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DRAMATIS PERSONAE Treatment of the Characteristics of the Hero and the Heroine
General Introduction
The subject of dramatis personae or the characters is intimately connected with the theory of drama. The author of the Desarūpaka, a well known work of Dramaturgy, lays down (1. 11) that Dramas are classified according to Plot, Hero and Sentiment.
Bharata's Nātyaśāstra, the earliest extant treatise on dramaturgy as well as poetics, is also the earliest known. work on the subject of dramatis parsonae i.e., the Hero, the Heroine and the other characters. Hence it is clear that the important types of characters and their classification can be traced to the Nātyaśāstra. However, the scheme of classification: followed in the Nātyasāstra has undergone a great deal of change in the works of later authorities.
Bharata treats of Nayaka as the principal character of a drama, and not as Alambana-vibhāva of the Srngārarasa. This is clear from the fact that Bharata deals with the subject of Nāyaka-Nāyikā-bheda, not in the sixth and the seventh chapters, which deal with Rasa ard Bhāva, but in the concluding chapters which deal with the different characters of a drama.. Consequently, the fourfold division of the Hero into Dhiroddhata,
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