Performing Arts & Aesthetics (60)

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    This book was written by an unusual royal court poet of Bhavanagar (Gujarat) between 1885 and 1900. It benefits those readers, music lovers and singers who are interested in having knowledge of our ancient musicology. This book tries to project the style and suras prevalent from ancient to the modern times, and is a very useful guide for the music critics.

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    Shri Sangita Kaladhara; by Dahyalala Shivarama; Hindi translation by Bihari Byohara and Chetna Jyotisha Byohara by: Dahyalal Shivram, Anil Bihari Byohar, Chetana Jyotish Byohar, Prem Lata Sharma, 1,125.00

    This book was written by an unusual royal court poet of Bhavanagar (Gujarat) between 1885 and 1900. It benefits those readers, music lovers and singers who are interested in having knowledge of our ancient musicology. This book tries to project the style and suras prevalent from ancient to the modern times, and is a very useful guide for the music critics.

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    The book conveys the basic principles and allied information on sitar and its music, and vividly deals with gharana, especially its contribution to the existing and traditional Indian classical music, conveying the instrumental aspect of Indian music in relation to sitar playing along with other main musical aspects such as ragas, tals and Senia gharana.

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    Sitar and Its Music by: Pandit Debu Chaudhuri 252.00450.00

    Sitar and Its Music is a revised and enlarged edition of a much sought-after reference book on instrumental music, appeared as Sitar and Its Techniques, in 1981. It is a serious attempt to convey the basic principles and allied information on sitar and its music, keeping in mind its absolute usefulness for the students who want to learn sitar and our great tradition.
    The book vividly deals with gharana, especially its contribution to the existing and traditional Indian classical music. It conveys the instrumental aspect of Indian music in relation to sitar playing, largely benefitting the students of music, especially that of sitar. It also brilliantly covers other main aspects of music such as ragas, tals and gharana. The book is a blend of theory and practice, and an attraction to those who are about to step into the magnificent world of sitar. Its text is easy to read, language is simple, and explanation is elegant.
    This book will be a great asset for every student of Indian music and those who plan to learn and know about sitar and classical music, explaining its theoretical and practical aspects.

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    The book presents a fresh, critical appraisal of the key concepts surfacing from the Natyasastra of Bharata Muni and some of the other landmark treatises, like Abhinayadarpana, Sangitaratnakara, and Nartana-nirnaya to show how these time-honoured writings have contributed to the evolution of classical dancing in India.

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    Speaking of Dance by: Mandakranta Bose 896.00

    Indian classical dance is a ‘high art’. In ancient India, it was even venerated as a ‘sacred’ act. Ever since Bharata wrote his seminal Natyashastra (c. 200 ce), it has been one of the central elements of scholarly discourse, generating a whole host of learned treatises. Mandakranta Bose here takes a close look at this vast Sanskritic textual corpus attempting not only to reconstruct India’s two-millennia-long dance tradition, but also to dispel the historical and aesthetic misconceptions woven around it. With a fresh, critical appraisal of the key concepts surfacing from the Natyashastra of Bharata Muni and some of the other landmark treatises, like Abhinayadarpana, Sangitaratnakara, and Nartananirnaya, the book tries to highlight how these time-honoured writings have contributed to the evolution of classical dancing in India. And, yet more significantly perhaps, the author ventures into a comparatively uncharted terrain seeking to explore the status of performing arts (including dance) in early Jaina tradition. Focussing on the position of dancing in the contemporary cultural life of India, Mandakranta Bose shows how classical dance in India today has achieved a creative blend of tradition and modernity, leading to a vigorous revival of a great heritage, a part of the larger effort towards ‘nationalist rediscovery’. Supporting the text with visual material to correlate the theory and practice of dancing in India, the book offers perceptions that will appeal to everyone involved with performing arts.

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    Surasundaris on the walls of Rani-ki-Vav remind us that sensuality is the doorway to spirituality, that growth and fertility are as important as piety and devotion. The stepwell in Patan is perhaps the most admired structure of its kind and is a testament to the imagination and skill of the sthapati.

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    Stree Ek Kavya (Woman as Poem) by: Harsha V. Dehejia 986.00

    Surasundaris on the walls of Rani-ki-Vav remind us that sensuality is the doorway to spirituality, that growth and fertility are as important as piety and devotion, that even before we undertake dhyana of the deity in the sanctum or in different parts of the vav we must saturate our mind with the beautiful so that we can attain the state of serenity and purnatva.
    Sensually evocative, beautiful from tresses to the toes, with eyes downcast, surasundaris are an expression of unsurpassed grace. They are a reminder that a woman is the most adorned expression of prakriti, that to indulge in it is to affirm our senses and enrich our mind, but the aesthetic journey does not stop there. The contemplative viewer will see the surasundari as a poem and a song, where every limb and every gesture are the lyrics, the texture of the stone is the rhythm, where metaphor is the key that will unlock the many meanings and suggestions.
    The stepwell in Patan is perhaps the most admired structure of its kind and is a testament to the imagination and skill of the sthapati and as we walk through its many-tiered pavilion we almost hear the hushed voices of the queen and her retinue that stayed there away from menacing eyes and sweltering heat. Come, tread softly, as you are entering a hallowed space of beauty.

