महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

A Method for citing Sanskrit Dramas [xx
It should therefore consist of three elements, and, if possible, of not more
than three. A citation consisting of two elements only (act-number and
stanza-number) may be used to designate an entire stanza, but not to
designate a prose-passage.
Canon 4. They should apply at one and the same time to text and
translation and notes.—The system should be such that the same citation
will serve equally well for finding either a passage in the text or the
corresponding passage of the translation or of an appurtenant native com-
mentary or the corresponding exegetical or critical notes. Thus a given
matter may be found by the same reference in any one of three or four
different places. The method here proposed by me is usable at once in
these three or four ways, and this is a very great convenience.
Canon 5. The system should be such that the citations will need
little change for new editions.—That is, it should be applicable to edition
after edition of the same play with the very least possible change and
inconvenience. This requirement also is met by the system here proposed.
First as to the stanzas. If a stanza rejected from the text of an earlier
editor is to be inserted in the text of a later editor, let the later editor
insert it in its place and (without changing the number of all the subsequent
stanzas) assign to it the number of the preceding stanza and distinguish
the repeated number by a star. On the other hand, if a stanza inserted
by an earlier editor is to be rejected by a later editor, then let the later
editor leave out not only the stanza but also the number.
For example, act ii of the Śākuntala has, in each of the four above-
named editions, the same eighteen stanzas, all numbered with the utmost
possible discord. Next after the stanza śamapradhāneshu (ii. 7) some
MSS. give a stanza nirākṛita-, &c. Böhtlingk and Williams give this in
their notes, while Pischel receives it into his text, and Cappeller rejects it.
If the stanza-numbering had begun anew with each act, Pischel might
have inserted nirākṛita- with the numbering ii. 7*; or, if Pischel’s edition
had been the editio princeps and he had numbered nirākṛita- as ii. 8,
Cappeller might have left the stanza out and have numbered śamapra-
dhāneshu as ii. 7, and (skipping ii. 8) have numbered his next stanza as ii. 9.
In this way, even in spite of the difference in the total number of stanzas, the
numbering of them could very easily have been kept entirely harmonious.
As to the prose-passages, this may be added. Although the prose-
passages are occasionally long, they are for the most part short. As
between different editions of the same play, the numbering of the prose-
lines will not correspond exactly; but since the numbering starts anew
with each new prose-passage, the discordances will never be cumulative and
thus they will usually be so slight as to cause very little inconvenience.