1917.] The Dramas of Bhasa: A literary study. 279 



main questions — lstly : are the thirteen plays by the same 

 author, or by different authors ? 2ndly : which period, relatively 

 speaking, do they belong to ? 



Our first criterion is the style of the dramas. Nobody 

 will deny that there is in Indian literature a marked tendency 

 from simplicity and directness to elegance and elaborateness. 

 It is impossible to date the "Raghuvansa" before the "Rama- 

 yana," even if we had only stylistic indications to go upon. 

 There also seems to be a tendency from action to description, 

 and from sparsity of words to verbosity. This criterion might 

 be applied when comparing our dramas with dramas of more 



or less fixed date. 



Our second criterion is the relations of our dramas to the 

 existing law-books of poetry — the " Natyasastram " of Bharata, 

 the Dasarupam and others : these relations should also be com- 

 pared with those of known dramas. It is typical for Indian 

 poets that they take a pride in following almost slavishly the 

 rules concerning style and language laid down in the canons 

 especially when those books have reached the necessary stage 

 of sanctity by being connected with a mythical seer. 



Our third criterion is the numerous historical allusions 

 met with in the dramas. I take the term historical in its 

 widest sense. It comprises not only facts or persons of which 

 we have documentarv evidence, but also the general picture of 

 civilisation represented in the play. To give an example: 

 In the " Pratima-nataka," mention is made of life-like monu- 

 ments put up in honour of deceased kings. This reminds us 

 very much of the famous statue of King Kamshka m Muttra 

 and other royal statues of the Kushana period. Here archeo- 

 logy will probably be able to help us. 



The fourth criterion is the relations of a drama to its 

 possible sources If we can tell with certainty which source the 

 dramatist has used for his plot, and can fix a period tor this 

 source, we shall have something to start with. * or instance, let 

 us take the two Rama vana-dra mas. It seems possible _ that 

 our dramatist has known only the older or shorter recbc t ion of 

 the epos, which did not include the Balakandam and the 

 Uttarakandam. Tf this theory can be proved we shall have a 



^ S? KtiLion is a comparison of om -drama, with 

 dramas of known date treating the same !^J^J d ™ tt ^7, 

 striking case in this direction is a comedy called Caiudattam 

 one of the 13 natakas of which I have not spokei ^ no fc ^ 

 treats the same subject as the famous < ^^chakatikam a cribed 

 to King Sudraka, out also shows such a number ££^£ 

 that only two conclusions are possible Lithei not 

 same author, the one being a first draft > of the otW m t^ 



