नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

-IV. 293 ] DESCRIPTION OF THE CLASS DANCE 71

290. [During all these performances] the first foot¹ of the song should be sung once, the second twice, the third thrice, and the fourth four times.²

291. The Piṇḍīs have four varieties Piṇḍī [proper] Śṛṅkhalikā, Latābandha, and Bhedyaka.¹

292. The name Piṇḍī or Piṇḍībandha is due to its being a Piṇḍī (lump), a cluster (gulma)¹ is called Śṛṅkhalikā², and that which is held together [as it were] by a net, is Latābandha³, and Bhedyaka⁴ is to be the (separate) dance of one individual.

293. The Piṇḍībandha is to be applied in the first (lit. shortest Āsārita), Śṛṅkhalā at the transition of tempo, the Latābandha in the middle one and the Bhedyaka in the longest (i e. Āsārita).

---

289 (B.292b-293a, G.288). ¹ Vastu here means padavastu. See above 285-287 note.

² These āsāritas were distinguished by the kalās of time they required. According to Ag. (I.185) the shortest āsārita takes up seventeen kalās, the medium āsārita thirty-three kalās and the longest āsārita sixty-five kalās.

290 (B.293b-294a, G.289). ¹ It is implied that each each of these groups of songs should be followed by dance of different dancers.

291 (B.294b-295a, G.290). ¹ See notes 256 above. In the BhP. (p. 246) occurs the following passage :—

अपरेषु चभेदास्तु गुल्म-शृङ्खलिका लताः । भेद्यकश्चेति चत्वारः कथ्यन्तेऽत्र मनीषिभिः ॥
गुल्मः सम्भूय यन्नृत्तं शृङ्खलाऽन्योन्यबन्धनी । परस्पराङ्गवेष्टेन यन्नृत्तं सा लता मता ॥
एकैकस्य बहिः संघान्नृत्तं यत् स च भेद्यकः । पिण्डीबन्धश्च गुल्मश्च पर्यायाविति केचन ॥

From this it is quite clear that the piṇḍībandha relates to the grouping of dancers. Of these the gulma is a general collective dance, the śṛṅkhalā is the dance in which partners hold one another's hands, the latā is the dance of two putting their arms around each other, and the bhedyaka is the dance of each one separately away from the group. The section 292 below does not quite agree with this view.

292 (B.295b-296a, G.291). ¹ See above 291 note.
² BhP. does not identify the gulma and the śṛṅkhalikā.
³ See above 291 note 1. ⁴ See above 291 note 1.
⁵ See above 291 note 1. ⁶ saṅnṛtta=ekanṛtta=ekasya nṛtta ; cf sakṛt (= once).