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

APPENDIX C 463
the idea of being inseperably linked with one another, so as to
be the different parts of one organic whole. The poet has
evinced a remarkable ingenuity in bringing together different
elements into the formation of a compact whole.
According to the Sanskrit dramatists, the strict limit of time
during which the action of an act takes place should vary from
two days upto one year (या च स्याद् वर्षपर्यन्तं कथा
Unity of time दिनद्वयादिजा). In the रत्नावली which is concerned
with the second marriage of उदयन, which in-
volves harem-politics in playing tricks and counter-tricks, the
action on which the plot is based, is of a very short duration.
Act I opens with the rejoicings of the people of Kaushámbi due
to the Cupid-festival commenced on the fourteenth day of
the bright half of the mouth of Chaitra (See Notes, Act I,
Pp. 76-77). The time occupied by the Act I is only a few
hours from the noon to the sunset of that very day.
In Act II the interlude opens on the same day as we know
from the conversation that Susangatá was seeking Ságariká
who left the Sáriká with her and went to see the Cupid-
worship. Then the painful agitation that we find in the
heroine shows that the action of Act II proper began on the
next day. Scrutinization reveals that the whole of Act II
covers one whole day, (viz., the Full-moon day of Chaitra, as
we find in Act III that the moon rises after deep darkness
sets in.)
The action of Act III must have taken place on the first