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Classification of Poetry
835 It is one of the most popular forms of minor plays. It has a number of female characters. The hero is necessarily a king of the dhīra-lalita type. The motif of the action is love and acquision of kingdom. The chief interest centres round the element of marvel, the means and ends connected with the same are peculiar and strange. The plot is not of historical nature but is invented, and is spread ove stages of action. The result is that nātikā has only four junctures with the omission of vimarśa sandhi. Kaiśiki-vrtti is predominant. The hero has connection with more than one spouse. The queen is an impressive character having a sway over her lord. In all other respects the Nātikā closely resembles the nātaka.
Before we proceed with other forms of upa-rūpakas, we will look into the history of these art-forms as given by Dr. Raghavan (pp. 535 etc. ibid). Dr. Raghavan observes that the derivative types of drama, including nātikā, were increasing and the next stage of codification was reached in Kohala's work, which is lost for us now, but to which Abhinavagupta often refers. Perhaps next to Bharata, Kohala was the greatest writer on dramaturgy. Actually in the Kāśi. Edn., at XXXVI. 65, it is stated in the N.S. by Bharata, that the rest of the subjects would be dealt with by Kohala in his Uttaratantra:
"sesam uttaratantrena
kohalaḥ kathayisyati.” We do not find this verse in the critical edn. G.O.S. Vadodara, which in XXVII24 mentions Kohala. Dr. Unni's edn recently published also does not contain the above quoted reference but he has covered the 37th Ch. of the G.O.S. Edn. in the 36th extended Ch. only and we have the same reference to Kohala in Unni's Edn. Ch. XXXVI - verse 74.
But Dr. Raghavan has accepted Kāśi Edn. reading, and observes (pp. 536) that Bharata's work represents something like pūrva-tantra and that Kohala's work supplements it. But on the face of it this sounds improbable because how can we have a reference to 'Uttaratantra' in a pūrvatantra ? It is clear that Bharata's text has incorporated parts of earlier and later works. Dr. Raghavan himself suggests that till we unearth the valuable work of Kohala, we cannot decide the extent of accretion into Bharata's text from Kohala.
Dr. Raghavan further observes that in Bharata we have the ten rūpakas and the Nātikā. But by the time of Kohala's codification, we find that many minor varieties came into being. Kohala was the first to codify and describe these new types of dramas and dramatic presentations. This, Dr. Raghavan says, is proved by Abhinavagupta's statement -
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