Gati in vehicles

-) tataḥ praviśatyapaṭīkṣepeṇa rājā purūravā rathena sūtaśca |^[1]

“Then enter King Purūravas in a chariot.”

After hearing about Ūrvaśī, who was taken away by the demons, he marks the speed of the chariot in the sky. Bharata’s explanation on the gait of the person riding on an aerial chariot is as follows.

“The gait of one riding an aerial chariot is similar to that of the ordinary chariot rider.”

vimānasthasya kartavyā hyeṣaiva syandinī gatiḥ ||^[2]

“To depict the action of the occupant of a chariot, one has to make a series of jumps up and down. Before doing this one has to take the samapādasthāna. Furthermore, one has to take a bow in one hand and catch hold of the pole of the chariot by the other. The driver of the chariot should hold a whip in his hand, as also the reins. An actor has to represent different vehicles on the stage and for this he has to adopt a series of quick and closer steps.”

rathasthasyāpi kartavyā gatiścarṇapadairatha |
samapādaṃ tathā sthanaṃ kṛtvā rathagatiṃ bhajet ||
dhanurgṛhītvā caikena tathā caikena kūbaram |
sūtaścāsya bhavedevaṃ pratodapragrahākulaḥ |
vāhanāni vicitrāṇi kartavyāni vibhāgaśaḥ ||
dūtaiścūrṇapadaiścaiva gantavyaṃ raṅgamaṇḍale |^[3]

He also says,

“By holding the hook, an elephant, by reins, a horse and by taking a whip, a chariot can be represented on the stage without actually showing them or by creating models on stage. In order to represent the gait on the horse, feet may be kept apart and moved about in the vaiśākha sthāna involving short jumps in quick succession”.

aṅkuśagrahaṇānnāgaṃ khalīnagrahaṇād hayam ||
pratodagrahaṇādyānamevamevāpareṣvapi |
aśvayāne gatiḥ kāryā vaiśākhasthanakena tu |
tathā cūrṇapadaiścitrairyuparyuparipātitaiḥ ||^[4]

So, he has to move in vaiśākharecita karaṇa.

“Whirl around the hands, legs, hip and neck and keep apart the feet in vaiśākha sthāna. This is called vaiśākharecita karaṇa.”

recitau hastapādau ca kaṭī grīvā ca recitā |
vaiśākhasthanakenaitad bhaved vaiśākharecitam ||^[5]

Abhinava recommends this karaṇa for the movement of vehicles.

-) cakroddhātaṃ rūpayitvā |^[6]

The king represents stopping the chariot. Here karaṇa called nikuṭṭaka can be performed.

Nikuṭṭaka has been explained by Bharata as,

“The actor strikes his shoulders with his hands and strikes the ground with his heels in this karaṇa called nikuṭṭaka.”

nikuṭṭitau yadā hastau svabāhuśiraso'ntare |
pādau nikuṭṭitau caiva jñeyaṃ tattu nikuṭṭakam ||^[7]

So, here this karaṇa will be appropriate to show the movement.

Abhinavagupta notes that Kohala defines it as the act of bending the body upwards and downwards:

“unnamanaṃ vinamanaṃ syādaṅgasya nikuṭṭanam |”^[8]

-) rājā nāṭyena rathamārohati ||^[9]

The King gesticulates ascent into the chariot. Bharata says,

“For boarding the chariot one has to hold one’s body up and for alighting one has to bend and look down.”

The chest movements called nirbhugna and ābhugna can be used for ascending and descending.The chest with the back bent and shoulders raised and resulting in stiffness is called nirbhugna.

stabdhaṃ ca nimnapṛṣṭhaṃ ca nirbhugnāṃsaṃ samunnatam |
uro nirbhugnametaddhi karma cāsya nibodhata ||^[10]

-) tataḥpraviśati mṛgānusārī saśaracāpahasto rājā rathena sūtaśca |^[11]

“Then enter in a chariot, the king with bow and arrow in his hand chasing a deer.”

King Duṣyanta is on a hunting expedition.If the actual chariot is not brought on to the stage, the actors should move on the stage as if they are moving on a chariot. Gati is the gait of a person on stage through which the audience comes to know about his character in a drama. When this gait is to be performed, the sthāna, the cārī and karaṇa movements are to be done by the actors taking the role of the king, the charioteer, and the horse.

Abhinavagupta says,

“In gati, the lower part of the body should be activated by cārīs and the upper part by nṛttahastas, eye movements and so on”.

