Indological Studies

Author(s): H C Bhayani
Publisher: Parshva Prakashan

Page 40

Literary and Performing Arts
sitga, singa and khinga. The form khinga is found in Subandhu's Vasavadatta (307) and in the Prabandhacintamani (p. 97., I. 12), şinga occurs in Bhoja's Singaramañjari-kathā (pp. 17-18) and Hemacandra's Abhidhanacintamani (331). Siḍga is found in the Sisupālavadha (5,34), Hemacandra's Anekarthasaṁgraha (2,40) and Dvyasraya (i,110), etc. Commentators and lexicographers give it as a synonym of vita, pallavaka, kāmuka, vidagdha etc., and this meaning of a voluptuary', 'a gallant', 'a person fond of women' is supported by the actual usage in literature.
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Consequently a semi-dramatic composition revolving round some affair of such a voluptuary, i.e., a Siḍga (Singa) and performed with music and dance can be well designated as şiḍgaka (şidgaka) or singaka (singaka). And the characterization of the Siḍgaka and S'rigadita given in the works on dramaturgy bears this out. Its theme involves reproach or censure expressed by a lady in respect of her husband who, eventhough accomplished, has proved unfaithful to her. It is significant that among the regional words mentioned by Hemacandra in the Desināmamālā (1, 4, commentary) there is a word himga in the sense of jāra and this himga is the same as our singa.
References
1. V. Raghavan, Bhoja's S'ṛgnāraprakāśa, 1963 (545-574).
2. Bhoja's Sṛngaraprakāśa, pp. 567–568.
3. The name has several forms: dombi, dombika and dombalikā. dombalika of the S'ṛngaraprakāśa is a corruption of ḍombilikā. In the portion reproduced from the Abhinavabharati in the Kāvyānusāsana (see further in the paper), we find at one place (p. 447, 1. 14) dombilika for the dombika of the former. In Hariṣena's Bṛhatkathākośa (931–932 A.D.) (ed. A. N. Upadhye, 1943), we find at 57,105 one more variation, dumbili. It is mentioned along with Signaṭaka, Bhānī, Chatra and Rasa as the five wellknown Naṭaka types danced by artistes and treated