There were no special theatres in the Hindu Middle Ages, and plays seem
to have been performed in the concert-room (_Sangita-Cala_) of royal
palaces. A curtain, divided in the middle, was a necessary part of the
stage arrangement; it did not, however, separate the audience from the
stage, as in the Roman theatre, but formed the back-ground of the stage.
Behind the curtain was the tiring-room (_nepathya_), whence the actors
came on the stage. When they were intended to enter hurriedly, they
were directed to do so "with a toss of the curtain." The stage scenery
and decorations were of a very simple order, much being left to the
imagination of the spectator, as in the Shakespearian drama. Weapons,
seats, thrones, and chariots appeared on the stage; but it is highly
improbable that the latter were drawn by the living animals supposed to
be attached to them. There may have been some kind of aerial contrivance
to represent celestial chariots.