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.
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and religious, gathaic and hymnic, patrician and plebian,
united and by the interaction of the mutual influence
produced the Sanskrit drama."
The antiquity which we have assigned to Bh膩sa's
works is itself an answer to those scholars who find Greek
origin for the Sanskrit drama. The theory of Greek origin
is based on the wrong assumption that the M峁沜ch is the
oldest and the typical Indian drama; but we have proved
that it is an enlarged version of the Car of Bh膩sa.
The similarities which are adduced to prove the Greek
origin, such as the division of the play into five acts, the
scenic conventions, the asides, entries
actors
er and exits of the
are but superficial and could well have been
developed independently in both the countries. Konow
has observed that the Greecian drama and the Indian
drama are absolutely different in character. Greek drama
offers no parallel to the use of the various dialects in the
Sanskrit drama.鲁 Some influence, no doubt, was inevitable
when a closer contact grew between the two countries;
but that is quite a different thing. In the case of the
Indian theatre we have already indicated that it shows no
Hellenic influence. The similarity of the Indian theatre
discovered in the Sitabenga Cave to the Greek theatre,
in spite of Bloch's opinion, has been proved to be nominal
and in no way convincing."
TYPES OF SANSKRIT DRAMA
In this Section, all the main types of Sanskrit drama
will be briefly referred to. The types of which we get
instances in Bh膩sa will be dealt with while considering
each play.
Whatever view we take with regard to the origin of
the Indian drama, it will have to be admitted that the
first stage in the development of Sanskrit drama is
represented by the one act types-viz., Bh膩峁嘺, Vithi,
Anka, Prahasana and Vyayoga. Out of these, Bh膩峁嘺
1 Cf. Kulkarni, Sanskrit Drama and Dramatists, p. 10. 2 Cf. MR,
Dec. 1928, pp. 595-596; Kulkarni, Sanskrit Drama and Dramatists, pp. 13-16.
3 Ind. Drama, pp. 40-41. 4 Konow, Ind. Drama, pp. 41; Hillebrandt, Ind.
Drama, p. 23. 5 Definitions of the types of which we get illustrations in Bh膩sa
are given later on. Those that are not met with in Bhasa's works are defined as
under in the Dasarupa:
