A STUDY OF EAST INDIAN DANCE DRAMA
AND ITS ADAPTATION
TO WESTERN THEATRE CONVENTIONS

Thesis for tho Dogm of M. A.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Adena L. Johnson
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ABSTRACT

A STUDY OF EAST INDIAN DANCE DRAMA
AND
ITS ADAPTATION TO WESTERN THEATRE CONVENTIONS

by Arlene L. Johnson

The purpose of this study is to find a means of making East Indian
classical dance drama understandable and meaningful to the audience
of the West. It must be noted that two forms of drama exist now in
India: the revived classical form, and the new Indian Theatre which
began about one hundred and fifty years ago. The second form stems
directly from the West. The investigation here is to discern the means
by which the classical form may be adapted to the West as the Western
form was adapted to Indian Theatre conventions.

To form a basis for comparison, the Western Theatre conventions
are investigated, as are the conventions of the East Indian classical
theatre. The facets of theatre which are discussed are the following:
the dramaturgy, including the origin and purpose of the drama, the
subjects considered, characters involved in the plot, and plot deve10p-
ment; the aspects of production, including the theatre building, scenery,
prOperties, costume, and make-up; and the animate aspects, including

voice and gesture.

2

The investigation shows that that which is considered dramatic in
Western theatre springs from an emotional and intellectual response by
the audience to the dramatic characters and situations with which the
audience can associate or which the audience can recognize as real.
For this reason, the approach to drama and production usually taken
in the Western theatre is realism. Rasa formation, the realization
of emotion from a specific situation, is the crux of Indian classical
theatre; and to produce an experience which is essentially beautiful,
the Indian theatre is one of remote symbolism. The problem of adap-
tation, then, is to change the symbols of Indian theatre so that they have
realistic connotations when the script, which is left intact, is viewed
in performance by the West.

Various possibilities for adaptation in production are considered,
and those approaches which seem best to retain the East Indian flavor
of the script, while creating a realistic theatre experience for the West,
are unified in the specific one-act play, M, by Rabindrinath Tagore.
Consideration of the theatre buflding, set design, lighting, costumes,
make-up, and a dance and vocal interpretation script of the play form
a production book by which a director might present this play as a
valid experience for the Western audience.

The conclusion indicates that by using the principles for adap-
tation set forth in this study, a director could use this study as a basis
for the adaptation to the Western stage of any of a suggested list of

East Indian classical dance dramas.

A STUDY OF EAST INDIAN DANCE DRAMA
AND

ITS ADAPTATION TO WESTERN THEATRE CONVENTIONS

BY

Arlene L. Johnson

ATHESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Speech

19 61

0/5737

6/,"9/ I

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
LET OF TAB IAES O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O m

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Chapters .
L Introduction... ........ .... ........... 1

11. Western Theatre Conventions . ..... . ...... . . . . 9
111. Indian Classical Theatre Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
IV.Adaptationofg_hiL_tr_a_ ..... ................42
V. Conclusion 107

BB HomPHY O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O 112

LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. fighting &hwule 0 O 0 O O O O O O O O O O ..... O O O O O I 55

2. Mm-wcmtoooooooooooooooo00000000065

iii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page
l.sceneDeSignoooooooooooooooo ooooooo 00.00.50

2. FloorPlansl
3. Lighting Plot for Scenes One, Three, Seven . ..... . . . . . . 52
4. Lighting Plot for Scenes Two, Four, Six, Eight, Nine , , , , , , , 53
5. mghtingmotforSceneFive ...... .Ws4
6. SketchforPatternforChitra'sSari,,,,',,,,,,'.......58
7. CostumePlateforChitra......................59
8. CostumePlateforChitra......................60
9. CostumePlateforArjuna,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 61
10. CostumePlateforVafianta.....................62
u. CostumeplatetorMadana.....................63

12, Costume Plate for vuhgers O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 64

iv

INTRODUCTION

Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this thesis is to find a means of making East Indian
classical dance-drama understandable and meaningful to the audience of
the West. For some years in the West there has been a rise of interest
in the Orient. This interest is manifest in Western art, architecture,
phiIOSOphy, and religious study. However, the drama, as such, has
not been adapted for our culture. When it has been presented, usually
Oriental troupes were imported to exhibit their dramatic presentations
as curiosities rather than as valid experiences of theatre for our part
of the world. The attempt in this thesis is to so adapt the symbols and
theatre conventions of East Indian classical dance-drama that a valid
theatre experience will result when the drama is presented here.

The general problem which this study attempts to solve is finding
a way in which the foreign symbols and theatre conventions can be made
meaningful to the West. The specific problem with which this study
deals is the adaptation of the one act play by Rabindrinath Tagore,
Chitra, to the theatre conventions of the West. Background material
for this adaptation comprises the second and third chapters of the
thesis, in which the Western and East Indian theatre conventions are
compared and contrasted. The specific facets of the drama and theatre

which are examined and compared are the following: the dramaturgy,

3

including the purpose of the drama, its origin, subjects of treatment,
characters, and plot development; the physical aSpects, including the
theatre building, scenic design, lighting, properties, costumss, and
make-up; and the animate aspect, acting. Finally, the major problems
with which the study deals are considered specifically in the suggested
adaptation of the East Indian one-act play, (Ma.

For the actual adaptation, the play, (_;‘l_1_i_t_r_a,was chosen for two

reasons. First, it is exemplary of East Indian classical drama in

 

that it conforms with the demands of the Natyasastra, the book which
forms the basis of Hindu dramatic theory and representation. Secondly,
this script was translated into English by its playwright, Rabindrinath
Tagore, whose efforts caused a reawakening of interest in Indian
classicism during the early years of this country. _(_3_h_i_tr_a_ was written
in 1924.

This drama is based on the following story from the Mahabharata,

 

one of the epics of India. In the course of his wanderings, in fulfil-
ment of a vow of penance, Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw
Chitrangada, the beautiful daughter of Chitravahana, the king of the
country. Smitten with her charm, he asked the king for the hand of
his daughter in marriage. Chitravahana asked him who he was and,
learning that he was Arjima, the Pandava, told him that Parbhanjana,
one of his ancestors in the kingly line of Manipur, had long been
childless. In order to obtain an heir, he performed severe penances.

Pleased with these austerities, the god Shiva gave him this boon,

4
that he and his successors should each have one child. It had so happened
that the promised child had heretofore invariably been a son. He,
Chitravahana, was the first to have only a daughter, Chitrangada, to
perpetuate the family. He had, therefore, always treated her as a son
and had made her his heir. Continuing, the king said, "The one son
that will be born to her must be the perpetuator of my race. That son
will be the price that I shall demand for this marriage. You can take
her, if you like, in this condition. "1 Arjuna promised and took
Chitrangada to wife, and lived in her father's capital for three years.
When a son was born to them, he embraced her with affection, and,
taking leave of her and her father, set out again in his travels.

Tagore (1861—1941) had as his primary aim the reawakening of
interest in classical drama and its form of presentation. John D. Mitchell,
in an address which was given at the American Educational Theatre
Association convention in Chicago in December of 1956, said,

Fortimately for world theatre, the dance dramas . . . have

been rescued from oblivion in the reawakening of theatre in

India. Initial credit must be paid to Rabindrinath Tagore,

for the Bengali poet-playwright some decades ago fostered
the rediscovery and teaching of Indian arts. 2

 

T- Rabindrimth Tagore, Chitra (New York: Macmillan Company,
1924), p. ii.

2’ John D. Mitchell, A Report to the American Educational
Theatre Association, Chicago, 1956.

Two forms of drama now exist in India: the revived classical.
form, and the new Indian theatre which began around a hundred and fifty
years ago. According to Faubion Bowers, it is now axiomatic to recog-
nize that this later form stems directly from the West. 3 Modern theatre
as a talking, non-religious, danceless, realistic, action-packed, abbre-
viated entertainment was, for the most part,’ the special reserve of
Europe, and it initially received its highest development there. This
is possibly one of the best legacies that the West left its colonies in the
East. However, it would be pointless to attempt to readapt to the
Western culture that which India has adapted from us. Therefore our
consideration here is merely with the classical drama, attempting to
discover how this form may be made acceptable interculturally as was
the Western form for the East.

Indian drama generally, even in translation, is excellent
literature; and, although the basic purpose of the theatre experience
differs between the two cultures, the plays of India have much beauty
to offer to American and the whole of the West. This, then, seems an
appropriate time for such a study, for interest is rising in the West
concerning the Orient. The plays of the Orient have a great deal to
offer the West, for not only is the language very poetic but the plays
themselves could help to complete our understanding of a culture which

is different from ours.

 

3- Faubion Bowers, Theatre in the East (New York: Thomas
Nelson and Son, 1956), p. 61.

 

An adaptation of Chitra which could be used as a basis for adapting other
East Indian classical dramas to the West is, of course, a step forward
in the direction of such intercultural understanding and art appreciation.

Two limitations are placed upon this study. The first is that the
script is left intact. No changes are made in the dramaturgy which,
though different from our own, is not so different as to be incompre-
hensible to the West. The second limitation is that this study, after
comparison of the two theatrical forms, is to result in a production
plan of the play Chitra. Production of the play will not be the termination
of this study, for proof of this study in production could well form
another thesis.

Three basic divisions form the content of this study. Since
knowing the Western theatre conventions is necessary before any
attempt can be made to adapt other conventions to our own, the second
chapter of this thesis deals with the conventions of the theatre of the
West. This chapter forms a base for comparison between our theatre
and the classical theatre of India. This chapter, then, is a discussion
of general concepts of Western theatre, with emphasis on the principal
characteristics of drama and theatre as we find them. Naturally, for
functional purposes here, a great deal of generalization concerning
these aspects of theatre is necessary, for complete consideration of
any of these topics would be worthy of a study in itself. The purpose

here is but to lay the groundwork for comparison with a form of theatre

quite different from our own.

The third chapter is a discussion of the classical Indian theatre.
This chapter is exhaustive of all available materials concerning the
East Indian theatre. It considers Indian theatre and drama as the sec-
ond chapter considers the theatre and drama of the West. The conclu-
sion of this chapter is a comparison of the two forms. This, of course,
is most necessary in the study, for the forms must be compared to
discern where adaptation is necessary.

Since the symbolism of the Indian production is not readily under-
stood by the Western audience, certain changes must be made in the
production if this drama is to be comprehensible and enjoyable to the
audience here. Such changes are suggested, in the fourth chapter, for
the play Chitra. In adapting East Indian or any drama of a foreign
culture to the Western stage, the style of production must be adapted
so as to be understandable to the audience, but the purpose of this
adaptation is also to retain the flavor of that country from which the
play came. The changes suggested here are an attempt to achieve a
satisfactory compromise between the two production forms. Each
possibility for adaptation of production is considered, and those
approaches which seem best to retain the East Indian flavor of the
script, while creating a realistic theatre experience for the West, are
unified in the adaptation of the one-act play, Chitra, by Rabindrinath
Tagore. Consideration of the theatre building, set design, lighting,

costumes, make-up, and a dance and vocal interpretation script of

the play form a production book by which a director might present this

8
play as a valid experience of theatre for the Western audience.
The conclusion indicates that by using the principles for
adaptation set forth in this study, a director could use this thesis as
a base for the adaptation of any of a suggested list of East Indian

classical dance-dramato the Western stage.

WESTERN THEATRE CONVENTIONS

Chapter II

WES TE RN THEATRE CONVENTIONS

The purpose of this chapter is to form a base for comparison
between our theatre and the classical theatre of India. This chapter,
then, is a discussion of general concepts of Western theatre, with
emphasis on the principal characteristics of drama and theatre as we
find them. Naturally, for functional purposes here, a great deal of
generalization concerning these aspects of theatre is necessary, for
complete consideration of any of these topics would be worthy of a
study in itself. The purpose here is but to lay the groundwork for
comparison with a form of theatre quite different from our own.

Numerous theories exist in the West concerning the essence of
the dramatic. Many of these can logically be defended, and dramatic
critics throughout the ages have advanced and supported widely varying

concepts. A reading of Barrett H. Clark's European Theories of the

 

1 will serve to substantiate this. Discussion of all of these

Drama
theories does not seem necessary here, as it would merely form a
historical background for modern theory. Therefore, modern theory
which: seems an outgrowth of past theories will‘ be considered. The
first questions to be answered, then, are: What are the purposes of

Western drama? How are these purposes achieved? What is the

nature of the audience experience?

 

1‘ Barrett H. Clark, European Theories of the Drama (New
York: Crown Publishers, 1957).

10

 

ll

Brander Matthews says of modern drama that it is a story in
dialogue shown in action before an audience. 2 George Jean Nathan has
called good dia ma "anything that interests an intelligently emotional
groups of persons assembled together in an illuminated hall. "3 In this
statement Nathan obviously presupposed the intellectual and emotional
appeal of the "story in dialogue shown in action. "

The intellectual appeal of drama can be further defined. Education,
broadly viewed, might be defined as such drawing out of the powers of a
human being as shall bring him into harmony with his environment. 4
Realizing self in relation to the whole of the world, clearly perceiving
life, is education in its most complete sense. Any institution, then,
which attempts to make man more aware of the truths of life, is an
educational means. According to Barrett H. Clark, one of the chief
ends of drama is to reveal some sort of answer to the question of the
purpose of life, over and above the obscure answer which man can
formulate from his own observation and experience. 5 Therefore the
conclusion may be reached that part of the end of Western art and theatre

is to educate.

 

7- Brander Matthews, "The DeveIOpment of the Drama," European
Theories of the Drama, ed. Clark (New York; Crown Publishers, 1957),
p. 494.

3- George Jean Nathan, "The Drama as an Art". European Theories
of the Drama, ed. Clark (New York: Crown Publishers, 1957), p. 503.

 

4- Richard Burton, The New American Drama (New York: Thomas
Crowell Co., 1913), p. 251.

 

5' Barrett H. Clark "Drama and Theatre", The Enjoyment of
the Arts, ed. Max Schoen (New York: Philosophical Library Inc. , 1944),
p. 204.

 

/‘

 

o

\

12

The ways in which plays educate differ. Comedy and musical

comedy primarily amuse and delight. Plays such as Green Pastures

 

and Our Town inspire. Aristotle's catharsis theory still applies in

 

many ways to modern tragedy. The Crucible and Desire Under the Elms

 

 

both arouse and purge deep emotions, and the audience leaves the theatre
feeling relieved. Yet all of these forms instruct the audience to the
playwright's theme or idea, that truth or vieWpoint which the playwright
communicates to others through the medium of drama. From this idea,

all other phases of the drama grow. In The Technique of the Drama

 

Freytag has defined theme or idea with scattered phrases as

the main element, vividly perceived, and comprehended in

its entrancing, soul—stirring or terrifying significance,

. . . . . separated from all that casually accompanies it,

brought into a unifying relation of cause and effect. . .
About this same subject of theme he has further said:

This idea works with a power similar to the secret power

of crystallization. Through this are unity of action, sig-

nificance of characters, and, at last, the whole structure

of the drama produced.

