Nataka, Naṭaka, Nāṭaka, Ñātaka: 28 definitions
Introduction:
Nataka means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India, Marathi, Hindi. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.
Alternative spellings of this word include Natak.
Images (photo gallery)
In Hinduism
Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy)
Nāṭaka (नाटक) refers to one of the “ten kinds of dramatic plays” (daśarūpa), according to the Nāṭyaśāstra chapter 20. These different types of dramas are considered to have originated from the various styles (vṛtti), which is discussed in chapter 22 of the same work. The Nāṭaka type of drama includes all styles: Verbal (bhāratī), Grand (sāttvatī), Graceful (kaiśikī) and Energetic (ārabhaṭī).
One of the Ten Types of Play (nāṭya).—Nāṭaka: the Nāṭaka is the most important of the ten kinds of play described in the Nāṭyaśāstra. The Nāṭaka is a play having for its subject-matter a well-known story and for its Hero a celebrated person of exalted nature. It describes the character of a person descending from a royal seer, the divine protection for him, and his many superhuman powers and exploits, such as success in different undertakings and amorous pastimes; and this play should have an appropriate number of Acts.
As the exploits of the Hero of the Nāṭaka have been restricted to his success in different undertakings including love-matters, it is a sort of ‘comedy’, and as such it can never permit the representation of the Hero’s defeat, flight or capture by the enemy or a treaty with him under compulsion. Such a representation would negative the subject of the play which is the triumph or the prosperity of the Hero. But all these except his (the Hero’s) death, could be reported in an Introductory Scene which may come before an Act. The presentation of the Hero’s death was for obvious reasons impossible in a comedy.
The first thing that attracts the attention of reader on opening a Nāṭaka, is its Prologue (stāpanā or prastavanā). But according to the Nāṭyaśāstra this was a part of the Preliminaries (pūrvaraṅga) and was outside the scope of the play proper. That famous playwrights like Bhāsa, Kālidāsa and others wrote it themselves and made it the formal beginning of their dramas, seems to show that they made in thios matter an innovation which as great creative geniuses they were fully entitled to.
Nāṭaka (नाटक) refers to one of the twelve kinds of Rūpaka, which represents the dṛśyakāvya division of Kāvya (“poetry”), according to the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, an ancient Sanskrit text which (being encyclopedic in nature) deals with a variety of cultural topics such as arts, architecture, music, grammar and astronomy.—There are two broad divisions of kāvya (poetry) viz., dṛśyakāvya and śravyakāvya. Drama belongs to dṛśyakāvya variety, which is mainly divided into two groups, viz., rūpaka and uparūpaka. The Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa accepts twelve types of rūpaka, e.g., nāṭaka.
Nāṭaka (नाटक) refers to one of the twenty-one divisions of the Mārga-Rūpaka compositions in ancient Indian art of dance and theater.—Puruṣottama Miśrā, while defining the terms mārga and deśī quotes the Saṅgītanārāyaṇa (Vol. II, pp.406-410) which he says has been taken from Kohala (the work of Kohala). He says that mārga is that which was shown to Śiva and Pārvatī by Brahma after performing penance. He says the mārgarūpakas are twenty in number [e.g., nāṭaka]. [...] But when listing out the names, there appear twenty-one rūpakas. [...]
Natyashastra (नाट्यशास्त्र, nāṭyaśāstra) refers to both the ancient Indian tradition (shastra) of performing arts, (natya—theatrics, drama, dance, music), as well as the name of a Sanskrit work dealing with these subjects. It also teaches the rules for composing Dramatic plays (nataka), construction and performance of Theater, and Poetic works (kavya).
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Nāṭaka (नाटक).—Connected with Vāgīśī.*
- * Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa IV. 37. 8.
The Purana (पुराण, purāṇas) refers to Sanskrit literature preserving ancient India’s vast cultural history, including historical legends, religious ceremonies, various arts and sciences. The eighteen mahapuranas total over 400,000 shlokas (metrical couplets) and date to at least several centuries BCE.
