Sreenath Nair is a senior lecturer at the University of Lincoln's School of Performing Arts in the United Kingdom.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword (M. Krzysztof Byrski)

Introduction: The Natyasastra and the Body in the Natyasastra (Sreenath Nair)

A Note on Orthography

Section 1: Epistemology

The Natyasastra: Explicit and Implicit (Kapila Vatsyayan)

Epistemology of Aesthetic Experience: Some Reflections on the Natyasastra (Vashishtha Jha)

Section 2: Aesthetics

Abhinaya Redefined (M. Krzysztof Byrski)

Rasa: Abhinavagupta on the Purpose(s) of Art (Daniele Cuneo)

Comedy, Consciousness and the Natyasastra (Daniel ­Meyer-Dinkgräfe)

Brat Tvam Asi: Rasa as a "Conscious State" (David Mason)

Section 3: Neuroscience

Rasaesthetics: The Enteric Nervous System in Performance (Richard Schechner)

Synesthetics: Rasa as Metaphors in Performance (Sreenath Nair)

Rasa Is/As/And Emotional Contagion (Erin B. Mee)

Section 4: Religion, Ritual and Kutiyattam

The Aesthetics of Kutiyattam (K. Ayyappa Paniker)

Actor's Imagination: Kutiyattam and the Natyasastra (Arya Madhavan)

The Religious Background of the Natyasastra Tradition (Natalia Lidova)

Section 5: Transcultural Theory and Performance Practice

Zero Plus One: Beckett and the Natyasastra (Ralph Yarrow)

Darshana and Abhinaya: An Alternative to Male Gaze (Uttara Asha Coorlawala)

About the Contributors

Index