23. 20 HISTORY OF SANSKRIT POETICS

20 HISTORY OF SANSKRIT POETICS

some centuries before Christ and the rana which includes its principles and practices may very well be placed about 200 B.C. It appears that the first chapter of the present Nātyasastra and probably the next four were added some centuries before the 5th A. D., as Kālidāsa, Bhavabhūti and Dāmodaragupta refer to the legend af Bharata being the promulgator of Nātya- sastra. That most of the chapters now found were in existence from at least the 3rd or 4th century A. D. follows from several considerations. Abhinavagupta who wrote his commentary on the Nātya- śāstra about 1000 to 1030 A. D. notes several interpreters of the N. S. He mentions that Udbhata read one verse in the 9th chapter differently.1 In the 18th chapter अभिनव reads 'वृत्तानि समव्रकारे कविभिस्तानि प्रयोज्यानि' (verse 76) and remarks that Udbhata read 'वृत्तानि समवकारे कविभिनैव प्रयोज्यानि (vol. II. p. 441).2 On chap. 19 v. 42 A. B. (vol. III. p. 28) notes that Udbhata speaks of vimarsa as avamarsa and explains it. In the same chap. on v. 69 A.B. (III p.36) criticises Udbhata for the order of the angas in the sandhi. Udbhata flourished, as will be proved below, in the latter half of the 8th century. So the 9th and 18th chapters of the present text existed long before the 8th century. On VI. 10 A. B. (vol. I. p. 266) notes that Lollata criticized the view of Udbhata. A. B. quotes the readings adopted by Lollata several times (vide vol. II. pp. 415, 423, 452). A. B. quotes the explana- tion of Śankuka on N.S. 3. 21-22 ( vol. I. p. 75 ), four verses from N. S., out of which two have different readings (which are, however, the same as those of Ch. ed. chap. 29 verses 123-124) . A. B. quotes (vol. II. pp. 411, 414) the commentary of Śańkuka on 18. 10 and 12 (Ch. ed. 20. 10 and 12). Śańkuka is mentioned by A. B. on chap. 19-42 (vol. III p. 28). So at least in the 8th century A.D. the principal chapters of the N. S. were in existence. We can push back the existence of the principal chapters a century or two before Udbhata if we consider what the Kāvyā- darsa (II. 281, 283, 286) says, viz. that रति, क्रोध, उत्साह, are स्थायि-

I The verse is उत्तानो वर्तलस्यस्त्रः स्थितोऽधोमुख एव च । पञ्न प्रचारा हस्तस्य नाटयनृत्तसमाश्रयाः। नाट्य 9. 182 (GOS. ed.). The अ. भा. says 'उत्तानो- ड्वस्तलसत्र्यश्रोऽग्रगोधोमुख एव च। पञ्न प्रचारा हस्तस्येति भटटोङ्भटः पठति' vol. II. p. 70. Vide Ch. ed. 9. 171-172 for the same verse. 2 Vide Ch. ed. chap. 20. 80 which reads नैव प्रयोज्यानि.