Shyanika-shastra (the science of Hawking and Hunting)
Nāṭaka (नाटक) refers to “dramatic performances”, according to the Śyainika-śāstra: a Sanskrit treatise dealing with the divisions and benefits of Hunting and Hawking, written by Rājā Rudradeva (or Candradeva) in possibly the 13th century.—Accordingly, “[...] It has been said that there are eighteen addictions. These are the outcome of the desire for earthly enjovments. [...] Disparagement means be-littling the merits of others and attributing demerits to them. It becomes enjoyable in a party when uttered by jesters and others. In dramas (nāṭaka), novels and other compositions it is extensively used, sometimes pithily and sometimes in a verbose and round-about way. [...]”.
Shyanika-shastra (श्यैनिकशास्त्र, śyainikaśāstra) deals with ancient Indian skill of hawking/falconry (one of the ways of hunting) which were laid down in a systematic manner in various Sanskrit treatises. It also explains the philosophy behind how the pleasures derived from sense-experience could lead the way to liberation.
Kama-shastra (the science of Love-making)
Nāṭaka (नाटक) (Cf. Nāṭakākhyāyikādarśana) refers to “(the art of) staging dramatic plays”, and represents one of the sixty-four arts (aṅgavidyā), according to the Vātsyāyana’s Kāmasūtra: a Sanskrit text from the 2nd century dealing with eroticism, sexuality and emotional fulfillment in life belonging to Kāmaśāstra (the ancient Indian science of love-making).—Accordingly, “[While defending the standpoint that women should be allowed to learn theoratical science] [...] A female should study alone in private the sixty-four practices, arts and sciences (such as staging dramatic plays—nāṭaka-darśana), together with the Kama Sutra. [...] A public woman, endowed with a good disposition, beauty and other winning qualities, and also versed in such arts (e.g., nāṭaka-ākhyāyikā-darśana), obtains the name of a Gaṇikā (i.e., “a public woman of high quality”), and receives a seat of honour in an assemblage of men. She is, moreover, always respected by the king, and praised by learned men, and her favour being sought for by all, she becomes an object of universal regard”.
Kamashastra (कामशास्त्र, kāmaśāstra) deals with ancient Indian science of love-making, passion, emotions and other related topics dealing with the pleasures of the senses.
In Buddhism
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)
Naṭaka (नटक) is the name of a Kumbhāṇḍa appointed as one of the Divine protector deities of Kosala, according to chapter 17 of the Candragarbha: the 55th section of the Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra, a large compilation of Sūtras (texts) in Mahāyāna Buddhism partly available in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese.—In the Candragarbhasūtra, the Bhagavat invites all classes of Gods and Deities to protect the Law [dharma?] and the faithful in their respective kingdoms of Jambudvīpa [e.g., the Kumbhāṇḍa Naṭaka in Kosala], resembling the time of the past Buddhas.
Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.
Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)
Nāṭaka (नाटक) refers to “performance” or “drama” and is known in Tibetan as zlos gar.—As one of the “Five Minor Sciences” (Tibetan: rig gnas chung lnga) it forms part of the “Ten Sciences” (Tibetan: rig gnas bcu), or fields of knowledge.
Tibetan Buddhism includes schools such as Nyingma, Kadampa, Kagyu and Gelug. Their primary canon of literature is divided in two broad categories: The Kangyur, which consists of Buddha’s words, and the Tengyur, which includes commentaries from various sources. Esotericism and tantra techniques (vajrayāna) are collected indepently.
India history and geography
Nāṭaka (नाटक):—“Nāṭaka (drama) should be composed after observing the nature of people and the strength and weakness of men, as well as their enjoyment and usage.” (See the Nāṭyaśāstra XIX.149)
Kosha (कोश, kośa) refers to Sanskrit lexicons intended to provide additional information regarding technical terms used in religion, philosophy and the various sciences (shastra). The oldest extant thesaurus (kosha) dates to the 4th century AD.
