shnu), may be regarded as a mere aftergrowth, and
exhibit the Indian drama in its decay. Indeed, the latest of them,
_Chitra-Yajna_, which was composed about the beginning of the 19th
century, and still serves as a model for Bengali dramatic performances,
is imperfect in its dialogue, which (after the fashion of Italian
improvised comedy) it is left to the actors to supplement. Besides these
there are farces or farcical entertainments, more or less indelicate, of
uncertain dates.

The number of plays which have descended to us from so vast an expanse
of time is still comparatively small. But though, in 1827, Wilson
doubted whether all the plays to be found, and those mentioned by Hindu
writers on the drama, amounted to many more than sixty, M. Schuyler's
bibliography (1906) enumerates over five hundred Sanskrit plays. To
these have to be added the plays in Tamil, stated to be about a hundred
in number, and to have been composed by poets who enjoyed the patronage
of the Pandian kings of Madura, and some in other vernaculars.

Critical literature.

There certainly is among the Hindus no dearth of dramatic theory. The
sage Bharata, the reputed inventor of dramatic entertainments, was
likewise revered as the father of dramatic criticism--a combination of
functions to which the latter days of the English theatre might perhaps
furnish an occasional parallel. The commentators (possibly under the
influence of inspiration rather than as a strict matter of memory)
constantly cite his _s[=u]tras_, or aphorisms. (From _s[=u]tra_, thread,
was named the _s[=u]tra-dh[=a]ra_, thread-holder, carpenter, a term
applied to the architect and general manager of sacrificial solemnities,
then to the director of theatrical performances.) By the 11th century,
when the drama was already approaching its decline, dramatic criticism
had reached an advanced point; and the _Dasa-Rupaka_ (of which the text
belongs to that age) distinctly defines the ten several kinds of
dramatic composition. Other critical works followed at later dates,
exhibiting a rage for subdivision unsurpassed by the efforts of Western
theorists, ancient or modern; the misfortune is that there should not be
examples remaining (if they ever existed) to illustrate all the branches
of so elaborate a dramatic system.

Exclusiveness of the Indian drama.

"What," inquires the manager of an actor in the induction to one of the
most famous of Indian plays, "are those qualitie