Note 12 — II POST-VEDIC LITERATURE AND THE ORIGIN OF THE DRAMA

The term Bhārata,12 which is an appellation of the comedian in the later texts, attests doubtless the connexion of the rhapsodes with the growth of the drama. It has survived in the modern form of Bhāṭ denoting a class of reciters, who are the inheritors of a tradition of recitation of the epics, and who are expert in genealogy, enjoy general consideration, and by their mere presence with a caravan assure its passage in safety. The Bhāratas must be the rhapsodes of the Bhārata tribe,13 whose fame is great in the early history of India, whose special fire is known to the Ṛgveda, and who have a special offering (hotrā) of their own. The Mahābhārata is the great epic of the family, preserved by their care. With the passage of time the rhapsodes doubtless took upon them the newer art of drama. Bhavabhūti in the Uttararāmacarita shows himself conscious of the debts owed by the drama to the epic, and the clearest proof is now available in the dramas of Bhāsa, with their wide indebtedness to the great epic itself.