Either consciously or unconsciously, then, the playwright reveals
in his script a theme. Audience understanding of that theme, the truth
or viewpoint which the playwright expresses, makes theatre an intellectual

experience. Thus, through mentally associating with the drama, the

audience derives an education experience from theatre. The theme may

 

6' G. Freytag, "The Technique of the Drama, " European Theories
of the Drama, ed. Clark (New York: Crown Publishers, 1957), p. 354.

7.

 

 

'Ibid., p. 354.

13

be light or serious, beautiful or sordid, depending upon the outlook of
the playwright. Yet the fact exists that the audience is made more
aware of the playwright's theme through the theatre experience.

This, alone, does not explain the appeal of Western theatre, for
a lecture can express an idea in a way which is as mentally stimulating
as the theatre experience. Therefore, mental stimulation is part of the
purpose of theatre, yet does not make for the essentially dramatic.
Drama is a temporary escape from mundane experiences to experiences
more vivid than those that normally occur to the viewer. The emotions
of the viewer are captivated and held by association with the characters
who form the subject of treatment and by the situations in which these
characters are placed.

As has been suggested before, the way by which the ultimate
object of theatre is realized is through emotional interplay between the
actors and audience. This concept is not new. Aristotle first conceived

the theory that tragedy must arouse and purge the emotions of pity and

fear. And George Pierce Baker, in his book, Dramatic Technique, more

 

succinctly tells us, "A play is the shortest distance from emotions to
emotions. "8 The one distinguishing feature of the dramatic, then, is
that the audience becomes emotionally involved with the characters and

concerned with their ultimate fates.

 

3- George Pierce Baker, "Dramatic Technique, " European
Theories of the Drama, ed. Clark (New York: Crown Publishers,

1957), p. 497.

 

14

This association and tense concern is what Allison Gaw has called

dramatic tension. 9 The final scene from Thornton Wilder's Our Town

 

is an excellent example of this. The audience is exceedingly moved by the
emotionally tense and highly dramatic scene. The plea in this scene is
for awareness of the beauty of every passing moment. At this time in
the play, the audience becomes intellectually aware of the playwright's
theme. Yet the audience is held at a peak of dramatic tension through
its emotional involvement with the principal character. According to
modern critics, then, emotional involvement and dramatic tension are
distinguishing features of the theatre experience in the West.

The drama of the West is a flexible one, which has been adapted
to meet the needs of passing ages. In a spontaneous way it had its be-
ginning at the festivals of Dionysus. The earliest Western drama critic
was Aristotle. Writing after the Golden Age of Greek tragic writing,
Aristotle inquired into each literary method and its potentialities as well
as the effects it should create in the spectator, i. e. his catharsis theory
for tragedy. His treatise was completely empirical through an approach
that observed and appraised the works of his time. The Poetics is the

first extant essay on art which is honestly exploratory. 10

 

9' Allison Gaw advances this theory in his essay "Centers of
Interest in Drama, Dramatic Tension, and Types of Dramatic 'Conflict', "
published in the Schellin3g: Anniversary Papers. (New York: The Century
Co., 1923).

10’ John Gassner, "Aristotelian Literary Criticism, " Aristotle's
Theory of Poetry and Fine Art (New York: Dover Publications, Inc. ,
1951), p. xxxix.

 

 

 

15

Since that time, critics have occasionally attempted to give dog—
matic rules for the playwright to follow, but always playwrights have
broken these rules and kept the drama in a flexible, changing state.

The result of this flux can be observed in modern drama. Virtu-
ally every subject is now discussed in the theatre: religion in Green

Pastures, syphillis in Ghosts, infanticide in Desire Under the Elms,

 

homosexuality in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, social problems in Death of a

 

 

Salesman and Street Scene, existentialism in No Exit, love in Brigadoon.

 

 

 

Virtually any subject, then, is acceptable for dramatic consideration.
George Pierce Baker has said, "Anything that is human may be dramatic
material provided it is treated so as to affect the emotions of a group as
a group rather than the individual. "11

The playwright also may choose any type of character to live in
his play. Anyone from Mack the Knife to God may be portrayed. How-
ever, all of the characters of the drama have one thing in common.
They do live on stage. They are believable people who can be recognized
by the audience as a character type or possessing human characteristics.
Much of the emotional part of the theatre experience stems from the
dramatic tension which the audience feels as it associates with the char-
acters in the drama. The viewer recognizes the stage character as a
real or symbolic person, possessing qualities which the viewer may

recognize as his own, as universal, or as representative of some group.

 

11' George Pierce Baker, Dramatic Technique (New York:
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1919), p. 41.

 

16

Therefore whatever happens to the character in the play becomes a
vicarious experience for the viewer who recognizes, associates, and
sympathizes with him. The viewer, then, acts and reacts with the stage
character. Man in action is portrayed on stage in the chain of cause and
effect in nature. Believable characters in action live in Western drama.
Few dramatic rules are observed by all of our modern playwrights.

Even the unities of time, place, and action are violated. My Fair Lady

 

takes place over the time-span of six months. Most of the musical plays
change locale many times. Even the unity of action is violated in the

revues which, like LaPlume de Ma Tante, have received popular accept-

 

ance on the Western stage. Occasionally plays without portrayed action,
reading theatre, appear on our stage. Plays such as Dylan Thomas's

Under Milk Wood exemplify this. Poetic drama, such as MacLeish's

 

J .B. or T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, finds an audience as

 

well.

One feature of actual drama in the West which appears to remain
constant from Aristotle to the present day is plot development. Western
plays have almost always had a complication and denouement, a building
and release of dramatic tension. They have what Aristotle called a
beginning, middle, and an end. This is logical, for the building and
release of dramatic tension is the outstanding feature of Western drama.

Brander Matthews in his book, A Study of the Drama, gives the

 

following diagram to depict the rising action, climax, and falling action

of most modern three—act plays.

II‘II‘l III
III

 

I I

Even this is occasionally violated, however, since a play such as Ibsen's
Ghosts has no falling action whatever, and the audience is left at the end
of the play wondering what the final outcome of the situation is to be.
Since the audience expects rising and falling action, most plays are
structured with complication and denouement.

Even though many diverse approaches to playmaking are in exist-
ence today, Brander Matthews has well summarized those characteristics
which the well constructed play contains.

Today as in every yesterday, that drama is mot worth while

and worthy of success which is able to arouse and retain and

augment the interest of the spectators, when the plot is

single, when its action is swift and direct, when its exposition

is clear, when it has sustained suspense without disconcerting

surprise, when its story moves steadily from its beginning

through-its middle to its end, when it centers our attention on

its essential elements, when it omits all non-essential ele-

ments, when eyery situation is prepared for and in turn pre-

pares us for those that follow, when it has proportion, har-

mony, and symmetry, and when, to sum up, it is well and

truly made by an honest craftsman who is also a gifted artist. 13
According to this, the play should be a well and beautiftu constructed
piece of art. Yet, as has been noted before, the playwright is free to

choose among many dramatic forms, since Western drama is, indeed,

a flexible art form.

 

12' Brander Matthews, A Study of the Drama (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1910), p. 213.

 

13' Brander Matthews, Rip Van Winkle Goes to the Play and Other
Essays on Plays and Players (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1926), p. 65.

 

18

The physical aspects of the theatre have become as flexible as the
dramaturgical. Production, the fulfillment of dramaturgy, is next
considered.

Conventionally, the theatre of .the West is a building, the function
of which is to enclose dramatic presentation. This type of building
consists of two parts, a stage and an auditorium. The stage is usually
a raised platform behind a proscenium arch, and the floor of the audi-
torium is often "raked, " or slanted upward and away from the stage so
as to allow a clear view of the stage from any of the seats which are
arranged in rows facing the stage. The auditoriums in the Broadway

theatres, according to Lee Simonson writing for the Encyclopedia

 

Britannica, are built to accommodate from 500 to 1, 700 spectators.

 

Larger or smaller auditoriums are built to serve the needs of special
groups. 14 However, if we consider the theatre any place where a play
is produced publicly, churches, barns, public parks, private homes,
street corners, ships, and military camps become theatres as such
when performances are given and an audience is present. It is the
presence of performers and spectators participating in a common func-

15

tion at the same time that constitutes theatre. Theatres today

 

14' Lee Simonson, ”Theatre Architecture, " Encyclopedia
Britannica, Vol. XXII, 1956, p. 39.

15' Barrett H. Clark, ”Drama and Theatre, " The Enjoyment
of the Arts, ed. Max Schoen (New York: Philosophical Library Inc. ,
1944), p. 205.

 

 

 

 

19
are large or small, indoors or out, depending upon the needs and
desires of those for or by whom the play is presented.

In these theatres scene design varies with the plays produced.
Before scene design is discussed, definition of some of the more
common terms used in reference to types of design is in order.
Suggestive realism is what Cheney has called "truthfulness to detail. "16
This implies that the devices of the theatre, the wood and canvas and
paint, are so put together as actually to simulate or create the illusion
of reality. Symbolism is the use of a concrete thing to bring to the
viewer's mind an abstract idea. Color is very often used symbolically;
black or dark colors bring to mind evil or despair. Expressionism
distorts design to express a character's or author's vieWpoint.
Theatricalism means the use of pure theatrical devices without any
attempt at actual realistic effect. Constructivism is skeletal scene
design without any ornamentation. Gas sner, however, tells us that the
distinction between these "isms" has lost its sharpness, for many
scene designs are a combination of these. 17

Scenery helps to establish locals and mood, is itself decorative,

and provides acting area for the play. Theatrical devices are therefore

employed to enhance the dramatic effect of the production. Suggestive

 

T6- Sheldon Cheney, The Theatre (Tudor Publishing Co. :
New York, 1949), p. 453.

 

17° John Gassner, Form and Idea- in Modern Theatre (New
York: Dryden Press, 1956), p. 133.

 

20
realism is that concept of scene design which appears most frequently on
the American stage. Into this, symbolism, expressionism, and theatri-
calism are often incorporated, as John Gassner implies. Rarely is any
one of these seen in its pure form. Perhaps the closest the American
theatre has come to constructivism in this century is the design which
is written into Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Expressionism is used

in the design of such rare plays as Waiting for Godot and Endgame.

 

However, since the audience in the West associates with what is
happening on stage, it is logical that almost all scenery is basically
realistic or (at least has touches of realism.

On the concepts of Appia and Craig, following the invention of
the incandescent filament lamp by Thomas Edison in 1879, the basis
for modern theatre lighting was laid. Today light plays an important
part in a production. Through the three controllable prOperties of
light, quantity, color, and distribution, the five functions of modern
lighting are accomplished. These functions are illumination, plasticity,
realism, mood, and composition. 18 Since theatre is partly a visual
art, the necessity for illumination is obvious. Plasticity is necessary,
for the actor must stand out as a three-dimensional entity. By common
definition, realism in theatre is the illusion of nature, and since many
modern plays are realistic, lighting is needed to accomplish a realistic

effect on stage. But even the most non-realistic play requires some

In
1w.

Wayne Bowman, Modern Theatre Lighting, (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1957), p. 4.

 

21

attention to the illusion of nature lest it lose all connection with human
experience. Poets have long recognized that light is emotional. Mood
creation, then, is enhanced by lighting effects. Last, light is a vital
part of composition, unifying the whole, and pointing up the most im-
portant. Lighting, then, is an integral part of modern play production.

Properties, costumes, and make-up are the last of the physical
aspects of theatre which will be considered here. For most productions
these are realistic, conforming with the period of the play being produced.
Costume is an extension of the set in line and color. Its three purposes
are to compel audience attention, identify the actor to the audience, and
help the actor identify himself with the role. 19 Occasionally groups will
produce Shakespeare in blue jeans or the classics in modern dress, but
for the most part realism is the keynote for period as well as modern
dress. Abstract costuming and make-up are sometimes used. Picasso
And Alexandra Exter, among others, have experimented with this, but
for the most part, costumes and make-up must be natural and true to
life. 20 The purpose of make-up is to create character and to make the
actor's face more vivid to combat the effect of lights. 21

Realism, too, applies to acting. Of course the movement, gesture,

and facial play must be broader than in life because of the great distance

 

19' John Gassner, Producing the Play (New York: Dryden Press,
1953), p. 392.

20' Serge Strenkovsky, The Art of Make-up (New York: E. P.
Dutton and Company, 1943), p. 18-19.

21' Kenneth Buckridge, "Make-up for the Play, " Producing the
Play, John Gassner (New York: Dryden Press, 1953), p. 376.

 

 

 

\J

\/

(\

22

from the audience to the actor. The actor's voice, also, must project
so that it can be heard in the back row of the theatre. Whether an actor
is playing a part of one his own age or of someone older or younger, his
function is to convince the audience that he is the individual whom he is
portraying. Styles of acting vary for plays from different periods.
Formal and noble movements are most frequently used in classic drama.
Modern realistic drama demands realistic acting. Beauty of movement
is the keynote for the production of romantic drama. Dance is frequently
used in musical plays; the style of dance varies with the choreographer,
interpretative dance and stylized ballet being frequently used. Special
acting styles are used in unconventional forms such as expressionistic
plays and epic theatre. These, however, are determined by the indi—
vidual director. 22
At this point the two general approaches to acting should be briefly
discussed. A proven generation of actors in the United States subscribes.
to an approach to acting known as "technique. " This school of thought
implies that the mind can best govern the body to create on stage con-
sistent and believable emotions. This type of actor is not emotionally
involved with the on-stage situation and often chooses to project his own

personality into the role. A second school, the "method" group, is in-

spired by the work of Stanislavsky. Followers of this school of thought
believe that through recalled emotion, the body and voice can best

express the emotion of the play. This is a school to

 

22- John Gassner, Producing the Play (New York: Dryden Press,
1953), p. 65.

 

23
which many successful American actors subscribe. The aim of both
groups, however, is to attempt to play a role in the way which is most
believable and effective to the audience.

In summarizing the theatre conventions of the West, a number of
major and distinct characteristics are found. The purpose of the
theatre is to stimulate the viewer mentally and emotionally by making
him aware of the idea or theme of the playwright through a dramatically
tense situation. Virtually any type of play can be written using any
type of subject matter and any type of characters. However the characters
must be believable ones with whom the audience can associate. No
rig-id rules exist for the playwright. However most plays are written
A with rising and falling action, a more or less causally related series

of events involving a complication and a denouement. So that an

audience might best be able to enjoy the play and associate with it, the
approach to playwrighting and production usually taken is that of

realism. Theatrical devices are and must be used to enhance the dramatic
effect. Plays, scenery, lighting, costuming, make-up, and acting which
are far removed from the familiar are comparatively seldom found

except in deliberately experimental theatre. This is logical, for
d ramatic tension is created through audience association with the

elements of the drama and of the production. Art-type theatre usually
experiments with forms with which the audience cannot readily

associate. Therefore the approach to all facets of theatre which is

24
most effective for the audience of the West is realism or suggestive
realism embellished with theatrical devices, for in this way universal

dramatic tension can be created.

