1. Sanskrit Drama and Dramatists Their Chronology Mind and Art ( With Texts of Dasarupakam Pari 1 & 3 Kulkarni K.P

ॐ भूयानसि महानसि

SANSKRIT

Drama & Dramatists

(Their Chronology, Mind and Art)

(With the text of Dasharupakam Pr. I and III)

BY

K. P Kulkarni, M. A , B T

Sometime Lecturer in Sanskrit

Gujrath and Elphintone Colleges

author of

"Philology and Marathi"

1927

Price Rs. 2-8-0

Presented

by

V

V

ATITKAR

B

A.

320

'Bharat'

Press,

325

Sadashiv,

Poona

city

and

Published

by

K

P

KULKARNI

M.A.

B.T.

Varada

Prakash

Peth,

Satara

City

PREFACE

The necessity of such a book as the present one giving

an aesthetic appreciation of the Sanskrit poets was first felt

by me while lecturing to my students at the Gujrath

College. A greater portion of the present book is the out-

come of a course of lectures that I had to deliver to them.

I had to revise the whole in the light of the latest re-

searches in chronology and to rewrite it in order to suit

the book form

I do not think it necessary to offer any apology for

writing this book. The university has introduced the

study of Sanskrit dramatics amongst the subjects to be

studied for the B.A. (Languages) There are some excel-

lent books but as they are either in French or German,

they are not available to our students. Keith's book,

though scholarly and masterly, leaves room for a detailed

study of every play, for the right interpretation of tradi-

tions, for the application of canons of criticism not only

of the West but also of the East and for a dispassionate

consideration of the researches announced by scholars on

this side of ours in vernacular magazines. It is these

features that distinguish this book

I have divided the book into eight chapters. The

first gives all the theories propounded by various oriental

scholars regarding the origin of the Sanskrit Drama. A

rational interpretation of the tradition given in the

Nātyashāstra is attempted towards the end of it. The

second chapter gives the build and the principles of the

structure of the drama. It includes a discussion of the

formative, imaginative historical and spiritual aspects

of Sanskrit Drama. The principles stated in this are induc-

tively applied to the several dramas in subsequent

chapters The plan of discussion that has been adopted is

established on the basis of practical experience in the

college classes—first the chronological data—then the plot

construction—then the characterization, and lastly the

style

It was my ardent desire to include in the book the

philological data offered by the Prākrits of the plays and

to see how far they enable us to arrive at the approximate

chronology of the poets But for better reasons I reserve

it for another treatise which I intend to issue very shortly

first for private circulation amongst the scholars and

professor-friends of mine

I shall feel my labours amply rewarded if this present

attempt of mine succeeds in meeting the demands of the

students for whom it is intended I leave it to the readers

to judge how far it has fulfilled the original aim and how

far it has come up to the level of scholarly and scientific

research. I cannot help feeling that there is room for

difference of opinion on questions of chronology and appre-

ciation, proportion and emphasis It has been my effort

to settle the questions on the basis of all available evi-

dence

I tender my sincere thanks to all my professor-friends

who very kindly went through the pages of the manuscript

and made some valuable suggestions

I

am

par*cularly

thankful

to

Mr.

S

R

Sardesai,

B

A

L

L

B

for

going

over

the

proofs

with

a

very

vigilant

eye

and

Mr

V.V.

Atitkar,B.A

for

taking

out

the

book

through

the

press

with

untiring

and

speedy

efforts

I

tender

an

apology

for

some

mistakes

that

have

crept

in

with

regard

to

the

diacritical

marks

Various

books

have

been

of

service

in

the

preparation

of

this

book

and

those

specifically

drawn

upon

are

duly

acknowledged

in

the

proper

places

But

I

mention

two

as

the

cause

of

special

obligation,

'Sanskrit

Drama'

by

Keith

and

'Hindu

Theatre'

by

Wilson.

I

cannot

let

go

unmentioned

the

efforts

of

my

young

children—Dādā

and

Bachu

for

arranging

and

Lakhā

and

Indu

for

disarranging

the

slips

of

the

index

SATARA

Ganesh

Chaturthi

18—6—1927

K

P

Kulkarni.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

The origin of Sanskrit Drama. 1-25

Drama, its definition and constituents 1

Dialogne hymns 2. Theories about them 3

M.Muller, Oldenberg, Shroeder etc Religious

pastimes 4 In Brahman period, 5. Sutra period 6

References in Pāṇini 5 Patañjali 7. Keith's

theory, Mahāvrata 8 References in M-Bhārata 9

The Secular origin Pischel's Theory–Puppet

show The Lalita or Gondhal 12 Theory of

Windisch, Greek origin 13 Levi's theory The

scythian origin 16 Traditional theory–The

Nātyashastra 19 Interpretation of t-adition 22

Conclusions 23

CHAPTER II.

