Shastra

(“order”) A shastra is the name given to a
technical treatise explaining the standards
of a particular cultural or artistic discipline
in Hinduism, as in Bharata’s Natyashastra, a technical manual that discusses
dance and the theater. When it is placed at
the end of a compound (as in “Shilpa
Shastra”), the word shastra can also serve
to denote the whole body of teaching on
that particular subject. All of the classical
arts were placed under well-defined
canons, each with its own specific rules
and standards to guide artists: Sculpture
and architecture were under Shilpa
Shastra, music under Sangita shastra, and
dance and theater under Natya shastra.
Given the prevailing emphasis on upholding such strict rules, artistic genius meant
doing something unusual within the larger
confines of the tradition rather than creating something entirely new or original.