1 86 



V. A. Smith — Or wo- Horn an influence 



[No. 3. 



influence on the Sanskrit drama, and further, that without that influence 

 the dramatic literature of India would never have come into existence. 



The formal structure of the Sanskrit dramas closely resembles that, 

 with which we are familiar in Plautus aud Terence. Like the Greeoo- 

 Ronian, the Indian plays arc divided into acts and scenes, and eacli 

 piece is preceded by a prologue. The mere fact of the existence of the 

 prologue in the Indian, as in the European plays, is in itself surprising, 

 and can hardly bo regarded as a merely casual coincidence. The im- 

 probability that it is such becomes much greater when we observe that 

 in both cases the prologue is devoted to the same purposes, the an- 

 nouncement of the names of the poet and the play, the gaining favour 

 of the spectators, and the preparation of their minds for the piece 

 itself. 



Again, it cannot well be the result of accident that the love-story 

 of the Indian drama is in plot, development, and denouement essentially 

 of the same kind as that of Grasco-Roman comedy. The plot of the 

 ' Toy-cart,' the most ancient Indian play extant, may be accurately 

 described in the words applied by Rost to the Curculio of Plautus : — 

 " The subject of this comedy is very simple, and depends, as usual, on 

 a secret intrigue, the lover's want of money, and the supplanting of a 

 rival." 



The fair Perditas of Plautus and Terence, who eventually prove to 

 be high-born daughters of Athenian citizens, find their parallel in the 

 maid-servants of the Indian plays (Mdlavikdgnimitra and Batndvali), who 

 turn out to be princesses in disguise ; and the dmyvupio-juos, or recog- 

 nition of the disguised young lady, which is a critical incident in nearly 

 every Grreco-Roman play, is repeated, merely with variations of detail, 

 in the Indian adaptations. 



Other stock characters of the Torentian comedy have also been 

 imported into the Sanskrit drama. 



The parasitus edax, the miles gloriosus, and the servus currens, so 

 familar to all readers of the Groeco-Roman comedies, are reproduced 

 respectively as the vita, sahdra, and vidushafca of the earliest Indian 

 drama. The external origin of these strongly marked characters, is 

 clearly indicated by the facts that the three personages are found to- 

 gether only in the 1 Toy-cart,' the oldest drama, which was composed 

 while India was still in communication with the Hellenistic world, and 

 that all three were discarded by Bhavabhuti, who lived about A. D. 700, 

 when Greek influence had ceased to directly affect India. Dr. Win- 

 disch's detailed analysis of these characters is very interesting, but is too 

 long for reproduction. 



One striking argument, however, must not be omitted. The Sans- 