INDIAN CLASSICAL THEATRE CONVENTIONS

Chapter III

INDIAN CLASSICAL THEATRE CONVENTIONS

The essence of East Indian drama has been very simply stated.
"The purpose of the Sanskrit drama is to turn literature into art--a
pathway of roses leading to charm and appreciation of joy and beauty. "1
The way in which this experience is accomplished, according to the
aesthetic theory of the Hindus, is through the establishment of gag.
A work of art is a statement informed by sentiment (rasa). Rasa is an
experience which is an analogy between physical and mental impressions. 2
To understand the idea of rasa, one must first understand the concept
of Ma. Bhava is the concrete situation and condition of a period of
time for some occurrence, and rasa is the aesthetic experience of that
happening or condition. 3 It is an abstract idea, the essence of a particular
situation formed in the human mind with a psychological sense of aesthetic
beauty. For example, were one to smell a rose, the act and conditon
of the smelling would be the bhava; the pleasure derived from the act
would be the rasa. Eight basic rasas are the moods or "flavors" of

Hindu poetry, dance, and acting. These, translated, are erotic, heroic,

 

1° R. V. Jagirdar, Drama in Sanskrit Literature (Bombay, 1947), p.15.

2' Projesh Banerji, The Dance of India (India: Kitabistan,
Allahabad, 1947), p. 54.

 

 

3' Heinrich Zimmer, Philoswhies of India (New York: Meridan
Books, 1957), p.274.

 

26

27

4 Each

pathetic, furious, humorous, terrible, odious, and wondrous.
rasa has its symbolic color. Respectively these are dark brown, golden,
Indian rock dove (grey). red, white, black, blue, and yellow. 5

At the very center of Indian philosophy lie the "Four Noble Truths. "
These are as follows: The First Noble Truth is, in brief, that all aspects
of existence are suffering. The Second Noble Truth is that the cause of
suffering is always desire; we are unhappy because we do not have and
cannot get what we want. The Third Noble Truth is that by overcoming
desire we may avoid sorrow. The Fourth Noble Truth is the method by
which freedom is attained, a process by which man grows beyond ‘him—
self. 6 The process of growing out of oneself relieves one from the cycle
of Karma or cause and effect which causes rebirth. 7 By becoming dis-

interested in the things of the world, the Hindu dwells upon things of the

spirit, becoming one with his atman or oversoul. In his next incarnation,

 

he believes, he will be closer to Nirvana, oblivion, the heaven of his
faith. 8 One of the ways of growing out of Karma is the realization of rasa.
This belief makes drama a religious experience. Viewed in this light,

classical East Indian dance-drama is a religious ritual in performance,

 

4' Banerji, op. cit., p. 64.
5- Ibid., p. 64.

6' James B. Pratt, India and Its Faiths (Boston, New York:
Houghton, Mifflin 06., 1915), p. 385-8.

 

7- Zimmer, op. cit., p. 274.

8' H. H. Wilson, The Theatre of the Hindus (London: Parbury
Allen and Co., 1835), Vol. I, p. 1vii.

 

\../

28

and a religious experience for the viewer.

For this reason the supposition is quite logical that the myths which
surround the beginnings of the drama would claim its divine revelation.
The story is that the lesser gods approached Brahman and asked him for
a form of diversion which must be audible as well as visible. Brahman
granted the wish, and after resorting to yoga, combined the four Vedas.
He incorporated into one Veda (the Natyaveda) the song from Saman,
histrionic representation from the Yajus, the recitative from the Rgveda,
and the rasa from the Atharveda. The gods communicated the new Veda

to Bharatamuni who recorded the work in his book, the Natyasastra. 9

 

This is the classical book of dramaturgy and is used even to the present
day after the revival of the classical theatre led by Rabindrinath Tagore. 10
The themes of the plays come from legends of the gods, historical

influences, and the epics of India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. 11

 

 

Examination of the plays shows that all types of characters are repre-
sented in this drama. The four castes and the gods appear on the stage.

The hero of the play, however, is a person descending from royal seers. 12

 

9- Bharata-muni, The Natyasastra (trans.) Manomohan Gosh
(Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1955), p. 1-6.

 

10. A. Arnson, Rabindrinath Through Western Eyes (India:
Kitabistan, Allahabad, 1947), p. 80.

 

11- Kenneth Macgowan and William Melnitz, The Living Stage
(New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc. , 1955), p. 295.

 

12- A seer is a prophet or one who can foresee future events.

29
Divine protection is given to him, and he performs many super-human
feats leading to his success in different undertakings and amorous past-
times.13 However the characters of the drama are not so important as
is the situation in which they are placed. "The drama is an imitation of
a situation in which the personages who form the subject of treatment are
placed from time to time by means of gesture, Speech, costume, and
expression. "14 In this drama, then, the situation rather than the char-
acters' reactions to the situation must be dramatic. The characters
are romantic, two-dimensional, almost fairy-tale characters, and
interest is held by the situation in which these characters are placed

rather than by the characters themselves.

All phases of Hindu drama are prescribed by the Natyasastra.

 

The plot line, too, is dictated and is unique in that there is no denoue-
ment. The plot is divided into beginning, effort, possibility of attain-

l5

ment, certainty of attainment, and attainment. The plot line of this

form can be illustrated thus:
attainment

certainty of attainment
possibility of attainment

effort

beginning

 

T3. Bharata-muni, g3. cit., p. 356.

14. A.B. Keith, The Sanskrit Drama (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1924), p. 295-6.

 

15' Bharata-muni, Op. cit., p. 381.

30

The audience is left at the peak of the plot's intensity. The purpose of
this, of course, is the creation of rasa.

The purpose of the drama and the purpose of the dramaturgy of
East Indian classical drama is the creation of rasa. Characters who
have received favors from the gods appear in situations which show their
peace with the world. The plot is ended at the most intense point. All
of these facets of the dramatic theory gear the drama toward a religious
experience. /

All aspects of the presentation of drama are governed by the pur—
pose of the drama. Since rasa creation is the primary function of Hindu
theatre, the symbolism of the production is directed toward this end.
The discussion in the remainder of the chapter summarizes the tenets
of production as prescribed by the Natyasastra: the theatre, scenery,
properties, costume, make—up, and acting.

There are three types of playhouses devised by the wise Visvakarman,
the heavenly architect, in the treatise on his art. They are oblong,
square, and triangular. Their sizes vary: they may be large, middle-
sized, and small. The lengths of these three sizes are fixed in cubits. 16
Since a cubit varies in length from eighteen to twenty-two inches, the
median of twenty inches will be used here. The respective sizes of the

playhouses in feet would be approximately one hundred and eighty feet,

one hundred and five and one-half feet, and fifty three and one-half feet.

 

1 .
6 Bharata-muni, op. cit., p. 19.

31

According to Gosh, translator of the Natyasastra into English, the largest

 

of the playhouses was actually only thirty-two yards long and sixty yards
broad, capable of accommodating about four hundred spectators. 17

The oblong playhouse is meant for mortals. The measurements
for this type are the following: It is to be sixty-four cubits in length
and thirty-two cubits in breadth. No one should build a playhouse larger
than this, for the play presented in it will not be properly expressive. 18
The length is divided in half. This line separates the auditorium from
the stage. The half which is to be the stage should be divided in half

again for the stage and the tiring room thus:

 

I

 

 

 

 

 

The Natyasastra uses two words for stage: raggapitha and
raggasirsa. For this reason two theories have arisen through the ages
in connection with the stage's construction. Some believe that the
stage should be divided into a forestage and a curtained inner stage,
while others believe that both of these words refer to the same stage.
Therefore, the following diagram is one to which many authorities sub-

scribe.

 

17. Ibid.

18' lbid., p. 20.

32

—— auditorium
mattavarani
forestage
door
curtain
door

inner stage

   
 
  
 
 

On each side of the stage should be built the mattavarani. The purpose
of these rooms has become obscured through the ages; however they
may have been used as tiring rooms to the side of the stage. These
rooms, according to Bharata-muni,

should be furnished with four pillars and should be [togethed

equal in length to the stage and its plinth [base] should be a

cubit and a half high [above the stage] , and the plinth of the

auditorium should be equal to the height of the two [mattavarini] .19
Therefore the auditorium is higher than the stage. The tiring room at
the back has two doors which open onto the stage.

The unusual feature of the square playhouse, which is thirty-two
cubits in length and breadth, is that the seats are constructed "in the
form of a staircase, each row being one cubit higher than the one
proceeding it. "20 The stage of this type of theatre is raised. With its
raked auditorium and raised stage, it bears some resemblance to our

own concept of a playhouse. This type, too, has a tiring room in back

of the stage and mattavarani.

 

7“?“ _I_l_>i_d., p. 26.

20' 1pm., p. 30.

33
The triangular playhouse has a triangular stage with two doors
for entrance and exits from the tiring room. 21 No mattavarani are
prescribed for the triangular playhouse.
No realistic scenery as such is used for the presentations. This
would be impractical to attempt, for the one-act play "Chitra" has nine
different scenes, one lasting for only two lines. Therefore the stage

is ornamented with carvings and tapestries which are decorative but

not representative of any particular locale. The Natyasastra suggests

 

decorative designs, carved figures of elephants, tigers, and snakes.
Four pillars representing the four castes (religious leaders, rulers,
workers, and untouchables) are permanent fixtures on all stages.
Wooden statues and pillars are also set up there.22

As with scenic effects, hand properties are rarely used. Pan-
tomimic gesture is used in their stead. However, when necessary,
minor pr0perties which are suggestive rather than real are used. 23
Gesture is discussed later in the chapter, but mention of the relative
lack of hand pr0perties is pertinent to the technical aSpects of the theatre.

The dress of the actors is carefully regulated, eSpecially re-
garding color, which is used symbolically to enhance the rasa.

Ascetics wear garments of rags or bark; those in charge of the harem,

27'- Ibid., p. 32.

22' Ibid., p. 29.

2 .
3 Keith, 92. cit., p. 365.

34

red jackets; kings, gods, and lovers, gay clothing. Dirty clothes indi-
cate madness, distraction, misery or a journey; uncolored garb, one
engaged in worship. 24

Make-up, too, is carefully prescribed, and is quite different from
our own. An example of the make-up used is the following: Yellow and
red powder are used on the face with white dots in black powder on the
eyebrows. The white portion of the eyes is touched with a seed which
makes the eyes blood-red and swollen. Red paint colors the lips.
Artificial hairs are made of jute and stained with variegated colors. 25
Specific make-up as well as costume and other ornamentation is rigidly
prescribed; each facet is highly symbolic and unrealistic. The colors,
types of costumes, ornaments, and make-up, then, are stereotype
symbols meaningful to the East Indian audience.

The inanimate and animate sound used in this form of drama are
interdependent. For this reason they will be considered together. The
music of the drama is not described at length. What is clear is that
each sentiment or rasa has its special appropriate music, and each
action its special accompaniment. 26

Indian music is a purely melodic art, devoid of any harmonized

accompaniment other than a drone. In modern European music, the

meaning of each note of the theme is mainly brought out by the notes of

 

Banerji, op. cit., p. 65.
25- Keith, op. cit., p. 366.

26. Banerji, op. cit., P- 250:

35

the chord which are heard with it. Even in unaccompanied melody, the
musician hears an implied harmony. To hear the music of India as
Indmns hear it, one must recover the sense of pure intonation and must
forget implied harmonies. 27

In India it is far more the interval than the note that is sung

or played, and we recognized accordingly the continuity of

sound: by contrast with this, the European song, which is

vertically divided by the harmonic interest and the nature of

the keyed instruments which are heard with the voice? seems

to the unaccustomed Indian ear to be "full of holes." 8

The Indian art song is accompanied by drums or by an instrument
known as tambura, or both. The tambura is of the lute family; the four
very long strings are tuned to sound the dominant, the upper tonic twice,
and the octave below. The pitch is adjusted to suit the singer's voice. 29
In actual practice, a chanter often narrates interludes of pure dance
in the theatre.

The second means of theatrical representation consists of the use
of speech. It relates to the proper musical notes, voice registers,
pitch of vowels, intonation, and speech tempo to be used in reciting

or declaming a passage for the purpose of evoking different rasas in

the spectators. 30 As an example, to call a person at a distance the

 

2'7. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The Dance of ShiVa (New York:
The Noonday Press, l957),p. 90.

 

23: Keith 92. cit., p. 339.

29' Coomaraswamy, gp. cit., p. 90-92.

30' Bharata-muni, 33. cit., p. LXI.

36
voice should proceed from the head register; when he is at a short
distance it should be from the chest; and when he is at one's side, the
throat register is pr0per. All other facets of Speech are similarly
described.

The gestures and movement for the drama are rigidly prescribed
by the Natyasastra. According to legend, the god Shiva, holding a small
drum in his hand, danced the creation of the world, the drum beating
out the rhythm of the world. His gestures are the world processes, and
his dancing one of his four aspects. 31 When he first saw the drama among
the gods, before it was communicated to earth, he insisted that dance
play the most important part in the drama.

The Natyasastra dictates specific gestures for each part of the
body as it is to achieve rasa. The rasa is to be feltby the actor as he
portrays it. Gestures are. given for the head, the glances, the eyeballs,
the eyelids, the eyebrows, the nose, the cheeks, the lower lip, the chin,
the mouth, the neck, the hands (by far the most important), the breast,
the sides, the belly, the waist, the thigh, the shank, and the feet.

For example, the head has thirteen different gestures which are
as follows:

Akampita: Moving the head slowly up and down.

Kampita: When the movements in the Akampita are quick and

copious. (Uses) The Akampita head is to be applied in giving

a hint, teaching, questioning, addressing in an ordinary way,

giving an order. The Kampita head is applicable in anger,

arguement, understanding, asserting, threatening, sickness,
and intolerance.

 

31- Banerji, ”OE. cit., p. 21.

37

Dhuta and Vidhuta: A slow movement of the head is called Dhuta, and
when this movement is quick it is called Vidhuta. (Uses) The Dhuta
head is applicable in unwillingness, sadness, astonishment, confidence,
looking sideways, emptiness, and forbidding. The Vidhuia head is
applicable in the attack of cold, terror, panic, fever, and the first
stage of drinking.

Pravahita and Udivahita: When the head is alternately turned to two
sides it is called Pravahita, and when it is once turned upwards it is
known as Udivahita. (Uses) The Pravahita head is applicable in demon-
stration, surprise, joy, remembering, intolerence, cogitation, con-
cealment and amorous sporting. The Udivahita. head is to be applied

to pride, self esteem, showing height, looking up and the like.

Avadhuta: When the head is once turned down it is called Avadhuta.
(Uses) It is to be applied in communicating a message, involving
a deity, conversation, and beckoning.

Ancita: When the neck is slightly bent on one side the Ancita head is
the result (Uses) It is applicable in sickness, swoon, intoxication,
anxiety, and sorrow.

