Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
Bharata Muni mentions a precise, almost architectural theory of plot. Two kinds of plot. Five stages of action. Five plot elements. And four specific techniques for layering meaning through episode indication.
This framework is a working blueprint for storytelling, and once you understand it, you will never read or perform a play the same way again.
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Two kinds of plot
The first is the ādhikārika, or Principal Plot. The second is the prāsaṅgika, or Subsidiary Plot.
The Principal Plot is defined by purpose. As Bharata writes, it is an “assemblage of acts fabricated by reason of the attainment of some particular result.” The Hero drives toward an object. Everything in the Principal Plot exists to advance or resolve that drive. It begins with the seed of an intention and ends in fruition.
The Subsidiary Plot exists to serve the Principal Plot. Any incident introduced to help or illuminate the main action is considered prāsaṅgika. It has no independent justification. Its reason for existing is the Principal Plot.
When you are interpreting a scene through abhinaya, you need to know whether your character’s emotional arc belongs to the main dramatic thrust or whether it is commentary on it. That changes everything about how you physicalise the emotion.
Why the distinction is practical, not just theoretical
In Kalidasa’s Abhijnanashakuntalam, the curse of Durvasa is a Subsidiary Plot element. It exists to delay Dushyanta’s recognition of Shakuntala, which is what the Principal Plot needs structurally. The moment Shakuntala regains the ring and Dushyanta’s memory returns, the Subsidiary element has served its function and disappears. A performer understanding this will not over-invest emotionally in the curse as a self-contained dramatic event. They will use it correctly: as a structural bridge.
Five stages of action
Natyashastra then maps the Hero’s journey toward his goal across five successive stages. These are not abstract phases. They are named, defined, and ordered. Every action of every character in a classical play can be located within this sequence.
Stage 1: Beginning (ārambha)
The Beginning creates curiosity. Bharata describes it as that part of the composition “which merely creates a curiosity about the Attainment of the great Object with reference to the Seed.” The Hero has a desire or goal. The audience does not yet know whether he will pursue it, whether it is achievable, or what obstacles stand in the way. But they are curious. That curiosity is the Beginning.
In dance-drama this stage is often where the nritta establishes mood and the initial abhinaya introduces the Hero’s emotional state without resolution. The rasa is present but unresolved.
Stage 2: Effort (prayatna)
The Hero begins striving. He acts. His actions are not yet producing results, but they are creating movement, and that movement creates further curiosity. Bharata specifies that the Effort is the Hero “striving towards the Attainment of the Object when the same is not in view.”
The audience watches someone try, fail, and try again. Performed well, the Effort stage carries the longest sustained emotional arc of a piece.
Stage 3: Possibility of Attainment (prāpti-sambhava)
A psychological state in the Hero suggests that the goal might be within reach. Bharata calls this the stage where attainment “is slightly suggested by some Psychological State.” This is not certainty. It is the first glimmer.
For performers, this is one of the most delicate stages to render in abhinaya. This is an internal shift. It is a change in how the Hero sees his situation, not yet a change in the situation itself. The sanchari bhavas here must carry that interior turn without overstating it.
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Stage 4: Certainty of Attainment (niyatā-prāpti)
Now the Hero knows. He “visualizes due to a Psychological State a sure attainment of the Object.” There is still no physical resolution, but mentally, emotionally, the Hero has arrived. The goal is certain.
This stage often produces the most powerful moment in a performance. The audience has followed the Hero through doubt, effort, and possibility. When certainty arrives, the rasa crystallises.
Stage 5: Attainment of the Object (phala-prāpti)
The result appears. Bharata writes that “a suitable Result of intended actions appears in full at the end of events.” This is completion. The seed planted in the Beginning has flowered.
Bharata is explicit that these five stages occur in proper order, and that their fruition relates to the three purposes of dharma, kāma, and artha. The structure reflects a view of human action in which the inner journey and the outer result are equally real and equally dramatic.
Rules about omitting segments
Not every play includes all five segments. Bharata allows omission, but strictly regulates it. If one segment is to be left out, it is the fourth (Certainty of Attainment) that goes. If two segments are omitted, the third and fourth are dropped. Also, if three are omitted, the second, third, and fourth are removed together. The first (Beginning) and fifth (Attainment) are inviolable.
This rule does not apply to the Subsidiary Plot, which can introduce any event at any point without this structural constraint.
Five elements of the plot
Beyond the five stages of action, Natyashastra identifies five separate elements that operate within those stages. These are the Seed, the Vital Drop, the Episode, the Episodical Incident, and the Action.
1. The Seed (bīja)
The Seed is what initiates everything. “That which scattered in a small measure, expands itself in various ways and ends in fruition.” A small incident, a word spoken, a decision taken, a glance exchanged. The Seed contains the entire drama in potential. In Ratnāvali by Harsha, the sight of a painted portrait becomes the Seed from which the entire romantic entanglement grows.
