Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c24.10

v1.c24.10

of Dramaturgy, is apparently based on the time-honoured authority of Bharata; but as Bharata's huge compendium, both from the practical as well as theoretical point of view, is discursive and cumbersome with its load of histrionic and other matters, Dhanañjaya attempts to sift the mass of details, and, limiting himself only to Dramaturgy, restates the general principles in the form of a practical, condensed and systematic manual. These features of the new contribution apparently obtained for it such reputation and currency that in course of time it seems to have superseded not only all other treatises on the subject but also the basic work of Bharata himself. Viśvanātha, for instance, refers now and then to Bharata and gives one or two (mostly conventional) quotations from his work; but in the main he bases his treatment of dramaturgic topics on Dhanañjaya; while Vidyānātha admits, in the nāṭaka-prakaraṇa of his own work, his indebtedness to the latter, with the remark eṣā prakriyā daśarūpóktarītyanusāreṇa (p. 131).