नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

LIV

The object of laughter is furnished in this, mainly by the improper conduct of various sectarian teachers as well as courtezans and rogues (XX 102-106).

The Mattavilāsa and the Bhagavadajjukīya are fairly old specimens of this type of play.

The Bhāṇa. The Bhāṇa is an one Act play with a single character who speaks after repeating answers to his questions supposed to be given by a person who remains invisible, throughout. This play in monologue relates to one's own or another's adventure. It should always include many movements which are to be acted by a rogue or a Parasite (XX. 108-110). The Bhāṇas included in the collection published under the title Catur-bhāṇī seem to be old specimens of this type of play.

The Vīthī. The Vīthī should be acted by one or two persons. It may contain any of the three kinds of characters superior, middling and inferior (XX. 112-113). It seems to be a kind of a very short one Act play. But one cannot be sure about this ; for no specimen of this type of play has come down to us.

2. Diction of a Play

(a) The Use of Metre. One of the first things to receive the attention of the Hindu writers on dramaturgy was the importance of verse in the dramatic dialogue. They discouraged long and frequent prose passages on the ground that these might prove tiresome to spectators (XX. 34). After giving a permanent place to verse in drama the Hindu theorists utilized their detailed knowledge of the structure of metres which varied in cæsura as well as the number and sequence of syllables or moras in a pāda (XV. 38ff., XIV. 1-86), for heightening the effect of the words used, by putting them in a appropriate metres. In this respect they framed definite rules as to the suitability of particular metres to different Sentiments. For example, the description of any act of boldness in connexion with the Heroic and the Furious Sentiments is to be given in the Āryā metre, and compositions meant to express the Erotic Sentiment should be in gentle metres such as Mālinī and Mandakrāntā, and the metres of the Śakkarī and the Atidhṛti types were considered suitable for the Pathetic Sentiment (XVII. 110-112). In this regard the Hindu theorists, and for that matter, the Hindu playwrights anticipated the great Shakespeare who in his immortal plays made "all sorts of experiments in metre".

(b) Euphony. After considering the use of metres the author of the Nāṭyaśāstra pays attention to euphony and says, "The uneven and even metres which have been described before should be used in composition with agreeable and soft sounds according to the meaning intended.

The playwright should make efforts to use in his composition sweet and agreeable words which can be recited by women.

A play abounding in agreeable sound and sense, and containing no