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
Some of the arguments adduced against this theory of Reich’s are
admittedly untenable. It is impossible to argue as does Professor Konow
that the use of the Mṛcchakaṭikā as a work of early date is a mistake,
since the oldest dramas preserved are of quite another type and have no
similarity with Greek works. True, the Mṛcchakaṭikā is not as old as it
was thought, but the Cārudatta can be substituted in lieu, and there
are no dramas older than it, save those of the same author and some
fragments of Buddhist drama. Nor have we any very satisfactory evidence
of a mime in India at an early date, for a mime means a great deal more
than the mere work of a Naṭa. But there are adequate grounds for
disregarding the theory. The similarity of types is not at all
convincing; the borrowing of the idea of using different dialects from
the mime is really absurd, and the large number of actors is equally
natural in either case. The argument from the curtain is wholly without
probative power; as we have seen, the term Yavanikā refers to material
only; it would be very remarkable that the term Greek should be
confined to the curtain alone, if the stage were really a Greek
borrowing, and, last not least, we have no proof that the Greek mime
had the curtain. The new form of the theory must, therefore, claim no
more credence than the old. We cannot assuredly deny [134] the
possibility of Greek influence, in the sense that Weber admitted the
probability; the drama, or the mime, may, as played at Greek courts,
have aided in the development of a true drama, but the evidence leaves
only a negative answer to the search for positive signs of influence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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