About Book
The Natyasastra is probably one of the earliest and certainly one of the best treatises on Indian Dramaturgy. At the same time, the book available now is not an early one but may be as late as the seventh or eighth century AD. The authorship is traditionally ascribed to Bharata, the Sage. The eminence of Natyasastra is not that it was the first book on the subject but that it was the first comprehensive treatise on Dance, Drama and Music. Like the Mahabharata, Natyasastra too boasts that "What is found here may be found elsewhere. But what is not here cannot be found anywhere". To confer upon it prestige as the sole authority, it was described as the fifth Veda-a Veda accessible to all the castes of society. The essential elements of stage-craft have been described by the Natyasastra thousands of years ago. The question arises, naturally, whether such a treatise can serve any purpose of our time. This was the very question which the author set about to explore in the present translation and his notes on each chapter amply demonstrate how latest problems of actors and directors have been anticipated and resolved in it
About Author
Adya Rangacharya was born as R.V.Jagirdar in an established family based in North Karnataka in 1904. He went to Pune and the University of London to pursue a study in linguistics before which he learnt Sanskrit at a very young age.
He returned to India as a Professor and joined the freedom struggle. He entered the field of Kannada theatre during the 1930s as an amateur director and went ahead to write 71 plays and act in 47 full length play
Adya Rangacharya was said to be the Bernard Shaw of Karanataka. His plays, his characters and his themes were as loquacious as himself and often spoke vehemently of social realism, satire, gandhian thoughts, freedom struggle, contradictions within the society, poverty, untouchability, hypocrisies and disintegration in families and marriages.
Some of his acclaimed plays were Shokachakra (Wheel of Sorrow), Udara Vairagya (Renunciation of Livelihood), Vaidyaraja (Doctor) and Narakadalli Narahari , Samagra Manthana (Total Churning) and Agnisakshi (Fire-Witness).
His plays were often narrative in their style and served as the mouthpieces of revolutionists during the time of social changes and a struggle for independence. These plays addressed the major concerns of the changing and adapting Indian society. Unfortunately, a lot of his work still remains unpublished.