The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c7.s5.42

c7.s5.42

Some of the arguments adduced against this theory of Reich's are admittedly untenable. It is impossible to argue as does Professor Konow that the use of the *Mṛcchakaṭikā* as a work of early date is a mistake, since the oldest dramas preserved are of quite another type and have no similarity with Greek works. True, the *Mṛcchakaṭikā* is not as old as it was thought, but the *Cārudatta* can be substituted in lieu, and there are no dramas older than it, save those of the same author and some fragments of Buddhist drama. Nor have we any very satisfactory evidence of a mime in India at an early date, for a mime means a great deal more than the mere work of a *Naṭa*. But there are adequate grounds for disregarding the theory. The similarity of types is not at all convincing; the borrowing of the idea of using different dialects from the mime is really absurd, and the large number of actors is equally natural in either case. The argument from the curtain is wholly without probative power; as we have seen, the term Yavanikā refers to material only; it would be very remarkable that the term Greek should be confined to the curtain alone, if the stage were really a Greek borrowing, and, last not least, we have no proof that the Greek mime had the curtain. The new form of the theory must, therefore, claim no more credence than the old. We cannot assuredly deny¹ the possibility of Greek influence, in the sense that Weber admitted the probability; the drama, or the mime, may, as played at Greek courts, have aided in the development of a true drama, but the evidence leaves only a negative answer to the search for positive signs of influence.