IRLF

The A. D. A. Publication Series No,

THE

PLAY OF BRAHMA

AN ESSAY ON THE

DRAMA

IN

NATIONAL REVIVAL

JAMES

H.

COUSINS

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

(AN

ESSAY ON

THE DRAMA

IN

NATIONAL REVIVAL)
BY

JAMES

H,

COUSINS

PUBLISHED BY

THE AMATEUR DRAMATIC ASSOCIATION, BANGALORE CITY.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR,

"THE RENAISSANCE
plementary volume
the
to,

IN

INDIA"
K. \v
'>;

coin
"

"THF
in

CHAHMA
that-

showing drama that uic uc'ux

Revival.

cultural

forces
tlx-

other
o.x-scHt

the

\atumal

"THE KING'S WIFE"

of "RANI

A drama on
in the

the

lite

MIRABAI" conceived

Indian

spirit,

and carried out according to the principles down in the "THE PLAY OF BRAHMA."

laid

Re.

I.

Both published by

GANESH &

CO..

MADRAS.
-

NOTE

This book

is

the second

of the

Amateur
first

Dramatic Association Publications, the

of

which was the

JVir..

lecture on

Drama

East and

West' by

C. R. Reddy.

The contents
by

are an extension of a public lecture given

the author in Bangalore on the 12th

December

1920, with

Mr. C. R. Reddy, M.A V> Inspector-

General of
the chair.

Education for Mysore

State,

in

The purpose which

the

Amateur

Dramatic Association had

in view,

in inviting

Mr. Cousins to deliver the lecture,

eliciting

was the

from him, as a dramatist and produin

cer of plays

connection
of

with

the

Irish

Dramatic

Revival,

some

principles

and
for

information which might help a

the bringing of the stage into

movement

more intimate

association with the present National Revival.

507189

The

Association takes this opportunity of

thanking Mr. Cousins, a

art,

warm

lover of Indian
of
in

and a

gifted

exponent
kindness

the

Indian
it

Renaissance,
to include

for his

allowing
as

his

valuable

contribution

the

second

of the series.

CONTENTS

I.

The Play
modern

of

Brahma

An

ancient story and a

interpretation.

II.

How

the

drama may help

and
controller.

in National Revival

as nplifter

III.

Wanted

History of Indian Drama, (with a

sketch of the Sanskrit Drama).

IV.

Wanted

An

Indian Dramatic Criticism, (with

its

an example of

application to the subject-

matter of the Drama).

V.

The Law

of Dramatic

Unity applied to

the

construction of the Drama.

VI.

The Law

of Dramatic Unity

applied to the

medium

of expression, (with

some remarks on

western opera).

VII.

The Law

of Dramatic Unity applied to the cast.

(with a criticism of the all-male stage).

VIII.

Concerning elocution, gesture and grouping.

IX.

Concerning dressing and mounting, (with

flections

re-

induced

by the Japanese

Classical

Drama).

X.

call for

Devotees

to the Yo.ua of

Drama, with

some account

of their necessary qualifications.

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

AN ESSAY CTN THE DRAMA NATIONAL REVIVAL.
I

IN

Indian drama, like other Indian arts, is credited with a divine The Play of Brahma, Ancient scrip~ an ancient story and how the God tell tures '/ modern inter preIndra, at the instigation ta ti on%

'

of other

Gods,

who

felt

the burden of celestial inactivity, approached the supreme Brahma with a request that

by means of which their eyes and ears would find exercise and enjoyment. The Creator thereupon went into meditation, and out of His meditation
create a play

He would

gave

forth

the

Natya

Drama.

This

fifth

Veda of Veda was not a new Veda,

Veda,
or

but a compilation from the others.

Rig Veda (the Veda of from the the dance

;

From the Praise) Brahma took Sama Veda, music

;

from the Yajur

Veda

(the

Veda
;

of Liturgy)

he

took gesture and expression

and emotion

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

from the Atharva Veda (the Veda of Evocation.) When the Drama Veda was given forth, the divine architect, Vishvakarma, was instructed to build a stage in the

heaven of Indra.
;

Bharata was made stage-manager and an ancient treatise on the dramatic art is

The

rishi

the Bharata Sutras which, whether we grant them earthly or heavenly origin, are assigned a remote date, the fourth
attributed to
in the

him

century B.C., and find their highest expression works of the immortal dramatist Kali-

dasa in the sixth century A.D.

The
anity

were

parables of the founder of Christidefined as earthly stories with

heavenly meanings. Here we have a heavenly story with an earthly meaning, that is, a

meaning

translatable

into

terms of

human

experience and understanding, provided we

take the loftiest possible view of the nature and function of art, and especially rid art of the petty utilitarianism of mere amusement or

even instruction.

We

might approach the truth

of this story

of the origin of the

drama by way

of

Indian

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

commentary
perhaps
"
;

but intellectual conviction will

if

profit

we
of

turn instead for a clue

to

The Philosophy

Fine Art

"

as presented a

century ago, not in Asia but in Europe, by the

German philosopher Hegel

(1770-1831).

as a vast nerve-centre through

life

Hegel visualised the manifested universe which potential

life

Both extremes We have no are beyond human cognition. We have direct knowledge of archetypal life. no direct knowledge of the perfected life. But these ultimates loom as vast Presences on the horizon of the human consciousness, which can
passed to
realised.

touch only the process of the universe, the perpetual movement in time and space, and,
out of this touch, infer behind the process a
Before,

and beyond the

to Hegel,

process an
is

After.

This touch with the universal process

made,

by a principle of polariaccording sation (the maintaining of effort in a particular

direction without distraction)
in all
is

which

is

inherent

phenomenal

life.

The

universal totality

the supreme act of polarisation. All the details of the totality share the same power

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

according to their degree. To Hegel the arts are the most effective form of polarisation. They
put us intimately in touch with the process of

Becoming.
vividly
that

Through
there
is

the

arts

we

realise

something pressing the form of art from diffuthrough particular sion to definition. The arts are, consequently,
to

Hegel not matters

an
essential
is

of

pleasure

only, or

aesthetic futilities, but

tion of

means to the satisfacand everlasting need so

long as humanity

humanity.
never

The
from
art's

great artists have

moved

far

this central truth.

in

cosmic process when,

Tagore glimpsed the presence of one of

supreme expressions, the Taj Mahal, he sang of Life whose call is to the Endless, and who leaves her memories to "the forlorn The purpose of art to him forms of beauty.
'

is

Divine realisation, and participation in the Divine joy, that is, the cosmic process. A
to

static art is therefore

him a contradiction
of art

in terms'.
is

The essence

and

of

art-pro-

fluidity, gress that does not go forward with the

constant

motion.

The

art

process of

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

;>

the universe perishes. The secret whispered " at the ear of Shelley when he sang, look

We

before and after, and pine for what is not." In that pining there is indicated the power of

response to the call to the Endless, to the push of the Great Life as it passes from non-

being to Being.

So
has

far as

we can

judge,
is

it

is

not until the

the universe
of

element of awareness that

in

been elaborated

to

the

state

human

consciousness, that systematic organised efforts are made to come into conscious contact with
the process.
religions,

These

efforts

are

seen

in

the

which

sciences, philosophies, arts and are but so many methods of polarisation.

certain related elements

They gather up

from

the conglomerate stuff of life, and out of these build a pyramid whose apex may peradventure feel the high invisible wind of the Divine

Purpose, and draw to

nation.

itself

the flash of illumi-

All efforts at synthesis have the

;

same

purpose
is less

but

in the synthesis of the arts there

distortion of purpose, less stultification of

aspiration, than in a religion (another^synthesis)

^
whose aim

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

.is

selfish,
its

exclusions vitiate
that runs to brain
of

or a philosophy whose conclusions, or science

and reduces the vital Process

to

the

Divine

Life

lifeless

textbook

system.

drama appears to Each possess the highest synthetical power. of the single-purposed arts (painting and sculpture, music and literature) may invite

Among

the

arts,

the

us towards the secret by one or other of the gateways of the soul. But the drama knocks

simultaneously

at all the doors.

It is

itself

^/

It draws together by its synthesis of the arts. a number of related elements polarising power

out of the incoherent welter of

that are as
little

life,

elements

related in their points of agree-

ment
ear,
it

as in their points of conflict,

the instrumentality of brain

and

and through heart, eye and

brings us nearer than the specialised arts

do

to

an apprehension of a creative power mov-

ing through the process of the

realisation of itself.

drama

to fuller
is,

That dramatic process

indeed, but a miniature of the universal process, a miracle of interdependence in the several

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

apparently separate parts, and a miracle of unity maintained by a controlling power which

works both within and

without

the

parts.

