31. 28 HISTORY OF SANSKRIT POETICS

28 HISTORY OF SANSKRIT POETICS

It is quite possible that some one who had mastered the traditional lore of the histrionic art and was well-disposed to bharatas (actors) put together most of the present Nātyasastra and in order to glorify the tribe of bharatas passed it on as the work of a mythical hero. Such things are common in Sanskrit Literature. The whole of the vast Purana literature is foisted on Vyasa, but hardly anyone can believe that the 18 Purānas and 18 Upapuranas are the work of one man called Vyāsa. The word ai4 used with regard to certain āryas and ślokas points in the direction of a mass of verses being already available for inclusion in a formal treatise on nātya. The extant Nātyasāstra mentions that it summarizes the views of ancient ācāryas on शब्दलक्षय 'पूर्वाचार्येरुक्तं शब्दानां लक्षणं तु विस्तरशः । पुनरेव संहृतार्थ लक्षयतः संप्रवच्यामि ।' (Ch. ed. 15. 22, K.M. 14.22; but G. O. S. 14. 24 omits reference to पूर्वाचार्य). The भावप्रकाशन (10th अधिकार pp. 285- 287) narrates a legend about the origin of the नाट्यवेद. It states that Siva ordered नन्दिकेश्वर to teach नाटयवेद to ब्रह्मा before whom appeared Bharata with five pupils, to whom Brahmā said 'bear this Natyaveda' (तानबरवीन्नाट्यवेदं भरतेति पितामहः). Therefore, the first actors were called Bharatas and they first staged a play before Manu who wanted some pastime to remove his weariness arising from governing the world. The Bharatas taking the elements from Nātyaveda made two epitomes, one in 12000 verses and the other in six thousand verses and so the latter came to be known after the Bharatas: 'नाटयवेदाच्च भरतः सारमुद्धृत्य सर्वतः। ... एकं द्वादशसाहस्रः श्लोकरेकं तदर्धतः । षड्भि: श्लोकसहस्त्र्यों नाट्यवेदस्य संग्रहः । भरतैर्नामतस्तेषां प्रख्याता भरताहया:॥'. This legendary account probably shows that the author of aET was not prepared to accept the extant Nātyasāstra as the work of a mythical Bharata but that he ascribed its composition to bharatas who had studied Nātya. This gives support to my hypothesis stated above. rarfa and 1T₹ are mentioned as expounders of arava and aru (chap. 33. 3 and 32. 484). The extant N. S. mentions an author Guha on metrics (Ch. 16. 112, K. M. 15. 110; G. O. S. text adopts in vol. II. p. 281 a different reading for JarfadT). Narada is mentioned in connection with aTs (Ch. 32. 1, K. M. 32. 1). In the extant work (Ch. ed. 4. 17-19) it is stated that Tandu instructed Bharata in the representation of angahāras together with various karaņas (postures) and recakas (gestures). Abhinavagupta remarks that the words Tandu and Muni employed in the N. S. stand