Laws And Practice Of Sanskrit Drama Vol. 1

Description

Laws And Practice Of Sanskrit Drama Vol. 1 The idea of this thesis developed from the fact that the laws of Dramaturgy discussed by the law-makers like Bharata, Dhananjaya, Rāmacandra and Gunacandra, Śāradātanaya, Vidyänātha, Singa Bhūpāla, Viśvanātha and Sägaranandin have not been so far fully analysed and compared in any one single contribution. Mankad’s Types of Sanskrit Drama deals with mere definitions of the Rūpakas as given by the dramaturgists, and lays more stress on the Netta-plays, their species and evolution. Besides, no attempt is made there to apply these rules to any particular specimens and to examine the practice of the playwrights in this behalf. The other work dealing with the subject is Kulkarni’s Sanskrit Drama and Dramatists which has dealt with later dramaturgists only. His method of application of these rules with regard to the Dramas is only in a summary form, e. g. in Kälidāsa’s Sakuntala he would not make mention of the type of the Prastavand, the requirements of Induction, the Junctural subdivisions, the dramatic embellishments and so on.

Of the modern histories of the Sanskrit literature the most important work dealing with the subject is SANSKRIT DRAMA by Dr. A. B. Keith. He has, no doubt, elaborated certain points like the age of the playwrights, their style and language, and given synopsis of the plays with some outstanding characteristics of the drama, but the aim of the present work is not only the elaboration but also a synthetic survey of the whole matter, which has not been so treated by Dr. Keith. The Table of Contents will show that an attempt is made here for the first time to take a synthetical view of the entire subject and to examine the application of the canons in a methodical way pointing out the omissions and the new additions to the laws observed in the dramatic literature under review. Apart from this little originality, the analysis done here is expected to present a critical review of the dramaturgical laws and their general application from the very beginning of the Art until it became almost standardised by the master playwrights in Sanskrit.