The Fifth Veda

Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana are the four principle vedas in the Hindu philosophy. There seems to a fifth veda which has helped for the foundation of fine arts in India. It is nothing but the principal work by Bharatha Muni namely “Natya Shastra”. It primarily deals with stage craft and talks in detail about how the performance should be made on the stage. It can be said that this natya shastra influenced music, dance and literature to a great extent and even the bhavas and rasas in natya was a part of this shastra. It also talks about subtle aspects like stage design, make up, costume, acting, directing and music. This shows that Bharatha Muni and the scholars at that time were very particular and set forth detailed principles for our Carnatic Music and Bharathanatyam which are integral part of our rich heritage.