When we

wish to express

in a figure of

speech

our sense of some large deprivation, when the main matter of interest has been taken

away from some event, we liken the occasion to the play of "Hamlet without the prince." But
there
is

the other side

of

the

matter.

What

would the prince be without the rest of the characters of the drama ? We think of him as a whole and complete person, but how

much
if

of

our Hamlet
all

in the

we took away

that

mind would remain we derived as to his

Polonius and and Horatio, of gravedigger the king and queen ? Very little, just as little as would reamin of any one of ourselves if we cast away all that we have derived from others. We think of ourselves as separate and distinct
Ophelia, of the
persons,
fractions,

character from the remarks of

whereas we are

only fractions of shadow-characters evolved out of

the joyful interplay of the as the Hamlet within the

Divine Dramatist,

mind was evolved

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

out
of

the

interplay

and creative joy

of his

creator,

Shakespeare.
to
us.
It is set

The

stage

is

shifted

from the theatre

which our bodily vehicle

up in the high places of the soul from which flow the streams that nourish and sustain the outer life. Our " individual stage is in that bit of the heaven of Indra" which is within each of us, just as
conveyed
the heaven of Indra in the story of the origin of the drama was made the location for the Play
of

Thus ancient vision and modern psychology are at one. The puranas and the German philosopher speak the one truth.
Brahma.
So much
general.
for the true nature of
shall

drama

in

We

find these considerations,

at first

remote though they may from the noise and glare

of service in thinking

sight

appear

of the ordinary stage,

how

related to the spirit of

is

drama may be national revival which

the

abroad

in India today.

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

The drama only

the

lives

in its process of

becoming.
dnund m(u)
reading
the
first

Stop your
a

of

play at
;

sentence

close

your ears
the

after the
in

drama

precedes India, and the drama will remain

you.

invocation

that

non-existent to
life.

The drama -flows

It

into

Fixity is fatal to it Krishna said the universe

exists, as Sri

exists,

by action,

action

prompted by the Lord himself, as the action of the drama is prompted by the author* We see therefore that the drama can only
remain true
to itself

by remaining disinterested

'among

the conflicting elements that exist It in healthy struggle in national renaissance* and in national tendencies may expound
all

individual action, and thus act

national

as

an aid
;

to
it

and individual

realisation

but

cannot, at the peril of

slave

its life,

make

itself

the

propaganda or of the thing called public taste, which is not a taste but an" appetite* Attachment to objects or the fruits of
either of
:

10
action
is

THK PLAY OK BRAHMA

a capital offence in the laws
It is

of

the

spiritual

life.

the same in the laws of the the help which the stage

dramatic
can
give

life.

Hence

must be general and supple, not particular and rigid.

to

national

awakening

Thus only will it enrich the national consciousness and emotion and in return, the whole of
;

the national

life

will

enrich

the

drama, and

the joy that has marked all great creative movements in the arts. The great days of Greek drama thrill with the joy of the

impart to

it

discovery and evolution of the art itself. spacious days of Elizabeth are aglow with

The
the

enthusiasm of the re-discovery of the drama

simultaneously
with
the

discovery

of

the
of a

national consciousness of

England and

world beyond the dreams of the ancients. The Irish dramatic revival, which began a quarter
of a century

ago and only recently died out,

the high joy of the discovery of the soul, though in chains, and of the power of the

knew

immortal
"

self

over the limitations of -matter,

All Ireland

must walk the

the

stage,"

said

its

leader, \V. B. Yeats, at

beginning of the

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

11

movement, with great wisdom. But his successors were not so wise, and the movement

moved
"

not on but
All India
that

off.

must walk the

will

stage."

This

is

the

carry the drama to its The greatest service to the national revival. spirit of renaissance does not work through

slogan

one aspect
a vivify

of the national activity only.

all.

It

is

tension bearing down on

It

will equally
in

opposing

interests, as

we

see

India

today.

can only serve the whole national purpose by rising above details. We may admire or condemn the particulars of

Drama,

therefore,

a landscape garden that appeal to or clash with

our predilections. It is only from above that we can realise the whole idea of the master

On the ground we may come into gardener. more intimate contact with the details ot
nature, but nature

us

when we

probably more obliged to take our stand on an eminence and

is

get a glimpse of her whole intention. Fidelity to nature in the arts is a wise precept, but lei

us be careful that, a fragment of nature,

in

we

exclusive fidelity to do not prove unfaith-

12
fill

THK PLAY OF BRAHMA

to

some other aspect

of

nature,

and so
in

unfaithful to the whole.

Fidelity to nature

the

drama has too

been

often, in other countries than

in

India,

interpreted
set

justification

of

a
is

narrow actualism, and

her whose office

that of illumination to the business of scavenging.

It is

only as the drama rises towards the

its

ideal that

vision takes in

all

the

elements

that

make

for

coherency and
is

true

judgment.
the

This coherency
pursuit of

only attainable through

some purpose
it

that perpetually calls

that
in

drama upwards. the drama fails, as

the

When
did

purpose
the

fails,

age that

Shakespeare, when his "cloudless, " boundless human view was lost, and the drama of the decadence took to the psychofollowed
logical microscope,
of
all

people decadent eras in the arts

in various

and to humourless analyses " humours." The lesson of

is

that

we cannot

ignore the natural law that the arts in renaissance must have a purpose not a moral tag tp
a particular play, but, controlling, dignifying, inspiring all, a tendency towards something
loftier

than tho

word spoken or the gesture

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

i

13
steadily

made
see
it

an aspiration to see
whole,

life

and

present steadiness and wholeness.

and

to

it

with equal

Besides

this

high

purpose

of

expression to the

drama

that

complete counts its stage as built in the

for the edification of the

national

giving the life,

heaven of Indra

God-

in-man may exert a chastening and restraining influence on the national activity, not only by
the balancing power of its whole presentation, but also by the subtle satisfaction which the

very nature of its process is capable of giving to both the elements of disruption and continuity
that

mix in varying disproportion We are all heart and mind.

conservatives,
in

in the

human
and
turn,
of the

radicals
in

spots,
in

in

streaks,

individually and

groups, and out

struggle of volatility with fixity arises evolution. When there is an: inartistic disproportion of
either element

there

is

exaggeration
'

at

one

time, and
another. balance.

the

exaggeration
true

of

reaction at

The

dr&ma

can induce the

it

In plot

and incident
iristincts.

may

gratify

the most volcanic

'Alt he same time

14
it

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

must move forward, and
its

movement must

he by way of the natural logic of event and character. There can be no drama without the
clash of

human motive and

desire,
is

but

if

the
Its

clash ends in fragments there

no drama.

disorder rooted in order must stand,

or rather

move
to

in lines of

divergence and convergence

If

towards fulfilment.
the

Ireland had -been

left

dramatists, things

would be

different

now.

For centuries the Protestant North and

religious

the Catholic South were at

yet the simple
play,

human tragedy of my "The Racing Lug," taken from the

drew
tears
in

enmity one act

;

life

of

the Protestant North,

from a Catholic

audience

man

Dublin, when a Catholic young acted with great insight and sympathy

the part of a Protestant clergyman, Shaw's play, "John Bull's Other

(that
is,

Bernard
Island,'

Ireland)

drew

applause

from

the

occupants of the theatre gallery by a hit at the occupants of the dress circle. Five minutes
afterwards
a cheer from the pit for a double hit at the gallery and the dress circle.
it

drew

Ten minutes afterwards

the

pit

joined with

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

the others in a great laugh at
of the play
itself.

15

At the end

everybody went home happy in the of the thought that everybody had got a share all laughing sarcasm of a cosmic mind.
'*

and I suppose got a bit of a dressing down we all needed it," said one to another.

Ill

If

the

drama

is

to take its

proper place the National Revival

rea li sa ti O n

in in

\Vunti><l>~

HixhH'u of
drith

India as an instrument

Indian
K/wtrh

Drawn
of
tlic

both

Qf

of

the national conscious-

Drama.)
the national activity,
it

ness and ot control

ot

must

first

same

double

service to

itself.

perform the At present,

speaking very generally, the Indian drama is so far from possessing the dramatic consciousness that
at
all,
it

does not know that

that in

it

is

not

drama

and

the

history

of!

dramatic

16

THE PLAY OK BRAHMA

development it stands where the English drama stood a thousand years ago. I am not referring
to

the actual
its

state

of

the

whole
I

of

Indian
refer-

drama from

origin until now.

am

ring to the present state of

the

Indian

stage,

which makes hardly any use of the dramatic material which had reached a high level of
rea4

dramatic attainment before the

little

drama was born, and

material of daily
fore necessary
life.

