The Mirror of Gesture: Being the Abhinaya Darpana of Nandikesvara  (Paperback, Translators: Ananda Coomaraswamy, Gopala Kristnayya Duggirala)

About The Book: It may be remarked here that it is very usual for Indian singers, other than dancers, to accompany their singing with gesticulation. This is of two kinds, of which the first, quite distinct from what is spoken of in the present treatise, is a hand movement reflecting the musical form; this expression of empathy (sddhdranl) is sometimes very impressive or graceful, but not less often grotesque. The second, known as bhav batana or shewing moods is of the type here described as abhinaya, or ' gesture ' and differs of the type here described as abhinaya, or 'gesture' and differs from Natya only in the greater relative importance of the music and the words. About The Translators: Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) was a Ceylonese metaphysician, historian and a philosopher of Indian art who was an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West. In particular, he is described as "the groundbreaking theorist who was largely responsible for introducing ancient Indian art to the West". Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was born in Colombo, British Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, to the Ceylon Tamil legislator and philosopher Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy of the Ponnambalam–Coomaraswamy family and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby.His father died when Ananda was two years old, and Ananda spent much of his childhood and education abroad. Gopala Kristnayya Duggirala (1889-1928) was an Indian freedom fighter and member of the Indian National Congress from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Known by his title of Andhra Ratna, translates to "Jewel of Andhra" or "Gem of Andhra." Sri Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya , Gopalakrishnayya was the first Andhra leader to become secretary of the All India Congress Committee. Sri Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya, was a very captivating poet, speaker, songwriter, philosopher, singer and an extraordinary revolutionary with a philosophy of non-violence. Sri Nadimpalli Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Rao worked in tandem with Sri Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya. Gopalakrishnayya was born in Penuganchiprolu in the Nandigama taluk of Krishna District in 1889 in a Brahmin family. His father, Kodandaramaswamy, was a school teacher but came from a family of landlords from Guntur and his mother Sitamma died soon after giving birth to him, her only child. Gopalkrishnayya's father remarried but died when he was still young and he was raised by his uncle and grandmother. He did his schooling from the Bapatla Municipal High School and worked for a year at the Bapatla taluk office after completing his matriculation. In 1911 he chose go to the University of Edinburgh along with his childhood friend Sri Nadimpalli Narasimha Rao (Barrister of Guntur) where he lived for six years and earned a postgraduate degree in economics.