Nihancita: When two shoulders are raised up with the neck bent on one
side the Nihancita head is produced. (Uses) It is to belused by women
in pride, amorousness, light-heartedness, affected indifference,
hysterical mood, silent expression of affection, pretended anger, para-
lysis, and jealous anger.

Paravrtta: When the face is turned around, the Paravrtta head is the
result. (Uses) It is to be used in turning away the face, looking backand
the like.

Utksipa: When the face is raised up the Utksipa head is the result.
(Uses) It is used to indicate lofty objects, and application of divine
weapons.

Adhogata: The head with the face looking downwards is called the Adhogata.
(Uses) It is used in shame, bowing, and sorrow.

Parilolita: When the head is moving on all sides, it is called Parilolita.
(Uses) It is used in fainting, sickness, power of intoxication, possession
of an evil spirit, drowsiness, and the like. 32

 

3""- Bharata-muni, gp. cit., p. LVlI-LX.

38

Each part of the body similarly has prescribed movements according
to the bhava and the rasa the actor is to express. The dance movements
are difficult to master, and actor-dancers begin training at a very early
age.

From the foregoing examples of gesture, it is apparent that the
uses of gesture fall into two different types: the realistic and the
conventional. Of these two categories, the gestures used conventionally
tar outnumber those of the other kind. But this should not appear strange,
for ancient Indian dramatists and theatrical producers were fully conscious
of the limited mm of realism in the arts of various kinds. Hence they
conceived action as something very closely allied to dance. This
demanded that while moving on the stage with or without speaking, the
actors should gesticulate rhythmically to impart grace and decorative effect
to their figures. 33 Classical Indian drama, therefore, is dance drama
by definition.-

The sole function of East Indian classical dance drama, then, is
rasa creation, and toward this end all dramatic conventions are directed.
If these conventions are to be adapted to the conventions of the West, at
this p oint a comparison of the two forms should be made. In such a
comparison, certain general principles can be discovered which will

serve as a starting point for the adaptation of a specific script.

 

33' Ibid., p.LX.

39

Since the purpose of this study is to form a basis for the adaptation
of any East Indian classical dance drama to the Western stage, the
dramaturgy of the two forms must be compared. Even though this study
leaves the translated play intact, the director of such a play must be
aware of the specific dramaturgical differences.

The greatest differences between the two forms dramaturgically
are the origins and the subjects of the treatment. Not until after the
drama of the West was well begun did a critic give deductions concerning
the form of the drama. Ours was a spontaneous form which has been
changed to meet the changing demands of a growing culture. The drama
which this study attempts to adapt to our flexible dramatic form was
given a rigid, religious base. All of the aspects of the Indian drama are

rigidly prescribed by the Natyasastra, and have been rigidly prescribed

 

from the very conception of the form.

The subjects of the drama differ also. Our theatre discusses
on stage anything which strikes the playwright's fancy. Virtually
anything can be and is the subject of drama in the West. Most of the
subjects of the drama of India are taken from the classical background
of that country. Ancient themes and stories are retold on its stage.

On the surface, the purposes of the two forms seem quite different,
yet they are sin'prisingly alike. Drama in the West creates dramatic
tension through emotional association between the characters in the drama

and the audience. The audience is given a vicarious experience and

4O
responds intellectually and emotionally to that experience. The purpose
of East Indian drama is rasa creation. Indian rasa can be equated to
emotion in the Western theatre. Rasa is an experience or sentiment
and joy from association with the beautiful. Its purpose is different from
ours in that rasa attempts to elevate spiritually. Yet the means of
elevation, sentiment and emotion, play a great part in the Western
concept of the dramatic.

Characters of the two forms have many things in common. Both
dramatic forms portray all types of characters on stage. Here a
similarity exists. However, the ways in which the playwrights deal
with the characters differ. Our characters are believable people with
whom the audience can associate and sympathize. On the Eastern stage,
the characters are primarily two-dimensional, romantic types. The
two-dimensional character is not unfamiliar to our audience, for he is
often seen in melodramatic plays. However in classical Indian drama
the characters' functions are to assist the progression of the plot, for
the plot and symbolism hold the interest of the audience. The characters
do not.

Western audiences are accustomed to rising and falling action,
dramatic tension and release, in plays which they view. Since the
purpose of Indian theatre is rasa creation, the plot line for this form has
no falling action.

The dramaturgy of these two cultures differs greatly, yet points

of comparison do exist. Therefore, the production of an Eastern play

41
must be so adapted as to round out an interesting and meaningful production
for the Western audience.

The symbolism of the Eastern theatre building is lost for the West,
yet many small theatres here are comparable in size to the playhouses
in which these performances are presented in India.

The remainder of the aSpects of production make the real difference
between the two forms most apparent. The Western audiences are
accustomed to realism or suggestive realism. The theatre of the East
is almost completely a symbolic one. The scenery, pr0perties, costumes,
make-up, and acting of the classical Indian theatre are symbolic in the
highest degree. Spectators educated to this form may understand the
symbolism, but only the initiated can fully appreciate it. Audiences of
the West must have something with which they can associate for the
theatre experience to be valid for them. The problem of adaptation,
then, is generally this: that the symbole of the East must be trans-
ferred to the West in terms of realistic or semi-realistic scenery,
lighting, prOperties, costume, and make-up. The drama in its original
form, however, is dance drama. As has been noted before, the West
is accustomed to viewing interpretative dance on its own stage. Therefore
em though the stylized dance of India has little meaning for audiences
here, the West has its own dance forms which can be used in such an

adapted performance.

ADAPTATION OF CHITRA

Chapter IV

THE ADAPTATION OF CHITRA

Since the symbolism of the Indian production is not readily under-
stood by the Western audience, certain changes must be made in the
production if this drama is to be comprehensible and enjoyable to the
audience here. Such changes are suggested in this chapter for the play
Chitra. In adapting East Indian or any drama of a foreign culture to the
Western stage, the style of production must be adapted so as to be
understandable to the audience, but the purpose of this adaptation is
also to retain the flavor of that country from which the play came. The
changes suggested here are an attempt to achieve a satisfactory com-
promise between the two production forms.

Since this study attempts to adapt the production of East Indian
drama to our culture, the actual script of the drama, which was trans-
lated into English by its author, is left as it is. No changes are made‘
in the wording or dramaturgy of this play. The dramaturgical differ-
ences which exist are not so great that audiences would find the play
completely foreign to its knowledge of dramatic form.

Chitra by Rabindrinath Tagore, as was mentioned previously,
has been chosen for this adaptation for two reasons. First, it was
translated by its author. Second, Tagore applied each point of Hindu
dramaturgy directly to the play. C_hit_r_'_a_ was written to create an

erotic rasa through beauty of language and erotic subject material.

43

44

The script is obviously an imitation of an action. In the play the
characters are caught in a situation for the course of nine scenes during
which they are observed in a year—long situation. The action of the
characters is not of first importance. The situation is of primary concern.

The rasa of the play is more important than the characters involved.
The attention of the audience must be held by the mood of the performance.
The characters, gods, a princess, a warrior, and villagers, are not
fully drawn and cannot alone hold the attention of the audience. Their
function is to exist in a situation through which a mood is created.

The subject matter of 'Chitra ‘comes from the Mahabharata, one

 

of the great epics of India, which is very familiar to the literate East
Indian. Three classes are used in the play: the gods, who have reached
their full spiritual growth; the Kshartiyas, the warriors and rulers to
which caste Arjuna and Chitra belong; and the Vaisyas or artisans,
producers, businessmen, and farmers. In this play these are the villagers.
The plot structure follows a straight line to final attainment at the
last line of the play. Scene One gives the exposition, the beginning of
the play; and with Chitra's pleading with the gods in this scene, the
effort or rising action is begun. The effort continues through Scene Three.
Scenes Four through Seven contain the possibility of attainment. Scene
Eight is the certainty 6f attainment, and the attainment occurs in Scene
Nine. All of the dramaturgical conventions of East India, then, apply

to "Chitra,‘

45

The play is divided into nine scenes. Each scene heightens the
situation of the plot in the following manner. During the first scene,
Chitra discusses her plight with the gods, Madana, lord of love, and
Vasanta, king of the seasons. She is a plain girl, the only child of a king
who has made her his heir. She was content performing the duties of a
man and dressing in man's clothing until the day when, while hunting in
the forest, she saw Arjuna of the great Kuru clan resting in the path.
After discovering who he was, she realized that she was a woman
and wanted the love of a man. She tells the gods that the day after her
first meeting with Arjuna that she put on woman's garments and went into
the woods to find the man she loved. She pr0posed marriage to him.
Telling her of his vow of celibacy, he refused her. Miserable and full
of shame, she has brought her plight to the gods. They grant her complete
beauty for the course of one year.

During the next scene, Arjuna has seen the beautiful Chitra and
is captivated by her charms. When he again meets her on the stage, he
learns that she has always worshiped his reputation and loves his gentility.
Whereupon he renounces his vow of celibacy, telling her that he is
Arjuna. She, however, knows that it is her beauty, not herself, that he
loves, and commands him to go from her and "woo not falsehood."

Scene three is again between Chitra and the gods. They question
her concerning the results of their boon. She tells them of the preceding
night. During the night her affair with Arjuna began. The night was

perfect with its beauty, and she gave herself completely to her hero.

46

She asks the gods, however, to take away their boon, for she wants to be
loved for herself alone or not at all. Reproaching her for her unconcern
with the effect that this would have on Arjuna, the gods tell her to return
to her mad festival.

Arjuna, in scene four, tells Chitra that he wishes for her to ac-
company him when he returns home. Chitra answers, ”Take to your
home what is abiding and strOng. Leave the little wild flower where it
was born. . . to die at the day's end among all fading blossoms and

decaying leaves. "

They then return to thoughts of immediate love.

Scene five is a very short one between the gods. They talk
briefly of the year's nearing its close.

Scene six finds Arjuna beginning to become restless with lingering
in the forest away from the duties of a warrior. When he asks her if she
has no home to which to return, she realizes that he is beginning to tire
of her. Chitra then tells Arjuna to wait until the year is over, and until
then to press their love dry of the sweetness that it holds. She fears
that he will still yearn for her beauty when it is dead.

The gods tell Chitra that her last night of beauty has arrived. She
asks them to grant her one last night of the brightest and most complete
beauty.

At the beginning of scene eight, villagers enter looking for Chitra.

They have greatly missed her during her absence and long for her return.
When the villagers leave, Arjuna talks with his mistress, not knowing
that the woman is Chitra. He asks her of Chitra and admires the power

and gentleness of the woman of whom the villagers spoke. He begs his

47

love to reveal her identity to him. In tears she refuses.

The year is over. In the final scene of the play Chitra reveals
her identity to Arjuna, telling him that the flowers with which she
worshiped have faded. All she has now to offer him is herself, the
daughter of a king. With joy he gives her his whole heart in the final
line of the play, "Beloved, my life is full."

The plot is a simple one, yet it is essentially beautiful. The thorns,
that real love will succeed even in the face of obstacles, has universal

appeal. Many of the favorite comedies and novels of the West are based

 

upon this theme. The Taming of the Shrew, Peg 0' My Heart, Wuthering

 

Heights, Pride and Prejudice, The Tender Trap, The King of Hearts,

 

and The Philadelphia Story are examples. Therefore it is logical to

 

assume that the plot would be accepted with interest as the play is
performed here.

The dramaturgy of the play is left as it stands in the original.
The adaptation here is of the stage conventions. The actual production
of the script will be so changed from the original form of presentation
as to be meaningful to the Western audience.

Two alternatives exist in the choice of the building in which the
adapted theatre would be presented. Either a special building could be

erected complying with the demands of the Natyasastra, or almost any

 

small conventional theatre here could be used since this would place the

audience in familiar surroundings, not alienating them at the beginning.

48
The latter suggestion is by far the more practical, for not only would the
theatre already constructed here be more convenient and economical,
but all of the symbolism of the actual Eastern theatre building is lost
for the West. For three reasons the small Western theatre would be
suitable for such a presentation. First, the size of many such theatres

generally conforms with the size required by the Natyasastra; for they

 

generally seat from one hundred to three hundred spectators, and the

Natyasastra insists that for this dramatic form the theatre should seat

 

no more than four hundred. Second, the audience seems to respond
to a production best when the theatre is nearly full, and , of course,
a small theatre would be easier to fill for such an experimental pro-
duction as this would be. Last, as a matter of convenience, small
studio theatres are generally more accessible, particularly in colleges
where such experiments as this would logically take place. The
remainder of the adaptation here is therefore for a small Western theatre
such as the Michigan State University Studio Theatre.

For adaptation of scene design, any of three possible approaches
may be taken. Pure suggestive reflism with changes of setting could
be attempted. Even if aesthetically acceptable, such a solution is not
practical, for East Indian dramas have many scenes, and small theatres
often lack facilities for elaborate and fast-moving scene changes.
Non-representational Indian tapestries and carvings could be used.

However, since the Western audience is accustomed to realism, Eastern

I I‘ll!!! III [I II III
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49
stage design would be too far removed from our experience to be effective.
Therefore, the most logical solution seems to be a compromise between
the two forms.

Symbolic and non-representational elements from the Indian theatre
can be so incorporated into scene design as to give effects which approach
a stylized realism. For the specific play, Iggy, ’ scenery is here
designed to give a forest effect, for the play takes place in a forest, and
to enhance the "other worldly" effect of the gods. To achieve this, the
Indian Tree of Life is used in cut-out form against the black back wall
of the set. Not only will this be symbolic of the love and life in the play,
but will add to the forest effect as well. Since four pillars are always
seen in the East Indian theatre, four pillars are incorporated into the
adapted scene design. Three of these pillars serve functional pin'poses,
for they conceal pipes which hold up the scrim. During the scenes in the
forest, a blue-green leaf pattern will be projected onto the scrim .

The gods, lighted with steel blue, will appear behind the scrim during

other scenes. During the forest scenes, the area in front of the scrim is

to be lighted for four acting areas. This same area will be lighted for

two acting areas during Chitra's scenes with the gods. Other than for
special effects, the gelatin colors used will be the daylight combination

of light blue and straw. If the individual director has equipment avaflable

for flexible lighting, this could well he used instead of the static effects
suggested in the light plots which follow. A flexible lighting plan is suggested

in the movement and reading script at the end of this chapter.

50

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The height of the four columns is nine feet. Black duvetyn will
mask the webbing of the scrim. The right scrim is to be held up
with the pillar at one end and a pipe at the other. The pipe will be
masked from the house by a black flat which will also mask the light

tower behind the scrim. The tree will be propped against the wall.

Fig. 2. --Floor Plan

52

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIGHTING PLOT FOR SCENES ONE, THREE, AND SEVEN

Fig. 3. --Lighting Plot for Scenes One, Three, and Seven

53

 

 

 

 

LIGHnNG PLOT FOR SCENES TWO, FOUR, SIX, EIGHT, AND NINE

Lights 12 and 8 will be masked
into a simulated leaf pattern similar
to the example at the left.

