A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s2.5

v3.c35.s2.5

¹ At the end of the book occurs the word "Nandibharata-*saṅgītapustakam*", that is capable of two interpretations : it may suggest that Nandibharata was its author, or it may mean that the copy of the manuscript belonged to a person of that name. The latter one appears more cogent on account of the occurrence of *samāptaścāyam*, both in the masculine, before it, since *ayam* cannot be used in relation to *pustakam*. The name Nandi-bharata appears also as the author of a work on music (Aufrecht, CC I, 276), and Nandin as author of a work on mimic (Abhinayadarpaṇa). However, there, is also one Abhinayadarpaṇa of Nandikeśvara (Aufrecht CC III, s.v.). This book has been translated into English by Anand Coomaraswamy and G. K. Duggira (Cambridge, Mass. 1917), see L. D. Barnett, JRAS 1917, 627f. Bharata means also "actor." R. Pischel, KG. 183 has translated the Bhāratīya-Nāṭyaśāstra, therefore, as "Lehrbuch der Schauspielkunst für Schauspieler—Manual of Histrionic Art for Actors" and adds "Or, as the Indian interpret, of Bharata, who is considered to be the director of the theatre of gods and is claimed to be the originator of the drama". Firstly, it is doubtful if the word "Bharata" means "actor" and therefore, cannot be associated with the mythical author of Nāṭyaśāstra, or if Bharata, as the name of the author of the famous manual on the historionic art could later get the meaning "actor". In the Viṣṇupurāṇa III, 6, Muni Bharata is named as the originator of the Gandharvaveda, that is to say, of Music.