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
ñātaka : (m.) a relation; kinsman.
-- or --
naṭaka : (m.) dancer; actor.
Nāṭaka, (Sk. nāṭaka; see naccati) 1. (m.) a dancer, actor, player J. I, 206; V, 373; DhA. III, 88; IV, 59, 130; nāṭakitthi a dancing-girl, nautch-girl DhA. III, 166; VvA. 131.—2. (nt.) a play, pantomime J. I, 59; V, 279, also used coll. =dancing-woman J. I, 59 (?) II. 395. (Page 349)
— or —
Naṭaka, (Sk. naṭaka)=naṭa Vin. IV, 285; Miln. 331; PvA. 3.—f. naṭikā DA. I, 239. (Page 345)
— or —
Ñātaka, (for *ñātika from ñāti) a relation, relative, kinsman Vin. II, 194; M. II, 67; Dh. 43; Sn. 263 (=KhA 140: ñāyante amhākaṃ ime ti ñātakā), 296, 579; Pv. II, 14 (Minayeff, but Hardy °ika); PvA. 19, 21, 31, 62, 69; DA. I, 90. (Page 288)
1) naṭaka (နဋက) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[naṭa+ṇvu．naṭa nacce,ṇvu．naṭatīti naṭako．sūci．(natakasaṃ,ṇaṭṭaaç ṇaṭṭaga-prā,naṭṭagaç naṭṭaya-addhamāgadhī,nanāsī)]
[နဋ+ဏွု။ နဋ နစ္စေ၊ဏွု။နဋတီတိ နဋကော။ သူစိ။ (နတကသံ၊ ဏဋ္ဋအ,ဏဋ္ဋဂ-ပြာ၊ နဋ္ဋဂ,နဋ္ဋယ-အဒ္ဓမာဂဓီ၊နဋန်နာသီဟိုဠ်)]
2) nāṭaka (နာဋက) [(na) (န)]—
[naṭaka+ṇa．(nāḍaya-addhamā-gadhī)]
[နဋက+ဏ။ (နာဍယ-အဒ္ဓမာ-ဂဓီ)]
3) nāṭaka (နာဋက) [(ti) (တိ)]—
[naṭa+ṇe+ṇvu]
[နဋ+ဏေ+ဏွု]
4) nāṭaka (နာဋက) [(ti) (တိ)]—
[naṭa+ṇvu．nīti,dhā．53．(nāṭaka-saṃ,nāḍaga-addhamāgadhī,ṇāḍaga-prā)]
[နဋ+ဏွု။ နီတိ၊ဓာ။၅၃။ (နာဋက-သံ၊ နာဍဂ-အဒ္ဓမာဂဓီ၊ ဏာဍဂ-ပြာ)]
5) ñātaka (ဉာတက) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[ñāti+ka．ñā avabodhane,kamme ti,ñātiyeva ñātako attaṃ,sakatthe ko ca．,ṭī．243．]
[ဉာတိ+က။ ဉာ အဝဗောဓနေ၊ ကမ္မေ တိ၊ ဉာတိယေဝ ဉာတကော အတ္တံ၊ သကတ္ထေ ကော စ။ ဓာန်၊ဋီ။၂၄၃။]
[Pali to Burmese]
1) naṭaka—
(Burmese text): (က) ကချေသည်၊ သဘင်သည်။ (ခ) နဋက ဂိုဏ်း။
(Auto-Translation): (a) Kachin, Thabin. (b) Nadkha Group.
2) nāṭaka—
(Burmese text): ကတတ်သော၊ သူ။ ကချေသည်။ သဘင်သည်၊ ကျွမ်းသမား။
(Auto-Translation): He is talented, skillful, and an expert.
3) nāṭaka—
(Burmese text): ကစေတတ်သော၊ သူ၊ ဇာတ်ဆရာ။
(Auto-Translation): Future, he, playwright.