 

E‘n’g. 4. "Lighting Plot for Scenes Two 3 Tour) Six, Fight, and N ne

54

 

 

 

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LIGHTING PLOT FOR SCENE FIVE BETWEEN THE GODS

fig. 5, «Lighting Plot for Scene T"five

55

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When this form of drama is presented in India, the colors, types
of costumes, ornaments, and make-up are so stereotyped as to be sym-
bolic to the audience of that country. Three alternatives exist in adapt-
ing this costuming to the Western stage. The original costumes could
be duplicated for performance here. Such costuming and make-up,
however, would have no meaning for the Western audience. Western
costumes could be used for the performance. By using costumes of the
West, however, the production would tend to lose the flavor of India.
Therefore, in order to retain the flavor of India for our culture, the
actors should be costumed in dress which the Western audience would
recognize as Indian, rather than the completely unfamiliar Indian stage
costumes or modern Western stage dress. The dress which is usually
thought of as Indian includes fitted trousers for men, the sari for women,
and costumes for the gods patterned after the statues of East Indian gods
which the West has seen. Make-up, then, would be realistic, using the
complexion tone of the Indians, light for gods and upper castes and dark
for lower castes.

For such an adaptation for the play Chitra, the costumes might be
as follows. At the beginning of the play, Chitra is dressed basically as
a man. Her beige costume is fitted so as to allow her costume for the
next scene to cover it quickly. The gods throughout the play are dressed
in silver lame with silver ornaments. Arjuna is dressed in a tightly
fitting beige trousers and open-fronted shirt. His trousers reach slightly

below the knee. The villagers are dressed much like Arjuna. Their

57

costumes of unbleached muslin, however, will be cut a bit fuller than
his costume is. After the first scene, Chitra must don a sari which she
wears until near the end of the play. In the final scene of the play, she
removes the sari and reveals her original male attire. Chitra, then,
will be dressed in a sari so constructed as to allow her to move with
no fear of its coming off, but it must be put on and taken off easily
and quickly.

With the costume sketches and make-up plot which follow, a

pattern for Chitra's sari is included.

58

SKETCH FOR PATTERN FOR CHITRA'S SARI

 

 

 

Skirtlx4yards

F ‘ i
Waistband 60" '

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Stole 3/8 yd. x 6 ft.

 

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nylon chiffon. The skirt is pleated and attached to the waistband to
tie, encircle the waist again, and retie. The stole is sewn to the
waistband. This type of pattern will remain securely in place
during the scenes where the sari is required, but can easily be

removed for the end of the last scene.

“ig. 6. -—Sketch for Pattern for Chitra's Sari

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66

Several alternatives exist for the animate aspects of the adapted
presentation. Western realistic acting, which is the current trend here,
is the first possibility which must be eliminated. The language and sit-
uation of the script are so far removed from the "slice of life" play
which demands realistic acting that the attempt to superimpose this
acting approach on the drama of the East would lead to a most disjointed
presentation. Since the themes of the drama are taken from the classical
background of India, the formal classical approach might be taken for
acting. However, even though the themes of the Hindu drama are based
upon the classibal literature of that country, the beauty of the language
and suggestiveness of the subject material do not warrant a formal and
noble treatment. Beauty of language brings to mind the Western roman-
tic style of playwrighting and acting. Perhaps romantic acting, with
emphasis on beauty of gesture and movement, is more valid than any of
the other acting styles with which the West is familiar. This cannot be
the total answer, “however, since the dialogue of _(_3_hitr_a_ is exceedingly
flowery and elaborate. The speeches are too long and involved with
picturesque allusions for the actors to be able to hold the attention of
the audience for the duration of the entire play. Therefore, the styles
of acting with which the West is most familiar are not applicable to this
form of drama.

Classical Indian drama is dance drama by definition. However,

as has been discussed before, the gestures, movements, and positionings

67
prescribed by the Natyasastra are not only difficult to master, but have
very little meaning for the Western audience. This drama, none the
less, was conceived as dance drama. Therefore, the most logical
approach to the presentation of this drama is for it to remain dance

drama in adaptation. John Martin, discussing interpretative dance in his

 

book The Modern Dance, has said, "The dance and the drama are
internally related; they are of the same essential stuff, the one working
in the medium of movement and the other in the medium of action, which
are practically inseparable. "1 He has further said, "The actor and the
dancer are Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The business of both is to
express internal feeling through the medium of the body. The actor is
fundamentally a dancer. "2 The proper and logical adaptation of the
movement, then, would be interpretative dance. In this way actors skilled
in Western interpretative dance would be able to perform in this type
of drama without becoming completely re-oriented to a new dance form.
Interpretative or modern dance movement is difficult to define,
for it came into being to release the dancer from definition. 3 It is meant

simply to be expressive, using gesture but not "stock" gesture. There is

 

1' John Martin, The Modern Dance, (New York: A. S. Barnes
and Co., 1933),p. 99.

 

2’ lbid.,p. 97.

3° Anatole Cujoy, The Dance Encyclogedia (New York: A.S.
Barnes and Company, 1949),p. 309.

 

- x-t

68
yet no standard vocabulary or compositional approach for the contemporary
dance as there is for ballet or music.4

One principle is consistent throughout all modern dance, however,
and that is that artifice and technical method are discarded and the dancer
is free to rely upon himself as a vehicle of natural and expressive
movement. Martha Graham has said of her art:

I am interested only in the subtle being, the subtle body

that lies beneath the gross muscles. Every dance is, to

some greater or lesser extent, a kind of fever chart,

a graph of the heart. I do not compose ideologically and

I have never in any way considered my dances intellectual.

Whatever theory may be read into them proceeds from

the material, not vice versa.

This is important because a tendency exists among the general
audience to think that all modern dancers are exponents of a movement
with a primer of aims and an undeviating set of principles and prejudices,
rather than intelligent individuals approaching an art created to free
them from such aims, principles, and prejudices. 6 The general public
is, of course, in error, for the purpose of modern dance is purely to
comm1micate emotional experiences through movement. 7

Since modern dance is simply defined as expressive movement

which avoids a vocabulary, it is logical that this form be chosen for the

adaptation of "Chitra. " In this way the director and dancer are free to

 

4. Robert Horan, The Recent Theatre of Martha Graham (New York:
Dance-Index Ballet Caravan, Inc., Jan. 1947), Vol. VI, No. l, p. 19.

 

5- lbid., p. 2.

6° aid.

7‘ John Martin, The Dance (New York: Tudor, 1946), p. 105.

69
use whatever gestures, movements, and positionings that they feel are
most expressive to interpret the script. This thesis does not attempt
to define a vocabulary of movement for modern dance, nor should it,
for stereotyped movements can only express stereotyped concepts of
emotion, and the degree of emotion which the actor-dancer can realize
from a work should not be limited. 8 Two basic types of movement are
used in the suggested adaptation here. They are exaggerated gesture
and semi-representational pantomime. No realistic movement is used,
for exaggerated gesture may be loosely defined as danced reaction,
and semi-representational pantomime may be loosely defined as danced
narration. Narration, or initial statement of ideas, and reaction to such
statements or ideas are not only the components of any script but also
the components of any communication process.

Since the modern dance is conceived to give freedom of movement,
positioning, and composition to the dancer himself, the dance movement
is essentially an individual problem which can be solved only by the
dancer with guidance from the director. Unless the director has extensive
dance training or is a choreographer of greater ability than any of his
dancers, he has to discover bit by bit through painful processes of trial
and error all the fundamental principles that have already been found for
him by others.9 The director should, of course, act as the guide in the

creative process, helping with the interpretation of ideas and emotions,

 

8° John Martin, The Modern Dance (New York: A. S. Barnes and
Co., 1933), p. 17.

 

9‘ _I_b_i_d., p. 92.

7 0

but the dancer has the ultimate responsibility for the movement. For
this study, the first scene of the play, "Chitra, " has been choreographed.
Once the actor-dancer has observed the type of movement suggested for
the first scene, he should be allowed freedom of dance movement, for
the basic concept of modern dance is that the expressive movement
comes from the dancer. The director who is not a dancer himself may
well achieve the best effect in his production if he indicates to the dancer
the general type of movement he wants and the general stage area in
which he wants the dancer at a particular time. Therefore this is the
type of movement suggestion which is given for the rest of the script.
This is one director's concept of the type of movement which should be
used. Rather than suggesting that these movements are definitely pre-
scribed, they should be viewed as a guide for the director and dancer.

Music of the East is as foreign to Western ears as Indian musical
instruments are foreign to Western musicians. Therefore five possibilities
exist in adaptation. The first is that records of Indian music be used;
however, this would solve only half of the problem, for the sound would
still be strange to the Western audience. The mood could be set by
Western music; however, music of the West would be likely to detract
from the basic Indian flavor of the production. No music or rhythmic
sound at all might be used; however, something must set the rhythm for
the dance action of the play. Since in the actual dance drama of the
East, a chanter is often used to narrate interludes of pure dance, a

subordinate reading theatre group could read the script, each reader

In

71
taking a specific role. This would free the dancers from speaking the
lines of the script and allow them complete freedom of dance movement.
However, this might seem rather like the old days of the movies when
a gentleman used to stand at the side of the screen and tell us what
was going on. "Now the hero sees the maiden, and behind her the
villian advances. He puts his hand to his gun, he points its gleaming
barrel at the offender's heart, he pulls the trigger, " etc.10 Such a
reading theatre group might seem only to underline the obvious. By far
the best approach would be for the director to use actor-dancers who
could speak the lines as well as dance their interpretation. Since
audiences are accustomed to hearing the lines come from the actors,
this would give them a form which is familiar and would give unity to
the production which would be lacking if a reading group were used.
The director, however, must observe the capabilities of those whom
he will direct and accordingly decide what form of vocal interpretation
he will use. Of course, if a director does not have material with which
to work to do a particular play well, he should choose another play suitable
to the capabilities of his actors.

Since the language of the script is not realistic, the vocal inter-
pretation should not be realistic, but stress instead the poetry of the
language. Emphasis on the beauty of the language should be the aesthetic
goal of the vocal interpreter. A suggestion for oral interpretation follows

in the movement and flexible lighting script.

 

10‘ wide, p. 1100

72
The play book of 'C_h_i_g_'a' has few stage directions or suggestions
for interpretation. Those few which are included are not pertinent to
this adaptation. Therefore those included in the original are deleted
or expanded, and interpretation and movement suggestions which are

found in the following script are director's notes.

73
LIGHT AND AC TING SCRIPT

Madana is behind scrim, upright. Vasanta is behind scrim, left.
Chitra stands beside pillar, down right. Light fades in on Madana.
Light up half on Chitra.

CHITRA
(FRIGHTENED, BESEECHING) (LEFT ARM UPWARD MOVEMENT)
Art thou the god with the five darts, the Lord of Love?

MADANA
(DEEP VOICED, AWARE OF HIS GREATNESS, YET KIND) (DEVELOP-
MENT FROM KNEELING POSITION TO FULL HEIGHT, ARMS OVER
HEAD. ARMS IN DOWNWARD MOVEMENT.) I am he who was first
born in the heart of the Creator. I bind (SMALL ARM MOVEMENT) in
bonds of pain and bliss the lives of men and women.

CHITRA
(PAINFULLY) (DEPRESSING SHOULDERS, TURNING AWAY, LEFT HAND

TO FOREHEAD, RIGHT ARM DOWN) I know, I know what that pain is and

those bonds. (LIGHT UP ON VASANTA) (VASAN TA DEVELOPMENT

 

MOVEMENT TO RIGHT KNEE FROM SITTING POSITION.) (CHITRA,

SENII-LUNGE WITH THE LEFT HAND DOWN, RIGHT ARM UP AS SHE

TURNS TO VASAN TA) (QUESTIONING) And Who art thou, my Lord?
VASANTA

(TENOR VOICE, MORE CHILDISH THAN MADANA) (STANDS) I am his

friend--Vasanta--The King of the Seasons. (RIGHT ARM TO CHEST

HEIGHT, ACROSS BODY, CIRCULAR MOVEMENT AT HEAD HEIGHT,

74

DISPELIJNG MOVEMENT DOWN TO THE SIDE OF THE BODY) Death
and decrepitude would wear the world to the bone but that I follow them
and constantly attack them. (LEFT ARM EXTENDED TO THE LEFT
SIDE) I am eternal youth.

CHITRA.
(LIGHT UP HALF IN SECOND AREA) (WITH REVERENCE) (CROSSES
TO CENTER, LOW BOW) I bow to thee, Lord Vasanta.

LLADNJUK
(QUESTIONING) But what stern vow is thine, fair stranger? (CHITRA
CROSSES RIGHT THREE STEPS TOWARD MADANA) Why doest thou
wither (ARMS UP THEN DOWN AND IN) thy fresh youth with penance and
mortification? (DISPE LLING ARM MOVEMENT) (POSITIVE LY ASSERTING)
Such a sacrifice is not fit for the worship of love. (ARMS EXTENDED
FRONT) (KINDLY) Who art thou and what is thy prayer?

CHITRA.
(HUMBLE) (CROSSES DOWN CENTER LEFT) I am Chitra, the daughter
of the kingly house of Manipur. (KNEELS ON RIGHT KNEE) With godlike
grace Lord Shiva promised to my royal grandsire an unbroken line of
male descent. (RIGHT ARM CIRCULAR SWEEPING TO THE SIDE)
Nevertheless the divine word proved powerless to change the spark of life
in my mother's womb--(RIGHT ARM CIRCLES ACROSS BODY) so
invincible was my nature, (HEAD BOWED) (CONTRITE) woman though

I be.

75

MADANA
I know, (CHITRA TURNS TO MADANA.) (MADANA LEANS TO CHITRA,
RIGHT ARM EXTENDED ACROSS BODY) That is why thy father brings
thee up as his son. (DEVELOP INTO POSITION OF HOLDING BOW, LEFT
ARM EXTENDED) He has taught thee the use of the bow (LEFT ARM DOWN
TO THE SIDE, RIGHT ARM DOWN AND UP FRONT, PALM POSITION OUT,
STEP BACK ON THE LEFT FOOT) and all the duties of a king.

CHITRA
Yes, (ARMS FOLLOWING THE LINE OF THE BODY DOWN AT THE SIDES)
that is why I am dressed in man's attire and have left (ARMS CROSSED,
PUSH OUT) the seclusion of a woman's chamber. (PALMS OUT) I know
no feminine wiles for winning hearts. (DOWN ON LEFT KNEE, HANDS
HOLDING POSITION OF BOW, RIGHT PALM OUT) My hands are strong
to bend the bow (LEANS BACK, RIGHT ARM ACROSS BODY, BACK ACROSS
EYES) but I have never learnt Cupid's archery, the play of the eyes.

