104
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
[Antya-līlā, Ch. 1]
SYNONYMS
‘ udghātyaka ’  nāma —a dancing appearance of the player, technically known as  udghātyaka ;  ei āmukha —this is the introduction;  vīthī aṅga —the part is called  vīthī ;  tomāra āge —before you;  kahi —I say;  ihā —this;  dhārṣṭyera taraṅga —a wave of impudence.
TRANSLATION
“This introduction is technically called  udghātyaka , and the whole scene is called  vīthī . You are so expert in dramatic expression that each of my statements before you is like a wave from an ocean of impudence.”
PURPORT
In this connection Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura again quotes the following verse from the  Sāhitya-darpaṇa  (6.288):
udghātyakaḥ kathodghātaḥ prayogātiśayas tathā pravartakāvalagite pañca prastāvanā-bhidāḥ
Thus the technical names for the five kinds of introductory scenes of the drama are listed as  udghātyaka ,  kathodghāta ,  prayogātiśaya ,  pravartaka  and  avalagita . When Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya inquired which of these five Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī had used to accomplish the technical introduction to his drama  Lalita-mādhava , Rūpa Gosvāmī replied that he had used the introduction technically called  udghātyaka . According to  Bhāratī-vṛtti , three technical terms used are  prarocanā ,  vīthī  and  prahasanā . Thus Rūpa Gosvāmī also mentioned  vīthī , which is a technical term for a certain type of expression. According to the  Sāhitya-darpaṇa  (6.520):
vīthyām eko bhaved aṅkaḥ kaścid eko ‘tra kalpyate ākāśa-bhāṣitair uktaiś citrāṁ pratyuktim āśritaḥ
The  vīthī  beginning of a drama consists of only one scene. In that scene, one of the heroes enters the stage, and by means of opposing statements uttered by a voice from the sky (offstage), he introduces the abundant conjugal mellow and other mellows to some degree. In the course of the introduction, all the seeds of the play are planted. This introduction is called  udghātyaka  because the player dances on the stage. This term also indicates that the full moon enters the stage. In this case, when the word  naṭatā  (“dancing on the stage”) is linked with the