English use of the dramatic

things are
there-

Two

if the drama of today is to be and vivified a historical purified survey of the past achievements of the Indian stage, for the

purpose of inspiration and suggestion and the development of an enlightened, balanced and
;

fearless

dramatic
call

criticism.

Both

of

these

matters

exercise of great industry, great exercise of the power of intelligent

for the

synthesis

and
;

interpretation,

great

wisdom,

great courage devotion that

but

can

they are worth all the be given to them, for

in

Bharata

still

stands
is still

the

prompter's place,
invisible
all

Visvakarma

the builder of the

theatre in the heaven of Indra,

and behind

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

is

1?

Dramatist seeking those who will worthily play their parts. Let us consider, then, these two matters of dramatic history
the

Divine

and dramatic

criticism.

The Indian
it,

stage, as

we

historically

know

began in much the same way as the Greek The stage and the later European drama;

two epics (the Mahabharata and the Ramayana) were read in Sanskrit in holy places. By and

by the vernaculars took up the work. Music and gesture were added. Drama at this stage
was limited
from the epicsdialogues between Mahadev and Devi Parvati, Sri Krishna and Arjuna,
to

dialogues

Scholarship has not yet uncovered the line of evolution from these beginnings to the fully developed Sanskrit drama, which is usually dated

from Kalidasa

in the

sixth

century
to
in

A.D., but the recent discovery of the dramas

of

Bhasa indicates an ancestry of genius Kalidasa, and indicates also what may be

store for researchers in dramatic history.

18

THE FLAY OF BRAHMA

From
festivals,

plays in the speech of

"

the

(prakrit), including

mysteries"
plays,

people enacted at
Sanskrit

and Buddhist

the

drama arose. Kalidasa and other drew their inspiration from the Brihat Katha, a collection of prakrit stories \vhich was a mine of folklore. The evolution of the drama was, according to scholars, free from Greek
dramatists
influence*

Buddhism,
its

forbidding of
is

notwithstanding the followers to attend theatrical

performances, used the stage for propaganda

(as

Japan today), and between the third century B.C. (the age of Asoka) and the seventh century A.D., a period of a
it

doing

in

thousand

years,
"

produced

large

dramatic
present

literature, of

which, however,

little is at

known
of the

save the

J^agananda

"The Rejoicing

Snakes,

the supposed royaf author of "The Clay Cart," which is occasionally put on the stage today, fourteen centuries

After Kalidasa,

came

after its composition.

In the

first

half

of the

seventh century there was a period of dramatic

activity,

the

most prominent production

of

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

"

19

which was Ratnavali " (The Pearl Necklace) which is .attributed to Bana, the chief author
of

the

time.

Bhavabhuti flourished

in

the

second

He

seventh century in Berar. was a pure idealist, and took his themes
half of the

from the Ramayana,

In

the second

half of the eighth century

Bhatta Narayan dramatised stories from the Mahabharata but the Ramayana has proved a
inspiring source of dramatic material, and, by providing a central theme popularly known, has given to India a drama national
in

more

theme, though expressed in languages as far

removed
in

Nepal and the Tamildesa, which, terms of the map of Europe, is from London
as

"The Little Ramayana" was done by Rajasekhar. The Sanskrit drama has
to Constantinople.

only
cal

plays that deal with themes outside the epics, that is, with histori-

two

prominent
"

Malavika and Agnimitra by " Mudra Rakshasa" by Vishakhar Kalidasa, and datta who is said to have been a contemporary
subjects,
of

"

Bhavabhuti
1

(late

seventh century) but his

junior in years.

In the early twelfth

centur^

20

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

Krishnamishra wrote "Prabod ha Chandrodaya'

(The Rising of the Moon of True Knowledge) in which he praised the Vedantic philosophy
through personifications,

The development
India implies a fixed

drama of place of abode and liberal

of the classical

patronage. These conditions, however, cannot obtain save in large centres of population,
or
in. small

The

vast

centres of special cultural activity. majority of the vast population of

India lives in villages, and their

demand
it

for

was in days- of old) had to be met by simple and portable means. The Mahabharata and the

drama

(a

very insistent

demand

today, as

Brihat

Katha

tell

of

puppet

entertainment*
as

(marionettes),

wire-pulled epics, but, being nearer the people than the cultural drama, they freed themselves from restrictions as to their matter,
expositions of the

These

began

two

and branched out

porary interest.
In
tracted

into subjects

of

contem-

the fifteenth century, drama had conto one-act prahasaiias (satirical

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

comedies)
of

21
''

which
is

"

Dhurta

Samajam
These were
festival in

(Rogues
farces

in

Council)

typical.

the lineal descendants of the rough-and-tumble

associated

with

the sonut

Vedic times.

The Indian drama had

a period of obscura-

tion in the thirteenth century,

when the Muslim

the theatre.

power gained the ascendancy and abolished But the fourteenth century saw a

revival of the Sanskrit

quality,

drama

in the north.

Its

however, was below that of the drama of the age of Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti. In the
south,

the development

Krishna brought artistic Dramatic representations into the drama.

worship of Sri and emotional energy

in

of the

the yatras, or processions, gradually migrated from the temple compounds to the village To this day the " Krishna-leela" is theatres.

very popular.

The value

of the theatre as

means

for

the propagation of religious ideas was recognised by Chaitanya in the sixteenth century,

That great religious reformer encouraged the

22

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

for the sake of
its

drama
ties.

educational possibili-

His

disciples, notably

Rupa Goswami,

poet

Karnapur, who dramatised his master's life; contributed to

and

statesman,

and

the Bengal stage.

These names cover

dramatic
activity.

fifteen

centuries of

They

refer

only to the

classical Sanskrit

drama.

mere
is,

fraction.
it is

they refer to Vast as the field of research

it

Of

microscopic compared with the area of exploration offered by the vernacular

here

drama.

Five years ago

read in the Christian

College Magazine a series of articles on the

Malayalam drama which gave me a hint as to the work that should be done by enthusiastic students of the drama in all the linguistic
areas
of

India.

This work might

of

be done an

under
Indian

the

auspices

central body,

which would guide, support and co-ordinate local study, and then

Academy

of Arts,

make

the results

known

all

over the country.

monthy magazine would help the work and

stimulate esprit -de -corps among the workers. There we must leave the matter of the history

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

r

23

of the Indian drama,

aid to

the

and turn to the second purifying and vivifying of the

view to
its fulfilling

theatre in India with a

its

proper service in a time of national awakening dramatic criticism.

IV

We

have already touched by inference on certain important

matters concerning the

Wanted^an Indian Dramatic criticism (with mi example of /As- apph7 ration to the wbgeet-ifyat-

..

.,

matter siwject C the drama, which

..
.
,
.
-

,7

j.

of
'<

is
t
k

l:

terc/ the drama.)

tne
of

first

consideration
;

dramatic

We
all

criticism. M H
;
.

have seen that true drama must present sides of the* national activity, and in order

to

be truly dramatic, must present certain of these activities in opposition. There can be

no shadow without
light

light.

There can be no
is

without shadow,

There

enough and

to spare of
life

dramatic light and shade in the of India, but unfortunately that life is so
inhibitions,

hedged about with

and expressed

24

THE PLAY OK BRAHMA

terms of male predilection that courage has deserted the stage. The
so exclusively in

dramatists, in their fear

of

some notion
ed
"

that a century or

offending against two has render-

sacred," have committed a capital offence against the drama itself by yielding to the

mass idiosyncracy, which in India is called Indeed in their shirking of the religion.
business of
narrative) the

the

drama

(to

be drama,

not

compilers of

already familiar stories of

ses

new versions of Gods and Goddes-

to religion itself bya realistic familiarity with establishing crudely

have done a dis-service

Divinity that robs

it

of

wonder and power.

The

Ravana can hardly have merited the punishment of sidling on to a stage lest either
sin of

extreme of his ten heads might collide with a canvas tree, and of singing songs through
a perpetual effort to

remember not

to

turn his

back

audience for fear the strings and laths of his four dummy heads on one side
to the

and

five

on the other side

of

his

active

face

should be seen.

The

true

business of the

drama

is

to

lift

the spectator to the

heaven

of

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

25

Indra within himself, but such realistic presentations leave nothing to the imagination.

They

are

all in

down
all

drag the Gods to the level of earth, which would be

eye and ear.