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    This book explores the roots of kathaka dance forms to reveal its sublime and divine dimension. It discusses the concept of Tantra and Sound and their manifestation in kathaka. It also analyses the distinct yantra formations both in the dance as well as the dance floor.

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    Tantra-Mantra-Yantra in Dance by: Ranjana Srivastava 810.00

    The Indian perspective has always been holistic and all-inclusive: thought and activity in different fields, at different levels, have been interlinked to produce what has been timeless. Indian arts is a classic example of such amalgamation: it interlinks aspects of art, philosophy, mythology, religion, and mysticism. This book is an attempt to unravel such links with specific reference to the Kathaka dance form. Dr. Ranjana Srivastava explores the roots of Kathaka dance form to reveal its sublime, philosophic, esoteric and divine dimensions. Focussing on inter-relationships, she unfolds how dance embraces other disciplines of Yoga — Tantra, Mantra and Yantra. She discusses the concept of Tantra and its approximation and application to the dance form — the way Kathaka absorbed the sacred knowledge within its form. She deals with the importance and aspects of sound in the Hindu religious scheme and its manifestation in Kathaka. Explaining the significance of the yantra as a diagrammatic/geometric representation and the way it functions, she analyses the techniques of Kathaka which create distinct yantra formations both in the physical movements of the dancer in the surrounding space as well as on the dancing floor. The study abounds in extensive notes to explain numerous terms and concepts and has references to noted works and authors on the subject. The book will be useful to experts and students of Indian art and, in particular, dance and will interest general people keen to know more about India’s art traditions.

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    In this volume — the first English-language publication on the subject — the author describes the various indigenous musical instruments which support rituals and performances within and outside the temples of Kerala. Illustrations of each instrument, accompany the text, with information on its dimensions, construction, playing techniques, methods of training and music.

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    Temple Musical Instruments of Kerala by: L.S. Rajagopalan 360.00

    The performing arts of Kerala — Kathakali, Kutiyattam, Mohiniattam, and other forms of dance and drama — occupy a vital space in India’s creative imagination. All these performances move to a music that is supported by Kerala’s indigenous musical instruments — a variety of drums and clappers, as well as a smaller number of pipes and strings.
    Quite a few of these instruments are also found associated with rituals and festivities in the temples of Kerala: the Itakka, Chenta, Timila, Milavu, Suddha Maddalam — all membranophones; the aerophones Kurum Kulal and Kompu Vadyam; and Ilattalam, an idiophone. Notes on these instruments by a devoted student of the performing arts of Kerala are put together in this small volume — the first English-language publication on the subject. Illustrations of each instrument accompany the texts.
    The author brings to his task the benefit of an intimate knowledge of each instrument, acquired through years of fieldwork, as well as an erudition born of his immersion in literary classics in Tamil, Malayalam and Sanskrit. The pieces here are a source too of the folklore associated with Kerala’s musical instruments. The chief strength of the book, however, lies in the precise information it provides on each instrument — its dimensions, materials, construction, playing techniques, methods of training, and, not least, its music.
    Apart from musicians and musicologists, this book would interest students of Kerala’s folklore and anthropology, as well as general readers with a special interest in the arts and culture of Kerala.

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    The Art of Naina Dalal by: 1,710.00

    This coffee table book on contemporary art unravels the artistic journey of a talented artist in Naina Dalal, covering a span of fifty-nine years, mainly in the printmaking activities. It showcases her flight as a painter in thinking, perceiving, imagining, creatively objectifying and expressing her artistic acumen through the medium of printmaking processes, her lifetime quest. The book traces the stages through which this versatile artist matured traversing the different realms as a painter, lithographer, etcher and a calligraphy artist.
    Further, this monograph is an embodiment of her several decades of artistic wisdom, maturity and thematic range. The images herein deliberate on many a political, social and ethical challenge that infects the society. Along with some shade of feminism, one also comes across her passion in reflecting the true conditions of humanity. These paintings should stir the consciousness of artists, connoisseurs and critics alike.r

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    This book is a journey into that charmed and beautiful mind from which has arisen concepts and ideas, forms and textures, words and music, movement and stillness, philosophy and worship. myths and their celebrations.