The mould of Sanskrit Drama 26-72

Pre-Bharat Dramatists 26 Bharat 27 Dra-

matist–his requirements 27 (प्रतिभा वृत्तपत्ति,

अभ्यास ) 28 Drama–its aim 28. Its contents 29

Its types–ten 30 Trageḍir 33 Vastu –Sources 34.

Its kinds, its divisions 36 Dirisions of action 37,

Sandhis 38 Stages 41 Dramatis personæ 44.

Prāroktris 45 Nāyaka, four trpes 47 Viḍu-

shaka 48, Sakāra 50 Nāyikā 51. General prin-

ciples–Impersonality. Brevity Concentration,

Crces–lighting, Parallelism, Contrast in plot

in character 53-58 Sentiments, Bhāvas, Vibhā-

vas, Anubhāvas, Rasas-Shringār, Adbhuta-Sub-

normal, Supernormal 58-62. Representation:

Prastāvanā etc. 63. Dress 64. The languages 65.

Vṛttis, Rītes, Style—qualities—Intellectual and

Emotional, Metres, their propriety 66-69.

Theatre: Kinds, Divisions, Curtains, Scenes,

Characters 69-72.

CHAPTER III

Pre-Kālidāsan Drama

( I ) BHĀSA

The nature of the plays 72. The author-

ship 76. References to Swapna 76 The archaic

forms 79. Date of Pāṇini 80. Bhāsa and Chā-

nakya, Dharmashastra, Rama incarnation Ma-

ttavilās Prahasana 82. The two dates 82 Our own

date 82. The plays, their order 83. their divi-

sions His influence on other poets 84. The

Pratidnyā Y The plot, Characters, compared

with others 85 The Swapna 89 Pratimā 92

Style 94

( 2 ) SHUDRAKA

Mṛchhakaṭikā 95 Author,References from

old books 97 ( Ainī-Akbarī, Kshiraswami, Raja-

shekhara. Skanda P Col. Wilford Internal

evidence 98. Date 100 The plot, the thesis, of it

Contrast 101 Characters Chārudatta, Vasanta-

senā, distinguished from other heroines 113

Shakāra 114. Style 117

3

CHAPTER IV

Kālidāsa

118-125

Goethe's praise 118 Traditions His date :

tradition Gāthā Saptashatī, Uraiyur (Vaidya)

Bhuța Medalļan Priority to Ashwaghoṣa 120,

Astronomical evidence 121 Vikramāditya, a

title of Skanda Gupta, or Chandragupta Opinions

of Scholars Jyotirwidābharana 122 The order-

of the plays. The aim Mālrıkā A. 124 Vikra

ma-U 131 Apabhransa verses 135 Shākuntala

The ring and fish in Herodotus.139. Threads in

the plot 142 The super-human element 144 Two

aspects in Dushyanta His defects 148 Theory

of Character 149. Style 152

CHAPTER V

Bhavabhuti the Poet-Dramatist

153-177

The passage in M V 153 Tradition 153

His patron 155 His relations with Kumarila

Internal evidence Date 151 Thesis of the

play 157 Mahāvircharita 150 Mālatī-Mādhao-

plot and Character 163 Uttarāmacharita 170

Characters Rāma, Sita 174 Merits of the poet's

style 177.

CHAPTER VI.

Harsha -The patron poet

178-193

Three Harshas 178. The author 179 Ratnā-

vali 180 Priyadarshikā c185 Nāgānanda 188.

4

CHAPTER VII.

Bhatta Narayana

Veṇī-Samhāra

194-201

Veṇī-Samhāra—The Romance of War. The poet, personal history 195. Plot 196, Characters 1981 Yudhiṣṭhira—Nāyaka ?

CHAPTER VIII.