They

right
of

if

they preserved the demeanour and

power

Gods.
(if

Dramatic criticism

we

are to have a real

dramatic criticism in India*

and there can be

it)

no dramatic

revival

without

will

have to

deal with this matter very

intelligently.
It will

frankly,

and very

have to study carefully

the

influences
in

decay
It

marked the periods of the drama in Greece and England.

that

may be

forced to the conclusion that the

proportion of sacred to secular in the

Indian

\/ drama must be reversed. to bear in mind that

But
it

it

will also

have

cannot escape the

national religious tendency, and it must find means to satisfy it, and from it to bring enrichment into the drama. It is not our concern to

deal exhaustively with

will

this

matter here.

It

that

be enough, by way of suggestion, to say the sending back of the Deities to the
Indra does not

stage in the heaven of

mean

26

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

the banishing of religion from the earth-stage, Rather does it mean the reverse ; it clears th e
stage
for

convincing representations of

the

religious

impulse expressing

itself

through

human

characters.

Thus may

the

drama be

put to the service of religion instead of chaining religion to the drama, to the detriment of

The Gods have had enough of bad elocution (with the ancient muclras or ritual
both.

gestures forgotten,) enough

r

of

tawdry

and

gaudy scenery and dressing enough of the crowning sin against art of forcing the Devis to express themselves through harsh male
voices.

The

art

of

the

drama has

suffered

immunity from criticism which the presence of even bad represenbecause of the
artificial

tations of Divine personages induces. Religion

has suffered because

representations

many

generations of such
in

have ended
if

familiarity
at
least

which breeds,

not

contempt,

dulling of spiritual perception and

of response to spiritual ideas.

power Let the Gods

all will

the

remain

in their

heaven for a while, and

be right with the dramatic world.

Then the

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

27

stage can serve the great mission of stimulating personal and national righteousness by presenting

human
life

tions of

beings struggling against the limitatowards the higher life, perhaps

a

having as

reward

for

self-sacrifice,

and

aspiration backed

by deeds, a glimpse of the

Divine Face,

v
Such
a change, even
if it

be but tempothe the

.

rary,

in

The La,, of Dramatic

applied tv the Con,

subject-

matter of
will exert

d
rt

xtruction

f the

.,

n Drama.

an influence

of

on the technical matter dramatic construction which dramatic critiwill

cism

have

to

observe.

In

the present

state of the

Indian drama (speaking generally,

and recognising exceptions like Tagore's plays and certain social dramas in the vernaculars \ the appeal of the drama is based on things outside the drama, mainly on religious presentations and expressions which evoke a
fragmentary response from fixed centres in the

The true the spectator. appeal must be within the drama

mind
of

centre
itself,

of

and

28
the

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

power to respond to it must come out of which can react to the unfamiliar, not out of custom which only answers dully to the familiar. The wheel of the drama must have
culture
its

nave within
it

itself,

not outside
in

its

rim.

Only

thus can
it

move, and only

the
all

participate in
artists

movement can cosmic Becoming. The

and
places
to

great

of

times

have,
this

intuitively or consciously,

conformed

law.

Tagore's ''Sacrifice", while dealing with matters of a religious nature, does not depend

on them.
struggle of

Its central interest

(which any nonitself)

is

Hindu can grasp from

the

drama

the

the priest against circumstances which run counter to his most cherished beliefs.

have had to argue with a clever lawyer who, drugged into dramatic stupidity in one lobe of his brain by prevailing false

Yet

theatre standards, maintained that

the

drama

was an

attack on

Brahmans,

In order to bring to the Indian drama tileintellectual and artistic stimulus of true construction,

symmetry, mental architecture, the

present preponderance of mere narrative will

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

have
to

29

be reduced almost to vanishing point.

is

Drama
and
;
.

life

not story-telling, it is story-livijig in the dramatic sense, like life in the

;

ordinary
I

sense,

is

forever

new,

original,

\vonderstruck, self-centred.
finish

Brahma did

not

the Natya
at

He

is still

Veda thousands of years ago. work on it, with eternal fresh-

ness and vigour. That is why Tagore has said that every morning is a new wonder in the It does not 'eyes of God. depend for its authenticity and appeal on what somebody has said about it, or on its squaring with any
or philosophical principle. The rise of the curtain on the drama should be as the
scientific

opening
tion,

of a

new morning.
part

It

should be crea-

not

commentary

though
of

commentary

will

naturally form

the process of

creation.

The process
matter of
It is

of dramatic creation

is

not

irregular and irresponsible action. a psychological process, the building up

of

whole impression

in

the

mind

of the

spectator through a sequence of events through

which

certain persons express

their

thoughts

30

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

feelings.

and

The

effect

produced depends on
of the

the order in which the action

play

is

If a certain cumupresented to the mind. lative effect has been built up, and is then pulled down by some awkward anticlimax or

some delay

in

the

action,

the

play

is

con-

demned as ineffective. If at a critical moment when great issues are hanging in the balance,
a
trivial

remark

is

made, or the tension

of

emotion suddenly gives place to some cold" intellectual disquisition, we know that an error
of construction has

edifice of

been made. The subjective the drama has been marred by the

intrusion of

rough foundation material

at

a
in

point where only the finest wrought design

marble

is

appropriate.

The
tic

ancients found out the laws of drama-

do not need to construction long ago. go through the whole process of discovery

We

again.

We

can begin where they

variations.

left off,

and

make our own modern

of discovery

Their joy

was among the roots. Ours is among the floxvers. For the revival of the Indian drama there is great need for the obser-

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

vance of the
law of dramatic unity.
It is

31
this

that will guide the dramatists of the

new age

who
and
day.
time,

will

give the Puranas a well-earned rest, take to the creation of the Puranas of to-

The Greeks observed

place and
after'* in

a close tri-unity of
\vas

action.

There

no
to

"

twenty

years

their play-bills.

Everything

went on continuously from moment

finishing,
if

moment,

possible, within a day.

the

drama

to

one place.

They did not

the
"

They held jump

Elizaa

about

in the

bethan
street
"

gymnastic fashion of and Indian stage from

"

scene,

to

scene,

another part of the same

street",

made

The Greeks also again. the action of the drama move inevitably
and
back

They ruled out irrelevancies and comic relief. The effect, therefore, of the Greek drama is of an accumulation of
intense mental

towards the climax.

and emotional

interest

which

completely absorbs the spectator.

The Elizabethan
the art for themselves a the Greek the

dramatists, discovering

thousand years

after

drama had

died,

came

also

upon

law of dramatic unity,

but with them,

32

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

in
spirit of the time, it expressed as a unity of personal characterisation.

and
itself

the

The Greeks exhibited humanity

\vith their

in conflict

environment, Fate taking almost corporeal form in such a tragedy of inevitaThere is a certain bility as Oedipus Rex.
a certain heroism

humility in the estimate of human power, and on the human side of the
struggle, that invests the

Greek drama with

marvellous,
bethans,
r

if

gloomy, nobility.

The

Eliza-

w ith

characteristic egotism,

and with
put the

a wider psychology than the Greeks,

pow er of Fate
r

inside the human protagonists,

its

and

let

it

work

will

through the wavering

impulses, the varied motives, the excesses and defects of human character. Hamlet is a
tragedy,

not of the

inevitability

of

external

circumstance but of the inevitability of a particular inescapable temperament. This unity

of character
is

the thread

by which we can
Shakesperean
scenes,

guide

ourselves

through the
shifting

labyrinth of
find our

constantly

and

way

to the final effect,

which, accord-

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

ing to Walter Pater,
is

33

the

ultimate test of a

work

of art.

Henrik Ibsen, the

Norwegian

Shakes-

peare (with a difference) of the late nineteenth century, perfected the unity of idea in the

drama.
are

The

characters of his
of ordinary

social

dramas
clay,

men and women

human

but worked up to a remarkable fineness of texture by the fingers of a testing power which
is

not the vast

Presence of Fate that

light
of

the

Greeks expressed. The is not of the sun but

about

them

the

laboratory.

We

feel

that

they

are
in

being

scales
interest

and
in

watched

tubes,

weighed and our

them becomes

a fever that refuses

food

and

drink until the

absorbing

pro-

blem on the dramatist's chessboard is solved. The secret of Ibsen's enormous power on the European drama a quarter of a century ago was that, in an age of romantic decay, when the weakest forms of sentimentality wandered and maundered across the stage, he Hung the
cold water of pure classicism over them and "gave the stage a tonic shock. People regarded

34

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

him as something new, but he was Ben Jonson and John Dryden reborn in one brain, studying humanity on his stage as a psychologist studies a patient, and in his method making
a short leap over the heads of the nineteenth century romanticists to the strict mentality of

the Augustans, and a long bound from thence There is this diffeto the unities of Greece.
rence,
to

however
unity
in

while the Greek adherence

time,

of

down

place and action ties us corner of the universe, Ibsen's

tenacity

to the

unity

of

idea (the dramatic

vivisection

neurotic

men and women in certain states) ties us down in a corner of the

of

dramatist's brain,

where
in

for a while

we have
of so

some

hectic

joy

the

fascination

peculiar a position, but from with a considerable sense of

which we escape
relief.

