The Human Character Types in Ancient India

Abstract

Abstract This paper is a study of the transmission and assimilation of ideas and motifs in different types of Sanskrit literature in ancient India. I examine the classification of both male and female character types in three different Sanskrit literary genres: Jyotiḥśāstra, Āyurveda and Nāṭyaśāstra. The results of the study indicate that the list of male character types offered in the early Jyotiḥśāstra treatise of Garga (Gārgīyajyotiṣa) dating from the beginning of the Common Era contributed in part to the formulations in Āyurveda and formed the basis of the version in the Nāṭyaśāstra. Early āyurvedic treatises expanded the list and organised the male character types according to the Sāṃkhyan guṇa-theory, and the Nāṭyaśāstra further increased the animal similes of Garga, changed the gender emphasis from male to female, and used Kāmaśāstra as the genre for introducting the catalogue of female character types into dramaturgy.

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