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    The Beautifully Indian Hindu Mind by: Harsha V. Dehejia 3,150.00

    It is through the Indian aesthetic mind and its concepts of the beautiful that the Indian civilization can be best understood, for in that mind are pages of history and voices of the past, in it will be heard the sounds of our dancers and in it will be seen the colours of our fabrics, it is a mind which treasures the aroma of the earth for in it we shall find terracotta figures that will whisper stories of times gone by. In that ancient mind silent stones will speak of sthapatis who not only built temples but also havelis, in that very mind rivers will whisper of saints who meditated on its banks and also of mountains which will beckon us to caves where truth was discovered, in that pristine mind stars will talk to us of astronomers who counted them, in that radiant mind we will meet scribes who created beautiful manuscripts and painters who immortalised our gathas and kathas through their kalam.
    This book is a journey into that charmed and beautiful mind from which has arisen concepts and ideas, forms and textures, words and music, movement and stillness, philosophy and worship. myths and their celebrations.
    The book is lavishly illustrated and is a visual delight.

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    This book features the uniqueness of the relationship between Hindustani musician and his art. Hindustani music is not merely north Indian art music. It is inextricably linked to a multiplicity of other musical traditions and is an active participant in the totality of the cultural process.

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    The Musician and His Art by: Deepak S. Raja 810.00

    This book presents a collection of essays and lectures written by the author between 2011 and 2018. Its underlying theme – as suggested by its title – is the uniqueness of the relationship between the Hindustani musician and his art. This uniqueness is moulded by the fact that the tradition enjoins upon the performer the simultaneous role of a composer. This makes Hindustani music a three-dimensional art: contemplative, expressive and communicative. These three components serve to make Hindustani music a remarkable manifestation of continuity within change, and individuality within conformism.
    Viewed from this perspective, Hindustani music is not merely north Indian art music. It is inextricably linked to a multiplicity of other musical traditions – folk, devotional, tribal, martial and popular – and is an active participant in the totality of the cultural process. Every piece of performed music speaks, in some manner, on behalf the generation performing it, and addresses the corresponding generations of audiences. For the author, therefore, it is not merely sufficient to understand what Hindustani music is. It is necessary also to seek insights into why it is what it is.
    In this book, the author relentlessly pursues his intellectual aims by borrowing ideas from a wide range of disciplines: sociology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, acoustics, aesthetics, demography, economics, marketing finance, psycho-analysis, mythology, philosophy and even mathematics. Despite its diverse intellectual canvas, the book retains the essential “Indian-ness” of the author’s argument, and simultaneously addresses an international readership.

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    This book critiques the poetics of theatre in early India by interpreting a system of theatre and performance along several themes such as theatre’s place in the premodern interdisciplinary knowledge systems, theatre space and architecture, cognition and emotion, performance, experience and consciousness, human and social behaviour, and music.

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    The Poetics of Theatre in Early India by: Dhananjay Singh 720.00

    Theatre discourses of early India present theatre (natya) as an integrated art form, and the poetics of theatre as an interdisciplinary system of thought and performance. Theatre functions as a composite art production comprising dance (nrtya), song (gana), instrumental music (Atodya) and enactment (abhinaya). The poetics of this theatre provides thoughts, techniques, and instrumental frameworks for performance, based on an interdisciplinary reflection upon space, body, mind, motion, sound, memory, consciousness and theatre in relation to the other disciplines of knowledge.
    This book attempts to examine the poetics of theatre in early India by interpreting a system of theatre and performance along several themes such as theatre’s place in the premodern interdisciplinary knowledge systems, theatre space and architecture, cognition and emotion, performance, experience and consciousness, human and social behaviour, and music. While focusing mainly on the aphoristic statements on theatre by Bharata in his Natyasastra (third century bce), the book responds to the principles of theatre and literature discussed and debated in a tradition of texts such as Nandikesvara’s Abhinaya Darpana (fifth-fourth century bce), Rajasekhara’s Kavyamimasa (tenth century ce) and Abhinavagupta’s Abhinavabharata (tenth-eleventh century ce). The major concepts elaborated in the book consist of the types of theatre space (ranga), forms of mental/emotive states (bhavas), forms of consciousness (rasas), human and regional variations of performance (vrtti and pravrtti), forms of vocal and instrumental music (gana and atodya), and various others. Divided into eight chapters, each addressing an aspect of theatre, the book is premised upon the argument that theatre poetics of early India presents a coordinated world of inner experience rooted in the self (citta) formed by cognition, emotion and consciousness, but that which develops on stage into an artistic network created by the primitive human behaviour, body, senses, space, sound and the external world, including the varieties of the social world.

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