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INTRODUCTION
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Hallīsaka, Kāvya, Goșthi, Kalpavalli, Śrīgadita, Durbhallikā, Mallikā, Vibāsikā>Rūpaka types: Bhāņa>Vīthi>Prahasana, Anka; and both these currents once more conflow to produce the finished types, Nātaka and Prakaraņa. In his opinion (p. 164) Bhāņa seems to be the first dramatic type to evolve; and he states four characteristics of the first drama: 1) It was entirely in Sanskrit, 2) it was descriptive in nature, 3) it was monologous in form, and lastly 4) it was secular in matter. In the light of the gradual evolution of nrtta, nộtya and nāțya types outlined by him, Prof. D. R. Mankad distinguishes between certain stages of growth or periods in the nātya types themselves (p. 165): 1) The nātya, in its earliest phase, had a form which required only one actor and one act; 2) then it required many actors but had still only one act; 3) thereafter it came to be represented by less complicated types with many acts; and lastly, 4) the fourth phase is represented by the full-fledged Nāțaka and Prakaraņa types, which, when fully developed, gradually sent the other lesser types into oblivion.
The problem of ascertaining the position of Saţtaka in the evolution of drama is faced with many a difficulty; still an attempt is worth making. The term sațţaka itself is a riddle; variants of spelling like sätaka, sātaka, sāļika are known, but they do not improve the situation. The word is undoubtedly un-S
in-Sanskritic in etymology like some other names of Uparūpakas such as Dombi. Hallīšaka, Şidgaka. Perhaps it is to be traced back to a Deśī word possibly of Dravidian origin. Stripped of its k-suffix, it shows elements like sa+atta or āta; and perhaps it stood originally as an adjective of a surpressed term. There is a Dravidian word ātța or āttam, dance, play, from the root ātu or ādu meaning to dance, gesticulate, to act a part or play. If the basic meaning was dance', the suppressed term may be rūpaka: one can postulate a phrase sattaań rūvaań= a dramatic representation accompanied by dance. Or if the basic meaning was 'play', the suppressed term may be nartana: one can postulate a phrase sattaań attanań (or naccanaṁ or naccidavvaṁ) = a dance accompanied by dramatic representation. Perhaps for brevity only the term sattaam has come in vogue. That Sattaka is closely associated with dance' is an accepted fact. In the Barhut Inscription' the term sõdika occurs in the record below a bas-relief of the dancing scene; and the theorist Śāradātanaya describes Sattaka as nrtya-bhedātmaka. Turning
1 See the extract in the Appendix.
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