Dramatic entertainments

(It is an Excerpt from "Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus, Translated from the Original Sanscsrit. by Horace Hayman Wilson, Esq. in 1827)

"The invention of Dramatic Entertainments is usually ascribed by Hindu writers to a Muni or inspired Sage, named Bharata, but according to some authorities, they had a still more elevated origin, and the art having been gathered from the Vedas by the God Brahma, was by him communicated to the Muni.

The dramatic representations first invented, consisted of three kinds, Natya, Nritya, and Nritta, and these were exhibited before the Gods, by the Gandherbas, and Apsarasas, the Spirits and Nymphs of Indra's heaven, who were trained by Bharata to the exhibition.

Siva added to these two other sytles of performance, the Tandava and Lasya.

Of these different modes of representation, only one, the Natya is properly the dramatic, being defined to be Gesticulation with Language.

The Nirtya is gesticulation without language, or Pantomime, and the Nritta is simple dancing.

The Tandava and Lasya, which appear to be grafts upon the original system, are merely styles of dancing; the former so named from Tandu, one of Siva's attendants, whom the God instructed in it, whiles the Lasya, it is said, was taught by Parvati to the Princess Usha, who instructed the Gopis of Dwaraka, the residence of her husband, in the art by them it was communicated to the women of Surashtra, and from them it passed to the females of various regions.

(It is an Excerpt from "Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus, Translated from the Original Sanscsrit. by Horace Hayman Wilson, Esq. in 1827)