MADANA
(CAJOLING) (SLOW LUNGE, RIGHT HAND EXTENDED) That requires
no schooling, fair one. The eye does its work untaught. (EXTEND BOTH
HANDS) and he lmows how well, (BOTH HANDS TO HEART) who is struck
in the heart.

CHITRA
(I__.IG_HTS UP TO FULL) (WALKS FROM UP RIGHT TO LEFT CENTER,
THEN BACK TO PILLAR DOWN RIGHT) (REMEMBERING, ALMOST TO

HERSELF) One day in search of game I roved alone to the forest on the

76

bank of the Purna River. (ARM AND LEG UP PILLAR) Tying my horse
to a tree trunk (FALLS AWAY FROM PILLAR, OPEN TO AUDIENCE)
I entered a dense thicket on the track of a deer. (WALKS RIGHT CENTER
THEN DOWN LEFT CENTER) I found a narrow sinuous path meandering
through the dusk of entangled boughs, the foliage vibrated with the chirping
of crickets (STOPS, ARMS UP AND SLIGHTLY BENT IN ) (INCREASE
OF READING TEMPO) when of a sudden I came upon a man lying on a
bed of dried leaves, across my path. (LUNGE TO THE RIGHT, ARMS
EXTENDED OVER THE EARS) I asked him haughtily to move aside,
(ARMS DOWN, CROSS, BACK UP, PULLING BODY STRAIGHT. EXTENDED
LEFT LEG ELEVATED) but he heeded not. (HAUGHTILY) Then with
the sharp end of my bow (CONTRACTION ON ONE LEG) I pricked him
with content. (SHARP EXTENSION OUT) Instantly he lept up with
straight, tall limbs, like a sudden tongue of fire from a heap of ashes.
(CONTRACTION TO FLOOR) (RELIVING EMBARRASSMENT) An
amused smile flickered round the corners of his mouth, perhaps at the
sight of my boyish countenance. (ON RIGHT KNEE, HANDS FROM SIDES
UP, UNDER BUST, OUT TO FRONT) (REALIZATION) Then for the
first time I felt myself a woman, (RISES WITH EXTENDED HANDS, THREE
RUNNING STEPS DOWN CENTER, LEAN, HANDS DOWN AND BACK)
and knew that a man was before me.

MADANA
(KNOWINGLY) (THREE QUARTERS BACK, FACING CENTER, HANDS UP,

BENT SLIGHTLY BACK) At the auspicious hour I teach the man and the

77

woman this supreme lesson, to know themselves. (QUICK TURN TO HER)
What happened after that?

CHITRA
(LEANS BACK, ARMS FORWARD) With fear and wonder I asked him
"Who are you?" (STRAIGHTENS, HEAD UP, WIDE STANCE) "I am
Arjuna, " he said, "of the great Kuru clan. " (RETURNS TO FEMININE STANCE)
Was this indeed Arjuna, the one great idol of my dreams! (TURNS RIGHT,
TWO STEPS FORWARD) Yes, I had long ago heard how he had vowed a
twelve-year's celibacy. (TURNS BACK LEFT) Many a day my young
ambition had spurred me to challenge him in disguise to single combat
(TO AUDIENCE WITH PRIDE AND NOBILITY) to break my lance with
him and prove my skill in arms against him. (CROSSE POSITION, LEFT
FOOT ACROSS, RIGHT KNEE BENT, RIGHT ARM PARALLEL TO LEFT
LEG) Ah, foolish heart, whither fled thy presumption? (LOW ARABESQUE,
STARTING ON THE LEFT FOOT, THREE STEPS DOWN RIGHT LEFT
ARM FRONT) (WITH DESIRE) Could I but exchange my youth with all
its aspirations for the clod of earth under his feet, I should deem it a
most precious grace. (ELEVATION TO THE TOES, RIGHT ARM OVER
HEAD, TURNS ABRUPTLY, RIGHT ARM EXTINDED) (SADLY) I know
not in what whirlme of thought I was lost, when suddenly I saw him
vanish through the trees. (LUNGE TO MADANA, RIGHT KNEE BACK
AND BENT, RIGHT ARM CLOSED TO ABOUT SIXTY DEGREES, HAND
NEAR FOR EHEAD, LEFT ARM BACK) Oh, foolish woman, neither
didst thou greet him (KNEELS ON RIGHT KNEE, BODY BENT) nor speak

a word, (SITS BACK, LEFT LEG STRAIGHT, RIGHT CROSSED UNDER)

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nor beg forgiveness, (TURNS TO THE AUDIENCE, LEFT LEG STRAIGHT
BACK, RIGHT KNEE BENT BACK, WEIGHT ON THE RIGHT LEG, RIGHT
ARM TO FLOOR, LEFT ARM TO BACK LEG) but stoodest like a barbar-
ian boor while (LEFT ARM EXTENDS FRONT) he contemptuously walked
away! . . . (CONTRITELY) (RISES SLOWLY, HANDS DOWN SIDES OF
BODY) Next morning I laid aside my man's clothing. (ARMS CIRCLE
OUT AND UP OVER HEAD THEN DOWN AND IN, PALMS FRONT AT
SIDES) I donned bracelets, anklets, waist-chain and a gown of purple red
silk. (HEAD BOWED) The unaccustomed dress clung about my shrinking
Shame; (HEAD UP, LEFT HAND EXTENDED, FOUR RUNNING STEPS
LEFT) but I hastened on my quest and found Arjuna in the forest of Shiva.

MADANA
(CHITRA REMAINS IN POSITION, MADANA EXTENDS HANDS FORWARD,
SWEEPS ARMS OUT TO SIDES AND DOWN) Tell me the story to the end.
I am the heart-born god, and I understand the mystery of these impulses.

CHITRA
(LEFT ARM UP, ACROSS FACE, PALM DOWN) (Only vaguely can I
remember what things I said, and what answer I got. (PALM UP,
SWEEPING SLOWLY DOWN TO SIDE) DO not ask me to tell you all.
(CONTRACTION TO FLOOR FACING AUDIENCE) (WITH OVERPOWERING
SHAME) Shame fell on me like a thunderbolt (EXTENSION, ARMS UP
STRAIGHT ABOVE HEAD) (BECOMING SHAMELESS) yet could not
break me to pieces, so utterly hard, so like a man am 1. (FALL TO

RIGHT SIDE) His last words as I walked home pricked my ears like

79
red-hot needles. (EXTENSION, LEFT LEG AND ARM) "I have taken
the vow of celibacy. I am not fit to be thy husband." (CONTRACTION,
LEFT LEG AND ARM IN) Oh, the vow of a man! (SITS WITH LEFT
l LEG BACK FACING MADANA, RIGHT HAND ON FLOOR, LEFT ARM
FORWARD) Surely thou knowest, thou god of love, that unnumbered
saints and sages have surrendered the merits of their life-long penance
(ARM SWEEPS DOWN AND BACK, POINTING TO LEFT FOOT.) at the
feet of a woman. (ELEVATION ON KNEES, HANDS ABOVE HEAD,
BREAKING MOTION) I laroke my bow in two and (RISES TO FEET, HEAD
BOWED, ARMS BENT BACK) burnt my arrows in the fire. (FIVE
STEPS TOWARD HIM) I hated my strong, lithe arm, scored by
drawing the bow-string. (ARMS SWEEPING FORWARD) 0 Love, god
Love, thou hast laid low inithe dust the vain pride of my manlike strength;
(KNEEIS ON LEFT KNEE, ARMS FORWARD) and all my man's training
lies crushed under thy feet. (WITH COMPLETE CONTRITION, BEGGING)
Now teach me thy lessons; give me the power of the weak and the weapon
of the unarmed hand.
MADANA
(RIGHT ARM SWEEPS UP) (KINDLY) I will be thy friend. (SLOWLY
LOWERS RIGHT ARM TO POINT TO FLOOR AT HER FEET) I will bring
the world—conquering Arjuna a captive before thee, to accept his rebellions
sentence at thy hand.
CHITRA
(LIGHTS BEGIN TO LOWER ON CHITRA AND CONTINUE TO DIM

W (REMAINS IN

80
POSITION) Had I but the time needed, I could win his heart by slow
degrees and ask no help of the gods. (KNEELING TURNS LEFT) 1 would
stand by his side as a comrade, drive the fierce horses of his war-chariot,
attend him in the pleasures of the chase, keep guard at night at the
entrance of his tent, and help him in all the great duties of a Kshatr iya,
rescuing the weak, and meeting out justice where it is due. (LOWERS
ARMS) Surely at last the day would come for him to look at me and
wonder, "What boy is this? Had one of my slaves of a former life
followed me like my good deeds into this?" (RISES, BACKS TO UP
CENTER, FACING AUDIENCE) I am not the woman who nourishes her
despair in lonely silence, feeding it with nightly tears and covering it
with the daily patient smile, a widow from her birth. (ARMS SWEEP
DOWN AND IN FROM SIDES, THEN EXTEND UP OVER HEAD.) The
flower of my desire shall never drOp into the dust before it has ripened
into fruit. But it is the labour of a lifetime to make one's true self known
and honored. (RIGHT ARM SWEEP DOWN TOWARD MADANA) Therefore
I have come to your door, thou world-vanquishing Love, and thou, (LEFT
ARM SWEEPS DOWN TOWARD VASAN TA) Vasanta, youthful Lord of the
Seasons, take from my young body this primal injustice, an unattractive
plainness. For a single day make me superbly beautiful, even as beautiful
as was the sudden blooming of love in my heart. (TURNS TO MADANA
ON BOTH KNEES) Give me but one brief day of perfect beauty, and I will

answer for the days that follow. (LIGHTS OUT IN CHITRA'S ACTING

AREAS

81
MADANA
Lady, I grant thy prayer. (RAISES RIGHT ARM ABOUT 120 DEGREES)
VASAN TA
(RAISES RIGHT ARM ABOUT 120 DEGREES) Not for the short span of

a day, but for one whole year the charm of spring blossoms shall nestle

romid thy limbs. (LIGHTS OUT ON VASANTA AND MADANA,)

SCENE II
ARJU NA

(SITS DOWN CENTER. USES PRIMARILY ARM MOVEMENT, MAY
RISE TO KNEES) (WITH AWE AND PLEASURE) Was I dreaming or
was what I saw by the lake truly there? Sitting on the mossy turf, I
mused over bygone years in the SIOpIng shadows of evening, when slowly
there came out from the folding darkness of foliage an apparition of
beauty in the perfect form of a woman, and stood on a white slab of stone
at the water's brink. It seemed that the heart of the earth must heave
in joy under her bare white feet. Me-thought the vague veilings of her
body should melt in ecstacy into the air as the golden mist of dawn
melts from off the snowy peak of the eastern hill. She bowed herself
above the shining mirror of the lake and saw the reflection of her face.
She started up in awe and stood still; then smiled, and with a careless
sweep of her left arm loosened her hair and let it trail on the earth at
her feet. She bared her bosom and looked at her arms, so flawlessly

modeled, an instinct with an exquisite caress. Bending her head she

82
saw the sweet blossoming of her youth and tender bloom and blush of
her skin. She beamed with glad surprise. SO, if the white lotus bud
on Opening her eyes in the morning were to arch her neck and see her
shadow in the water, would she wonder at herself the live-long day.
But a moment after the smile passed from her face and a shade of
sadness crept into her eyes. She bOImd up her tresses, drew her veil
over her arms, and sighing slowly, (RISES) walked away like a
beauteous evening fading into the night. To me the supreme fulfillment
of desire seemed to have been revealed in a flash and then tohave
vanished. (CROSSED DOWN RIGHT TURNS TO FACE UP LEFT) But
who is it that pushes the door? (ENTER CHITRA FROM BEHIND SCRIM

UP LEFT. SHE IS DRESSED AS A WOMAN) (BY THIS POINT THE

LIGHTS WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN Dm AI THE BEGINNINGQE
THE SCENE SHOULD BE ON FULL) (WITH AWE) Ah! it is she. Quiet.

my heart! (TO HER) Fear me not, lady! I am a Kshatriya.

CHITRA
( CROSSES TO CENTER) (COURTEOUSLY) Honoured sir, you are my
guest. I live in this temple. I know not in what way I can show you
hospitality.

ARJUNA
(CROSSES T'O RIGHT CENTER) (SINCERELY) Fair lady, the very sight
of you is indeed the highest hospitality. If you will not take amiss I would
ask you a question.

CHITRA

(CROSSES TO DOWN LEFT) You have permission.

83
ARJUNA
(CROSSES TO CENTER) What stern vow keeps you immured in this
solitary temple, depriving all mortals of a vision of so much loveliness?
CHITRA
(TURNS TO HIM) I harbour a secret desire in my heart, for the fulfilment
of which I offer daily prayers to Lord Shiva.
ARJUNA
(CROSSES TWO STEPS TOWARD HER) (ALMOST WORSHIPING HER
BEAUTY) Alas, what can you desire, you are the desire of the whole
world! From the easternmost hill on whose summit the morning sun
first prints his fiery foot to the end of the sunset land I have traveled.
(KNEELS ON RIGHT KNEE) I have seen Whatever is most precious,
beautiful and great on earth. My knowledge shall be yours, only say for
what or for whom you seek.
CHITRA
(SITS) He whom I seek is known to all.
ARJ UNA
(RISES, TURNS FOUR STEPS UP RIGHT) Indeed! Who may this favourite
of the gods be (WITH ENVY) who has captured your heart?
CHITRA
(RISES, TURNS TO HIM) (WITH PRIDE AND ADORATION) Sprung from
the highest of all royal houses, the greatest of all heroes is he.
. ARJUNA
(TURNS TO HER) Lady, offer not such wealth of beauty as is yours on

the altar of false reputation. Spurious fame Spreads from tongue to

84

tongue like the fog of the early dawn before the sun rises. Tell me who
in the highest of kingly lines is the supreme hero?

CHITRA
(CHIDING HIM) Hermit, you are jealous of other men's fame. Do you
not know that all over the world the royal house of the Kurus is the most
famous?

ARJUNA
(TURNS AWAY) (AMAZED) The house of the Kurus!

CHITRA
(CROSSES TO CENTER) And have you never heard of the greatest name
of that far-famed house?

ARJ UNA
(TWO STEPS TOWARD HER) From your own lips let me hear it.

CHITRA
Arjuna, the conqueror of the world. I have culled from the mouths of
the multitude that imperishable name and hidden it with care in my maiden
heart. Hermit, who do you look so perturbed? Has the name only a
deceitful glitter? (CROSSES TO HIM) Say so, and I will not hesitate to .
break this casket of my heart and throw the false gem in the dust.

ARJU NA
(KNEELS) (PLEADING) Be his mme and fame false or true, for mercy's
sake do not banish him from your heart--for he kneels at your feet
even now.

CHITRA

(TURNS TO HIM) (SURPRISED, PLEASED) You, Arjuna!

85

ARJ UNA
Yes, I am he, the love-hungered guest at your door.

CHITRA
(CHIDING) Then it is not true that Arjuna has taken a vow of chastity
for twelve long years ?

