WHY THEATRE? PERSPECTIVES FROM INDIAN THEATRE ARTISTES IN THE CONTEXT OF NĀṬYAŚĀSTRA

Nāṭyaśāstra is an Indian ancient Sanskrit text on dramaturgy written by Āchārya Bhartmuni in the 5th century. The story of the origin, development, and evolution of Nāṭyaśāstra is described in the very first chapter of the text. It also reveals the emergence of theatre practice. According to Nāṭyaśāstra, theatre serves the purpose of entertaining as well as educating its audiences. This paper aims to examine the contemporary theatre practice on the principle of Nāṭyaśāstra in this context. The objective of the present research paper is to study the motivation, inspiration, and purpose of contemporary theatre practitioners under the light of the purpose of theatre according to Nāṭyaśāstra.
The present research is qualitative. The methodology employed for data collection is the interview of 46 theatre practitioners using semi-structured interviews. The data has been collected from prominent theatre festivals held in five different North Indian cities namely Delhi, Bhopal, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Patna. The analysis of the interviews is done using thematic analysis.
The findings of the research show that contemporary theatre practitioners have personal aspirations as well as social obligations to practising theatre. Contemporary theatre practitioners also believe that theatre is a medium of entertainment as well as sensitizing people which aligns with the principle of Nāṭyaśāstra.