नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

372 THE NĀṬYAŚĀSTRA [ XX. 101-

101. The characteristics of an Utsṛṣṭikâṅka (Aṅka) have been exaustively explained by me. I shall now speak of the Prahasana with its characteristics.

The Prahasana

102 The Prahasana should be known to be of two kinds : pure and mixed. I shall separately treat their characteristics¹.

The pure Prahasana

103-104, The Prahasana is known as pure (śuddha)¹ when it contains comic disputations by Śaiva gurus (bhagavat)² and Brahmins, abounds in jocular remarks by persons of ill repute, and gives uniformly to the Plot a realistic picture of the language and the conduct of all these in passages describing their special States.³

The mixed Prahasana

105. That Prahasana is called mixed¹ in which courtezans, servants, eunuchs, parasites (viṭa) rogues and unchaste women appear with their immodest appearance, dress and movements.

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101 (C.105; B.XVIII.101).
102 (C.106; B XVIII.102). ¹ Śaṅkhadhara's Laṭaka-mela (12th century), Jyotirīśvara's Dhūrta-samāgama (15th century) and Jagadīśvara's Hāsyārṇava (date uncertain), etc. are very late works (See Keith Skt. Dr. pp. 261-262). The Matta-vilāsa of Mahendra-vikrama-varman (620 A.C.) and the Bhagavad-ajjukīya ascribed to Bodhāyana Kavi, are fairly old specimens of the Prahasana, See Keith Skt. Dr. pp. 182. Bhagavad-ajjukīya ed. P. Anujan Achan, Cochin, 1925.
103-104 (C.107-108; B.XVIII.103-104). ¹ The word bhagavat relates primarily to a Śaiva saint. It is in this sense that the word has been used in the Prahasana named Bhagavad-ajjukīya and this speaks for the antiquity of this work (See above 102 note). A Śaiva saint appears in the Matta-vilāsa, the Dhūrta-nartaka and the Hāsya-cūḍāmaṇi. Both these Prahasanas one are however late. See Keith, Skt. Dr. pp. 182, 262, 265. For some aspects of the Śaiva tenets see Karpūramañjarī, ed M. Ghosh, pp. LXIII-LXIV.
² C. reads 103a as सं भगवत्तपसविप्रशुचिश्रोत्रियविप्रातिहास्यसंयुक्तम्.
³ Prahasanas named in note 1 above may be taken as specimens of the pure variety.
105 (C.109; B.XVIII.105). ¹ Prahasanas like the Dhūrta-samāgama and the Hāsyārṇava may be taken as specimens of the mixed variety. See Keith, Skt. Dr. pp. 260-262.