Saturday, February 16, 2013

So you want to emote

Hello hello!

Fitting this blog post in before I'm off to shop for my trip :) Trying to finish everything off and pull out the suitcases before my birthday tomorrow!!! (18 what even.)
Onwards to the educational aspect of this post! Two posts ago, I talked about Abhinaya and the Navarasas. Now I shall be describing the AshtaNayika, or the eight kind of heroines that exist in abhinaya (most significantly in Bharatanatyam). Recap: a Nayika is the word for a heroine in an abhinaya piece. (The word for hero is Nayaka - one letter change in sanskrit.) So here are the eight:

  • Vasakasajjika - the dressed up heroine who awaits her lover
  • Virahotkanthita - distressed due to the non-arrival of her love
  • Svadhinapathika - confident of her love
  • Kalahantartha - the quarrelsome heroine who later repents for quarrel
  • Khandita - enraged heroine whose husband is unfaithful
  • Vipralabhdha - the disappointed heroine who has been deceived by her love
  • Proshitabhartruka - the one who's husband has gone away and does not return on time (depicted as mourning)
  • Abhisarika - the one who sneaks out (sacrificing modesty) to meet her love
Phew, that was long. A heroine can go through a transition from one of these characters to another. A Vasakasajjika can easily transition to a Khandita. Here is a video (it's quite long but helpful) describing the AshtaNayika - AshtaNayika in Bharatanatyam. That is all for now! Off to go pack :) See you next week!
~Prithvi

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