Dear Jean-Luc,

My apologies for answering quite (quite) late to your question. I wonder whether it is still a topical subject for you…

At least, I can give an element of answer : according to the Abhinavabhaaratii, Abhinavagupta's commentary on the Naa.tya"saastra  —  see, especially,  the mangala of the commentary on the first chapter —the number 36 is justified by, and correlated with, the number of the tattvas in the nondualistic "saivism of Kashmir  (where there are 36 tattvas, the system adding a superstructure of 11 tattvas to the 25 tattvas of the Saa.mkhya).

Nevertheless, some editions of the texts present a 37th chapter, also commented by Abhinavagupta!

On those questions, allow me to refer to my work:  Poétique du théâtre indien. Lectures du Naa.tya"saastra. Paris, École Française d’Extrême-Orient (« Publications de l’EFEO », 169), 1992, p.  27, and notes 39 and 40.


Lyne Bansat-Boudon
Directeur d'études,
Ecole pratique des hautes études, Vème section
Le 20 oct. 10 à 19:10, Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD a écrit :

Dear Matthew Kapstein,

thanks for your comment (and thanks for forwarding Jonathan Silk's comment)

Adding one more brain-storming style question, I would be interested in hearing from you or from others about the logic hidden behind the division of the /Nātyaśāstra/ into 36 chapters or into 37 chapters.

Is it known who preferred having 36 chapters and who preferred having 37?

Did the preferrence have anything to do with the religion of the "editor/transmitter"?

Sorry if all these questions appear idle but I believe that in some contexts the only way to (discreetly) "make a statement" was to chose a different number :-)

-- Jean-Luc Chevillard (planet Earth)



On 20/10/2010 14:57, mkapstei@UCHICAGO.EDU wrote:
In my recent posting on 37 I was subject to
an error of memory (thanks to Jonathan Silk for
discretely pointing it out to me). The group
of Buddhas of contrition according to the
Triskandhakasuutra numbers 35, not 37, and it
was this that Wayman sought to explain.
37 is nevertheless numerologically important
in Buddhism: it is the number of the
bodhipak.sadharma-s, the "factors allied with
awakening."
Matthew T. Kapstein
Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies
The University of Chicago Divinity School
Directeur d'études
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris