flute or fife, but also a reed instrument. Ancient regional innovations, such as those in the Himalayan foothills of India, developed more complex designs, such as the algoza which is a "twin bansuri" in different keys constructed as a single instrument, allowing
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#17327759266011430-410: Is held at the lips like a tin whistle . Because the transverse variety enables superior control, variations and embellishments, it is preferred in Indian classical music. Six holes are sufficient to produce seven basic swaras : sa , re , ga , ma , pa , dha , and ni . When all holes are closed, it produces the bass scale that is the root note of the bansuri ( pa ). With one hole farthest from
1495-487: Is intrinsic and innate in man, it exists in oneself, that manifests non-materially through spiritual and personally subjective means. Performance arts aim to empower man to experience this rasa , or re-experience it. Actors aim to journey the spectator to this aesthetic experience within him. Rasa is prepared, states Natya Shastra , through a creative synthesis and expression of vibhava (determinants), anubhava (consequents) and vyabhicharibhava (transitory states). In
1560-474: Is mentioned in other late Vedic texts, as are two scholars names Shilalin ( IAST : Śilālin) and Krishashva (Kṛśaśva), credited to be pioneers in the studies of ancient drama, singing, dance and Sanskrit compositions for these arts. The Natyashastra refers to drama performers as Śhailālinas, likely because they were so known at the time the text was written, a name derived from the legacy of the vedic sage Śilālin credited with Natasutras . Richmond et al. estimate
1625-459: Is presented in chapters 26 and 35 of the text. The theory of music, techniques for singing, and music instruments are discussed over chapters 28 to 34. The text in its final chapters describes the various types of dramatic characters, their roles and need for team work, what constitutes an ideal troupe, closing out the text with its comments of the importance of performance arts on culture. Dramatic arts Natyashastra praises dramatic arts as
1690-428: The "Rasa" theory on aesthetics in performance arts, while chapters 8 to 13 are dedicated to the art of acting. Stage instruments such as methods for holding accessories, weapons, relative movement of actors and actresses, scene formulation, stage zones, conventions and customs are included in chapters 10 to 13 of the Natyashastra . The chapters 14 to 20 are dedicated to plot and structure of underlying text behind
1755-579: The Gana was free form art and included singing. The Sanskrit musical tradition spread widely in the Indian subcontinent during the late 1st millennium BCE, and the ancient Tamil classics make it "abundantly clear that a cultivated musical tradition existed in South India as early as the last few pre-Christian centuries". The art schools of Shilalin and Krishashva, mentioned in both the Brahmanas and
1820-597: The Kalpasutras and Srautasutras , may have been associated with the performance of vedic rituals, which involved storytelling with embedded ethical values. The Vedanga texts such as verse 1.4.29 of Panini Sutras mention these as well. The roots of the Natyashastra thus likely trace to the more ancient vedic traditions of integrating ritual recitation, dialogue and song in a dramatic representation of spiritual themes. The Sanskrit verses in chapter 13.2 of Shatapatha Brahmana (~800–700 BCE), for example, are written in
1885-538: The Natasutras to have been composed around 600 BCE. According to Lewis Rowell, a professor of Music specializing on classical Indian music, the earliest Indian artistic thought included three arts, syllabic recital ( vadya ), melos ( gita ) and dance ( nrtta ), as well as two musical genre, Gandharva (formal, composed, ceremonial music) and Gana (informal, improvised, entertainment music). The Gandharva subgenre also implied celestial, divine associations, while
1950-543: The bansuri ( venu ) migrated from India into the Byzantine Empire by the 10th century and from there on to medieval Europe where it became popular. The flute is discussed as an important musical instrument in the Natya Shastra (~200 BCE to 200 CE), the classic Sanskrit text on music and performance arts. The flute (Venu or Vamsa) is mentioned in many Hindu texts on music and singing, as complementary to
2015-525: The murali . However, the instrument is also common among other traditions such as Shaivism . The early medieval Indian texts also refer to it as vaṃśi , while in medieval Indonesian Hindu and Buddhist arts, as well as temple carvings in Java and Bali dated to be from pre-10th century period, this transverse flute has been called wangsi or bangsi . The word bansuri originates in the bans (बाँस) [bamboo] + sur (सुर) [melody]. A phonetically similar name for
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2080-439: The 1st millennium BCE, expanded over time, and most scholars suggest, based on mention of this text in other Indian literature, that the first complete version of the text was likely finished between 200 BCE to 200 CE. The Nāṭyaśāstra is traditionally alleged to be linked to a 36,000 verse Vedic composition called Adibharata , however there is no corroborating evidence that such a text ever existed. The text has survived into
2145-642: The West Asian influence on North Indian music. A bansuri is traditionally produced from a special type of bamboo, that naturally grows to long lengths between its nodes (knots). These grow abundantly in Himalayan foothills up to about 11,000 feet with high rainfall. These are particularly found in the northeastern (near Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura) and Western Ghats (near Kerala) states of India where numerous bamboo species grow with internodal lengths greater than 40 centimetres (16 in). The harvested bamboo with
2210-506: The aesthetics of Natyashastra . The text defines the basic dance unit to be a karana , which is a specific combination of the hands and feet integrated with specific body posture and gait ( sthana and chari respectively). Chapter 4 describes 108 karanas as the building blocks to the art of dance. The text states the various movements of major and minor limbs with facial states as means of articulating ideas and expressing emotions. The Natyashastra is, states Emmie te Nijenhuis ,
2275-426: The ancient surviving sculptures and paintings in the temples and archaeological sites of India predominantly show transverse flutes being played horizontally (with a downward tilt). However, beginning in the 15th century, vertical end blowing style are commonly represented. This change in the relevance and style of bansuri is likely, states Nettl, because of the arrival of Islamic rule era on the Indian subcontinent and
2340-428: The artisans to achieve purity of the musical notes produced. The wall thickness of the bansuri determines the tone, range and octave tuning. Once all the holes have reached their performance range, the bansuri is steeped in natural oils, cleaned, dried and decorated or bound with silk or nylon threads. There are two varieties of bansuri: transverse and fipple . The fipple flute is usually played in folk music and
2405-496: The arts by the time Agni Purana was composed. The Natyashastra is the oldest surviving ancient Indian work on performance arts. The roots of the text extend at least as far back as the Naṭasūtras , dated to around the mid 1st millennium BCE. The Natasutras are mentioned in the text of Panini , the sage who wrote the classic on Sanskrit grammar , and who is dated to about 500 BCE. This performance arts related Sutra text
2470-437: The audience tastes dominant states of a drama through expression of words, gestures and temperaments. These dominant states are love, mirth, sorrow, anger, energy, terror, disgust and astonishment. Further, states the text, there are 33 psychological states which are transitory such as discouragement, weakness, apprehension, intoxication, tiredness, anxiety, agitation, despair, impatience. There are eight temperamental states that
2535-444: The blowing strength. Either finger tips or finger pads are used by bansuri players to partially or fully cover the tap holes. In order to play the diatonic scale on a bansuri, one needs to find where the notes lie. For example, in a bansuri where Sa or the tonic is always played by closing the first three holes, is equivalent to C, one can play sheet music by creating a finger notation that corresponds to different notes. A flutist
2600-400: The closed end of the bansuri open, the instrument plays the dha . Similarly, ni is produced with two farthest holes open, sa with three farthest open, re with four, ga with five, and ma is produced with all holes open. Every bansuri by its design and construction has a specific key and tonal center, corresponding to sa ( shadja , natural tonic) of the swara scale. This key
2665-424: The form of a riddle play between two actors. The Vedic sacrifice ( yajna ) is presented as a kind of drama, with its actors, its dialogues, its portion to be set to music, its interludes, and its climaxes. The most studied version of the text, consisting of about 6000 poetic verses, is structured into 36 chapters. The tradition believes that the text originally had 12,000 verses. Somewhat different versions of
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2730-625: The good and the bad, actions and feelings, of each character, whether God or man. According to Natyashastra , state Sally Banes and Andre Lepeck, drama is that art which accepts human beings are in different inner states when they arrive as audience, then through the art performed, it provides enjoyment to those wanting pleasure, solace to those in grief, calmness to those who are worried, energy to those who are brave, courage to those who are cowards, eroticism to those who want company, enjoyment to those who are rich, knowledge to those who are uneducated, wisdom to those who are educated. Drama represents
2795-464: The human voice and Veena (vaani-veena-venu). The flute is however not called bansuri in the ancient, and is referred to by other names such as nadi , tunava in the Rigveda (3000–2500 BCE) and other Vedic texts of Hinduism , or as venu in post-Vedic texts. The flute is also mentioned in various Upanishads and Yoga texts. According to Bruno Nettl , a music historian and ethnomusicologist,
2860-499: The manuscripts exist, and these contain 37 or 38 chapters. Predominant number of its verses are in precise Anustubh meter (4x8, or exactly 32 syllables in every shloka ), some verses are in Arya meter (a morae-based Sanskrit meter), and the text has some text that is in prose particularly in chapters 6, 7 and 28. The structure of the text harmoniously compiles aspects of the theatrical arts into separate chapters. The text opens with
2925-411: The material they are made of). The Natyashastra accepts these four categories as given, and dedicates four separate chapters to them, one each on stringed instruments ('tat' or chordophones ), hollow instruments ('sushir' or aerophones ), solid instruments ('ghan' or idiophones ), and covered instruments ('avanaddha' or membranophones ). Chapters 15 and 16 of the text discuss Sanskrit prosody in
2990-494: The message and the meaning being communicated. After the 10th-century, Hindu temples were designed to include stages for performance arts (for example, kuttampalams ), or prayer halls (for example, namghar ) that seconded as dramatic arts stage, based on the square principle described in the Natyashastra , such as those in the peninsular and eastern states of India. The Natyashastra discusses Vedic songs, and also dedicates over 130 verses to non-Vedic songs. Chapter 17 of
3055-579: The mixture of poetic verses and prose in a few extant manuscripts of Natyashastra may be because of this. According to Pramod Kale, who received a doctorate on the text from the University of Wisconsin, the surviving version of Natya Shastra likely existed by the 8th-century. The author of the Natya Shastra is unknown, and the Hindu tradition attributes it to the Rishi (sage) Bharata . It may be
3120-462: The modern age in several manuscript versions, wherein the title of the chapters varies and in some cases the content of the few chapters differ. Some recensions show significant interpolations and corruption of the text, along with internal contradictions and sudden changes in style. Scholars such as PV Kane state that some text was likely changed as well as added to the original between the 3rd to 8th century CE, thus creating some variant editions, and
3185-446: The musician to play more complex music. In central and south India, a similar innovation is called nagoza or mattiyaan jodi , and Buddhist stupa reliefs in central India, from about the 1st century BCE, depict the single and twinned flute designs. According to Ardal Powell , flute is a simple instrument found in numerous ancient cultures. According to legends the three birthplaces of flutes are Egypt, Greece, and India. Of these,
3250-430: The mythical genesis and history of drama, mentions the role of different Hindu deities in various aspects of the arts, and the recommended puja (consecration ceremony) of a stage for performance arts. The text, states Natalia Lidova, then describes the theory of Tāṇḍava dance ( Shiva ), the theory of rasa , of bhāva, expression, gestures, acting techniques, basic steps, standing postures. Chapters 6 and 7 present
3315-557: The oldest surviving text that systematically treats "the theory and instruments of Indian music". Music has been an integral part of performance arts in the Hindu tradition since its Vedic times, and the theories of music found in the Natyashastra are also found in many Puranas , such as the Markandeya Purana . Prior to the Natyashastra, the ancient Indian tradition classified musical instruments into four groups based on their acoustic principle (how they work, rather than
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#17327759266013380-405: The outer fingerholes, while the same fingers of the left hand cover the rest. The bansuri is supported by the thumb and little finger, while the airhole is positioned near the lips and air blown over it at various speeds to reach the desired octave. For the seven-hole bansuri, the little finger ( pinky ) of the right hand is usually employed. As with other air-reed wind instruments , the sound of
3445-504: The performance art. These sections include the theory of Sanskrit prosody , musical meters and the language of expression. Chapter 17 presents the attributes of poetry and figures of speech, while chapter 18 presents the art of speech and delivery in the performance arts. The text lists ten kinds of play, presents its theory of plot, costumes, and make-up. The text dedicates several chapters exclusively to women in performance arts, with chapter 24 on female theater. The training of actors
3510-512: The playwright should know the bhavas (inner state of being) of all characters in the story, and it is these bhavas that the audience of that drama connects with. The hero is shown to be similar to everyone in some ways, trying to achieve the four goals of human life in Hindu philosophy, then the vastu (plot) emerges through the "representation of three worlds – the divine, the human, the demonic". Drama has dharma, it has artha, it has kama, it has humor, fighting and killing. The best drama shows
3575-405: The process of emotionally engaging the individual in the audience, the text outlines the use of eight sentiments – erotic, comic, pathetic, terrible, furious, odious, heroic and marvellous. The Natyashastra defines drama in verse 6.10 as that which aesthetically arouses joy in the spectator, through the medium of actor's art of communication, that helps connect and transport the individual into
3640-658: The same instrument, in early medieval texts, is the Sanskrit word vaṃśi which is derived from root vaṃśa (Sanskrit: वंश) meaning bamboo. A flute player in these medieval texts is called vamsika . Other regional names of bansuri -style, six to eight play holes, bamboo flutes in India include bansi , eloo , kolakkuzhal , kulal , kulalu , kukhl , lingbufeniam , murali , murli , nadi , nar , odakkuzhal , pawa , pullankuzhal , pillana grovi , pulangoil , vansi , vasdanda , sipung , and venuvu . The instrument
3705-403: The splits affect the music quality. The burnt-in holes are then finished by sanding, one end plugged, the flute ringed at various positions to stabilize its form and shape over time and the unit tested for its musical performance. The distance of a finger-hole from the mouth-hole, and the diameter of the finger-hole controls the note it plays. Adjustments to the diameters of various holes is made by
3770-408: The stage for performance arts as the sacred space 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, and such architectural features of a theatre; the text asserts that these aspects help the audience get absorbed in the drama as well as understand
3835-457: The text is entirely dedicated to poetry and the structure of a song, which it states is also the template for composing plays. Its chapter 31 asserts that there are seven types of songs, and these are Mandraka , Aparantaka , Rovindaka , Prakari , Ullopyaka , Ovedaka and Uttara . It also elaborates on 33 melodic alankaras in songs. These are melodic tools of art for any song, and they are essential. Without these melodic intonations, states
3900-474: The text, a song becomes like "a night without the moon, a river without water, a creeper without a flower and a woman without an ornament". A song also has four basic architectural varna to empower its meaning, and these tone patterns are ascending line, steady line, descending line and the unsteady line. The ideal poem produces bliss in the reader, or listener. It transports the audience into an imaginative world, transforms his inner state, and delivers him to
3965-573: The theory and practice of various performance arts. The text extends its reach into asking and understanding the goals of performance arts, the nature of the playwright, the artists and the spectators, their intimate relationship during the performance. Natya topics as envisioned in this text includes what in western performing arts would include drama, dance, theatre, poetry and music. The text integrates its aesthetics, axiology and description of arts with mythologies associated with Hindu Devas and Devis . Performance arts, states Natyashastra , are
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#17327759266014030-498: The transverse flute (side blown) appeared only in ancient India, while the fipple flutes are found in all three. It is likely, states Powell, that the modern Indian bansuri has not changed much since the early medieval era. However, a flute of a somewhat different design is evidenced in ancient China ( dizi ) which Powell, quoting Curt Sachs' The History of Musical Instruments , suggests may not have originated in China but evolved from
4095-407: The truths about life and worlds, through emotions and circumstances, to deliver entertainment, but more importantly ethos, questions, peace and happiness. The text goes into specifics to explain the means available within dramatic arts to achieve its goals. Just like the taste of food, states Natyashastra , is determined by combination of vegetables, spices and other articles such as sugar and salt,
4160-454: The various finger holes. The bansuri -like flute is depicted in ancient Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temple paintings and reliefs, and is common in the iconography of the Hindu god Krishna . It is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha . The bansuri is revered as Lord Krishna's divine instrument and is often associated with Krishna's Rasa lila dance . These legends sometimes use alternate names for this wind instrument, such as
4225-461: The work of several authors, but scholars disagree. Bharat Gupt states that the text stylistically shows characteristics of a single compiler in the existing version, a view shared by Kapila Vatsyayan . The Agni Purana , a generic encyclopedia, includes chapters on dramatic arts and poetry, which follow the Natyashastra format, but enumerates more styles and types of performance arts, which states Winternitz, may reflect an expansion in studies of
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