314. 350 CHAPTER VI

350 CHAPTER VI

As regards the principle of unity of action in Sanskrit drama, we have to say only this much that if there is a principle that a Sanskrit dramatist cannot violate, it is this principle. We have partly discussed it in the section, entitled "Incongruity". The Sanskrit dramatist aims at presenting a basic mental state in such a manner as to bring about the identification of the æsthete with the focus of the situation so as to make him experience the emotion of the hero. He, therefore, cannot introduce any action, which is not in harmony with the basic mental state.

In the case of a Sanskrit drama, presentation of action is not an end in itself. It is only a means to the presen- tation of the basic mental state (Sthayibhava) of the hero and to the arousal of identical emotive state in the æsthete. Unity of action in a Sanskrit Drama is both subjective and objective. It is subjective in so far as the whole series of actions springs from a single subjective principle, the basic emotion. It is objective in so far as the series of actions is logically related to a single end. The Sanskrit conception of the unity of action presents an advance on Greek and English conceptions. For, the latter recognise the objective unity only.

. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SANSKRIT AND ENGLISH DRAMAS IN RESPECT OF ACTION AND EMOTION. In order to understand the difference between Sanskrit and English dramas in respect of the actions that they present and emotions that they arouse, we have to keep the following points in mind :- (I) The capacity of an action or an event to arouse a