The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c10.s6.1

c10.s6.1

Bhāsa’s Sanskrit² is in the main correct according to the rules of the grammarians, but his dependence on the epic is revealed by the occasional use of epic irregularities, almost always for the sake of the metre, which in the epic also is the cause of many deviations from classical grammar. We have thus the irregular contractions *putreti* and *Avantyādhipateḥ*, and a number of middle forms in lieu of active, *gamisye, garjase, drakṣyate, pṛcchase, bhraṣyate, ruhyate, śroṣyate*. In other cases the active replaces the middle, *āpṛccha, upalapsyati, pariṣvaja*. There is confusion between the simple and the causative verb in *sravati* and *vijanti*, and in *vimoktukāma*. The forms *rudantī* and *gṛhya* have many epic parallels. Irregular compounds are *sarvarājñaḥ* in verse, and *Kācirājñe* in prose; *vyūḍhoras* and *tulyadharma* occur in verse. The use in one clause of both *ced* and *yadi* is found in verse and also in prose, as in the epic. Mere blunders perhaps may be styled *pratyāyati*, a haplological form of the causative with the meaning of the simple verb, *samācvāsitum* with causative sense, and *yudh* as a masculine noun. There are other seeming irregularities, but they are either sanctioned by usage or possible of explanation by reference to variant interpretations of Pāṇini's rules.