322. 358 CHAPTER VI

358 CHAPTER VI

that helpless condition and, through the pearl necklace, recognised her to be a princess, she reaches Kausāmbī and is introduced to Yaugandharāyana. She narrates her story and Yaugandharāyana takes her to the palace and puts her in the harem, giving her a different name, Sāgarikā, as the personal attendant of the queen. She is put in charge of a Maina bird. The queen, knowing full well the amorous tendency of the king, keeps Ratnavalī away from his sight, because of her beauty. Vasubhūti and Babhravya also somehow manage to reach the shore and join Rumanvan, the commander-in-chief of Udayana in the war against Kośala.

I. THE BEGINNING (PRĀRAMBHA).

There are two situations, in which the action of a Sanskrit drama is found to begin : (i) either the means, wherewith the goal is to be reached, have already been got through the favour of the providence, or through personal effort, or (ii) they have yet to be acquired. In the former case, the action begins with the recollection of the means and the ascertainment of their sufficiency to lead to the desired object and consequent determination to utilise them. In the latter case, i.e. if the means are not at hand, there is a mental effort to find them out and an anxiety to secure them after the ascertainment of their efficiency.

This beginning need not necessarily be made by the hero. If the hero has entrusted the care of his affairs to his minister, the action will be begun by the latter, as in the case of Ratnavalī, wherein the action is begun, not by the hero, but by his minister, Yaugandharayana. The action, according to the nature of the situation in which it opens, can be begun not only by the hero or his minister but also