________________
918
SAHRDAYĀLOKA This can be compared with Bharata's observation in the Tāládhyāya, which reads as,
"savya-hasta nipātah syāc chamyā tālasya vāmataḥ hastayos tu samaḥ pātaḥ
sannipāta iti smộtaḥ.” (N.S. XXXI. 37, G.O.S.) Dr. Raghavan quotes from, perhaps Kāśi edn. It reads as - "samyā dakṣiṇahastasya tālaḥ pātas tu vāmataḥ."
This is read in the ft-note no. 1. (pp. 171, G.O.S. Edn.). Thus samyā is a movement of the right hand to keep time; the beating of both the palms to keep time is "sannipāta”. Dr. Raghavan observes (pp. 559, ibid) : “From this, it can be inferred that samyā, as the name of a dance, is derived from the original meaning of that word, viz. striking for keeping time; for keeping time in a dance with palms, as in Tamil Kummi and the Kerala Kaikottikkali (or, as in Gujarati 'garbā', or dandia rāsa'; we may add), it might have got extended to dance in which the time is kept by striking the small sticks, and to those time-keeping sticks themselves. In the Rāmāyana, the expression śamyā-grāha occurs in the sense of time-keepers dance; when at the desire of sage Bhāradvāja, the sylvan surroundings turned festive in a miraculous manner, the trees turned into dancing troupe, Bilvas became drummers, Vibhitakas, the time-keepers and Asvatthas dancers :
bilvā mārdangikā āsan śamyāgrāhā vibhītakāḥ, aśvattha nartakās cā"san
bhāradvājaś ca śāsanāt.” (II. 91, 48) The word samyā in Sanskrit also means a short stick of the length of a span, i.e. nine inches, or two sticks) used in the holes of yokes of bullock carts. The Amarakośa observes :
"Śamyā strī, yuga-kilakaḥ.” (II. 14) Dvipadi - This is mentioned by Bhāmaha, Abh., and Kamārila and ND.
Bhāmaha (I. 24) simply mentions dvipadi' and 'samyā', 'rāsaka' and 'skandhaka' along with nāšaka, and observes that all these are meant for stagerepresentation, i.e. are objects of acting (= abhineyártham) the detailed discussion on which is done by others ("ukto'nyais tasya vistaraḥ”). There is
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
