नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

-I. 61 ] THE ORIGIN OF DRAMA 9

said that the dramatic art (nāṭya) has been mastered, and prayed for his command.

The Banner Festival of Indra and the first production of a play

53-55. On these words, Brahman said, “A very suitable time for the production of a play has come : the Banner Festival¹ of Indra has just begun ; make use of the Nāṭyaveda now on this occasion”.

55-58. I then went to that festival in honour of Indra's victory which took place after the Dānavas and the Asuras (enemies of the gods) were killed. In this festival where jubilant gods assembled in great numbers I performed for their satisfaction the holy¹ Benediction (nāndī) containing blessings with words in their eightfold² aspects (aṣṭāṅga, lit. of eight limbs). Afterwards I devised an imitation of the sitution in which the Daityas were defeated by gods (and), which represented [sometimes] an altercation and tumult and [sometimes] mutual cutting off and piercing [of limbs or bodies].

The pleased gods reward Bharata's party

58-61. Then Brahman as well as the other gods were pleased with the performance and gave us all sorts of gifts¹ as a token of joy that filled their mind. First of all the pleased Indra

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53-55 (B. 53b-55a ; G. 52-53). ¹ This festival occurred on the twelfth day of the bright half of the moon in the month of Bhādra. It was a very popular festival in ancient India. Aśvaghoṣa mentions it in his kāvyas. Maha, a part of the compound dhvaja-maha is simply a Pkt. form of the word makha meaning 'sacrifice' ; cf. Indra-makha.

55-58 (B. 55b-58a ; G. 54-56). ¹ Veda-sammita (veda-nirmita, G.) means 'like the Veda' i. e. 'holy'.

² The eight aspects of words are noun (nāma), verb (ākhyāta), particle (nipāta), prefix (upasarga), compound word (samāsa), secondary suffix (taddhita), euphonic combination (sandhi), nominal and verbal suffixes (vibhakti). See NŚ. XV. 4.

58-61. (B. 58b-61, G. 57-59) ¹ Making gifts to dancers, singers and actors at a performance, is a very old custom in India. Such gifts were made by rich members of the audience, while the common people enjoyed

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