रत्नावली नाटिका (सम्राट हर्षवर्धन - शास्त्रीय नाटिका रत्न सम्पूर्ण ४ अङ्क सान्वय सटीक)

INTRODUCTION v
not at all observed in Sanskrit plays by reason of the absence of
scenery. For the plays were often performed in the open courts of
the palaces, perhaps at times in large halls set apart for public
entertainments or in the open air.
Unity of action—Unity of action, which is the most
important element for a drama to be successsful, does not mean
one and only one action complete in itself undiversified
by subordinate incidents and uncomplicated by accompanying
episodes as the most rigorous Neoclassicists observed. Unity here
is not incompatible with complexity; it means merely organic
connexion and co-herence. Minor actions and subplots and
episodes inseperably linked with the main action are to be con-
nected in such a way that the seperation of any one of them from
the body of the play would mean nothing but the destruction of
the whole plot. That is, the organic—not mechanical—connexion of
the subplots with the main one is the unity or singleness of
action. The episodes or minor incidents which we come across in
S'ákuntala are each essentially meant for revealing the different
aspects of the character of the hero and the heroine. As for
example, the Dhanamitra episode in the 6th act makes us know the
feelings of Dushyanta as a sonless king and that knowing on one
part helps us to know how it was the high time for the king to
be introduced to his son in the 7th act. In the Sanskrit Drama-
turgy, the subject-matter has been classified into two heads—(1)
चाधिकारिक (the main plot) and (2) प्रासङ्गिक (subsidiary plots or
episodes) Cf :—
“इदं पुनर्वस्तु बुधैर्द्विविधं परिकल्पितम् ।
चाधिकारिकमेकं स्यात् प्रासङ्गिकमथापरम् ॥
अधिकारः फले स्वाम्यमधिकारी च तत्प्रभुः ।
तन्निर्वृत्तं कविभिराधिकारिकमुच्यते ॥” साः दः ( ६ परि )
The subsidiary plots contribute to the development of the
main one—cf. “अस्योपकरणार्थं तु प्रासङ्गिकमितीर्य्यते”—सा दः। The unity of