ARJUNA
(CROSSES TO DOWN LEFT) (WITH DESIRE) But you have dissolved my
vow even as the moon dissolves thenight's vow of obscurity.

CHITRA
(CROSSES TO UP CENTER) (WITH HER BACK TO HIM AND THE AUDIENCE)
Oh, shame upon you! What have you seen in me that makes you false to
yourself? Whom do you seek in these dark eyes, in these milk-white
arms, if you are ready to pay for her with the price of your probity?
(FACES HIM) Not my true self, I know. Surely this is not love, this is
not man's highest homage to woman! Alas, that this frail disguise, the
body, should make one blind to the light of the deathless Spirit! Yes,
now indeed, I know, Arjuna, the fame of your heroic manhood is false.

ARJUNA
(CROSSES TO HER) Ah, I feel how vain is fame, the pride of prowess!
Everything seems to me a dream. You alone are perfect; you are the
wealth of the world, the end of all poverty, the goal of all efforts, the one
woman! Others there are who can be but slowly known. While to see

you for a moment is to see perfect completeness once and for ever.

86

CHITRA
(CROSSED TO DOWN LEFT AWAY FROM HIM) (WITH SADNESS) Alas,

it is not I, not I, Arjuna! It is the deceit of a god. Go, (LIGHTS BEGIN

 

TO DIM) go, my hero, go. Woo not falsehood, offer not your heart to an

illusion. (LIGHTS 0U T)

 

SCENE III

 

CHITRA

(LIGHTS SLOWLY ON TO FULL AT THE ENTRANCE OF MADANA AND

 

VASANTA) (SITS DOWN CENTER. USES EXTENSIONS FROM FLOOR)

 

(STRUGGLING WITH SELF) No, impossible. To face that fervent gaze
that almost grasps you like clutching hands of the hungry spirit within;
to feel his heart struggling to break its bonds urging its passionate cry
through the entire body--and then to send him away like a beggar-mo,
impossible! (ENTER MADANA AND VASANTA) Ah, (TURNS TO
MADANA, STILL ON FLOOR) god of love, what fearful flame is this
with which thou hast enveloped me! I burn, and I burn whatever I touch.
MADANA
I desire to know what happened last'night.
CHITRA
(RISES, DANCE MOVEMENTS BACK AND RIGHT) (NARRATES) At
evening I lay down on a grassy bed strewn with the petals of spring flowers,
and recollected the wonderful praise of my beauty I had heard from Arjuna;

(SITS UP CENTER RIGHT)--drinking drop by drop the honey that I had

87
stored during the long day. The history of my past life like that of my
former existences was forgotten. I felt like a flower, which has but a
few fleeting hours to listen to all the humming flatteries and whisPered
murmurs of the woodlands and then must lower its eyes from the sky,
bend its head and at a breath give itself up to the dust without a cry.
Thus ending the short story of a perfect moment that has neither past nor
future.
VASAN TA

A limitless life of glory can bloom and Spend itself in a morning.

MADANA
Like the endless meaning in the narrow span of a song.

CHITRA
(THE DANCER MAY USE THE ENTIRE STAGE FOR THIS. THE TEMPO
OF DANCE MOVEMENT AND READING INTENSITY RISES TO THE
CLIMAX INDICATED IN THE SCRIPT) The southern breeze caressed me
to sleep. From the flowering Malati bower overhead silent kisses
dropped over my body. On my hair, my breast, my feet, each flower
chose a bed to die on. I slept. And suddenly, in the depth of my sleep,
I felt as if some intense eager look, like tapering fingers of flame,
touched my slumbering body. I started up and (saw the Hermit standing
before me. The moon had moved to the West, peering through the leaves
to espy this wonder of divine art wrought in a fragile human frame.
The air was heavy with perfume; the silence of the night was vocal with

the chirping of crickets; the reflections of the tree hung motionless in the

88

lake; and with his staff in his hand he stood, tall and straight and still,
like a forest tree. It seemed to me that I had, on Opening my eyes,
died to all the realities of life and had a dream birth into a shadow land.
Shame slipped to my feet like loosened clothes. I heard his call--
"Beloved, my most beloved!" And all my forgotten lives united as one
and responded to it. I said "Take me, take all I am!" And I stretched
out my arms to him. The moon set behind the trees. One cumin
of darkness covered all. Heaven and earth, time and Space, pleasure
and pain, death and life merged together in an unbearable ecstacy. . .
(CLIMAX) (SLOWLY AWAKENING FROM ECSTACY, WONDERING)
With the first gleam of light, the first twitter of birds, I rose up and
sat leaning on my left arm. He lay asleep with a vague smile about his
lips like the crescent moon in the morning. The rosy red glow of the
dawn fell upon his noble forehead. I sighed and stood up. I drew together
the leafy lianas to screen the streaming sun from his face. I looked
about me and saw the same old earth. I remembered what I used to be,
and ran and ran like a deer afraid of her own shadow, through the forest
path strewn with shephali flowers. I found a lonely nook, and sitting
down covered my face with both hands, and tried to weep and cry.
But no tears came to my eyes.

MADANA
(CHIDING, BUT WITH PITY) Alas, thou daughter of mortals! I stole
from the divine storehouses the fragrant wine of heaven, filled with it
one earthly night to thebrim, and placed it in thy hand to drink-~yet still

Ihear this cry of anguish!

89

CHITRA
(AS BEFORE, AND THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE SCENE, THE DANCER
WILL HAVE COMPLETE FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND POSITIONING
ON THE ENTIRE STAGE.) (BITTERLY) Who drank it? The rarest
completion of life's desire, the first union of love was proffered to me,
but was wrested from my grasp. This borrowed beauty, this falsehood
that enwraps me, will slip from me taking with it the only monument of
that sweet union, as the petals fall from an overblown flower; and the
woman ashamed of her naked poverty will sit weeping day and night.
Lord Love, this cursed appearance companions me like a demon robbing
me of all the prizes of love--all the kisses for which my heart is athirst.

MADANA
(SADLY) Alas, how vain thy single night has been! The barque of joy
came in sight, but the waves would not let it touch the shore.

CHITRA
(WITH ANGUISH) Heaven came so close to my hand that I forgot for a
moment that it had not reached me. But when I woke in the morning
from my dream I found that my body had become my own rival. It is
my hateful task to deck her every day, to send her to my beloved and
see her caressed by him. 0 god, take back thy boon!

MADANA
But if I take it from you how can you stand before your lover? To snatch

away the cup from his lips when he has scarcely drained the first draught

of pleasure, would not that be cruel? With what resentful anger he must

regard thee then!

90

CHITRA
That would be better far than this. I will reveal my true self to him,
a nobler thing than this disguise. If he rejects it, if he spurns me and
breaks my heart, I will hear even that in silence.

VASANTA
(WISE LY) Listen to my advice. When with the advent of autumn the
flowering season is over than comes the triumph of the fruiiage. A
time will come of itself when the heat-cloyed bloom of the body will
drOOp and Arjuna will gladly accept the abiding fruitful truth in thee.

0 child, go back to thy mad festival. (LIGHTS OUI)

91

SCENE IV

 

(LIGHTS ON FULL, DIM TO THE END OF THE SCENE.)

 

CHITRA
(UP RIGHT, SITS) (COYLY) Why do you watch me like that, my warrior?
ARJUNA
(DOWN LEFT, FACING HER, STANDING) (ADMIRING HER BEAUTY)
I watch how you weave that garland. Skill and grace, the twin brother
and sister, are dancing playftu on your finger tips. I am watching
and thinking.
CHITRA
What are you thinking, sir?
ARJUNA
(WALKS TOWARD HER) (WITH HAPPINESS) I am thinking that you, with
this same lightness of touch and sweetness, are weaving my days of exile
into an immortal wreath, to crown me when I return home.
CHITRA
(STANDS) (DISTURBED) Home! But this love is not for a home!
ARJUNA
(GOES TO HER, TAKES HER HAND) (SURPRISED, DISMAYED) Not
for a home?
CHITRA
(AWAY FROM HIM, DOWN CENTER) No. Never talk of that. Take to

your home what is abiding and strong. Leave the little wild flower where

it was born; leave it beautifully to die at the day's end among all fading

92

blossoms and decaying leaves. Do not take it to your palace hall to
fling it on the stony floor which knows no pity for things that fade and
are forgotten.

ARJ UNA
(FOLLOWS HER) (SADLY) Is ours that kind of love?

CHITRA
Yes, no other! Why regret it? That which was meant for idle days
should never outlive them, Joy turns to pain when the door by which it
should depart is shut against it. Take it and keep it as long as it lasts.
Let not the satiety of your evening claim more than the desire of your
morning could earn. (CHANGING THE SUBJECT) . . . The day is done.
Put this garland on (PUTS GARLAND ON HIM) I am tired. (ATTEMPTING
TO PACIFY HIM) Take me in your arms, my love. Let all vain
bickerings of disContent die away in the sweet melting of our lips.

ARJ UNA
(HIS ARMS AROUND HER) Hush! Listen, my beloved, the sound of the
prayer bells from the distant village temple steals upon the evening air

across the silent trees! (LIGHTS OUT)

93
SCENE V
(LIGHTS UP ON THE ggps)
VASANTA
(BEHIND SCRIM LEFT) (USES ARM MOVEMENTS) (SEEMS TIRED,
RATHER CHILDISH) I cannot keep pace with thee, my friend! I am
tired. It is a hard task to keep alive the fire thou hast kindled. Sleep
overtakes me, the fan drOps from my hand, and cold ashes cover the
glow of the fire. I start up again from my slumber and with all my might
rescue the weary flame. But this can go on no longer.
MADANA
(BEHIND SCRIM RIGHT) (USES ARM MOVEMENTS) (CHIDING, CAJOLING)
I know, thou art fickle as a child. Ever restless is thy play in heaven
and on earth. Things that thou for days buildest up with endless
detail thou dost shatter in a moment without regret. But this work of
ours is nearly finished. Pleasure-winged days fly fast, and the year,
almost at its end. swoons in rapturous bliss.

\

" (LIGHTS OUT)

94

SCENE VI

 

ARJU NA
(LIGHTS UP TO FULL AT CHITRA'S ENTRANCE) (DOWN LEFT,
CROSSES TO DOWN RIGHT) (DISTURBED) I woke in the morning and
found that my dreams had distilled a gem. I have no casket to enclose
it, no king's crown whereon to fix it, no chain from which to hang it,
and yet have not the heart to throw it away. My kshatriya's right arm,
idly occupied in holding it, forgets its duties.

CHITRA
(ENTERS CENTER BETWEEN PILLARS UP CENTER) Tell me your
thoughts, sir!

ARJUNA
(MAY USE THE ENTIRE STAGE, ENDS UP RIGHT) (LONGING FOR
DAYS PAST) My mind is busy with thoughts of hunting today. See, how
the rain pours in torrents and fiercely beats upon the hillside. The dark
shadows of the clouds hang heavily over the forest, and the swollen stream
like reckless youth, overleaps all barriers with mocking laughter. On
such rainy days we five brothers would go to the Chitraka forest to chase
wild beasts. Those were the glad times. Our hearts danced to the drum-
beat of rumbling clouds. The woods resounded with the screams of pea-
cocks. Timid deer could not hear our approaching steps for the patter
of the rain and the noise of the waterfalls; the leopards would leave

their tracks in the wet earth, betraying their lairs. Our sports over,

we dared each other to swim across turbulent streams on

95

our way back home. The restless spirit is on me. I long to go hunting.

CHITRA
(CROSSES DOWN LEFT) (EXPLAINING THEIR SITUATION) First rim
down the quarry you are now following. Are you quite certain that the
enchanted deer you pursue must needs be caught? No, not yet. Like a
dream the wild creature eludes you when it seems most nearly yours.
Look how the wind is chased by the mad rain that discharges a thousand
arrows after it. Yet it goes free and uncouquered. Our sport is like
that, my love! You give chase to the fleet—footed spirit of beauty,
aiming at her every dart you have in your hands. Yet this magic deer
runs forever free and untouched.

ARJUNA
(CROSSES TO HER) My love, have you no home where kind hearts are
waiting for your return. A home which you once made sweet with your
gentle service and whose light went out when you left it for this wilderness ?

CHITRA
(TURNS FROM HIM, CROSSES CENTER) (INQUIRING SADLY) Why
these questions. Are the hours of unthinking pleasure over? Do you not
know that I am no more than what you see before you? For me there is
no view beyond. The dew that hangs on the tip of a Kinsuka petal has
neither name nor destination. It offers no answer to any question.
(TURNS TO HIM) She whom you love is like that perfect head of dew.

ARJ UNA

(CROSSES TO HER) (PUZZLED) Has She no tie with the world? Can

96

she be merely like a fragment of heaven dropped on the earth through
the carelessness of a wanton god?

CHITRA
Yes.

ARJUNA
(CROSSES DOWN RIGHT) (WISTFULLY) Ah, that is why I always seem
about to lose you. My heart is unsatisfied, my mind knows no peace.
Come closer to me, unattainable one! (TURNS TO HER) (PLEADING)
Surrender yourself to the bonds of name and home and parentage. Let
my heart feel you on all sides and live with you in the peaceful security
of love.

CHITRA
(CROSSES UP LEFT) Why this vain effort to catch and keep the tints
of the clouds, the dance of the waves, the smell of flowers?

ARJ UNA
(CROSSES DOWN CENTER) (Y EARNING) Mistress mine, do not hope to
pacify love with airy nothings. Give me something to clasp, something
that can last longer than pleasure, that can endure through suffering.

CHITRA
(CROSSES DOWN LEFT) Hero mine, the year is not to full, and you are
tired already! Now I know that it is Heaven's blessing that has made
the flower's term of live short. Could this body of mine have dropped
and died with the flowers of last spring it surely would have died with

honour. Yet, its days are numbered, my love. (URGING HIM)

97
(CROSSES TO HIM) Spare it not, press it dry of honey, for fear your
beggar's heart come back to it again and again like a thirsty bee when
the summer blossoms lie dead in the dust.

(LIGHTS FADE OUT AS THEY EMBRACE.)

98

SCENE VII

 

(MADANA AND VASANTA ARE BEHIND THE SCRIM.) (LIGHTS ARE

FULL ON MADANA AND VASANTALHALF ON CHITRA AS SHE ENTERS

FROM RIGHT.)

MADANA
Tonight is thy last night.

VASANTA

The loveliness of your body will return to the inexhaustable stores of
spring. The ruddy tint of thy lips freed from the memory of Arjuna's
kisses, will bud anew as a pair of fresh asoka leaves, and the soft,
white glow of thy skin will be born again in a hundred fragrant jasmine
flowers.

CHITRA
(CROSSES CENTER, KNEEIS) (PLEADING) O gods, grant me this my
prayer! Tonight in its last hour let my beauty flash its brightest,
like the final flicker of a dying flame!

MADANA
Thou shalt have thy wish.

(LIGHTS OUT.)

