Indological Studies

Author(s): H C Bhayani
Publisher: Parshva Prakashan

Page 78

7. THE DHRUVĀS IN KĀLIDĀSA'S VIKRAMORVASIYA
The thirtysecond chapter of Bharata's Natyaśāstra (NS.) deals with Dhruvās. It defines and describes various types of Dhruvās, their characteristics as songs in the drama, their metres, contents. and functions. It defines a very large number of metres in which Dhruvas were composed and gives illustrations for all of them. There are in NS. about one hundred and fifteen illustrations of Dhruvas. Their language is Sauraseni Prakrit. The text of these illustrations is badly preserved. It contains numerous errors, and requires to be reconstructed.
The general function of Dhruvās in the drama is to contribute at certain key-points to the emotional effect rather than the dramatic action. A highly striking feature linked with this fact is that the Dhruva always refers to the state or action of a character on the stage. This reference is in the third person and the mode of expression is not direct but symbolic i. e. it is Anyokti or Anyapadeśa in the parlance of Sanskrit rhetorics. The Dhruva conveys to the audience, the observation or report of somebody off the stage, about the condition of some character that is present on the stage and that is in a critical or interesting situation. As such the Dhruva is outside the dramatic representation (prayogaanangatva as observed by Abhinavagupta). As Raghavan says, the Dhruvās were inserted 'wherever the emotion or idea reached a degree of pointedness and needed effective expression.' He also says that 'Dhruvās were sung by musicians from behind the curtain'.
Bharata has given very detailed rules and elaborate conventions as to when, for whom and how Dhruvās are to be introduced and sung. He lays down (i) status, type, class, age and condition of the character, (ii) time, place and season relating to the situation, and (iii) the prevalent sentiment and emotion as the groups of criteria for selecting a particular type of Dhruva for a dramatic situation.