So gati does not mean mere walk. The elements such as dṛṣṭī, nṛttahastas, sthānas and cārīs form an integral part of gati. When a cārī is to be performed the basic stance will be the sthāna. By combining these two with the nṛttahasta, a karaṇa is formed. Bharata says that karaṇas can be used for gaits.

Bharata explains the gait of the person riding on a chariot in detail. The karaṇa called vaiśākharecita can be performed by the charioteer for riding on a chariot.^[12] Abhinavagupta recommends this karaṇa for depicting vehicles. The movement on the chariot, which is moving in a fast pace will not be stable, so the whole body will be moving as in vaiśākharecitakaraṇa. Bharata says, kaṭakāmukha hasta can be used for pulling on the reins. Here the charioteer’s hands holding the reins of the horses can be in kaṭakāmukha hasta and the other recita hasta holding a whip.

This can be performed with Ardharecita nṛttahasta.

“Left hand in the caturaśra gesture (Kaṭakāmukha) and right hand in the recita gesture is called as ardharecita by the authorities of dance.”

caturaśro bhavedvāmaḥ savyahastaśca recitaḥ |
vijñeyau nṛttatattvajñairardharecitasaṃjñitau ||^[13]

The charioteer looks at the deer and the king repeatedly with the head movement can be through dhuta.

“Slow turning of the head to a considerable extent is called dhuta… ……..It is employed for looking on either sides.”

śiraso recanaṃ samyak śanaistaddhutamiṣyate |^[14]

The king can move in samapāda cārī as he is standing on the chariot.

“In samapāda cārī both the feet are kept close with the nails placed in symmetry.”

padairnirantarakṛtaistathā samanakhairapi |
samapādā tu sā cārī vijñeyā sthanasaṃśrayā ||^[15]

One person can act as a horse of the chariot and he should perform the vichyavā or janitācārī.

“Placing the feet together and assuming the position of samapāda, when one foot is used to pound the ground it is called vichyavācārī.”

vicyavāt samapādāyā vicyavāṃ samprayojayet |
nikuṭṭayaṃstalāgreṇa pāsya dharaṇītalam ||^[16]

Janitācārī is moving forward in talasañcarapāda. Thus, the movement of the chariot should be brought out by the actors.

“Duṣyanta gesticulates attacking the deer”.

iti śarasaṃdhānaṃ nāṭayati |^[17]

From this it is understood that the king does not have any bow or arrow in his hand. This can be depicted by śikhara and kaṭakāmukha hasta. These are the asamyuta abhinayahastas that Bharata recommends, śikharahasta for holding the bow and kaṭakāmukha for drawing the arrows. When the king has to aim the arrow on the deer he has to take the stance of ālīḍha and pratyālīḍha, which is just a forward and backward thrust.

asyaiva dakṣiṇaṃ pādaṃ pañcatālān prasārya tu |
ālīḍhaṃ sthanakaṃ kuryādrudraścāsyādhidaivatam ||
kuñcitaṃ dakṣiṇaṃ kṛtvā vāmapādaṃ prasārya ca |
ālīḍhapa[ ravartastu pratyalīḍhamiti smṛtam ||^[18]

“One should fix the arrows in ālīḍhasthāna and discharge the same in pratyālīḍhasthāna.”

These are used at the time of attacking.

ālīḍhasahitaṃ śastraṃ pratyalīḍhena mokṣayet |
nānāśastravimokṣo hi kāryo'nena prayoktṛbhiḥ ||^[19]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Vik. A-I.

[2]:

Nāṭyaśāstra XIII. 90.

[3]:

Ibid. XIII.87-89.

[4]:

Ibid. XIII.106,107.

[5]:

Ibid. IV. 96.

[6]:

Vik. A-I.

[7]:

Nāṭyaśāstra IV. 96.

[8]:

Ibid.IV.Com.p.102.

[9]:

Vik. A-I.

[10]:

Nāṭyaśāstra X. 4.

[11]:

Abh.Sāk. A-I.

[12]:

Nāṭyaśāstra IV.97.

[13]:

Ibid. IX. 194.

[14]:

Ibid. VIII. 23.

[15]:

Ibid. XI. 14.

[16]:

Ibid. XI. 19.

[17]:

Abh.Sāk. A-I.

[18]:

Nāṭyaśāstra XII. 67,70

[19]:

Ibid. XII. 71.