Note 21 — IV DRAMATIC PRACTICE XIV THE INDIAN THEATRE

To a limited extent, however, use was made of minor properties, which are classed under the generic style of model work (pusta).21 The Nāṭyaçāstra distinguishes three forms of such objects; they may be made up (sandhima) from bamboos covered with skins or cloths; or mechanical means might be employed (vyājima); or merely clothes (veṣṭita) used. We hear of the making of an elephant in the Udayanacarita; the Mṛcchakaṭikā owes its name to the toy cart which appears in it; the Bālarāmāyaṇa has mechanical dolls, and doubtless there were represented houses, caves, chariots, rocks, horses, and so on; monsters with animal heads and many arms could be made of clay and bamboos, and covered with cloths; we are expressly told that weapons must not be made of hard material, but that stocks of grass, bamboos, and lac may be made to serve, and naturally gestures served in lieu of hard blows.