The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c7.s1.6

c7.s1.6

The *Rāmāyaṇa* lends no aid to the attempt to establish an early existence of drama; we hear of festivals and concourses (*samāja*) where Naṭas and Nartakas delight themselves,¹ and even of the speaking of Nāṭakas;² in another passage the term Vyāmiçraka³ denotes, if we believe the commentator, plays in mingled languages. But, accepting all these references as genuine, which we are not obliged to do, the passages have manifestly no claim to early date, for other reasons than the allusions, and leave us again without any early evidence.