32. NĀŢYAŚĀSTRA 29

NĀŢYAŚĀSTRA 29

for Nandin and Bharata (तएडुमुनिशब्दौ नन्दिभरतयोरपरनामनी। त्र.भा. vol. I p. 90). The extant N. S. mentions Kāmatantra (a work on Erotics) in Ch. ed. 24. 182 and 25. 65 (=K. M. 22. 183 and 23. 52). arrear is mentioned in 24. 142 (but omitted in K. M.). The views of Brhaspati are relied on for reciting the qualifications of the king, the commander-in-chief, the ministers, the chief justice, &c. (बृहस्पतिमतादेतान् गुणांश्चाप्यभिलक्षयेत्। 34. 79 of Ch. ed., 24. 72 K. M.). In order to keep up the pretence or illusion of the revelation of the N. S. by Brahmā to Bharata, Kauțilya, well-known as a human author, was probably ignored and Bra- haspati (the guru of gods) was mentioned as a writer on Artha- sāstra.1 A purāna is mentioned in connection with the names of countries 'अन्येपि देशाः प्राच्यां ये पुराणे संप्रकीर्तिताः। तेषु प्रयुज्यते त्वेषां प्रवृत्तिश्चौ- HITOT II (14. 46, K. M. 13. 42, G. O. S. 13. 48). There are in the N. S. references to others' views in the words अन्ये, अन्यस्त, While these pages were passing through the press a recent work by Shri K.M. Varma on 'seven words in Bharata : what do they signify' (Orient Longmans, 1958) came to the present author's hands. The writer takes up seven words viz. सूत्र, भाष्य, सङ्ग्रह, निरुक्त, कारिका, आनुवंश्य and निदर्शन (occurring in chap. 6 and 7 the नाट्यशास्त्र) and discusses their meanings and arrives at his own conclusions. They cannot be examined in detail here. His main conclusion (on p. 88) is that before Bharata there was already a sūtra work on nātya and a bhāsya thereon and also a third work containing ānuvamśya verses based on that sūtra and its bhasya by authors now unknown and he gives at the end a long list of what portions were sutras and bhasya. The most damaging argument against this is : when Bharata mentions Svāti, Nārada, Kohala, Vātsya, Dhūrtila and others why should not the names of the three or at least of one of them appear in नाटयशास्त्र A brief outline of the contents of the Natyasastra would not be out of place here. It is given here from the Ch. edition chapter by chapter. It is to be regretted that the numbering of the chapters and the total verses in the chapters differ very often in the Chaukhamba and the G. O. S. editions ; where no mention is made of any edition the reference is to the Ch.

I Vide my History of Dharmaśāstra vol. I. pp. 123-125 for references to Brhaspati's work in Arthaśāstra.