नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

-XIII. 184 ] THE DIFFERENT GAITS 231

Gait of young women

177-179. The steps of women should not be made of six or eight Kalās duration. Such a step will be irksome for them. This will be the Gait of women in their youth. I shall speak [now] about the Gait of women who are aged (sthavīyasī).¹

Gait of aged women

179-181. After assuming the Avahittha Sthāna and putting the left hand on the waist and the right hand with the Arāla gesture upturned, placed between the navel and the breasts, they are to walk gradually with their body neither relaxed nor stiff nor [much] moved about.

Gait of handmaids

181-183. The Gait of hand-maids should be made bewildered (udbhrāntā). They are to walk with slightly raised body and flourishing arms, after assuming the Avahitta Sthāna with the left hand pointing downwards and the right hand showing the Kaṭakāmukha hand held on the navel.

Gait of half-women

183-184. The Gait of the half-women, an admixture of that of men and of woman will consist of stately but graceful movement of limbs and playful steps (lit. feet).

184-186. The time required for the Gait which has been prescribed for persons of the superior type will be halved in case of women and the inferior types of men. And the Gait [prescribed for persons] of the superior, the middling and the inferior types will apply in case of women [of those types] except for the footsteps which will be graceful [for the latter].

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177-179 (B.XII.184b-186a, G.177-178). ¹ B.G. read sthāniyā yā striyas tāsām for sthavīyasīnām etāsām. The word sthavīyas may well be a comparative degree form of sthavira. Cf. davīyas for dūra.
179-181 (B.XII.186b-188a, G.179-180).
181-183 (B.XII.188b-190a, G.181-182).
183-184 (B.XII.190b-191a, G.183).
184-186 (B.XII.191b-193a, G.184-185).