The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c20.s3.9

c20.s3.9

There are also five elements of the plot (*arthaprakṛti*),¹ which the theory not very accurately parallels with the five stages of the action. The first is the germ (*bīja*), whence springs the action, as in the *Ratnāvalī* from Yaugandharāyaṇa's scheme to secure the princess for the king. The second, with change of metaphor, is the drop (*bindu*), which spreads out as oil on water; the course of the drama, which has seemed to be interrupted, is again set in activity; thus in the *Ratnāvalī*, when the festival of the god of love is over, the princess gives a decisive impulse to the motion of the drama by recognizing in him, whom she deemed the god himself, the king for whom she was destined as a bride. The other three elements are the episode, the incident, and the *dénouement* (*kārya*).