रत्नावली नाटिका (सम्राट हर्षवर्धन - शास्त्रीय नाटिका रत्न सम्पूर्ण ४ अङ्क सान्वय सटीक)

APPENDIX C 463 the idea of being inseperably linked with one another, so as to be the different parts of one organic whole. The poet has evinced a remarkable ingenuity in bringing together different elements into the formation of a compact whole. According to the Sanskrit dramatists, the strict limit of time during which the action of an act takes place should vary from two days upto one year (या च स्याद् वर्षपर्यन्तं कथा Unity of time दिनद्वयादिजा). In the रत्नावली which is concerned with the second marriage of उदयन, which in- volves harem-politics in playing tricks and counter-tricks, the action on which the plot is based, is of a very short duration. Act I opens with the rejoicings of the people of Kaushámbi due to the Cupid-festival commenced on the fourteenth day of the bright half of the mouth of Chaitra (See Notes, Act I, Pp. 76-77). The time occupied by the Act I is only a few hours from the noon to the sunset of that very day. In Act II the interlude opens on the same day as we know from the conversation that Susangatá was seeking Ságariká who left the Sáriká with her and went to see the Cupid- worship. Then the painful agitation that we find in the heroine shows that the action of Act II proper began on the next day. Scrutinization reveals that the whole of Act II covers one whole day, (viz., the Full-moon day of Chaitra, as we find in Act III that the moon rises after deep darkness sets in.) The action of Act III must have taken place on the first