The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c22.s2.20

c22.s2.20

The time of the performance is not in many cases stated, but in a number of plays, including the *Mālatīmādhava*, *Karṇasundarī*, and the embryo drama in the *Priyadarçikā*, we find it assumed to be the moment when the sun is just appearing.² The beat of drum announces the beginning of the drama, the preliminaries, often reduced to little more than a vocal and instrumental concert of brief duration, are completed, and the benediction pronounced, to be followed by the prologue proper and the drama.