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The Sanskrit drama

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About This Book

A scholarly study traces the origins, development, theory, and practice of classical Indian drama written in Sanskrit and Prākrit, examining ritual and Vedic antecedents, the Nāṭyaśāstra’s account of divine origin, and debates prompted by newly discovered early fragments. It analyzes major dramatists and representative plays through the first millennium, outlines technical principles of poetics and stagecraft—such as rasa, characterization, metre, and performance conventions—and distinguishes theoretical prescriptions from later imitative works. The author confines discussion to literary-dramatic traditions, omitting vernacular theatre, and emphasizes how textual confusion in sources complicates but also illuminates understanding of classical dramatic art.

[Contents]

A

Abhayadatta, in the Mudrārākṣasa, 206.

Abhayadeva, king (A.D. 1229–32), 254.

Abhayakumāra, minister of Çreṇika, 260.

Abhayapāla, king, 254.

Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna, 96, 97, 117, 213.

Abhinavagupta, writer on poetics, 103, 220, 291, 294, 318, 319, 320, 338, 342, 343, 344.

Abhirāma, commentator on the Çakuntalā, 154.

Ābhīras, a people, 129, 335, 337, n. 1.

Abrupt dialogue (udghātya), 328, 341.

Abrupt remark (gaṇḍa), 329.

Abuse, in ritual, as one source of drama, 24, 25.

Achievements of the Sanskrit drama, 276–88.

Active, for middle, and vice versa, in Bhāsa, 120.

Actors and Actresses, 360–4;
number of, 66, 110, 345, 346, 347;
opening dialogue of, 340;
feelings aroused in, 316, 320, 321, 324, 355;
see also Granthikas, Çaubhikas, Çailūṣa.

Acts, 60, 61, 301, 305, 345–51.

Address, conventional modes of, 314;
as evidence of date of dramatic origin, 69–71.

Ādisūra, of Bengal, 212.

Ādityasena, of Magadha (A.D. 671), 212.

Adultery, as an allegorical character, 255.

Advaita form of Viṣṇu doctrine, 251, 252.

Aerial car, journeys in an, 190, 229, 233, 246, 255.

Agastya, a seer, dialogues of, in the Ṛgveda, 14.

Aghoraghaṇṭa, a priest, 188, 313, 328.

Agni, god of fire, dialogue of, with the gods, 21;
saves Avimāraka, 101;
saves Sītā, 105.

Agnimitra, a prince, hero of the Mālavikāgnimitra, 147–9, 165, 364.

Agnivarṇa, a prince, 364.

Agon, dramatic contest, essential to drama, 45.

Aihole inscription (A.D. 634), mentions Kālidāsa, 146.

Aischylos, 75, n. 2, 196, 197.

Ajayapāla, king (A.D. 1173–6), 258.

Ajitāpīḍa (A.D. 813–50), king of Kashmir, 291.

Ājīvika, in drama, 85.

Akālajalada, grandfather of Rājaçekhara, 231.

Akṣa, son of Rāvaṇa, 246.

Alakā, a city, 190, 194.

Alexander of Macedonia, his love of drama, 59.

Alexandria, as source of Greek influence on India, 60.

Alkestis, dramatic silence of, compared with that of Sītā, 110.

Allegorical drama, Buddhist, 83, 84;
later, 251–6.

Allegorical personages, in Bhāsa, 112.

Alliteration, 238, 331;
a characteristic of the Gauḍa style, 332.

Ammāl Ācārya, author of the Vasantatilaka, 263.

Aṇahilapāṭaka, 269, and see Aṇhilvāḍ.

Ānandarāya, author of the Jīvānandana, 253.

Ānandavardhana, writer on poetics, 212, 220, 294.

Anan̄gaharṣa Mātrarāja, author of Tāpasavatsarājacarita, 220.

Anan̄gamañjarī, a hetaera, 263.

Anan̄gaçekhara, a Viṭa, 264.

Anan̄gasenā, a hetaera, 361.

Anasūyā, friend of Çakuntalā, 153, 158.

Anayasindhu, an evil king, 261, 262.

Andhrabhṛtyas, dynasty, 129.

Andhraja, speech, 337, n. 1.

