Dr.V.

Raghavan’s Contribution to Dramatics and

Dramaturgy

-P.
Ramachandrasekhar

nmeaStu Értagmkeaivday nmeaStu

gIvaR{akivkeaiklay ,

nmeaStu ramaBjpdÉ«i¼[e te nmeaStu

iv*a[RvmNwray ,,

Indians like any other older civilizations had clearly differentiated

between existences and living a life. While the former consisted in
gratification of basic instincts, the latter was achieved only by
purposeful and constructive activities impelled by the urge for
self-improvement. This perception was reflected in all spheres of
life including their theory of aesthetics.

Abhinavagupta, the commentator on Näöyaçästra, the standad

manual on Indian dramaturgy states that näöaka as a rule is
dharmapradhäna and a prakaraëa arthapradhäna.1 Näöya directs
the minds of men towards the fulfillment of the fourfold aims of
life viz. dharma, artha, käma and mokña. (Dharmädi-
catuñkopäyopadeyadhiyam…)2

A good playwright had to establish an intangible involvement of

both the spectator and the performer, where each entered into
the inner spirit of the performance on the basis of identification.
Such a rapport culminated into the achievement of success of
play production(siddhi).

Dr.V.Raghavan, a multi-talented personality whose prolific

writings alone would be enough to speak and write volumes of his

1
Näöyaçästra,Abhinavabharati, Vol.I,G.O.S.Edn.,p.37
2
Ibid., p.7
greatness, was a gifted poet and dramatist apart from donning
many other roles. As a dramatist and manager of Samskrta
Ranga, the institution he founded to promote Sanskrit theatre, he
truly qualified the requisites Abhinavagupta lays down for a
dramatist. The productions of Dr.Raghavan too serves as an ideal
lakñya for the lakñana for successful play laid down by
Abhinavagupta. Abhinavagupta states-

“Attainment of mere tangible fruits, dåñöaphala like banners

or material rewards may not indicate success of the play
production. The real success was achieved only when the play
was performed with skilled precision, devoted faith and pure
concentration in the manner of a priest performing rituals. Such a
perfectly rendered faultless performance alone succeeded in
immersing the spectator with pure joy of rasa experience.”

Of the various dramas written by Dr.Raghavan, Anarkali, is a

full length play in ten Acts and notable amongst some of his
shorter plays or play adaptations are Vimukti,
Vidyanäthaviòambana, Prekñaëakatrayé, Punarunmeña. His
Naöirpüjä and Välmékipratibhä were adaptation into Sanskrit the
Bengali original plays of Rabindranath Tagore. These two works
have acclaimed appreciations from scholars of Bengal like
Dr.S.K.Chaterjee and Sri Srijiva Nyayatirtha for “revealing
accuracy of idea, appreciation of the spirit of Bengali language,
simplicity and melody”.

Apart from the stage plays, Dr.V.Raghavan had also written

Radio-plays, mainly to propagate the interest in Sanskrit
theatrical forms through A.I.R. His Mahäçveta, Äñäòhasya
prathama divase based on Kalidasa’s Meghadütam,
Lakñmésvayamvaram based on the Bhägavata legend of churning
of milky-ocean, Kämaçuddhi based on Kumärasambhava, Räsalélä
based on Bhägavata were short plays which have been aired and
on many occasion have won critical acclaim.
 Apart from writing plays in Sanskrit, Dr.Raghavan’s pen has
enriched Tamil theatre too with its historical and social plays. To
mention a few- Kämadahanam, Räga-ka(ko)-lai, Bhäryavijayam,
Vädyeçvaré-véëai, Gangaikoëòa-cholan.

Detailed study of all these works would be a revealing and self-

gratifying task, but to undertake this monumental task, the time
and my intellectual acumen have been limiting factors, hence I
propose to make just a passing reference highlighting
Dr.Raghavan’s genius as a playwright.

Plot: The plot of the plays written by Dr.Raghavan have been,

keeping up the tradition of Bharata, derived from historical or
quasi-historical sources. To mention prominently, Anärkalé in
Sanskrit and Gangaikoëòa-cholan, Caturänanapaëditar,
Humäyünum Bäbarum in Tamil. Just as Kälidäsa cut the trait of
Duçyanta in Abhijïänaçäkuntalam to make him a Dhérodätta hero,
Dr.Raghavan too portrayed Emperor Akbar in his Anärkalé as a
king striving to bring about unity and harmony amongst the
followers of various faiths. He is shown as a compassionate king
who allows the union of Salim and Anärkalé. The purpose of this
reshaping of the play and the character is to sub serve the
ultimate purpose of Sanskrit Drama, namely the production of a
harmonious emotional impression expressed by the concept of
Rasa. Moreover, the structure of Sanskrit Drama precludes a
miscarriage of purpose and consequent frustration of the Hero’s
desire, thus a tragic denouement in Anärkalé was simply
impossible. The play belongs to the Näöaka variety of the
Rüpakas in ten Acts.

In his Prekñaëakatrayé, author has used the historical

information gathered from the various anthologies and rhetorical
sources in Sanskrit regarding the three Sanskrit poetesses namely
Vikaöanitamba, Vijayäìka and Avantisundaré and has weaved the
plot around their scholarly discussions bringing to light, their
contribution to Sanskrit literature.
Päöya : Regarding the delivery of the dialogue, or päöya, in
accordance to Bharata, Dr.Raghavan would train his troupe in
various päöyaguëas. The low, middle and high voices, the
modulations ( varëa), the intonation (käku)and other alaìkäräs of
the tone. The troupe would be instructed to use the appropriate
alaìkäräs of tone such as loud, waxing, subdued, low, fast and
slow to depict the various emotions. The instructions he left are
still being followed by Samskrita Ranga in their play productions.

