The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c20.s3.11

c20.s3.11

Based on these parallel sets is a third division of the junctures² (*sandhi*), which carry each of the stages of the action to its natural close. They are the opening (*mukha*), progression (*pratimukha*), development (*garbha*), pause (*vimarça*), and conclusion (*nirva-haṇa*), corresponding clearly and closely with the stages,¹ set out above. Thus in the *Çakuntalā* the opening extends from Act I to the point in Act II where the general departs; the progression begins with the king's confession to the Vidūṣaka of his deep love, and extends to the close of Act III. The development occupies Acts IV and V, up to the point where Gautamī uncovers the face of *Çakuntalā*; at this moment the curse darkens the mind of the king, who, instead of rejoicing in re-union with his wife, pauses in reflection, and this pause in the action extends to the close of Act VI, while the conclusion is achieved in the last Act. In the *Ratnāvalī* the opening extends to that point in Act II, where Ratnāvalī decides to depict the king as the only means of gazing on him whom she loves, but from whom she is jealously kept by the queen; the progression extends then to the close of the Act; the development occupies Act III, while the pause, due to the intervention of the queen, is brought to an end by the mock fire of the palace in Act IV, and the remaining portion of that Act gives the conclusion.