2025-12-29 09:59:44 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
V
$
himself of an ingenious equivoque to find semblance between
objects which have obviously nothing common between
them. As a matter of fact even the classical plays can very
well be described as
begun by the Sutradha-
ra' the position of the first stage direction:
etc. before the opening verse is a peculiarity of South
Indian manuscripts, and not a characteristic of pre-classical
plays.
As to the peculiar dramatic technique of these plays it
is no-wise peculiar to these dramas as in fact it is shared by
almost all South Indian plays. And in regard to the devia-
tions from the rules of Bharata, which have been utilised by
the supporters of the hypothesis to prove that the plays
belong to the pre-classical epoc, it has been proved that
such innovations have been introduced in later classical
plays also with a view to secure a more arresting stage-
effect. As regards the argument which sought to prove the
antiquity of the plays on linguistic grounds-on the
strength of the Un-Paṇinian forms and Prākṛta archaism-
Prof. Winternitz has pointed out in connection with the
former, that too much importance cannot be attached to
this argument, because such deviations occur also in the
epic-legendary literature and even in very later texts,"
while as regards the latter--the Prākṛt archaisms-it has
now been shown that the so-called archaisms are used in
the Malayalam manuscripts of dramas of even Kālidāsa and
Harsa; so that it will have to be unequivocally admitted
that "The Prākṛta of the drama is a factor depending more
on the provenance and the age of manuscripts than on the
provenance and the age of the dramatist. "
'
About the verses in these plays which are cited or
criticised in different treatises on rhetoric, it is important
1. Ostasiatishe zeitshift Ig. ix.
$
himself of an ingenious equivoque to find semblance between
objects which have obviously nothing common between
them. As a matter of fact even the classical plays can very
well be described as
begun by the Sutradha-
ra' the position of the first stage direction:
etc. before the opening verse is a peculiarity of South
Indian manuscripts, and not a characteristic of pre-classical
plays.
As to the peculiar dramatic technique of these plays it
is no-wise peculiar to these dramas as in fact it is shared by
almost all South Indian plays. And in regard to the devia-
tions from the rules of Bharata, which have been utilised by
the supporters of the hypothesis to prove that the plays
belong to the pre-classical epoc, it has been proved that
such innovations have been introduced in later classical
plays also with a view to secure a more arresting stage-
effect. As regards the argument which sought to prove the
antiquity of the plays on linguistic grounds-on the
strength of the Un-Paṇinian forms and Prākṛta archaism-
Prof. Winternitz has pointed out in connection with the
former, that too much importance cannot be attached to
this argument, because such deviations occur also in the
epic-legendary literature and even in very later texts,"
while as regards the latter--the Prākṛt archaisms-it has
now been shown that the so-called archaisms are used in
the Malayalam manuscripts of dramas of even Kālidāsa and
Harsa; so that it will have to be unequivocally admitted
that "The Prākṛta of the drama is a factor depending more
on the provenance and the age of manuscripts than on the
provenance and the age of the dramatist. "
'
About the verses in these plays which are cited or
criticised in different treatises on rhetoric, it is important
1. Ostasiatishe zeitshift Ig. ix.