The

steps

in

the

dramatic unity are plain,

development of this from the elemental

unity of the Greek stage to the emotional unity of the Elizabethan stage, thence to the

mental unity of the Norwegian dramatic movement in her

stage.

Ireland,

of

the

last

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

twenty years,
stage

35

gave
the
;

indications of the

next
of

by

using

dynamic

power

spiritual impulses

but the achievement

of

dramatic expression of a spiritual unity was not given to her because the bulk of
full

her dramatists were followers of the half-gods and lacked the power to lift their stage to the

heaven
stage to

of Indra.

It

remains for the

the

Indian

do

so, for India has in her

possession
life

the fullest knowledge of

mystery of

and death, of Nature and Divinity, and out of that knowledge can make a dramatic polarisation (if she but will to do so) that will lift the
imagination of humanity nearer than got to the mystery of the universe.
it

has yet

The substance

of

what we have said

construction
the
to

as to
of-

the subject-matter and the

drama may be summed up in The drama can permit no rival

phrase:
itself

to

occupy the stage at the same time. There can be no divided interests, otherwise the effect
will

be lost, polarisation will be impossible. division of interest keeps the outer critical consciousness awake and in a state of reference

36

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

interest to another.

from one

This

is

fatal

to

concentration

and

the

polarisation
to

which

glimpsing the whence and whither of the cosmic trend is

Hegel

refers to as the

means

but another

name

for the Indian

one-pointedness beyond Bliss is reached. The great

yoga towards which the Divine

artists

in

drama

(from whom, and not from critics, \ve derive the laws of drama and dramatic criticism)

reduced the element of

rivalry to a

by

the

principle

of

dramatic

minimum The unity.

Greeks,
action,

by

their
it

made
at

unity of time, place and physically as well as mentally

impossible for two rival dramas to

stage

be on the

calling like a

freedom

Shakespeare, Elizabethan for good space and the for expansion, seems to be

the

same

moment.

antithesis of the Greek,

Yet his exuberance

root.
to

is

elaborated from a
plots, \vhich

single

His counter-

would appear
to

be a negation of
seen,

the law of dramatic unity, are

observation,
be,
for
all

on close
self-

their airs of

sufficiency, but whirlpools

of the

on the main stream

dramatic action, -symptomatic of and

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

contributing
revelling
in

37
Ibsen,

to

the

general

flow.

narrowness
his

and
"

contraction,

scanty plot of ground," keeps so tenaciously to the unity of idea that he leaves the spectator no moment
intensively
cultivating
of relief in
is

which to entertain the idea listening to a drama of idea.

that

he

VI

The same law

The
,,

of

unity

(it

is

master-

Law
,.

of Dramatic
to

patent) holds

good when

Hed
tic

^
must en-

Unity applied

the
.

Mednan

of hpresston

matter in which dramacriticism

(with some remark* on Western Opera.)

gage its attention, the matter of the medium

prose, or poetry, with

of dramatic expression

or without music.
criticism

Here,

however, dramatic

must walk

warily, for things are

more

complicated in expression than in substance. It would be easy to say that in a drama that
dealt

w ith
T

the

prose

of

life

(that

is,

the

so-called realistic drama) the language should

38

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

to say that

poetry the romantic or is, exalted) language of the drama should be poetry. But the prose of
(that
life is

be prose. It would be equally easy where the drama is of the nature

of

never

all

prose.

There are moments

of

of

squalor voices and high passionate rhythm for their utterance. Besides, when the drama of
call for
life's
life
;

exaltation even in

the midst

that

prose
it Is-

is

put upon the stage

it

is

no longer
in

a selection from
;

life, set

moving

a special direction

it

can never be an exact

reproduction of

life; it

can only be a similarity.

Logically therefore the prose

just as the poetry

drama ought

to

concede something to these moments

of poetry,

drama (from Shakespeare to Yeats) has conceded something to the moments of prose upon which the most exalted and romantic drama frequently stumbles, by giving lines of poetry to characters in what be rnay^ considered a poetical attitude, and sentences
of prose to other characters
level of the earth.
It is

who are

nearer the

possible, of course, for

a great artist to

make

either

concession,

and

yet to retain a consistent style throughout his drama, by variations in language but these

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

39

considerations do not at present apply to the Indian drama they are mentioned by way of
;

suggestion for the future, for revival in any department of life has a tendency to induce At preparallel revivals or even innovations.
sent there
is

poetry

in

no actual equivalent to spoken the Indian drama, no step between

;

and since there is little or prose and song none of the drama of ordinary life presented on the Indian stage, we have to catalogue the
rest

(which

is

practically the whole) as

it it

music-

drama, or, We can give

opera,

as

is

called elsewhere, opera.

its

even

sub-title,

Italian

which

consists of a series of clear tunes

recitative

(gitam\ connected sometimes by

(a kind of prose of music,) sometimes by spoken This kind of opera in the West has, prose.

however, long since fallen from favour with the leaders of the stage. It did not satisfy the
sense of symmetry, the feeling for the
of subject,
to

unity

form and expression.

inartistic,

It

was made by the

appear thin,

amateurish,

great genius of Richard Wagner, the vital unity of the drama

raising the

who achieved
and music by

drama some degrees towards the

40

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

it

heaven of Indra, and giving

perfect voice in music.

He

a complete and took ancient tales

of mythology and romance, invested them with a sense of wonder and significance whose

only possible means of expression

is

music,

and composed for them a type of music .which which was their invitable mode of utterance. Wagner's drama can only be expressed through Wagner's music. Wagner's music can only Each is impossible express Wagner's drama.
without the other. This
is

the highest achieveis

ment

of art.

Its

impression

very deep and

lasting.

unity of musical expression which is preserved in the European grand opera is not,

The

however,
opera.

only difference from the Indian There is another difference of a much

its

more fundamental

kind.

We

have said that

Wagner composed
of

for his music-dramas a type music which was their inevitable mode of

utterance.

This

may be

said

of

all

western

opera. Each melody (gitam) is a new creation by the composer, his utterance in music of

the emotion which arises out of the passing

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

phases
of
is

41

the

action of

the

drama.

The
creates

music
his

original.

The composer

own gitain,

or, rather, lets

the story trans-

through his brain into its inevitable musical expression. It is possible (I have done it myself) to put other words than the
late itself

original to a particular tune

and

its

accompani-

ment of harmony with its special emotional movement and mental idea but it is an exceedingly difficult process, and the results
;

are usually unsatisfactory.

who

put different words to become popular along with

Moreover, a poet a tune which had

its

own words

would provoke more displeasure than pleasure.

some exceptions already acknowledged) proceeds by methods which are exactly the reverse of those of

The Indian drama

(with

European opera. Its stones are not original. They are well [known narratives retold (for the most part undramatically) from classical Its music is not original, but simply sources.
the

adaptation of familiar author's rendering in words.

gitams
It

to

the

moves from
in short

spoken prose

to

music and back again

42
jerks.
It is

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

quite obvious that a large number of people enjoy the drama but it is equally obvious that the enjoyment is spasmodic.
;

Spectators

come and

ago, late

and

early,

some
the

retiring for long intervals in the course of

performance.
is

This makes for distraction, and

of

opposed to the concentration and attention which a work of art

presented demands and
of this lies in

interest

artistically

induces.

The cause

the very nature of the drama Its reference to familiar as at present staged. themes makes enjoyment a matter of reminiscence.
in
"

Kabir's philosophical disquisitions " Ramadas touch the religious sentiment.

well-known git(tm sets the hand beating the talcum (time) on the thigh, and the lips

murmuring the melody in the personal enjoyment of old friendship renewed. In short,
the

enjoyment

of

the
the

music-drama
drama.
in

rests

on
of

interests

outside

The law

dramatic unity not only

in expression has

construction

but

been ignored. Polarisation has not taken place, and (whatever have been
the

moments

of pleasure

through the repetifailed to catch the

tions of familiarity)

we have

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

cosmic
Process
fulfilled.
thrill that

43

comes from contact with the moving from life potential to life

VII

The

foregoing considerations refer to the drama from the side of

/)/(( tuff fir

L'ttr nf J
/

nity applied

to the

Cast
the

the author,
f

.,

who
the

is

res-

<

with a

criticism

<>f

Pnsible
matter
its.

for the subject

ll-mAfo stage.)

of

drama,
its

construction and
r

form

of

expression*

When w e

turn

to

the

of presentation (the selection of the the actors, grouping of the characters on the stage with the appropriate movements of each, the dressing and mounting of the play) we

method

the law of unity a masterkey. Shakespeare would not entertain very friendly feelings towards a stage-manager Who
shall find here also

gave a
thin

fat

Caesar",

actor the part of Cassius in Julius for the whole nature of Cassius is

;<

and

bony,
of

and hardly needs,

dramatist's

for

the

ratification

the

psychological

44

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

portrait, Caesar's expression of dislike for thin

men

like

Cassius

who

are

always thinking.

Thinness

and

conspiracy,

good-nature, are pairs ments cannot be interchanged without danger.

plumpness and whose human embodi-

Hamlet exclaiming "Oh that " this too, too solid flesh would melt produces does and not the mood of laughter, tragedy,
very stout
only because of the want of unity between the personality and the idea, but because a gross Hamlet is out of keeping
so not

with the spareness of melancholy, the ascetic and sorrowful leanness of the doubly bereaved
prince of Denmark, whose body, light though " it be, is a "too, too solid burden on the weary

shoulders of the grief-stricken soul.

There must be unity between the ideal portrait of the dramatist and the physical
personality through

which

it is

sought to be
after
this

revealed

and

it

was the
the

feeling

unity that ultimately

the western
portraits
of

banished forever from

inartistic

stage

anomaly

of

women
The

acting of men.

presented through the ideal of the Elizabethan

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

stage

45

was
'

"

To hold
but the

as

'twere a mirror

up

to

nature

mirror

must

itself

be

capable of reflecting the nature before which A male mirror is, to say it is to be held up. but half equipped for the work the least of it,
of

reflecting

drama
with

that

is

human life it men playing women's parts. In the Xoh drama of Japan a woman's voice would
destroy the effect of the deep-toned guttural chant in which the whole drama is expressed. But the nearer the drama comes to human life,
the

In humanity. only remotely connected with is possible to achieve an effect

a

dual-sexed

generalised is its presentation of character, and the more intimate and subtle
its

less

at

psychology becomes. A point is reached which the distinction of sex must be made
the
physical
to

in

presentation,

otherwise the

drama goes
not

to pieces.

True
There
real

art,

however,

is

content

wait

for the reaching of this

is,

point of
of

compulsion.
of
art,

from the point

r

view

no

justification

for the

parts by men. The practice on custom whose sanctions is based wholly are extraneous to the drama, and it will be the

playing of

women

16

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

which
will
in

business of the dramatic criticism

arise in India to challenge

these sanctions
give,
if

the

name

of art,

and make them

they

can, a true
limitations

and complete justification for the which they impose on the present-

ation of the drama.

The

preservation

of

the

appears to be the chief aim of their exclusion from the stage.

chastity of Indian

women

The

implication of this plea has a lurid reflection on the moral integrity of Indian men, who,

presumably, are the persons from whom Indian women are to be protected. If this plea is
truly founded, then
it 'is

time for

art to

claim

that Indian

great art

manhood, instead of stultifying the which is so powerful a means to the

Process,
its

realisation of the Divine

should

set

about the work of purifying

own thoughts
is

and establishing
its

self-control, as

enjoined

in

scriptures.

do not myself believe

that

this plea is a true one.

it

Whatever
past,
I

justification

may

have had
it

in

the

believe

that

today

only exists by favour of the deference

to tradition

which

is

so

marked

feature
of

of

Indian psychology.

Let a

number

devoted
aspini-

men and women

of intelligence

and

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

tion, well

47

known

for the integrity

and happiness
of

of their lives, take

up the reformation

the

drama
For
a

in this

sentation

important matter of a full prethrough male and female actors.

while they will have to meet the dull opposition of conventionalism, but after five
years

they will have

fear.

swept the stage free of

of those
it is

suspicion and the minds

who

really

matter free of
that,
is
it
if

Meantime,

my

opinion

the plea of the preservation of chastity a true one, and founded on a real necessity,

defeating its o\vn ends. have had five years' intimate acquaintance

has succeeded in

Indian youths, and have participated with them in the production of a number of dramas
\vith

from Shakespeare, Tagore and the vernaculars, and I have observed that the making up of /a
lightly

built
to

boy

of feminine

features

and

play the part of a woman, has exercised a disastrous sex-stimulation on the

movement

imagination of other boys, and-has led in some

cases to practices of a most degrading nature. For the doubtful preservation' of the chastity of a hypothetical Indian wbman, the chastity
of several real Indian youths

has

been

sacri-

48
ficed.
It is

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

an
ironical but

natural

nemesis,
of repute
fail

The
and
to

presence on the stage of

its

women

of high artistic attainments, could not

and restraining influence on a race predisposed by its religious teaching

shed
uplifting
to the idealising of

womanhood. The
fear
r

practice

of exclusion,

through
as

has

induced that
in

which
disease

it

feared,

timidity
invitation

the

face of

is

direct

to the disease,

A demand

for dignity

and purity

of

life

on the

Indian stage will have its beneficent reaction As it is, however, in relain the auditorium. tion to this matter, the mind of India has
polluted
itself

by

its

own

fear of pollution.

Japan has taken steps to break the con-

male monopoly of the stage by conceding a number of weeks in the Imperial Theatre at Tokyo to combined male and I have carefully studied female presentations.
vention
of
,

both the exclusive male performances and the

joint

performances.
I

Both are excellent.

No

of can compare with the stage that Japanese for beauty and finish. Yet one sees
in

know

these

performances the contrast between

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

male

49

mimicry
and
by

of the external signs of

woman-

hood, character

the
real

creation

of

true

womanly
binds
art

acting from women; the

artifice

difference between clever

that

our admiration
that
lifts

to the thing done,

and true

moving

us to the perception of larger Powers on their divine way through the

process of the drama.

It

may
is

of course

be argued

that,
is

when

drama

written by a man, there

no reason

why
in
it.

man should
But there

not act the part of a woman is a very deep difference

of a

between the creation

nation,

woman

in the imagi-

and the physical embodiment of the There is something of the woman character. in every man, and something of the man in every woman, but this something is involved
subtly in the convolutions of the inner nature is below the surface of our human earth, it
;

profounder than the moving waters of emotion, higher than the hills, deeper than the valleys
of

hiding place is the secret recesses of the soul, where there is neither
Its

our thought.

male nor female, but both

in one.

That divine

50
explorer,
essential

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

the

Imagination,

may

track

the

thing to its lair, and, coming forth again into the light of expression, may,

human

through some special fineness and sensibility

of brain

form

to

and body, give perfect shape in dual the qualities which we distinguish as
said,

masculine and feminine.

women have
fiction

has

No woman writer, delineated women in

truth
spirit

with the

intimate

of
in

George

Meredith.

The moving
fight for

women
in

during their

enfranchisement

the

West was
James had broken
is

so

truly

sung by the

Irish poet,

Stephens, that
in

women winced
their secret.
. .

as
.

if

he
it

upon

But

quite another matter to give a living theatreembodiment to the woman of the imagination.
Qualities of thought

and feeling

that

may be

surmised, hinted at, suggested, conjured up by the magic of written words that one hears

momently on the
have, on the

lips of to

both

men and women,

in

stage,

be actually shown

physical appearance, movement. It is here that the male

gesture, facial expression,

embodi-

ment

fails.

Its

its less fiuidic feeling, its

ruder form, its coarser fibre, colder and harsher

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

mentality,
its

51

heavier voice (which the Japanese theatre has tried to overcome by the cultivavibrate
that

tion of a stage falsetto), cannot

fectly
to

per-

the

feminine

expression. detail the action of the

ation,

The male

quality actor may simulate

in

seeks
in

woman

the imagin-

complete give coordinated presentation that silences criticism

but

he

cannot

the

by

its

truth

and

its art.

VIII

What

applies

to

the
actor

personality

of the

applies

also
to
is

to

Concerning Elocution.

and
nnj

Gesture,

and Group-

gesture,

and

stage

grouping which

only

collective gesture.

To

"

action

sounds a quite simple rule of gesture But "the best laid unity. making schemes of mice and men" and stage-managers
for artistic

suit the action to the "

word, the word to the

are upset by the contrarieties of

human

nature*

Men and women who

daily
life

express themselves in with conviction and with harmo-'

nious gestures and expression of face and

52

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

have a knack of turning into some kind of animated mechanical affairs when set on a stage.

