नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

LI

away, marriage, a miracle, a battle, loss of kingdom, death and the siege of a city and the like (XX. 20, 21). The purpose of this prohibition was probably that, when elaborately presented in an Act, these might divert much of the spectator's interest from the line of the principal Sentiment which the play was to evoke and might therefore interfere whith the unity of impression which it was to make.

(b) Explanatory Devices

(i) The Introductory Scene. It has been shown before how the Hindu playwrights divided the entire action of the Nāṭaka into two sets of events of which the one was more important than the other, and how they represented in its Acts the important set, whereas the less important ones were reported, whenever necessary, in an Introductory Scene giving one the idea of the time that intervened between any two Acts. This Scene is one of the five Explanatory Devices (arthopakṣepaka) which were adopted by the playwright for clarifying the obscurities that were liable to occur due to his extreme condensation of the subject-matter.

The other Explanatory Devices are as follows: The Intimating Speech (cūlikā), the Supporting Scene (viṣkambhaka) the Transitional Scene (aṅkāvatāra) and the Anticipatory Scene (aṅkāmukha).

(ii) The Intimating Speech. When some points [in the play] are explained by a superior, middling or inferior character from behind the curtain, it is called the Intimating Speech (XXI. 108).

(iii) The Supporting Scene. The Supporting Scene relates to the Opening Juncture only of the Nāṭaka. It is meant for describing some incident or occurrence that is to come immediately after (XXI. 106-107).

(iv) The Transitional Scene. When a scene which occurs between two Acts or is a continuation of an Act and is included in it, relates to the purpose of the Germ of the play, it is called the Transitional Scene (XXI. 112).

(v) The Anticipatory Scene. When the detached beginning of an Act is summarised by a male or a female character, it is called the Anticipatory Scene (XXI. 112).

(c) The Plot and its Development

The Plot or the subject-matter (vastu) of a Nāṭaka may be twofold: "The principal" (ādhikārika) and the "incidental" (prāsaṅgika). The meaning of the principal Plot is obvious from its name, and an incidental Plot is that in which the characters acting in their own interest incidentally further the purpose of the Hero of the pricipal Plot (XXI. 2-5).

The exertion of the Hero for the result to be attained, is to be represented through the following five stages (XXI. 8): Beginning (ārambha), Effort (prayatna), Possibility of Attainment (prāpti-sambhava),