Essay name: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
Author: A. D. Pusalker
This book studies Bhasa, the author of thirteen plays ascribed found in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. These works largely adhere to the rules of traditional Indian theatrics known as Natya-Shastra.
Page 163 of: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
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143
watches everything from there.
there.
The
The
fight between
CÄṇūra, Mustika, Damodara and Sankará¹£aṇa takes place
on the front stage and after killing Caṇūra, DÄmodara
ascends the prÄsÄda and kills Kamsa. The remaining
action of the scene in which Vasudeva, Ugrasena and
NÄrada make their entry takes place on the stage below,
though there is no specific direction to that effect.
The fourth act of the Prat also supplies us with the
use of the inner stage, balcony and transverse curtains.
RÄma, Laká¹£maṇa and SÄ«tÄ are staying in an Asrama,
apparently the upper stage on the Rangasirsa; Sumantra
and Bharata see it from below and the latter announces
himself. Hearing his voice, RÄma and Laká¹£maṇa appear
on the stage in the upper gallery. RÄma sends Laká¹£maṇa
to see who had called and the latter comes down on the
stage below through the door of the transverse curtain and
after parikramana sees and recognizes Bharata and
Sumatra. His arrival is then told to RÄma who sends
SÄ«tÄ to welcome Bharata. Their conference takes place
in th
inner stage, after the close of which Bharata comes
forward to the front stage, ascends the chariot and RÄma
and Lakṣmaṇa see him off to the door of their Āśrama.
The above would, it is hoped, present a fair idea of
the views we hold, and the idea we have of BhÄsa's stage.
13. METRICS."
Our poet's command of Sanskrit is evident from the
variety of metres he employs. There are twenty-three
different metres, and the total number of verses is 1092.
The Prat comes first in using the largest number of verses,
viz., 157, and also 15 different kinds of metres. The Abh
is a close second with 154 and 14 respectively. It is
remarkable that even in plays with a total of 50 to 60
verses, nearly ten different metres are used. The Karna
is the shortest play, with only 25 verses, but 7 different
metres are used.
There are thirteen Prakrit verses in these plays in
six different metres, the predominant being the Arya with
five verses.
Coming to the individual plays, we find that there
1 We have liberally drawn on the data furnished by Dr. Sukthankar in
his "Studies in Bhasa, II" in JAOS, 41, pp. 107-130; and Dr. Keith in SD, pp.
123-124. We have drawn our own inferences from the material.
