50. NĀȚYAŠĀSTRA 47

NĀȚYAŠĀSTRA 47

'नटसेव्यभरतमतयुतपटुतरवचनाशनिप्रपातेन । कुटिलोन्नतनटशैल: स्फुटितानतमस्तकः पतति ।।'. (j) All ancient writers on alankāra, Bhatți (between 590-650 A. D.), दएडी, Bhamaha, उद्ट, define more than thirty figures of speech. Ra defines only four, which are the simpl- est viz. उपमा, दीपक, रूपक, and यमक. भरत has a long disquisition on metres and on the Prakrts and would not have scrupled to define more figures of speech if they had been well-known then. Therefore, he preceded these writers by some centuries at least. The foregoing discussion has made it clear that the नाटयशास्त्र cannot be assigned to a later date than about 300 A. D. This does not mean that the extant नाट्यशास्त्र has come down to us intact from that date. But what is contended is that before 300 A. D. there existed a work going under the name of Bharata containing the rasa theory and dealing with dramatur- gy; this cannot be disputed. As there is no other extant work on the theory of Poetics and allied topics as old as 300 A. D. the नाट्यशास्त्र must be regarded in the present state of our kno- wledge as the oldest work on the अलक्कारशास्त्र. धनिक in his commentary on the Dasarupa (III.56-60) quotess a verse from भरत "एतच्च 'इदं त्रिपुरदाहे तु लक्षएं ब्रह्मणोदितम् । ततस्त्रिपुरदाहश्च डिमसंज्ञः श्रयोजितः ॥' इति भरतमुनिना स्वयमेव त्रिपुरदाह्ेतिवृत्तस्य तुल्यत्वं दर्शितम् ". In the नाट्यशास्त्र only the latter half is found (IV. 10). The commentator on the सरस्वतीकएठाभरण (II. p. 254 Benares ed. =Nir. ed of 1934 p 268 on कारिका 109) says that, as regards मुरजबन्ध, भरत mentions the letters to be employed 'पाठाक्षराषि मुरजे लहकारौ तथदधाच्छ्मौ रेफः। नयकखगवङाश्चेत्थं षोडश भरतादि- कथितानि ॥'. There is nothing in the नाट् यशास्त्र on this point. We must now turn to the commentaries on the Nātyaśāst- ra. The most famous and the most erudite is that of Abhinava- gupta called नाव्यवेदविवृति and also अभिनवभारती in the colophons of its mss. and by commentators of Sanskrit dramas such as Rāghavabhatta1 on the Sakuntala. A separate section will be devoted to Abhinavgupta later on. As noted above Mr. Kavi has brought out so far only three volums of the अभिनवभारती in the G. O. S. (up to chap. [27 on सिद्धिलक्षण-विधान). For the rest I 1. c. g. राघवभट्ट on शाकुन्तल (I) quotes नाव्यशास्त्र 5. 24-25 and 106-107 सूत्रधार: पठेन्नान्दी ... लङ्कृताम् ।) and remarks 'इदं पद्यममिनवगुप्ता- चार्यर्भरतटीकायाममिनवभारत्यां व्याख्यातम्'.