358 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [October, 1909. 
is is a compilation of the dramatic art in which the 
meaning of the Satras is given in brief. After this I will speak 
of or expatiate upon the Sitragrantha. Then commences a 
prose treatise in the proper Sitra form with @renera: and 
area: at every step. e Sutra here does not 
mean aphorisms only but a work written in Sitra style like 
Kalpasitras, Srautasiitras, and others. In the prose treatise not 
only are Sitras given but their Bhasya and a number of Kari- 
kas. There are often derivations given of words from roots. So 
in this prose treatise imbedded in a long work in sloka metre, 
we have not only the Natysitras, but their Bhasya, Karika, 
Nighantu and Nirukta also. This shows that there was a vast 
literature in the dramatic art before this long work in Sloka- 
metre was compiled, and that literature had already undergone 
five or six different stages of development. 
e first work of dramatic art pre-supposes the existence of 
a large number of dramas enacted in very early times, namely, 
the fall of the Asuras, the churning of the nectar from the sea, 
and the burning of the three cities,andso on. The first drama or 
Nataka in its origin was not secular but connected with religion, 
the second was a Samavak‘ra, and the third Dima, a kind of 
drama in which supernatural elements predominated. The pro- 
duction of numerous d itated creation of dramatic art. 
Panini speaks of Silali’s Natyasitra and Krsasva’s Natyasitras. 
Indian tradition unfailingly points out Bharata as the first writer 
on the dramatic art asa Sitrakara. In the Natyas?stra too 
mention is made of various schools of Na tyasitra (Siddhanta). 
This explains that all the three—Siléli, Krsasva and Bharata— 
were Sutrakaras. In course of time the Sitras themselves : 
required explanation and expansi d hasyas were written. 
Gradually the literature became bulky and it became necessary 
to write compendious treatises mnemonic verses, and so on, till 
in the second century B.C. the whole of the vast literature was 
brought into a compendious harmony in what we now have as 
Bharata Natyésastra. 
This book which runs through 38 chapters is so full of 
The author of the book, technicalities, that it would sane 
several years’ study to master it com- 
pletely. In the 28th chapter there is another Siatra work, 2.¢, 
stood in modern times and even by classical writers. The chapters 
on dress, sel: ction of actors, classification of dramas, are equally 
difficult to understand. it has often been said in this work 