4) nāṭaka—
(Burmese text): (၁) ကချေသည်တို့၏ ဥစ္စာဖြစ်သော ကပြ,သီဆို,တီးမှုတ်ခြင်း၊ ပွဲကခြင်း၊ အက,အဆို,အတီး အမှုတ် မျိုးစုံပါဝင်သော ဇာတ်သဘင်။ (၂) ကချေသည်တို့၏ ဥစ္စာဖြစ်သော ကပြ,သီဆို,တီးမှုတ်ခြင်းကို-သင်ယူစေ-သင်ပြပေး-ခြင်း။ အဆို,အက,အတီးသင်တန်းပေးခြင်း။
(Auto-Translation): (1) The theatrical performance includes various forms of art such as music, singing, and dancing, as well as all kinds of drama, comedy, and artistic expressions. (2) The education provided through these arts aims to teach and present them, including offering lessons in singing, dancing, and musical performance.
5) ñātaka—
(Burmese text): ဆွေမျိုး၊ ဆွေမျိုးတော်စပ်သူ။
(Auto-Translation): Relative, one who connects relatives.
Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.
Marathi-English dictionary
nāṭaka (नाटक).—n m (S) A play or drama. 2 A measure of verse.
nāṭaka (नाटक).—n A play or drama.
Marathi is an Indo-European language having over 70 million native speakers people in (predominantly) Maharashtra India. Marathi, like many other Indo-Aryan languages, evolved from early forms of Prakrit, which itself is a subset of Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages of the world.
Sanskrit dictionary
Naṭaka (नटक).—An actor.
Derivable forms: naṭakaḥ (नटकः).
--- OR ---
Nāṭaka (नाटक).—[naṭ-ṇvul]
1) A play, drama (in general).
2) The first of the 1 principal kinds of dramatic composition; for definition and other information see S. D.277, where 36 लक्षण (lakṣaṇa)s of a नाटक (nāṭaka) are given.
-kaḥ An actor, a dancer; वधूनाटकसंघैश्च संयुक्तां सर्वतः पुरीम् (vadhūnāṭakasaṃghaiśca saṃyuktāṃ sarvataḥ purīm) Rām. 1.5.12.
-kī The court of Indra.
Derivable forms: nāṭakam (नाटकम्).
Nāṭaka (नाटक).—mfn.
(-kaḥ-kī-kaṃ) An actor, acting, dancing, &c. m.
(-kaḥ) a play, a drama: the first of the ten species of dramatic compositions of the first order. f. (-kī) The court of Indra. E. naṭ to act or perform, ṇvul aff.
Nāṭaka (नाटक).—i. e. naṭ + aka, I. m. A mime, [Rāmāyaṇa] 1, 5, 18. Ii. n. A drama, [Rāmāyaṇa] 2, 69, 4.
Naṭaka (नटक).—[masculine] naṭī [feminine] a dancer or mime (also as a caste).
--- OR ---
Nāṭaka (नाटक).—[masculine] actor, dancer, mime; [neuter] & [feminine] nāṭikā plays of a cert. kind.
1) Naṭaka (नटक):—[from naṭ] m. an actor, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
2) Nāṭaka (नाटक):—[from nāṭa] mf(ī)n. acting, dancing, [Horace H. Wilson]
3) [v.s. ...] m. an actor, dancer, mime, [Rāmāyaṇa]
4) [v.s. ...] Name of a mountain, [Kālikā-purāṇa]
5) [from nāṭa] n. any play or drama, [Harivaṃśa; Kāvya literature] etc. (personified as m., [Mahābhārata ii, 453])
6) [v.s. ...] n. a kind of play, the first of the Rūpakas or dramas of the first order, [Sāhitya-darpaṇa etc.]
Nāṭaka (नाटक):—(kaḥ) 1. m. A player; a drama. f. (kī) Indra's court.
