We live in a world ruled by shortcuts. Research is limited to the internet, and the attitude towards what we haven’t heard of is that it doesn’t deserve to exist. In this scenario, few would question the assumption that Sanskrit is a dead language. Outmoded school texts and Sanskrit teachers with plummeting self esteem, combined with a certain jingoism that connects Sanskrit with Hindu supremacy theories, plus a consistently West-facing development approach, have done their best to ensure that the language is not merely dead, but buried. Sanskrit scholar, author and theatre person Radhavallabh Tripathi, who spearheaded the founding of the first Sanskrit drama repertory in the country, never allowed these views to dissuade him. The repertory was part of the Natyashastra Study Centre (Anusandhan Kendra) established in Bhopal during Tripathi’s tenure as Vice Chancellor of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, a deemed university under the Government of India.
On the completion of his tenure, however, the Centre suffered neglect and is currently dysfunctional. The repertory members, some of who say they worked for six months without pay in the hope that funding would be eventually restored, approached MP Alok Sanjar, and Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has taken cognizance of the problem. There is even a petition on change.org. According to the Centre’s Development Officer Sanjay Dwivedi (also a musician and Sanskrit scholar), a university-instituted review committee that visited on September 22 has given favourable recommendations for reviving the Centre on a permanent basis. Here Tripathi, currently a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Simla, shares his views on Sanskrit and the Natya Shastra’s continuing relevance.
Excerpts:
His approach to Sanskrit
I never viewed Sanskrit merely as an academic subject. My father was a professor of Sanskrit, I was brought up in an environment where Sanskrit formed a part of life — like a vital force — with all its contemporary concerns. My grandfather served as accountant in Rajgarh state in Madhya Pradesh. His formal education was through Urdu and that too up to the level of primary school only. He was not taught Sanskrit at all. But for hours in the morning he would elegantly chant complete Vishnusahasranaama and several other hymns. Every letter he wrote invariably began with atra kushalam tatraastu (Everything is okay here and may it be so there also). Even though ours was a middle class modern family, there was a space for Sanskrit, not as a part of history, but as something living within us. Even as a schoolboy, I was drawn to Sanskrit poets like Bana and Kalidasa, and used to perform in Sanskrit plays. Sanskrit has been a matter of love for me. I was a student of Science and Mathematics in my school and college, but opted for Sanskrit for my post-graduation — because I wanted to discover what lay within me through Sanskrit. This discovery has remained a continuous process in my journey of life for more than 60 years. I never looked at Sanskrit as a dead language. No language should be called a dead language…languages do not die. The human beings who could have enlivened themselves through them — they die.
On the Natyashastra Study Centre and Rangamandala
I have been teaching Sanskrit for 38 years in the universities. Then in 2008, I was offered the Vice Chancellorship of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan. It is the biggest institution of Sanskrit learning in India and the world. I had been working on the Natyashastra and the Sanskrit theatre and knew this was an area which needs to be explored at the practical level, and it has a great potential. However, the Natyashastra Study Centre was not the only centre that was created during my tenure as Vice Chancellor. I had initiated ten centres for special studies with diverse disciplines for the different campuses of the Sansthan. The idea was to re-invigorate traditional Sanskrit learning, for which this university was known, by introducing innovative designs and new programmes. Sanskrit theatre during recent decades has been emerging as a vibrant platform for Sanskrit to prove its contemporary relevance. Under the auspices of the Sansthan also, annual theatre activities like one inter-campus Sanskrit drama festival and one National Sanskrit Drama festival were being held. I felt something great can be achieved if the boys and girls of this university are seriously provided with a performance-oriented training in the Natyashastra. Of all 12 campuses of the Sansthan, the Bhopal campus was definitely the most suitable place for the Centre. The principal there, Ajad Mishra, was one of the very few amongst the academics in that university who could appreciate the idea of such a centre.
