Abhinaya-darpana (English)

by Ananda Coomaraswamy | 1917 | 16,981 words | ISBN-13: 9788121500210

Summary: The English translation of the Abhinaya-darpana (“the mirror of gesture”) by Nandikeshvara: an encyclopedic manual of the art of gesticulation. It belongs to a wide range of literature known as Natya-shastra: the ancient Indian art of dramatic performance, theatrics, dance and music.

The Abhinaya Darpana is an abridgement of the Bharatarnava, a much larger exposition on the art of dancing, containing 4000 shlokas.

The full sanskrit title is Abhinayadarpaṇa (अभिनयदर्पण) by Nandikeśvara.

Source: archive.org

Contents of this online book ( + / - )

The full text of the Abhinaya-darpana (English) in English is available here and publically accesible (free to read online). Of course, I would always recommend buying the book so you get the latest edition. You can see all this book’s content by visiting the pages in the below index:

Title Page

Introduction

The Indian Editor’s Preface

Invocation

Chapter 1 - Dialogue of Indra and Nandikeśvara

Chapter 2 - Natya, Nritta, and Nritya

Chapter 3 - The Audience etc.

Chapter 4 - Gesture (abhinaya)

Chapter 5 - Nine Movements of the Head

Chapter 6 - Twenty-four Movements of the Head

Chapter 7 - Eighth Glances

Chapter 8 - Forty-four Glances