Naṭaka (नटक):—(von naṭa) m. Schauspieler; von naṭa unterschieden im [RUDRAYĀMALA] [T. Colebrooke II, 185.] melaka n. die Schauspielergesellschaft, Titel eines Lustspiels [Sāhityadarpana 46, 5. 76, 7. 200, 13.]
--- OR ---
Nāṭaka (नाटक):—(von naṭ)
1) m. Schauspieler [Vyutpatti oder Mahāvyutpatti 120.] vadhūnāṭakasaṃghaiśca saṃyuktāṃ sarvataḥ purīm [Rāmāyaṇa 1, 5, 18.] —
2) n. Schauspiel [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa 3, 2, 22.] rāmāyaṇaṃ mahākāvyamuddeśaṃ nāṭakīkṛtam [Harivaṃśa 8672.] rambhābhisāraṃ kauveraṃ nāṭakaṃ nanṛtustataḥ [8694.] nāṭakānyapare prāhuḥ (cakruḥ [Gorresio 71, 4]) [Rāmāyaṇa 2, 69, 4.] [Śākuntala 3, 12.] [Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka S. 104, 62.] [Weber’s Indische Studien 1, 466.] [ŚUK.] in [Lassen’s Anthologie 39, 9.] kāvyasaṃlāpagītanāṭakasaṃbhava [Mārkāṇḍeyapurāṇa 20, 4.] nāṭayandivyanāṭakam [Śatruṃjayamāhātmya 1, 46.] śṛṅgāra [Caurapañcāśikā 20.] eine bes. Art Schauspiel [Sāhityadarpana 275. fgg.] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 284.] masc. personif. [Mahābhārata 2, 453.] —
3) m. Nomen proprium eines Berges in Kāmākhyā [KĀLIKĀP. im Śabdakalpadruma] —
4) f. nāṭikā eine Art Schauspiel [Sāhityadarpana 276. 539. 52, 11.] —
5) nāṭakī f. Indra's Hof [ŚABDĀRTHAK.] bei [Wilson’s Wörterbuch]
--- OR ---
Nāṭaka (नाटक):—
2) nāṭakākhyāyikādarśana n. unter den 64 Kalā [Oxforder Handschriften 217,a,10.] dīpa Titel eines Prakaraṇa in der Pañcadaśī [222,b,31.] nāṭaka eine best. Art Drama [DAŚAR. 1, 8. 10.] —
4) [Sāhityadarpana 429.] — Vgl. mahā .
Naṭaka (नटक):—m. Schauspieler.
--- OR ---
Nāṭaka (नाटक):——
1) m. — a) Schauspieler. — b) das personificirte Schauspiel. — c) Nomen proprium eines Berges. —
2) f. nāṭikā — a) Schauspiel , so v.a. Scheindarstellung [Bālarāmāyaṇa 207,21.] — b) eine Art Schauspiel [290,17.] [Priyadarśikā 2,5.] — c) eine best. Rāgiṇī [Saṃgitasārasaṃgraha 37.] —
3) *f. ī Indra’s Hof. —
4) n. — a) Schauspiel. — b) eine bes. Art Schauspiel.
Nāṭaka (नाटक) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Ṇāḍaga, Ṇāḍaya.
Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.
Hindi dictionary
Nāṭaka (नाटक) [Also spelled natak]:—(nm) a drama; play; ~[kāra] a dramatist, playwright; ~[śālā] a theatre; —[karanā] to stage a play; —[racanā] to create a (dramatic) scene; to author a play/drama; [nāṭakīkaraṇa] dramatization.
...
Kannada-English dictionary
Naṭaka (ನಟಕ):—
1) [noun] = ನಟ - [nata -] 1, 2 & 3.
2) [noun] a peacock, the dancing bird.
--- OR ---
Nāṭaka (ನಾಟಕ):—
1) [noun] a literary composition that tells a story, usu. of human conflict, by means of dialogue and action, to be performed by actors; a play; a drama.
2) [noun] the art of dramatic presentation.
3) [noun] a man, who acts in plays; an actor.