As soon as human beings become self-conscious they become unnatural, and they have to be

won back
rate

to the path of nature

by an elaboIt is

inducement called

training.

passing

strange that beings

who

are born

with

hands
as
to

and

feet,

and wear them twenty-four hours a

strict training

day, have to go through a

what
stage:

to

do with them when

the details of this

With
r

repose on a training, howin

ever, the dramatic critic has

little

or nothing to

do, but he w ill be

the better able to appreciate results and to appraise earnest effort if he

all

knows something of the principles of good He will learn gesture and stage composition.
this

by

mainly by intelligent observation guided a few general principles such as the

.

following.

The

art of elocution, that

is,

of clear

and

and good gesture and facial has two aspects, that of the platform expression, and that of the stage. Platform elocution is
attractive speech,

usually of the nature of recitation

which des-

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

crihes something exterior
to

53

the elocutionist

and removed
occasion of

in

time and
recitation.

place
Its

from

the
are

the

gestures

therefore of a descriptive

and distant nature,

gestures of daily
life.

not

at

all

the

common

Stage elocution, on the contrary, is of the nature of personation, the taking on of a character in circumstances which are immediate to

both actor and auditor.

intimate,

Its

gestures

are

explanatory where necessary, but mainly expressive of the ebb and flow of emotion, the rise and fall of
therefore

emphasis.

(This

is

general

rule.

It

does

not, of course,

apply
or

to recitation

which may which may

have for
present
arise

its

purpose the conjuring up of a

to

scene,

narration

during the course of a drama.)

The
ate

test of

gesture

is its

power

to illumin-

or intensify speech. actor put up three fingers

three

We
a

have seen an
stating
that

when

men were coming

The

along

road

in

the

was unnecessary, Another actor, speaking therefore inartistic. of a sound that he had heard, put his hand on
distance.

gesture

54
his
ear.

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

The
gesture

suggested

that

the

audience was not aware as to what particular organ the actor heard by. This was somewhat
superfluous,
therefore inartistic.

mimetic gestures such as these are all useless things are obnoxious to true

Mere crude useless, and

art.

The only true gesture is the gesture which interprets or reveals something which, without
the gesture,

would remain obscure.

We
;

have
;

already seen that gesture should be natural we now see that it should be necessary that
is

to

say,

art

decides decides

when
its

gesture shall

be

used,

nature

character.

Loose,

extravagant, superfluous gesture indulged in at the opening of a scene will rob the climax
of its
effect,

since

further

intensification

of

gesture will be either impossible or hysterical. Simplicity and restraint should therefore be

observed as
will

far

as

possible.

A
at

achieve far more effect

with
the
lifting

quiet actor the proper

moment
exertion.

of a finger than an

unrestrained actor will achieve

with

much

Grouping whole stage.

is,

It

were, the gesture of the has to be viewed as a picture

as
it

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

55

seen from the auditorium, a picture having at any moment the static quality of a painting on
canvas, but at the

same time moving in accordin

ance with the mental and emotional flux of

the

unseen drama

the

minds

of

actors.

Disproportion, angularity, distortion, incoherence, crowding, the hiding of one actor by

another, the predominance of the minor,- the relegation of the important to the background;

these things must be eliminated from the

sentation.

pre-

which would raise itself towards the heaven of Indra must offer no
stage

The

obstructions of ugliness to
perfect beauty
;

the

inflow

of

the

which comes from true artistic harmony it must free itself from all elements of disunity that would tend to arrest the process of polarisation out of which comes the
real joy of the theatre.

56

THK PLAY OF BRAHMA

IX

Last of the elements in the presentation of the drama, as distinct

Concerning dressing
find
.

from

its

Mounting
,

authorship

//////

r/><i

..

..',

flections on.

lift'

and

//

by

th<>

cldsfaal

comes the dressing and Here the mounting.

law of unity applies as
forcefully as elsewhere.
in

f /r,'t

ma.

We

need not therefore consider the matter

It is

detail.

of daily life

simple enough where the drama is concerned, though even here one

has to avoid a too

the details of outer

scrupulous imitation of
the dressing of

life in

the

characters and the furnishing of the stage. spectator will not miss what is left out in

The
the

way
of

of furniture or ornaments, but the placing

in

an object
in

significant

position
action.

greatly intensify the effect of the

maj The

letter-box
Doll's

the
"

back

of

the

door

in

"A

House

by Ibsen becomes a

terrible

engrossment as the play develops, because of the importance that it assumes from what
eventful

missives

may

fall

into

it

from

an

unseen hand. ...

It is

when

the subject of

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

the

;>/

drama

is

remote from

actuality,

when

it

is

romantic or mythological, that artistic -taste must be used in the preservation of a true
unity between the soul of the
visible body.
I

drama and

its

can conceive no splendour of

colour too great for the expression of the glory of God, ''Whose dwelling is the light of setting

suns

"
;

but

can

conceive of nothing less

calculated to express godly splendour than the glittering costumes that are put on the Gods

on the Indian

stage.

admit that

in this

the sway of a prejudice of or tradition. The English stage, temperament with the exception of ancient and now

may be under

unknown Mysteries and

comparable
Deity.
Its
is

Moralities, has nothing

familiarity
to

to

the

Indian

with
inner
the

nearest
a ghost.

approach

the

worlds

Jesus-leela

after

manner

of the Krishna- leela

would

so outrage

Christians that they

mand

would break every comMaster against violence, and leave the stage a mass of wreckage. This western exclusion of Deity from the affairs of
of

their

the theatre has not been

good
to

for

either.

It

has

left

the theatre open

degrading

influ-

58
ences,

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

and
it

tion of an elderly gentleman,

has earned for Deity the reputawith no sense of

humour, and always in a hypercritical mood. On the other hand it has led to conceptions of
ture

and power in imaginative literawhich might not have expressed themselves had the English stage, like the Indian
great dignity
stage, set the

Three Persons

of

he Trinity

in

movement, with speech and form, and so made them concrete to the mind. There is inescapable anthropomorphism in either case but
;

there

is

something
qualities to
in

fine

in

the

lifting

of

human
Divinity
to

the

them, me, something not

to earth

and

heavens and robing there is, it seems

fine
in

bringing the
in
tin

Gods
and
It

tassels,

and clothing them pasteboard crowns and

sequins macus.

may be argued that these things are only their symbols. This would be complete
justification.

crown is not tin sword is a symbol, it is an imitation. not a symbol of a real sword or of what
But
a pasteboard

it

stands for

it is

sword made
tinfoil
or.

of

tin

(or

of

wood covered

with

perhaps).

True,

a pasteboard

crown

tin

sword may be

THE PLAY OK BRAHMA

taken
as

59

symbols
point
I

of

authority and
to

power
is

there

emphasise an alternative, to imitation swords and crowns which may be found to be much
is

but the

wish

that

more

convincing
of

and moving,
;

because
that
is,
;

it

escapes the challenge of actuality

the
the

method

-simplicity
to

and

suggestion

reduction

of any clashing with mixture of actuality symbolism, and the indication of qualities by the power of noble

minimum

suggestion which resides in the lines of a flowing robe or a plain circlet about the head.
In the mounting too, a far deeper be got by suggesting the presence
effect

can

of

foliage

than by putting up painted trees whose leaves do not shake in the wind but whose supposedly

immobile trunks bend

to the

touch of the

passing actor.

(and I pass them on, not as infallible dogma but as sugI

came

to these convictions

Japan the performance of western grand opera by a Russian company after a seven-years interval without seeing any
gestions)

by seeing

in

opera, and by seeing the classical

Noh drama

60
of Japan.

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

As
I

followed the

performance of

the opera, I began to wonder what was wrong with it or with myself. "The wondering

began," (as

wrote
of the

in

special

article

in

'The

Japan

Advertiser')

"with

the

stage

comportment performers, and I have been asking myself how it comes about that
every
of
little

turn of action in a

Noh
in

play

is full

some queer overhanging

did not
irritate

significance, while

hardly a gesture or

movement
.me.
I

the
I

opera

think

grand have
to
art at

found the reason for a friend's statement

me
all,

long ago that grand opera but a mongrel affair of pictures trying
is

not an

to

sing and music

then,
I

Why
same

paint its face. have asked myself, not have the

trying to

feelings

over the

Noh drama

It

has

scenery and music and action. True, I reply to myself, but these things are reduced to a

ceremonial simplicity and unity, with the end in view of producing by suggestion
state of

a single artistic

impression.

The scenery

is

a painted pine-tree on a back wall,

where no

pine tree would allow itself to be discovered but it achieves its effect by not pretending to

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

be a
real pine-tree.

