नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

366 THE NATYASASTRA [ XX. 66-

as its Hero, and it is to consist of three Acts [presenting] the three kinds of deception, the three kinds of excitements or the three kinds of love². [Besides this] it should have as many as twelve dramatis personae and a duration (lit. length) of eighteen Nāḍikās³. I shall now speak about the rule regarding the number of Nāḍikās to be alloted to the different Acts.

66. A Nāḍikā¹ should be known as the half of the Muhūrta² which is a [well-known] measure of time. The Acts in a Samavakāra should be measured according to the directions given in terms of this Nāḍikā.

The first act of the Samavakāra

67. The first Act [of the Samavakāra] should have a duration of twelve Nāḍikās¹ and it is to contain laughter, excitement, deception or a Vīthi.

The second and the third acts of the Samavakāra

68. The second Act also should be similar [except that] it is to have a duration of four Nāḍikās¹. And the third Act. which will bring the plot to a close will have a duration of two Nāḍikās² only.

---

of drama is available. Samudramanthana by Vatsarāja (12th century) is a very late work. See Keith, Skt. Dr. p. 267. Bhāsa's Pañca. is not a Samav. Cf. Mankad, Types of Skt. Dr. p. 58; Pusalker, Bhāsa, pp. 202-210.

² It does not seem likely that any one play of this type will include all three objects (deception, excitement and love) in their three varieties.

³ As the topics (and hence the Acts) in the Samavakāra are to be loosely related (see 69 below); this limitation has been placed on the time lest it should be made too long.

66 (C.72a, 68b, BXVIII.67). ¹ nāḍikā=24 minutes. See below 67 note. ² muhūrta=a period of 48 minutes. See below 66 note 1. Curiously enough Śāradātanaya thinks that nāḍikā is one fourth of a muhūrta. See BhP. p. 249.

67 (C.70; B.XVIII.65). ¹ 12 nāḍikās (nāḍīs)=4 hours and 48 minutes.

68 (C.71; B.XVIII.66). ¹ 4 nāḍikās=1 hour 36 minutes.
² 2 nāḍikās=48 minutes.