 

99

SCENE VIII

 

(LIGHTS ON FULL) (ARJUNA STANDS BY PILLAR DOWN RIGHT)

 

VILLAGERS
(ENTER LEFT, CROSS TO CENTER) (QUESTIONING, PLEADING)
Who will protect us now?
ARJUNA
(CROSSES TWO STEPS TOWARD THEM) (CONCERNED) Why, by what
danger art thou threatened?
VILLAGERS
(MAY USE THE WHOLE STAGE BUT FOR DOWN RIGHT) (THEY MOVE
AND READ TOGETHER UNTIL EXIT.) The robbers are pouring from
the northern hills like a mountain flood to devastate our village.
ARJUNA
(REMAINS DOWN RIGHT) Have you in this kingdom no warden?
VILLAGERS
Princess Chitra was the terror of all evil doers. While she was in this
happy land we feared natural deaths, but had no other fears. Now she
has gone on a pilgrimage, and no one knows where to find her.
ARJUNA
(SURPRISED) Is the warden of this country a woman?
VILLAGERS
Yes, she is our father and mother in one. (EXIT LEFT.)

(ARJUNA SITS DOWN RIGHT)

100

CHITRA
(ENTERS CENTER) Why are you sitting alone?

ARJUNA
(TURNS TO HER, BUT REMAINS SITTING) (SPECULATTNG) I am
trying to imagine what kind of a woman Princess Chitra may be. I
hear so many stories of her from all kinds of men.

CHITRA
(CROSSES TO HIM, SITS) Ah, but she is not beautiful. She has no such
lovely eyes as mine, dark as death. She can pierce any target she will,
but not your hero's heart.

ARJUNA
(RISES, CROSSES DOWN LEFT TO LEAN AGAINST PILLAR THROUGH
CHITRA'S FOLLOWING SPEECH.) They say that in valour she is a man,
and a woman in tenderness.

CHITRA
(USES ENTIRE STAGE) (SADLY) That, indeed is her great misforttme.
When a woman is merely a woman; then she winds herself round and
round men's hearts with her smiles and sobs and services and caressing
endearments; then she is happy. Of what use to her are learning and
great achievements? Could you have seen her only yesterday in the court
of Lord Shiva's temple by the forest path, you would have passed by
without deigning to look at her. But have you grown so weary of woman's
beauty that you seek in her for a man's strength? (CROSSES TO HIM)

(CAJOLING) With green leaves wet from the Spray of the foaming

101

waterfall, I have made our noonday bed in a cavern dark as night. There
the cool of the soft green mosses thick on the black and dripping stone,
kisses your eyes to sleep. Let me guide you thither.

ARJUNA
(AWAY FROM HER DOWN CENTER) Not today, beloved.

CHITRA
(FOLLOWS HIM) Why not today?

ARJUNA
(TURNS TO HER) (ACKNOWLEDGING RESPONSIBILITY) I have heard
that a horde of robbers has neared the plains. Needs must I go and
prepare my weapons to protect the frightened villagers.

CHITRA
(CROSSES DOWN RIGHT) (ASSURING HIM) You need have no fear for
them. Before she started on her pilgrimage Princess Chitra had set
strong guards at all the frontier passes.

ARJUNA
(CROSSES TO HER, DOWN RIGHT) Yet permit me for a short while to
set about a Kshatriya's work. With new glory will I ennoble this idle
arm, and make of it a pillow more worthy of your head.

CHITRA
(MAY USE THE ENTIRE STAGE) What if I refuse to let you go, if I
keep you entwined in my arms? Would you rudely snatch yourself free
and leave me? Go, then! But you must know that the liana, once broken

in two never joins again. Go, if your thirst is quenched. But if not,

 

 

 

 

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102

then remember that the goddess of pleasure is fickle, and waits for no
man. . Sit for a while, my lord! Tell me what uneasy thoughts tease you.
(UP LEFT) Who occupied your mind today? Is it Chitra?

ARJUNA
Yes, it is Chitra. I wonder in fulfilment of what vow She has gone on
her pflgrimage. Of what could she stand in need?

CHITRA
(REMAINS UP LEFT. MAY SIT) Her needs? Why, what has she ever had,
the unfortunate creature? Her very qualities are as prison walls,
shutting her woman's heart in a bare cell. She is obscured, she is
unfulfilled. Her womanly love must content itself dressed in rags; beauty
is denied her. She is like the Spirit of a cheerless morning, sitting upon
the stony mOImmm peak, all her light blotted out by dark clouds. Do not
ask me of her life. It will never sould sweet to a man's ear.

ARJUNA
(THROUGHOUT THE NEXT TWO SPEECHES HE QUESTIONS AND ADMIRES)
(HE MAY USE THE ENTIRE STAGE FOR DANCE MOVEMENT.) I am
eager to learn all about her. I am like a traveler come to a strange city
at midnight. Domes and towers and gardens look vague and shadowy, and
the dull moan of the sea comes fitfully through the silence of sleep.
Wistfufly he waits for the morning to reveal to him all the strange wonders.
' Oh, .tell me her story.
CHITRA

(RELUCTANT‘) What more is there to tell?

103

ARJUNA
I seem to see her, in my mind's eye, riding on a white horse, proudly
holding the reins in her left hand, and in her right a bow, and like the
Goddess of Victory dispensing glad hope round her. Like a watchful
lioness she protects the litter at her dugs with fierce love. Woman's
arms, though adorned with naught but unfettered strength are beautiful!
(WISHING FOR THE STRENGTH AND COMPANIONSHIP OF A WOMAN
LIKE CHITRA) My heart is restless, fair one, like a serpent reviving
from his long winter's sleep. (CROSSES TO HER) Come, let us both
race on swift horses side by side, like two orbs of light sweeping through
space. Out from this slumbrous prison of green gloom, the dark, dense
cover of perfumed intoxication, choking breath.

CHITRA .
(REES, USES ENTIRE STAGE AREA, ENDS SPEECH DOWN RIGHT)
Arjlma, tell me true, if now, at once by some magic I could shake myself
free from this voluptous softness, this timed bloom of beauty shrinking
from the rude and healthy touch of the world and fling it from my body
like borrowed clothes, would you be able to bear it? If I stand up straight
and strong with the strength of a daring heart spurning the wiles and
darts of twining weakness, if I hold my head high like a tall young mountain
fir, no longer trailing in the dust like a liana, shall I then appeal to a man's
eye? no, no, you could not endure it. It is better that I should keep
Spread about me all the dainty playthings of fugitive youth, and wait for

you in patience. When it pleases you to return, I will smiling pour out

104

for you the wine of pleasure in the cup of this beauteous body. When you
are tired and satiated with this wine, you can go to work or play; and when
I grow old I will accept humbly and gratefully whatever corner is left for
me. Would it please your heroic soul if the playmate of the night aspired
tobe the helpmate of the day, if the left armlearned to share the burden ef
the proud right arm?

ARJ UNA
(CROSSES TO HER, SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH OF HER) I never seem
to know you aright. You seem to me like a goddess hidden within a golden
image. I cannot touch you, I cannot pay you my dues in return for your
priceless gifts. Thus my love is incomplete. Sometimes in the enigmatic
depth of your sad look, in your playful words mocking at their own meaning,
I gain glimpses of a being trying to rend asunder the langorous grace of
her body, to emerge in a chaste fire of pain through a vaporous veil of
smiles. Illusion is the first appearance of Truth. She advances toward
her lover in disguise. But a time comes when she throws off her ornaments
and veils and stands clothed in naked dignity. I grape for the ultimate you,
that bare simplicity of truth. (CHITRA BEGINS TO CRY) (HE REACHED

HER BY NOW AND CARESSES HER) (LIGHTS BEGIN TO DIM) Why these

 

tears, my love? Why cover your face with your hands? Have I pained
you, my darling? Forget what I said. I will be content with the present.
Let each separate moment of beauty come to me like a bird of mystery
from its Imseen nest in the dark bearing a message of music. Let me
forever sit with my hOpe on the brink of realization, and thus end my days.

(LIGHTS OUT)

105
SCENE IX
(IEHTS ON SLOWLY TO FULL TO THE FIRST "I AM CHITRA, , , ")
(ARJUNA SITS DOWN RIGHT PILLAR AND REACTS TO ALL CHITRA
SAYS)
CHITRA
(ENTERS ABOVE PILLAR LEFT, AND USES THE ENTIRE STAGE FOR
THIS SPEECH IN WHICH SHE TOTALLY REVEALS HER LOVE AND HER
TRUE SELF.) My lord, has the cup been drained to the last drop. 18
this, indeed, the end? No, when all is done something still remains, and
that is my last sacrifice at your feet. I brought from the garden of heaven
flowers of incomparable beauty with which to worship you, god of my
heart. If the rites are over, if the flowers have faded, let me throw them
out of the temple. (REMOVES SARI AND IS GLAD IN ORIGINAL MALE
ATTIRE) Now look at your worshiper with gracious eyes. I am not
beautifufly perfect as the flowers with which I worshiped. I have many
flaws and blemishes, I am a traveler in the great world-path, my
garments are dirty, and my feet are bleeding with thorns. Where should
I achieve flower-beauty, the unsullied loveliness of a moment's life?
The gift that I proudly bring to you is the heart of a woman. Here have
all pains and joys gathered, the hopes and fears and shames of a
daughter of the dust; here love springs up struggling toward immortal
life. Herein lies imperfection which is yet noble and grand. If the
flower-service is finished, my master, accept this as your servant for

the days to come! I am Chitra, the king's daughter. Perhaps you will

106
remember the day when a woman came to you in the temple of Shiva, her
body loaded with ornaments and finery. That shameless woman came to
you to court you as though she were a man. You rejected her; you did
well. My lord, I am that woman. She was my disguise. Then by the
boon of the gods I obtained for a year the most radiant form that a mortal
ever wore, and wearied my hero's heart with the burden of that deceit.
Most surely I am not that woman.

I am Chitra. No goddess to be worshiped, nor yet the object of
common pity to be brushed aside like a moth with indifference. If you
deign to keep me by your side in the path of danger and daring, if you
allow me to share-the great duties of you- life, then you will know my
true self. If your babe, whom I am nourishing in my womb, be born
a son, I shall myself teach him to be a second Arjuna, and send him to
you when the time. comes, and then at last you will truly know me. Today
I can offer you only. Chitra, the daughter of a king.

ARJ UNA

(RISES, GOES TO HER, HOLDS HER) Beloved, my life is full.

(W. )

CONCLUSION

Chapter V

CON C LUSION

The validity of this adaptation can be conclusively determined
only by presentation. The purpose of this conclusion, then, is not to
speculate concerning the results of what might form another study, nor
comment upon these Speculations. It is to summarize the discoveries
which have been made during the course of this study of the production
of 99.19.21. as an example of Indian dance drama adapted to the stage
conventions of the West.

The first and most basic schism between the two forms cannot
be overcome. This deals with the dramaturgical backgrmmd of the
forms. The very essence of the dramatic in the West involves the
creation of dramatic tension. On our stage emotion meets emotion,
giving the audience a vicarious experience which mentally and emotionally
inspires. Our drama is a growing and flexible form which had a Spon—
taneous beginning. It has never, for any long period of time, been
forced to adhere to rigid rules. Themes of the plays deal with virtually
any subjects which strike the playwrights' fancies. Any type of believable
peOple may live in the dramas. And, because the Western audience is
accustomed to release from tension created by the drama, falling
action has become a standard part of the plot structure.

The classical drama of India, however, creates sentiment rather
than deep emotion. The audience is given a spiritual experience through

association with the beautiful. In keeping with its religous purpose,

108

109
Hindu dance-drama had a rigid religious beginning. The subjects of the
dramas are taken from the lore of India. Themes do not necessarily
deal with modern problems. Characters are two-dimensional, their
purpose is to create rasa and assist the progression of the plot rather
than portray deep emotion. The plot is structured without denouement,
for rasa is best created if the audience is left at the peak of the situation.

However, upon reading Chitra, one realizes that this is not a totally
foreign approach to our concept of theatre, for the script is a delightful
one to read which has something to say to the Western audience, and one
which should be interesting in performance, for there is also something
of suspense as to whether or not Chitra will retain Arjuna's love at the
conclusion.

In production all of the original symbols of this dramatic form are
lost. The West is accustomed to suggestive realism in all aspects of
production. The Hindu drama is almost entirely symbolic. The theatre
building, scene design, lighting, properties, costuming, make-up, and
acting are so symbolic as to further an impression of beauty for rasa
creation. Since the symbolism is completely foreign to the West, each
of these facets of production has been adapted semi-realistically to the
Western stage, in such a way as to attempt to preserve the Indian flavor
of the drama while making the experience interesting and meaningful to
the audience here. The theatre building would be almoSt any small,

conventional one in the West. Scene design and lighting would be

primarily nonrepresentational with suggestions of realism, using the

110
Tree of Life and projections on a scrim to suggest a forest. No properties
would be used, but the dancer -actors would pantomime the action when
necessary. Costuming and make-up would coincide with the Western
concept of East Indian dress. And the acting would be modern dance
with the lines spoken by the dancer.

Only one problem is considered by this thesis, that is making a "
drama of remote symbols understandable and enjoyable to a Western
audience. The way in which this is accomplished can be simply stated:
the symbols of such a drama are adapted in such a way as to suggest
realism. This is obvious and logical, for the Western audience needs
realism with which to associate for dramatic tension to be created.

Each facet of this or any East Indian drama must be adapted realistically
or semi-realistically. The rationale for the entire adaptation has been
firmly laid in preceeding chapters; therefore no need exists to
recapitulate the rationale at this point.

The type of adaptation suggested here would apply to other East
Indian dramas. Among these dramas are several of Tagore's.

King£f the Dark Chamber, The Cycle of Spllng, Sanyasi or the Ascetic,

 

 

Malini, Sacrifice, The Kigand the Queen, Karna and Kunti are among

 

these. All of these plays are available through the Macmillan Publishing
Company, New York, New York. Shakuntala, by Kalidasa, who has
been called the ShakeSpeare of India, could also be adapted in this
fashion. These, in my Opinion, are the Indian dramas to which this

theatrical approach would best apply. This is the case with all of these

111
plays for three reasons. First, all of them are Indian, that is they

conform with the demands Of the Natyasastra and are not Indian adap-

 

tations Of the Western form. Second, all Of these scripts have interest-
ing plots; they are not poorly written plays, but have something to say
tO all human beings. And third, all of these scripts are available;

Tagore has translated his own plays, and many translations Of Shakuntala

 

are available.

The purpose of this thesis, then, has been fulfilled. This was to
be a basis for adapting (113E119. or any other East Indian classical dance-
drama to the Western theatre. The theatrical forms Of the two cultures
have been compared, and the adaptation of M is complete with
rationale for production here. Not only Chitra, but any Of the plays
suggested in the conclusion could be adapted in a similar fashion. This
type of adaptation does retain the flavor of India, yet will be meaningful

to the audience Of the West.

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