2. The Vital Drop (bindu)
The Vital Drop is the narrative thread that holds everything together even when the main action is temporarily suspended. Bharata describes it as “that which sustains the continuity till the end of the play even when the chief object is for the time being suspended.” It prevents narrative fragmentation. When the Principal Plot pauses to accommodate a Subsidiary episode, the Vital Drop keeps the audience connected to the main story.
In performance, the Vital Drop is often felt rather than seen. It is the undercurrent of anticipation that persists through lighter, comedic scenes before the drama returns to its primary weight.
3. The Episode (patākā)
The Episode is an event introduced in the interest of the Principal Plot and treated with similar importance. It has continuation across segments. A patākā character, typically a secondary hero or heroine whose arc runs parallel to the main plot, carries the Episode forward. Their story does not replace the Principal Plot. It enriches it.
4. The Episodical Incident (prakarī)
Shorter than an Episode, the prakarī presents only the result of an event, not its full unfolding. It has no continuation. It appears, serves its function, and ends. A messenger arriving with news that changes the Hero’s circumstances is a classic prakarī. The messenger’s own journey is not dramatised. Only the result matters.
5. The Action (kārya)
The kārya is the direct effort made in service of the Principal Plot by those engaged in it. Where the Seed is the beginning and the Vital Drop is the continuity, the Action is the accumulation of purposeful activity that drives resolution.
Episode indication: the four techniques of double meaning
This is perhaps the most sophisticated section of the chapter, and the most directly applicable to performance interpretation. Bharata describes four types of patākā-sthāna, or Episode Indication, through which one matter suggests another.
First Episode Indication
A novel meaning develops suddenly through indirect suggestion. Something said or shown carries an implication beyond its surface content. No second meaning is explicit, but an alert audience reads it immediately.
Second Episode Indication
Words carrying complete double meaning, expressed in poetic language. Both meanings are fully present simultaneously. Sanskrit poetry exploited this technique constantly through śleṣa, or intentional double entendre. A phrase might describe a bee visiting a flower and a lover approaching his beloved at the same time, with every word doing double work.
Third Episode Indication
An object or dialogue that “suggests with courtesy the object of a play in a subtle manner.” This is the most restrained form. It works through delicacy rather than linguistic gymnastics. The suggestion is there for those who look, and invisible to those who do not.
Fourth Episode Indication
Words with double meaning expressed in well-knit poetic language, referring to something beyond what appears at first sight. Similar to the second type, but more architecturally constructed, the double meaning woven through the entire passage rather than residing in individual words.
Bharata specifies that a play should have at most four Episode Indications in total. This is a craft limit, not an aesthetic preference. Too many points of double meaning collapse into noise.
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What this means for performers today
Understanding the kinds of plot and segments of a plot is not merely academic preparation for a theory exam. It changes how you interpret a piece in rehearsal, how you build emotional arcs across a full production, and how you understand why certain moments carry weight and others release it.
When you recognise that the character you are embodying is in Stage 2 of the action sequence, striving without visible progress, you know that restraint is the correct expressive choice. The goal is not yet in sight. Abhinaya that projects premature resolution is dramaturgically wrong, however technically accomplished it might be.
When you recognise an Episode Indication in a text, you can choose whether and how to externalise the second layer of meaning through gesture and gaze, or whether to let it live in the poetry alone and trust the text to do its work.
Natyashastra describes how drama actually functions, how attention is created and sustained, how meaning is layered, and how resolution lands with force when it has been properly prepared. That knowledge belongs in the studio as much as the library.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Principal Plot (ādhikārika) drives the Hero toward a specific goal. The Subsidiary Plot (prāsaṅgika) exists only to support the Principal Plot and has no independent dramatic purpose.
Beginning (ārambha), Effort (prayatna), Possibility of Attainment (prāpti-sambhava), Certainty of Attainment (niyatā-prāpti), and Attainment of the Object (phala-prāpti).
The Seed is a small incident or moment that initiates the entire dramatic action and expands through the plot until it reaches full fruition at the end.
Yes. Bharata permits omission but only in reverse order from the fourth segment. The Beginning and the Attainment of the Object are always required.
It is a technique where one dramatic situation indirectly suggests another, using double meaning, poetic language, or subtle dialogue. A play may use at most four such indications.
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Final thoughts
Bharata Muni constructed a theory of dramatic plot that has survived two thousand years because it describes something true about how human beings follow a story. We need a seed. We need to watch someone try. Also, we need to feel the possibility before we believe in the certainty. And we need a conclusion that was earned.
The two kinds of plot, the five stages of action, the five elements, and the four Episode Indications together form a complete grammar of dramatic construction. Learning to read a piece through this grammar, whether you are performing, teaching, or choreographing, gives you access to the structure beneath the surface. And structure is where expressive choices become meaningful rather than decorative.
The next time you work on a natya or a dance-drama sequence, ask yourself: where is the Seed? Which stage of action is this character in? Is this moment part of the Principal Plot or is it serving something else? Those questions will take you closer to what Bharata actually intended than any amount of general commentary will.
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