The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c7.s8.7

c7.s8.7

This fact has one important bearing on the history of the drama. The suggestion of Pischel² that the verses alone were once preserved, and the prose left to be improvised would have been plausible only if the verses had been essentially the important elements in the dialogue, as in the supposed Vedic Ākhyāna hymns. But this is assuredly not the case; the verses do little to help on the action; as in the epic, they express descriptions of situations and emotions; when movement of the play is requisite recourse is had to prose. Or the verses serve to set out maxims, as is natural in view of the great fondness of India for gnomic poetry, seen already in the verses introduced into the legend of Śunaḥśepa in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*. In this again there is a close parallel with the epic, nor is it surprising that the epic poet, like Aṣvaghoṣa and Kālidāsa, was often devoted to the drama.