4) [noun] a male dancer.
5) [noun] (fig.) a pretending to be what one is not or to feel what one does not feel for purpose of cheating others; sham; pretension; hypocrisy.
6) [noun] a person who pretends to be what he or she is not; a man or woman with deceptive appearance or hypocritical action; an hypocrite; a sham.
7) [noun] ನಾಟಕ ಆಡು [nataka adu] nāṭaka māḍu to exhibit a drama on a stage; to stage a play; 2. to pretend; to make believe; to put forth pretexts to hide one’s defects or to get undue gains.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Nāṭaka (नाटक):—n. 1. drama; play; 2. a false show; show off;
Nepali is the primary language of the Nepalese people counting almost 20 million native speakers. The country of Nepal is situated in the Himalaya mountain range to the north of India.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches (+0): The, The, Ne, Ka, Te, Nataka, Nata, Na, Natti.
Starts with (+23): Natakaanatakabhava, Natakabhutapubba, Natakacalai, Natakacalaiyar, Natakacandrika, Natakaccanti, Natakadipa, Natakaggahana, Natakakkanikai, Natakakkappiyam, Natakakkaran, Natakakkavi, Natakakula, Natakalakshana, Natakamadu, Natakamakal, Natakamamdira, Natakamelaka, Natakametai, Natakamukappu.
Full-text (+791): Mahanataka, Annataka, Chayanataka, Natakamelaka, Natakaratnakosha, Natakaprapanca, Vinataka, Kapatanataka, Mrikshakanataka, Pushpanataka, Shantarasanataka, Bahunatika, Rajanataka, Appanatika, Mantranganataka, Natakitthi, Naganataka, Hanumannataka, Nattaki, Raghuvilapanataka.
Relevant text
Search found 124 books and stories containing Nataka, Nata-ne-nvu, Naṭa-ṇe-ṇvu, Nata-nvu, Naṭa-ṇvu, Nata-nvu, Naṭa-ṇvu, Naṭaka, Nāṭaka, Ñātaka, Nataka-na, Naṭaka-ṇa, Nati-ka, Ñāti-ka, The nataka; (plurals include: Natakas, nvus, ṇvus, Naṭakas, Nāṭakas, Ñātakas, nas, ṇas, kas, The natakas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Hanuman Nataka (critical study) (by Nurima Yeasmin)
Part 2: Varieties of Dṛśyakāvya < [Chapter 1]
Part 3: Specialities of Nāṭaka and Mahānāṭaka < [Chapter 1]
Part 1: Hanumannāṭaka: Title of the Play < [Chapter 3]
Dasarupaka (critical study) (by Anuru Ranjan Mishra)
Introduction to the Nāṭaka type of Drama < [Chapter 1 - Nāṭaka (critical study)]
Indian classical dramatic tradition < [Introduction]
Glimpses of History of Sanskrit Literature (by Satya Vrat Shastri)
Chapter 16 - Introduction to the Sanskrit Dramas < [Section 4 - Classical Sanskrit literature]
Prabandha in Telugu Literature < [October - December 1973]
Yakshagana: Origin And Growth < [January 1958]
Similarities Between Bhavai And Folk Art Forms < [April – June, 1999]
Kohala in the Sanskrit textual tradition (Study) (by Padma Sugavanam)
Kohala and Nāṭya (7): The concept of Uparūpakas < [Chapter 2 - Kohala as seen in citations]
Kohala and Nāṭya (6): The concept of Sandhi < [Chapter 2 - Kohala as seen in citations]
Kohala and Nāṭya (3): The concept of Vṛtti < [Chapter 2 - Kohala as seen in citations]
Alankara Sastra (English study) (by V. Raghavan)
5. Other writers on the subject of Laksana < [Chapter 1 - The history of Lakshana (poetic adornments)]
3. The Dashapakshi or ten views on the subject of Lakshana < [Chapter 1 - The history of Lakshana (poetic adornments)]