Note 2 — III DRAMATIC THEORY XIII THE THEORY OF THE DRAMATIC ART

The legend is interesting because it precisely interprets the spirit of India towards authority; Bharata occupies in the theory of the drama a place analogous to that of Pāṇini in grammar, but unfortunately the Nāṭyaçāstra has fared badly in comparison with the Aṣṭādhyāyī, which has, through the care of its commentators, come down to us in a form but little changed from that it assumed in the hands of its author. The work, which we have under the title Bhāratīya Nāṭyaçāstra,2 is extremely badly preserved in the manuscript tradition, a fact due in part to the comparatively late date of any commentary upon it. We have only a few references to an exposition of the Nāṭyaçāstra by Mātṛgupta, a somewhat mysterious figure with a more or less legendary connexion with Kālidāsa, with whom he has even been identified;3 if we are to place any faith in his contemporaneity with Kālidāsa, he may date from the close of the fourth century A.D. It is significant that tradition makes him for a time king of Kashmir, for it is to that country we owe the commentaries of Çan̄kuka, who wrote the epic Bhuvanābhyudaya under Ajitāpīḍa (A.D. 813–50), and of Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka, who belongs to the period of Çan̄karavarman (A.D. 883–902). In the same line of tradition is the great work of Abhinavagupta, the Abhinavabhāratī, which has been lucky enough to come to light after long oblivion, and which represents the erudition of the close of the tenth century.