61
is

The accessory music

on a
flute,

beat on a drum, a strain

a vocal

chant in a deep guttural cry. monotone, and move like beings in another When a man has to be spatial dimension.
actors
killed,

The

he

retires

from the stage some minutes

before the fatal blow, leaving only his space for the symbolical death-thrust. The Noh play
also puts a

mask over the

bare-faced

vagaries of expres-

sion

in the

drama.

characteristic expression of the

4

The single mask is always

to
I
.

in the picture',

how

lacking in

was surprised the monotony which

I
.

and

find

had
This

use of the mask. expected was what be some may people call art, myself, but it is not life,
this

said to

"

And

that,

think,

is

just the

point.

We

are constantly mixing up these quite different functions of the human ego, and so tying our thoughts in knots. Art is art, and life is life.

There are subterranean connections between

them, of course.
Art that
is

untrue to the

great basic principles of life and nature is not true art life that is not lived artistically,
;

62
that
of
is,

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

in

line with the

great fundamentals

beauty and symmetry and repose, is not true life. But we make a great mistake when \ve try to thrust the one down the
other's
throat.
it

If

we

try to put
to
life

"
life

"

on

the
will

stage

will

cease

simply be- a piece of

be a stage, and a few feet higher

than the rest for which

to

we
. .

are foolish
.

enough
cannot

pay
is

as

witnesses.

And we

bring the stage into

lived
I

life,

for life as

ordinarily

(the definition

comes from America

believe) "one damned thing after another", while the present art of the stage is one thing piled on another until a climax is reached and
falls.

the curtain

Grand opera
(the

as

ordinarily

mounted and acted

originally laid against
also to

criticism

though

western opera applies very great extent to the Indian music-drama) is a checkerboard affair of life
a
art
;

and

and as each

bites

the

other's

tail,

It adopts the they are mutually destructive. convention of singing, instead of plain speech which would be all right if the whole presen-

tation
to

was consistently conventional. It has move, but the step of nature is dragged

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

after the

63

a jerk (or in the case of the

slow pace of music into a strut and Indian opera into

duplicated gestures following the practice of singing each line twice for some reason that
the art of pure music but is out of It has painted pillars place on the stage). and real chairs and tables. It has simulated

may

lie in

glass

in

its

windows

and actual
the

candles

throwing
"

light on, not through,

windows,
conven-

Dramatic realism and

r*un

artistic

happily in double harness. They belong to an entirely different order of One crawls along the -surface circumstances.
tion

do not

of the earth

the other

flies

above the earth

flat,

and sees
.

it
.

generalised on the
.

so

to

Neither can you have real speak. realism on the stage I mean honest, unblushThe more real it is the ing, complete realism.
;

less
left
?

is

it

art.

What,
?

then,
so.

Convention

Quite

ask myself, is And it is the

conventional arts (the arts that make detail subservient to a coordinating idea) that have

been and are the living arts. The great age of the Greek drama was the age of masks and

64

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

scenery
or

conventionalised
scenery.

rather

lack

of

Shakespeare was born, dramatically It was in the conspeaking, on bare boards.

vention the
y

ritual, of

the

drama

of old that its

life

power and

life lay,

and

that

power and

can

only be touched again artistic convention.'

when we

return to pure

M for Devotee* tvth,account of their

.

Let us remember (coming to the conclusion of our study) that,

however
.

satisfied

Yoga of Drama, with

.,
.

are with the rules

and

fsfttne

.^irirwaUjinitim*.

regulations of

art,

we

must always be ready to give elbow room to the genius, whose first pressure will almost certainly be against our
should visualise perfect system. the purpose of artistic renaissance not as the
nice
little

We

fulfilment of itself as an

end

in

itself,

but

as

the fulfilment of the purpose of as yet unmaniThe little laws, that are aids to fested genius.

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

the average,
are
stiff

65

and

self-satisfied.

The
in

Great Law (which we have groped

after

these pages) sends its emissaries into life from the shadowy hinterland of the soul just in

accordance with the demand and the preparation here.

In

art,

as in the
"

life

of the

soul,

the

command
1

of the

Prepare ye the way goes forth, In the vast outer world of un* Lord.
'

awakened humanity, whose inhereat power

is

of

polarisation (to return to Hegel's key thought)

not yet capable of exercise towards the realisation of the cosmic Process, the preparation

may be through
;

debasement

that reaches

point at which necessity invites a Great Interor it may be through a general vention

upward tendency
of Genius.

rewarded by the gift In the little world of awakened

that
is is

humanity, the preparation intensive, and moved by the

conscious and
not

will,

by the
seeress,

compulsion
standing

of

circumstance.
"

in the

midst of the glorious rebuke

of the ruins of Vijayanagar, cried,

Where

are

you,
of
u

Builders

"
?

And
we

a voice came, a note

"

moonlight breathed across the darkness,

are far away, but
are

We

ready.

66

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

In India

we know

the

way

(the 'yoga]

to

the inner

life,

whether
the

its

the way of devotion (bhakti) immediate objective be power, or

knowledge, or super- personality.

r

We

know

power of the w ord, the power of action, the power of the symbol mantra, tantra, are some who are beginning There ijantra. to realise that the drama is all three in one, and in the exercise of its triple power can

To

bring a vast enrichment to the national life. these the Spirit of India is sending out a call for the formation (not necessarily in
organisation but in aspiration and effort) of an order of devotees to the Yoga of Drama, men

and women

of

pure heart and clear head, the

of the
stage,

true amateurs (lovers)

who

will

make

necessary oblation of means and energy and time at the shrine of the Divine Dramatist, seeking only (whether as authors or
the

artists) to serve the

end of creating man in the image and likeness of God. The purpose of

this

Yoga

(the attainment of a realisation of the

Divine Life through contact with its Process, as Hegel has it, or the performance of the Play of

Brahma

in the

Heaven

of Indra, as the puranic

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

story has
it) is, if

67

we have

realised the full signi-

ficance of what these pages have endeavoured to disclpse, not far from the supreme purpose of
life

the union of

human and

Divine.

The

qualities

which
in)
its

this

develops
actor

devotees

yoga demands of (and are no less high

among human
and author

attainments.
alike

They belong
last

to
is

but our

thought

of the author, for to

initial

him (and
in

the providing instrument of polarisation, the synthesis towards unity, the ladder whose top is in the
of

work

her) falls the drama

the

Heaven

of

Indra.

picturesque in' the ordinary, the dramatic possibility in the chaos of detail, this is the function of the artistic eye. But

To

see the

no one can look with perfect

eye
in
it

art

fh rough

the

who
his

is

not

to a
life,

large

extent
to

stranger

own

and

able

look

at

with freshness and wonder and detachment.

The dramatist must have full knowledge of human activity, but the propagandist in him
must have no vested interest in the outcome of the action. He must look with the eyes of

68
his

THE PLAY OF BRAHMA

characters, but he

himself
;

must not be
yet,

seen looking
gaze
is

through them

while his

outwards along characters, he must,

with the gaze of his at the same time be

beyond them, looking at them, otherwise he will be unable to watch and guide their individual and collective behaviour, and so unable to fulfil the law of dramatic unity and
evolution.

The

exercise of this subtle simul-

taneous power calls for sight that can measure the dramatic values of life, for insight that

can unfold

human

character,

and the character

which are but impersonal and impulses which sees from the it calls for foresight beginning to the. end and makes all detail
hidden
in events

expressions of personal motives

converge to the end, for whole-sight that surrounds and permeates every atom of the body of the drama from its first moment till
its last,

that

is

immanent
to
it.

in

the

drama and
does
the
of

yet

transcendent

Herein

dramatist
that

come near
will

the secret

immemorial, and

philosophers continue to puzzle them The so long as they only talk about them.

have puzzled

from

processes time

**

THE PLAY OF RRAHMA

dramatist

69
explain
the

may

not

be able

to

philosophical doctrine of Divine Immanence, e may be ignorant of the controversies over

ranscendentalism

but he can

tell

the philosoof

pher

that

he

knows
as

both immanence and

matters
discus-

transcendency, not sion, but as living

not create his
syllable of
it

processes, for he

could

drama if he was not inside every and outside the whole of it at

the

same time.

The
the arts

great dramatist is the Trimurthi of the Creator passing His vitalising

breath through chaos and bringing it to order, the Destroyer moving from phase to phase of
the process as the action of his behind, the Preserver holding

drama
all

falls

together.

When we
fullness,

understand these things in their and shape our activities to our underof

standing, the day of the coming Kalidasa will be at our doors.

the

new

PRINTED MY
15.

SRKK.MV.YSA
1!

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