नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

34 THE NATYASASTRA [ III. 9-

9-10. Having made obeisance to these, and other divine sages (devarṣi), he should with folded palms invoke all the gods to their respective positions, and say, “Ye, holy ones, should take us under your protection during the night, and ye with your followers should offer us assistance in this dramatic performance”.

Offering Pūjā to the Jarjara

11-13. Having worshipped [thus] all the gods as well as all the musical instruments (kutapa)$^1$ he should offer Pūjā to the Jarjara$^2$ for attaining good success at the performance [and pray to it as follows]. “Thou art Indra’s weapon killing all the demons ; thou hast been fashioned by all the gods, and thou art capable of destroying all the obstacles ; bring victory to the king and defeat to his enemies, welfare to cows and Brahmins and progress to dramatic undertakings”.

14-15. After proceeding thus according to rules and staying in the playhouse for the night, he (the master of the dramatic art)

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(in the plural number) indicating the different leaders of Gaṇas who followed Śiva. One of such leaders has been mentioned there as Nandīśvara (Nandin). Besides this the term Gaṇeśa (the leader of Gaṇas) has also been applied to Śiva in 47 below. In describing piṇḍībandhas the piṇḍī of Gaṇeśvara has been named as dakṣayajña-vimardinī (NŚ. IV. 260). This too shows that gaṇeśvara, grāmaṇī or mahāgrāmaṇī meant simply the leader, one of the leaders or the great leader of Gaṇas. The fully developed Gaṇapati seems to be non-existent at the time when the NŚ. was composed. Our suspicion in the matter seems to be corroborated by the variant tathā grāmādhi-devatā recorded in the ms tha of B. for mahāgrāmaṇyam. Gaṇapati seems to be a late entrant into the Hindu pantheon. He is not mentioned in any one of the old Purāṇas. Only the Varāha, Vāmana and Brahma-vaivarta P. which are very late know the deity (Winternitz, Vol. l. pp. 566-568, 573, Vidyalankar, JK. sub voce).

$^8$ Kalidāsa makes no distinction between Yakṣas and Guhyakas, See Meghadūta 1 and 5.

$^9$ See above.
9-10 (B.10-11, G.10-11).

11-13 (B.12-14, G.12-14). $^1$ See below 72-73 note 3. The reading samprayuja in all editions and mss. seems to be wrong. It should be emended as samprapūjya.

$^2$ See 73-81 below.

14-15 (B.15-16, G.15-16).