Music: Being a versatile genius, Dr.Raghavan had applied his

musical knowledge to finesse in most of his plays. The songs or
dhruvas as Bharata calls them, were used in all of his plays, more
so the präsädaké dhruva, i.e. the song the song that reinforces or
develops a mood as in the VII Act of Anärkalé and akñepaké
dhruva in the Act X of the same play, which was used to bring in a
change in the situation or feeling. Dr.Raghavan would have given
a separate music-scheme for all his original plays and also for the
plays which were produced under Samskrita Ranga banner. For
instance, for the first play Mälavikägnimitram produced by
Samskrita Ranga in Ujjain in 1958, Malavika’s dance were set to
score in Raga Useni, Mälavé and Vasantä. The other verses were
extracted and sungin the dhruva style accompanied by véëä, flute
and mådangam.

In his Anärkai, he has introduced a character by name

Puëòaréka Viööhala, based on the role model of Gaëadäsa of
Mälavikägnimitram. Puëòaréka Viööhala was a noted exponent of
Carnatic music and an author of a musicological text who was
patronized by Akbar.

In his Räsalélä, based on the Bhägavata story of Kåñë and

Gopis, the playwright has culled out apt verses from Bhagavata
itself and has as an instruction indicated the raga to which they
were to be scored. Eg. Pürëacandrikä rägeëa. In places there are
instructions such as -iti bhagavän yamunäkalyäëé rägam veëuna
vädayati. Dr.Raghavan’s employment of music scheme were
completely in line with Bharata’s opinion that

“The songs (dhruva) based on rasa and content, makes the

drama dazzle as the heaven with stars. As without the color, a
drawing is not beautiful, so is drama not attractive without music”
3

Stage Directions: Regarding the unity underlying the Sanskrit,

Javanese, Chinese and Japanese stage, Ananda Coomaraswami,
the noted art critic of yesteryears observes that these didn’t have
“ all that is not necessary to the theatre and that which weakens
its effect “4

The play is after all, an illusion and whatever investment is

made on the stage props, one still has to dwell in the world of
illusion. Dr.Raghavan made the bold attempt like any other
classical Sanskrit Dramatists, to give the extraneous aids and
concentrated on his own intrinsic resources of action. His
eschewal of the elaborate stage directions add poetry,
atmosphere and power to the text, in which there occur
descriptions of scenery as in the Act IV of Anäkalé or expressions
of feelings which affects the spectators more effectively like the
ones in Act VIII of Anäkalé again.

Stage props and Backdrops: Stage props are usually not

brought on the stage, but were depicted by the appropriate
stylized actions. However to enhance the effect, they were not
prohibited. They were called Puñöa and were classified under
Aharya Abhinaya. Näöyadarpaëa mentions bringing of an
elephant-model in Udayana play, to depict an elephant-hunt.

Dr.Raghavan too used backdrops such as the specially

designed backdrop for Ranga’s first production of
Mälavikägnimitram in Ujjain. The backdrop had Sanchi arch model
3
Näöyaçätra,32.425, GOS Edn.
4
Notes on Javanese Theatre, Rupam, Vol.VII, 1921.
to serve as a background for Punarvasu’s palace. Apart from this,
in Välmékipratibha, an image of Dakñiëakälé was used by the
gang of thieves, who bring in a girl to offer her as a sacrifice.

But these and similar properties used by the playwright were

employed with caution that reproduction of natural conditions on
the stage through stage-settings, lighting etc. can easily dominate
the stage and reduce the plot and the actor to insignificance.

Dr.Raghavan, by being associated with National School of

Drama, Bharatiya Natya Sangh and as a founder of Samskrita
Ranga had played a vital role in revival of Indian especially
Sanskrit Theatre. The Indian theatre which was lurking under
western theatrical concepts was given a taste of classicism. In his
directions for the plays Dr.Raghavan had shown the practical
application of the principles of play production and the subtleties
of the techniques as envisaged by Bharata.

Apart from the play productions and compositions,

Dr.Raghavan’s scholarly expositions of various features of Sanskrit
Dramaturgy such as Våtti, Dharmé, Abhinaya etc. to name just a
few are masterpieces by themselves. His exhaustive study of
works on Dramaturgy and Poetics, in manuscripts and in print had
enabled him to edit, reconstruct and recover many Sanskrit
dramas lost in oblivions of our cultural negligence. His edition of
Ägamaòambara one of the first allegorical works in Sanskrit by
Jayanta Bhaööa, Snuñävijaya of Sundararäjakavi and the recently
released Udätaräghavam of Mäyuräja are noteworthy amongst his
numerous works.

To the present day scholarly world, it would be a challenging

task to fully comprehend his contributions to Sanskrit and Indian
theatre and make use of his extensive research in studying the
various classical theatre forms of India.

On the cultural plane, however much differences the Asians

show, there runs a common thread. In contrast to the Occidental
theatre, wherein stripping on the stage, vulgarity in speech, have
now become common and acceptable, Oriental theatre still
emphasizes suggestions and values. The similarities between
Kudiyattam or Sanskrit Theatre with the Kandyan Dances,
Javanese and Balenese stages and Noh-Theatre of Japan shows
great scope of Theatrical cooperation and integration.
Dr.Raghavan’s studies have shown us the way to establish a
synthesis between various classical theatres, appreciating their
differences. More research in this direction would be the homage
we can pay to this genius who worked tirelessly for the cause of
cultural renaissance in India.

kivkeaiklgué< nEaim triNt àitÉaMÉis ,

yÇ h<svya<sIv Éuvnain ctudRz .

I wholeheartedly thank the organizers and Smt.NandininRamani,

my well wisher for giving this opportunity to speak on Dr.
Raghavan’s contrinution to Sanskrit Theatre, which I shall cherish
for long time to come.