नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

V. Literature on the Ancient Indian Drama

1. The Early Writers

Śilālin and Kṛśāśva. Pāṇini (circa 500 B.C.) refers (IV. 3.110-111) to the Naṭasūtras of Śilālin and Kṛśāśva. As the works of these two authors have perished beyond recovery we are not in a position to have any exact idea about their contents. But Lévi and Hillebrandt have taken them to be manuals for actors (naṭa) though Weber and Konow have considered these to have been sets of rules for dancers and pantomimists, and Keith has accepted their view. Konow further thinks that the treatises of Śilālin and Kṛśāśva were absorbed in the body of the Nāṭyaśāstra (ID. p. 1)

2. The so-called sons of Bharata

After Śilālin and Kṛśāśva come the writers whose names have been included in the list of the one hundred sons of Bharata, given in the extant version of the Nāṭyaśātra. (I. 26-22). Among these Kohala, Dattila (Dhūrtila), Śālikarṇa (Śātakarṇa), Bādarāyaṇa (Bādari), Nakhakuṭṭa and Aśmakuṭṭa have been referred to and quoted by later writers as authorities on dramaturgy and histrionics. Besides these, Vātsya and Śāṇḍilya have been named as authorities on drama by some writers. Such references and quotations are our only source of knowledge of them and their work.

(a) Kohala Among the writers on drama who wrote after Śilālin and Kṛśāśva, Kohala seems to be the most important. In the extant version of the Nāṭyaśāstra (XXXVI. 63), it is given in the form of a prophecy that Kohala will discuss in a supplementary treatise all those topics on drama that have not been touched by Bharata. From quotations of his works made by Abhinava¹ and another commentator,² as well as from their references to his opinion, it appears that Kohala wrote on dance and dramaturgy as well as histrionics and music.

(b) Dattila, Śāṇḍilya, and Vātsya. Dattila seems to be identical with Dantila or Dhūrtila mentioned in the Nāṭyaśāstra (I. 26). Abhinava too quotes from one Dattilācārya³ and it is likely that he is not other than this Dattila. From these quotations it appears that he wrote on histrionics and music. Śāṇḍilya and Vātsya mentioned in the Nāṭyaśāstra (XXXVI. 63) along with Dattila (Dhūrtila) are to us nothing but mere names. It is possible that they were writers on some aspects of drama and theatre.

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¹ Ag I. pp. 173, 182, 183-184 ; II p. 26, 55, 130, 133, 142, 146, 148. 151, 155, 407, 416-417, 421, 434, 438-439, 413, 452, 459 ; De' Ms. p. 413, 436, 496, 521, 680.
² BhP. pp. 204, 210, 236, 245, 251.
³ Ag. I. p. 205, Besides this Ag. quotes and refers to Dattila no less than 14 times while comenting on chapter on music. See De's Ms. pp. 544, 573, 576, 580, 583, 588, 590, 624, 625, 628, 633, 634, 640, 642, 644, 650, 655. See also Kuṭṭa sl. 123.