Among the various sorts of literary composition the drama holds the most
important position; for it is a picture of real life, and, as such, of
national interest. It consists of two principal species, tragedy and
comedy; the minor species are tragi-comedy, farce, burlesque and
melo-drama. Both tragedy and comedy attained their perfection in Greece
long before the Christian era. There it originated in the worship of
Bacchus.
The English drama took its rise from the mysteries or sacred plays by
the medium of which the clergy in the Middle Ages endeavoured to impart
a knowledge of the Christian religion.
The Sanskrit drama is said to have been invented by the sage Bharata,
who lived at a very remote period of Indian history and was the author
of a system of music. The earliest references to the acted drama are to
be found in the _Mahabhashya_, which mentions representations of the
_Kansabadha_ and the _Balibadha_, episodes in the history of Krishna.
Indian tradition describes Bharat as having caused to be acted before
the gods a play representing the _Svayamvara_ of Lakshmi.
Tradition further makes Krishna and his cowherdesses the starting point
of the _Sangita_, a representation consisting of a mixture of song,
music, and dancing. The Gitagovinda is concerned with Krishna, and the
modern _Yatras_ generally represent scenes from the life of that deity.
From all this it seems likely that the Hindu drama was developed in
connection with the cult of Vishnu-Krishna; and that the earliest acted
representations were, therefore, like the mysteries of the Christian
Middle Ages, a kind of religious plays, in which scenes from the legends
of the gods were enacted mainly with the aid of songs and dances
supplemented with prose dialogues improvised by the performers. These
earliest forms of Hindu dramatic literature are represented by those
hymns of the _Rig-Veda_ which contain dialogues such as those of Sarama
and the Panis, Yama and Yami, Pururava and Urvaci.
The words for actor (_nata_) and play (_nataka_) are derived from the
verb _nat_, the Prakrit or vernacular form of the Sanskrit _nrit_, "to
dance." Hence scholars are of opinion that the Sanskrit drama has
developed out of dancing. The representations of dramas of early times
were attended with dancing and gesticulation. There were rude
performances without the contrivances of stage and scenic arrangements,
dancing and music forming a considerable part. The addition of dialogue
was the last step in the development, which was thus much the same in
India and Greece. This primitive stage is represented by the Bengal
_Yaêras_ and the Gitagovinda. These form the transition to the fully
developed Sanskrit play in which lyrics and dialogue are blended.
Sakuntala belongs to the mytho-pastoral class of Sanskrit plays;
Probodhchandraudya, to the metaphysical. The Hindu theatre affords
examples of the drama of domestic, as well as of heroic life; of
original invention as well as of legendary tradition.
The Hindus did not borrow their dramatic compositions from foreigners.
The nations of Europe possessed no dramatic literature before the
fourteenth or fifteenth century, at which period the Hindu drama had
passed into its decline. Mohammedan literature has ever been a stranger
to theatrical writings, and the Mussalman conquerors of India could not
have communicated what they never possessed. There is no record that
theatrical entertainments were ever naturalised amongst the ancient
Persians, Arabs, or Egyptians. With the exception of a few features in
common with the Greek and the Chinese dramas, which could not fail to
occur independently, the Hindu dramas present characteristic features in
conduct and construction which strongly evidence both original design
and national development.