Nayakaa's Classification Of Women In Natyasastra

CLASSIFICATION OF WOMEN

Nayakaa (the hero) and Nayika (the heroin) are the focal points in Natyasastra. Nayikas have been divided into total 384 kinds on the basis of their age, characteristics, behavior and their position in love affairs; similar to those in Manusmriti.

The 25th chapter of the Natya Shastra describes three kinds of women: Uttama, Madhyama and the Adhamma women. The Uttama women are shown to have high tolerance level, are adroit in the strategies of kamatantra and are highly desired by men for their fertility. They are the women of the superior nature. The Madhyama women or middle women are shown to be jealous and malevolent characters who are proud and short tempered but can be pacified quickly. The Adhamma women are degenerate women who get angry without a cause and are inherently ill natured. The Uttama women most probably belonged to the Brahmin family, the Madhyama were the high caste women of the society and the lower caste women were the Adhamma. One can thus note the patriarchal notions seeping in through the Brahmanical compositions. It remains a high

One of these kind of women is Khandita which means broken. She is described as a woman whose husband is engaged with the “other women”. But why does Bharat Muni call her broken? The answer can be sought in another classification. Swadhinbhartrika is an independent woman, whose husband lives with her because of sexual attraction and never looks at other women. Hence, a woman is only complete with her man. Virhotkanthita, Kalahantarika,Vipralabdha are all aspiring for a Nayakaa, in their life. The classification of women is not done according to their productive roles. They have been given a secondary position according to their relations with their male counterpart. Domestication of women is set in the mental scope of the audience. A women is basically living under the patronage of a man be it her husband or her