भासनाटकचक्रम् (Plays Ascribed to Bhasa) /11

iii
 
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<p lang="en">iii</p>
<p lang="sa">colophons, Mm. Ganapati Sastri comes to the conclusion

that all these dramas are to be ascribed to Bhāsa principally

on the following important grounds :-(1) All these dramas

begin with the stage direction नान्द्यन्ते ततः प्रविशति etc., where-

as in the classical dramas we are accustomed to have the

Nandi first and then the stage direction etc. This

technical peculiarity of the Bhāsa plays seems to be alluded

to in the famous stanza of the Harṣacarita
 
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<p lang="sa">सूत्रधार कृतारम्भैर्नाटिकैर्वहुभूमिकैः ।
 
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<p lang="sa">सपताकयैशी लेभे भासो देवकुलैरिव ॥
 
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<p lang="sa">where Bāņa tells us that the dramas of Bhāsa begin with

the appearance of the Sutradhara and are rich in persons

and episodes. (2) The prologue is called Sthāpanā every-

where in place of Prastāvanā. (3) Unlike the classical

dramas the title of the work and the name of the author are

not mentioned in the Sthāpanās of these plays, which fact

argues that the plays belong to pre-classical times when

details such as these were possibly left to the preliminaries.

(4) The Bharatavākya ends everywhere with the prayer

"May our mighty King rule the whole earth. " (5) The

dramas further present a structural similarity, and the

opening verses of many of the plays string together the

principal characters by what is technically called the

Mudrālankāra. (6) One of the plays is mentioned by Rāja-

Sekhara with the name of the author; it, therefore, stands
to reason that the rest of the group which show numerous

to reason that the rest of the group which show numerous
affinities with it as regards style, stage-technique, ideas and

vocabulary should be ascribed to the same poet-the poet of

the Svapnavāsavadatta. (7) Many rhetoricians bring in

their works citations from different works of Bhāsa e.g.

Vāmana gives us citations from the Sv. Pry. and Căr;

Bhāmaha seems to criticise his Pry. and actually quotes

the very words from the Pry.; Dandin cites that famous
 
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