The Sanskrit drama : $b in its origin, development, theory and practiceKeith, Arthur Berriedale
History
The Sanskrit drama : $b in its origin, development, theory and practice
Keith, Arthur Berriedale
Sanskrit drama -- History and criticism
Various devices are recognized to help the movement of the intrigue,
five of which are classed as internal junctures (antarasandhi). [633]
The first of these is the dream, as in the Veṇīsaṁhāra where Bhānumatī
is terrified by a vision in which she sees an ichneumon (nakula) slay a
hundred snakes, dread presage of the fall of the hundred Kauravas
before the attack of Nakula and his brothers. The letter serves in the
Çakuntalā, Act III, to allow the heroine to express her feelings
towards the king; she reads it aloud and he overhears it and breaks in
upon her; more often it serves the important end of conveying news,
leading to dramatic action. A message serves the same end, as when in
the Çakuntalā, Act VI, Mātali brings to the king Indra’s message
imploring aid against the demons. A voice from behind the scene
(nepathyokti) in Act I of that play warns Duḥṣanta not to kill the
gazelle of the hermitage, and a voice in the air (ākāçabhāṣita) in Act
IV makes known to Kaṇva on his return the important news of Çakuntalā’s
marriage and approaching motherhood. The Nāṭyaçāstra [634] ignores the
term internal junctures, but has the term special junctures or
divisions of junctures (sandhyantara) which includes the dream, the
letter, and the message, among many other miscellaneous elements; two
of these are akin to those already mentioned. The picture is used in
the Ratnāvalī as the mode by which the heroine satisfies her longing
for her beloved, while Vāsavadattā discovers Vatsa’s infidelity through
seeing the portrait of Sāgarikā, painted beside that of the king by the
mischievous Susaṁgatā. Intoxication (mada) may result as in the
Mālavikāgnimitra, Act III, in the letting fall of imprudent words by an
important character. Other devices might have been included in the
list, such as that of assuming a disguise on the stage, a device used
by Harṣa in the Ratnāvalī and the Priyadarçikā in order to secure the
inconstant king uninterrupted interviews with the objects of his
temporary affections. The latter play contains in Act III a good
example of the embryo Act (garbhān̄ka), [635] which is recognized by the
theory but not classed as a species of juncture; in it Vāsavadattā
causes her maids of honour to perform before her a play representing
her early adventures with Vatsa. So in the Uttararāmacarita Vālmīki has
performed by the Apsarases before Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa the adventures of
Sītā since her banishment, and the events of her marriage are described
in this form in the Bālarāmāyaṇa, Act III.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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