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<p lang="en">
V
 
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<p lang="sa">
$
 
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<p lang="sa">
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.
 
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<p lang="sa">
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

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

on the provenance and the age of manuscripts than on the
provenance and the age of the dramatist. "
 
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<p lang="sa">
'
 
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<p lang="sa">
About the verses in these plays which are cited or

criticised in different treatises on rhetoric, it is important
 
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<p lang="sa">
1. Ostasiatishe zeitshift Ig. ix.
 
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