Advanced International Journal for Research

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Musical Dramaturgy: Analysing the Use of Music, Song and Dance and its Transformation in Kalidasa’s Plays, Malavikagnimitram and Abhijnanasakuntalam

Author(s) Mr. Srinjoy Chatterjee
Country India
Abstract Music has been used by playwrights and dramatists as far back as 5th Century BCE, where the Greeks used choric odes which were sung during plays. Later music became a staple tool to influence and set the mood of the audience and it changed from scene to scene to suit the emotion during it. One of the earliest playwrights to use music and understand its importance is Kalidasa. Reflected through his plays, his expert usage of music is still marveled by readers of today, both in India and all over the world. This paper argues that Kalidasa’s use of music has gone through a transformation from his first play, Malavikagnimitram through his most famous play, Abhijnanashakuntalam and so has his style of using music, dance and song within it.
In order to support this argument, a close reading of both plays has been performed, while drawing references from a translated version of Bharata’s Natya Shastra and his Rasa Theory. The plot of the two plays, where and how Kalidasa uses music is closely examined and compared in order to understand how Kalidasa’s skill of using music in dramaturgy developed through his works.
The aim of this research is to break down these musical performances, discover the hidden layers and meanings behind them, if any, and also show the significance of these musical performances. It also aims to show the transition of Kalidasa’s work, how it goes through a shift and a change from his first play, that is, Malavikagnimitram to one of his greatest works Abhijnanasakuntalam, how his use of music changes, choice of music and their significance to the story increases, how it becomes more intricate and adds to its richness.
Keywords Use of music, dramaturgy, rasa, transformation
Field Arts
Published In Volume 7, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On 2026-08-19
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