The time of the performance is not in many cases stated, but in some plays such as the Malatimadhava and the Karnasundari it is found that it is assumed to be the time when the sun is rising. In most cases, dramatic performances were held generally in the afternoon and it used to take place for nearly four or five hours. From the evidence of the Natyashastra and plays in general it is apparent that plays were performed in daytime and when the moon was rising. While scenic effect could be very easily produced at night, it is interesting to find how such effect was produced by day also. Keeping in mind the occasions for the performances of drama, plays were generally enacted at annual fairs in temples, at the pleasure of the poet's patron and at festivals rural or urban, public or private. On these occasions, except the dramas which were played at the pleasure of the poet's patron or king, it was generally holidays when people used to gather to witness plays by day. Reflections of mirrors might have been used just as lights were used at night. Sanskrit dramas had critical audience as is clear from many preludes of dramas. There was a time-limit for a play. The Sanskrit play was to be finished in a fixed time. From the testimony of the Natyashastra, it is evident that a play was judged by a critic {prasnika) from the point of view of the accuracy of timing (nadikasiddhi) since the time when the jarjara was placed in a dramatic performance by the manager or the sutradhara. |