Page:The Sanskrit Drama.djvu/347

342  and Mādhava's Subhadrāharaṇa mention only the Sūtradhāra, and Pischel suggested that it was Bhāsa who banished the Sthāpaka, in view of the reference in Bāṇa to his dramas as begun by the Sūtradhāra. It is uncertain, however, what precisely the sense of this reference is. The Daçarūpa expressly provides for the activity of the Sthapaka, but then proceeds to style him Sūtradhāra, and there is agreement that he is to have the attributes of the Sūtradhāra, so that the use of the name may merely be explained by this reason. This is certainly supported by the express reference in the Sāhityadarpaṇa to the transfer of his functions to the Sūtradhāra and the silence of the Daçarūpa on this head. The point would be of importance only if it meant that Bhāsa dropped the Pūrvaran̄ga as part of the drama; nothing, however, even hints at this; as we have seen, his omission to name himself or his play in the prologue tells strongly in favour of the view that the old Prarocanā was still in use.

More complex still is the question of the Nāndī or benediction. Most Sanskrit dramas open with a verse or verses of this type, followed by the remark, 'At the close of the Nāndī the Sūtradhāra enters,' but in Bhāsa's dramas, in old manuscripts of the Vikramorvaçī, and now and then in South Indian manuscripts of such plays as the Nāgānanda, the Mudrārākṣasa, and other more modern dramas, we find the play begun with these words, and a verse or verses following. We have also the direct testimony of Viçvanātha, who tells us that some authorities held that the introductory verse in the Vikramorvaçī which normally passes for the Nāndī was not that at all, but was the Ran̄gadvāra, with which, according to the Nāṭyaçāstra, the play properly begins, as in it we first find acting in the shape of a combination of speech and action; that verse, they argued, could not be reconciled with the definition of the extent of the Nāndī given in the Nāṭyaçāstra; others, however, on the authority of Abhinavagupta repelled this objection. Viçvanātha adopts as the definition of Nāndī what is recited in praise of a deity, Brahmin, king