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Decoding Natya-Loka Dharmis

For a moment let’s revisit a scene from the popular Ramayana serial which was re-telecast in the Doordarshan during the initial pandemic lockdown days. In a flash, King Dasharatha’s dream comes crashing down. The evil inside Kaikeyi drives the king to send his son Rama, the crown prince, into exile. It is the rudest of shocks for him. He succumbs to grief. Recall the veteran actor Bal Dhuri’s perfect re-creation of Dasharata’s distress. The scene, no doubt, would have left you too in tears. Such realistic presentation of human behaviour by an artiste is the Lokadharmi.


There exists a dramatic variant too, the Natyadharmi. The accent is for stylized gestures. In the foregoing episode, the grieved Dasharata doesn’t wail or weep. But his emotions do get conveyed, through codified actions set to theatric modes. Simply put a tearful crying is Lokadharmi whereas the tearless one makes Natyadharmi. Lokadharmi highlights life and is for a commoner’s zest and Natyadharmi conforms to theatre and is meant for the learned audience.


Distinct Presentations

Tasked to present a snake on the stage, an artiste is left with two options, either to use a property, a fake snake, to convey the thoughts, or use a combination of gestures and movement to present the snake. These spell out Lokadharmi and Natyadharmi in Abhinaya. A popular improvisation used by the danseuses of Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattam and the like – the influence of the cupid’s five arrows (infatuation, emaciation, the swoon etc.) on the romantic heroine narrates Natyadharmi in emotions.

Acting emulates life. Life situations are recreated through well thought out acts. In the above example, the actor envisions the agony of King Dasharata and presents it in such a way that the viewers feel they are in the thick of it. An array of elements - emotions, gestures/ movements, costumes and words help him/her to achieve this. This quadrangular platform is, in the artistes’ parlance, the Chaturvidha Abhinaya (four fold expression). So the Abhinaya can be Satwika, Angika, Aharya and Vachika.


Four Elements

The four elements that have direct bearing on the day to day life fall under Loka dharmi and those with symbolic overtones constitute Natyadharmi. Thus the foot print of the Dharmis span emotions, gestures, costumes and words. To suggest an instance when Krishna and Sudama reunite in Kuchelavritham Kathakali, one finds sudama resembles a real life individual whereas Krishna is costumed elaborately in the Kathakali way. Don’t these costumes tell-tale about the Dharmis.

As the time rolls on, the outfits which were realistic once, could lose its traits later. Perini Shivatandavam was the soldiers’ dance of the 12th century princely states of the present Telengana region.

The dancers were clad in the soldiers’ attire of those days. The soldiers’ uniform then got evolved into olive greens and camouflages and the costumes lost the reality tag.



The Better Fit

Lokadharmi versus Natyadharmi – which would make a better fit. It all depends on the context, the audience and the artiste. Both the Dharmis give the same experience; the approach is different though.


Natya Shastra, the treatise on performing arts, tells us about the two Dharmis. A comparative valuation tells that the slokas dedicated to Natyadharmi exceeds a dozen whereas just a couple of them describe Lokadharmi. But the quantity need not indicate the quality always. An ideal palette is the right mix. Natya springs from reality, so the Lokadharmi is the base. This is topped up with metaphor to satiate the taste buds. Elaborate costumes, intonated dialogues, graceful movements all step in here. Himalaya is a mountain, it’s a reality. Visualizing it as Himavan, the King who marries Menavati and fathers Parvati are aesthetics.

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By K.V.Murali Mohan

A passionate freelance writer and ardent communicator - Double Post Graduate in communication subjects -Recipient of Kulapati Gold Medal and TKM Rao award in Journalism - Credited with four decades of literary pursuit spanning over 300 plus articles in national and regional publications.

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