333. EARLY POETRY IN OLASSICAL SANSKRIT 335

EARLY POETRY IN OLASSICAL SANSKRIT 335

भाष्य). The महाभाष्य also says 'यदारम्भका रकं गच्छन्ति नटस्य श्रोष्यामः अ्रन्थिकस्य श्रोष्यामः' (vol. I. p. 329 on 'भाख्यातोपयोगे' पा. I. 4. 29).1 This example clearly shows that yaonfer here refers to actors who deliver dramatic dialogues on the stage (₹#), and not to any shows concerned with pantomimes. On 4. II. 4. 77 (vol. I. p.495,) the महाभाष्य cites 'भरगासीन्नटः' showing thereby that a ae also sang. Why the same mraning should not be taken in the case of Panini's sutra 'पाराशर्यशिलालिभ्यां भिन्ुनटसूत्रयोः (IV. 3. 110) is not clear to me. Western scholars like Keith obstina- tely and persistently refuse to hold that the Natasūtra referred to by Pānini is some work on actors and dramaturgy (vide 'Sanskrit Drama' pp. 31, 291) but that all that Panini meant are rules on pantomimes. No works dealing with pantomimes alone have been discovered so far. In I. H. Q. vol. 17 pp. 196-206 Dr. Wijesekera cites evi- dence from ancient Buddhist works for the early existence of drama. At. p. 197 he quotes a passage from the mafurrigu (IV. p. 306) wherein a नटगाम (the leader of natas) asks the Blessed One 'योऽसो नटो रंगमज्के समज्जमज्के सच्चालिकेन जनं हासेति रमेति &c.' (that nata who on the stage or in an arena makes people laugh and delights them by a mixture of truth and falsehood). On p. 200 he quotes from the Dialogues of Buddha a passage where e, गीत, वादित, प्रेक्षा, आख्यान and शोभानगरक are mentioned. The preceding brief discussion shows that from at least 500 B. C. to 100 B. C. a great deal of poetical material of a secular character had been accumulated in classical Sanskrit. This must have naturally led to speculations about the functions and objects of poetry, the classification of different kinds of poetry and literary works like आख्यायिकs, the enunciation of rules about the standard form of certain classes of composition, in short, to attempts, more or less crude, to establish a theory of Poetics and literary criticism. From this time forward the two processes, viz. com- position of secular poetry and the elaboration of rules, must have proceeded hand in hand. 3. Early beginnirgs of Poetics. Epigraphic records of the 2nd century A.D. and onwards show that before that period a theory of Poetics had bcen evolved. Vide on this part of the

1. उपयोग means नियमपूर्वकविधास्वीकार :. In such a case the आाख्याता (i. e. बस) is put in the ablative as in उपाध्यायादषीते.