On short- and long-term goals for the Centre
A modest beginning was made with stage productions of original Sanskrit plays and understanding the text of the Natyashastra. A library of stageable plays was started, and a big project of a multi-media programme on the Natyashastra was also outlined. Some workshops were organized. Very soon the activities of the centre accelerated. The Rangamandala — a group of about 15 boys and girls, all paid salaries in the form of fellowships — gave repeated performances of more than a dozen classical Sanskrit plays during the short span of one-and-a-half years. It was invited to perform for the Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Goa Theatre Festival, Theatre Festival of The Kalidasa Akademi at Ujjain and some other similar festivals. I can confidently claim that some of the best theatre productions which I have seen in my life, in Indian and foreign languages, include at least the three of the great classics performed by this centre — “Uttararamacharitam”, “Abhijnanashakuntalam” and “Mrichchakatikam” – all of them in original Sanskrit. The involvement of the audiences had already started, but the next step should have been to re-orient the audiences also. And also, the Rangamandala could now have taken up some modern plays. Unfortunately, the whole process was stagnated after I left the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in August 2013, and the boys and girls employed in the centre are now desperately searching for new jobs.
On bridging the gap between Sanskrit knowledge and theatre skills.
Yes, this is true in the context of the university I was heading. The idea that one needs to undergo some sort of rigorous and sustained training for good theatre is normally not entertained in educational institutions, and it was quite unconceivable in a place like the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan. In 2009, Ramanuj Devanathan, a versatile pundit, agreed to my suggestion of hosting a theatre workshop at for the students of Sansthan’s Shringeri campus of the Sansthan where he was the Principal. K.S. Rajendran was extremely helpful by the way of offering his expertise and the support on behalf of the National School of Drama. He managed to call Margi Madhu and Kavalam Pannikkar for the workshop. This was the beginning of a transformation. The boys and girls who read Sanskrit plays in original as textbooks could accomplish do something miraculous after being trained under the experts — and they understood the importance of this training. Then there were more theatre workshops at Lucknow and Jaipur campuses as well. Some of the boys who joined the repertory of the Natyashastra Study Centre t Bhopal campus became skilled actors, with capability to compete with best of the professionals in the field. The impact of getting Sanskrit plays performed by the trained actors who have also been students of Sanskrit is something unique and unparalleled…it is an something very exhilarating which emerges by eliminating the gap you are talking about... The involvement of the audiences had already started, but the next step should have been to re-orient the audiences also. And also, the Rangamandala of the Centre could now have taken up some modern plays to be performed the way they were doing theatre. Unfortunately, the whole process was stagnated after I left the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in August 2013, and the boys and girls employed in the centre are now desperately searching for new jobs.
Natyashastra today
The Natyashastra remains a source book for so many theatres of India. It is comprehensive and renewable in such a way that any discussion on even the well known theatre directors of today like Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowsky, Artaud, Eugeneo Barba or even Peter Brook or Richard Schechner is not complete without bringing in the Natyashastra. A School on the Natyashastra was organised at the IIAS Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, from 26 August to 7 September. There were 20 participants belonging to various disciplines — theatre, literature, dance, music and even management — and only four were Sanskritists. From the feedback from resource persons and participants, I gather it has been a rewarding experience for all and the experiment is worth repeating. At the 15th World Sanskrrit Conference organised in January 2012 under the auspices of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Delhi, I could add a panel on the Natyashastra. The proceedings of the panel have been published as a book, The Natyashastra and the Modern World.
The organisers of the 16th World Sanskrit Conference to be held at Bangkok in 2015 have asked me to convene a panel on Natyashastra again. Only 120 years have passed since the complete text of the Natyashastra was made available to modern world in printed form. The beginnings of studies on this text were made in the 20th Century first by scholars; then some attempts were made to establish a dialogue between the scholars and practitioners of theatre and arts. Now in the 21st Century, this dialogue continues to assume new dimensions of practicability. It is a challenge as well, to rebuild a system of aesthetics and theatre, which would be different from the existing ones and through which we could come out before the world.