Andhras, a people, 335, 336;
colour of, 366.

An̄gada, envoy to Rāvaṇa, 119, 190, 247, 269.

An̄gas, a people, colour of, 366.

Anger (krodha), as basis of sentiment, 323.

Aṇhilvāḍ, literary activity at court of, 243;
and see Aṇahilapāṭaka.

Anticipatory scene (an̄kamukha), 302.

Antigone, of Sophokles, possibly known in India, 59, n. 2.

Antigone, a character impossible in Sanskrit drama, 278.

Apabhraṅça, 89, 122, 151, 175, 187, 336, n. 1, 350.

Apatouria, 38. [374]

Apsarases, divine nymphs, 17, 40, 48, 96, 100, 112, 114, 265, 303, 339, n. 3, 352, 367.

Āraṇyakā or Āraṇyikā, heroine of the Priyadarçikā, 173, 174, 176, 362.

Arhants, views of, on the path of salvation, 183.

Ariṣṭa, a demon killed by Kṛṣṇa, 99, 106.

Arisiṅha, author of the Sukṛtasaṁkīrtana, 248, n. 7.

Aristotle, 39, 64, 279, n. 1, 287, 337, n. 2, 354, n. 1, 355.

Arjuna, a demon, 99.

Arjuna, a Pāṇḍava, 48, 96, 97, 213, 214, 215, 218, 265, 266, 268, 320, 329.

Arjunavarman, Paramāra of Dhārā (A.D. 1211), 256.

Arrian, notes Indian love for song and dance, 44, n. 2.

Ars Amoris, of Ovid, 285.

Arsenic, used for pigments, 369.

Art of Bhāsa, 105–10;
Mṛcchakaṭikā, 134;
Kālidāsa, 155–60;
Harṣa, 175–7;
Mahendravikramavarman, 182, 183;
Bhavabhūti, 192–6;
Viçākhadatta, 208, 209;
Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa, 214, 215;
Yaçovarman, 222, 223;
Murāri, 229, 230;
Rājaçekhara, 235, 236;
Jayadeva, 246;
Kṛṣṇamiçra, 253.

Arundhatī, in the Uttararāmacarita, 192.

Āryabhaṭa, astronomer (A.D. 499), 146.

Āryaka, in the Mṛcchakaṭikā, 64, 129, 130, 132, 133, 135.

Aryan, conquers Çūdra, in the Mahāvrata ritual, 24.

Açokadatta, and the Rākṣasas, 193, n. 2.

Açokan dialect, compared with that of Açvaghoṣa, 86, 87.

Açvaghoṣa, dramatist, 43, 58, 70, 72, 74, 77, 80–90, 93, 94, 95, 158, 161, 251, 292, 311, 336.

Açvajit and Çāriputra, 81.

Asajjāti, a comic Brahmin, 261.

Ascetics, how addressed, 314;
appropriate to a Prahasana, 348.

Asides, 304.

Aspirates, reduced in Bhāsa, but not in Açvaghoṣa, to h, 121.

Astonishment (vismaya), as the basis of the sentiment of wonder, 323.

Astrologers, where placed in the auditorium, 370.

Asura Maya, magic craftsman, 52.

Asuras, demons, 41, 267.

Atharvan, dialogue of, 15.

Ātreya, the Vidūṣaka of Jīmūtavāhana, 177.

Ātreyī, an ascetic, 191.

Audience, 369–71, and see Spectators.

Auditorium, 359, 370.

Aulularia, form of name, 64.

Auçīnarī, wife of Purūravas, 156.

Authenticity of Bhāsa’s dramas (very ineffectively attacked in BSOS. III. i. 107 ff.), 91–3.

Avadhūta, see Kṛṣṇa.

Avalokitā, pupil of Kāmandakī, 193, 303, 362.

Avanibhājana, epithet of Mahendravikramavarman, 182.

Avantī, use of Bhūtabhāṣā in, 287.

Avantisundarī, wife of Rājaçekhara, 232, 288.

Avantivarman (A.D. 855–83) of Kashmir, patron of poets, 204, 220.

Āyogavas, actors ranked as, 363.

Āyus, son of Urvaçī, 62, 151, 156, 157.