नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

-XXXV. 43 ] DISTRIBUTION OF ROLES 543

who depend on natural limbs will very much embellish a dramatic performance¹.

Result of employing women for acting

39. Dance and music (saṃgīta) without fatigue is always [considered] a quality in women, and a dramatic production attains¹ partly the sweetness and partly the strength due to this².

40. A woman who is an adept in the practice of love and is an expert in [representing] love-affairs appears through her graceful acting on the stage (nāṭyavilāsa) like a creeper full of various charms on account of its [many] flowers.

41. Hence [a Director] should always bestow undivided attention to the [women's] exercise (yogyā) [in dance and music]. For without such an exercise the States, the Sentiments and the Sauṣṭhava cannot be produced [by them] in the least¹.

The two types of dramatic production

42. The production of a drama which includes many States and Sentiments is of two kinds : delicate (sukumāra) and violent (āviddha)¹.

The delicate type of production

43. The Nāṭaka, the Prakaraṇa, the Bhāṇa, the Vīthī, and the Aṅka are known to be of the delicate type¹. For they depend [for their production on the impersonation of] human beings only.

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¹ Read this couplet as follows :

तुल्यावस्थास्त्रियोपेता भूमिका प्रकृतिस्थया ।
ऽङ्गसमुद्योततेऽन्नास्य स्वभावकरणाश्रयाः.

39 (C.27; K.XXVI.9). ¹ bhajate; K. (bhavati, C.). Read nāṭyaṃ prayoge ca for nāṭyaṃ prayogeṇa, C. K. ² The passage is corrupt.

40 (C.28). ¹ This shows the benefit of engaging actresses. The employment of boys to represent women on the stage was considerably a handicap with Shakespeare in depicting female characters. On this see "Shakespeare's Dramatic Art" (p. 54) in A Companion to Shakespeare Studies, Cambridge, 1946. K. omits this.

41 (C.29). ¹ K. omits this. This passage seems to show the high standard of acting in the ancient Hindu theatre.

42 (C.30; K.XXVI.20, XIII.44). ¹ See NŚ. XIV. 56.

43 (C.31; K.XXVI.21, XXII.49). ¹ See NŚ. XIV. 61.