About the book

The first edition of the Abbinayadarpanam published twenty-three years ago was welcomed by all interested persons including the late A.K. Coomaraswamy whose translation of the work named The Mirror of Gesture (Cambridge, Mass. 1917) directed my attention to this Sanskrit text. Still for various reasons I could not think of publishing its second edition even after it was out of print for a long time, and there was osme demand for it. One such reason and an important one too, was that I then engaged myself in studying the Natyasastra and was planning a translation of this important work, and thought that this would be of greater use to readers interested in the subject.

Contents:
1. PRELIMINARY

1. The Present Edition
2. The Translation
3. Critical Apparatus
4. Reconstruction

2. ABHINAYA: IT’S MEANING

5. Drama and Hindu Plays
6. Object of Hindu Plays
7. The Technique of Plays
8. Abhinaya
9. Importance of the Study of Abhinaya

3. ABHINAYA: ITS HISTORY

10. The Origin of Abhinaya
11. The Development of Abhinaya
12. The Literature on Abhinaya

4. ABHINAYADARPANA

13. Scope of the Work
14. The Abhinayadarpana and the Bharata-Natyasastra
15. The Abhinayadarpana and the Bharatarnava
16. The Abhinayadarpana and the Samgitaratnakara
17. The Style and the Method of Treatment
18. The Author of the work
19. The Place of Nandikesvara
20. The Time of Nandikesvara
21. The Antiquity of the work

TRANSLATION & NOTES

THE SANSKRIT TEXT