Viśākhadatta

203-212

Mudrārākṣasā —The Political Drama The special feature 203 The author 204. The plot 207 The characters 209. Chāṇakya, Rākṣasa compared 211 The style 212

Appendix

1-12

Index

1-4

Books consulted and abbreviations used

A. ṛ—Ārimāraṭaḥ T Ṿ Series,

A. ṛ—Aṭasāṭṭaveḍa

B ṛ—म ना cr Bharata Nāṭyashāstra. (Nirnaya-sagar)

Cṛ.—Chārudatta

D Q—Deccan College Quarterly

D Ṛ.—Dasharupakam

Ind Ant—Indian Antiquary

J R A S—Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

K Ḍ—Keita's Drama

K. P—Kāvyaprakāsha (Chandorkar)

M A.—or Mālrıkā A. Mālrıkāgnimitra

M K.—Mrichakatika

M M.—Mālatī-Madhao

M ṛ.—Manāvirācharnta

Nāg—Nāgānanda

P D—Priyadarshikā

Prandrsa—Prat dnṛā-Yauganōharāraṇa

P Ṛ—Pancaratra, T Ṿ Series

R ṛ—Rıgreia

R M—Rı̄dhanāadhae-Vilāsa-Champu. Rājwade

Rat—Ratı̄rvalı̄

R T—Rajatarangı̄ri

Sāk—Shākuntala

S D—Sāhityadarpana Kane)

S B. E—Sacred Books of the East series

S ṛ cr Srapna—Svapna Tācaradatta, T. Ṿ Serie

2

S. V.—Samaveda

T. V—Trivandrum Series ( Ganapāti Shastri )

U R—Uttararāmacarita

V. U—Vikramorvashīyam

Veni—Venishambhāra

Y. R—Yajurveda

In addition to the above-mentioned books, the following ones are also consulted.

Indian Studies, Weber

Bhandarkar Com. Vol.

Oriental Conferences proceedings

Sylvan Levi-Indian Theatre

Hindu Theatre, Wilson

Modern Review numbers

Vividha-Dryāna-Vistāra

Vishwa-Bhārati

Historical Quarterly.

ERRATA

Page

Line

For

Read

7

29

From

Form

8

Foot

notes

Kieth

Keith

12

7

tne

the

16

21

Kshatyap

Kshatrapa

16

23

Laguage

Language

16

30

allen

Fallen

24

9

Commonlty

commonalty

27

11

tech

nique

technique

31

note

कृतपृक्ता

कृतश्रुत्ता

80

18

Vatsyayam

Vātsyāyan

98

18

ex

tensive

extensive

113

27

villianous

villainous

113

31

waman

woman

114

8

charactar

character

128

note

2

भट्ट

भटृ

136

3

skermish

skirmish

145

10

forcily

forcibly

148

note

प्रत्याय

यतीव

प्रत्याययतीव

149

15

situable

suitable

157

1

every

very

159

9

M

charitra

M-charita

160

23

touse

to

use

ॐ भूयानासि महानासि

Sanskrit Drama & Dramatists

(Their Chronology, Mind and Art)

CHAPTER I.

The Origin of Sanskrit Drama

DRAMA is essentially a social form of art, having a

two-fold function to discharge Though to educate in-

tellectually, morally, sucially and spiritually is its

premier function or aim, it cannot be considered as of

greater human importance than its other function which

is the delight and joy consequent upon the enjoyment of

any art Drama presents a composite or cumulative

organization of all fine arts that rouse and raise the man

above the rest of creation, forcing him to detach himself

from the trivial things of daily existence and to concen-

trate his mind and senses on the themes and characters

presented in it The principal arts that combine to make

the drama effective and impressive are poetry, music and

dance by means of which even the primitive man sought

amusement. The primitive man had a drama-like pastime

of his own, though crude and unpolished, and though it

did not possess any of the contrivances producing the

most histrionic efforts as in the case of the full-fledged

drama of the present times.

2

The classical sanskṛit drama is not an upshot of a moment It has attained to its present form by a process

of gradual growth starting from the crude pastime of the primitive Aryans, and traversing a long range of time

from the hoary antiquities of the Arctic region It is, therefore, no wonder that the origin of Sanskrit Drama

owing to its passage from such a staggering antiquity should be shrouded in mystery of time and should consequently have given rise to diverse attempts on the part of

scholars The primitive Aryans though savage and barbarous had their wars of amusement, such for instance as

the dance—the motner of all arts, with its lusty and vigorous movements of the body, accompanied by the ballads

or bardic songs sung with keeping time and in concert

The way in which they were sung. gave them a force of dialogue and a consequent dramatic touch. The most

ancient record of the Aryans—historical and poetic—the

Rigveda contains fifteen of such songs in one mandal or other giving either lively disputes or debates between

rṛta' deities regarding their power It is in these dialogue hymns of the Rigveda. Samvādsūktas as they are

called, that the origin of the sanskṛit classical drama is traced There is conversation in them but underneath it,

the action moves by exhibiting passions, motives and feelings of the speakers in a natural, easy, vivid, interest-

ing and therefore dramatic way. In a certain hymn ( I, 165 ) there is a dispute between Indra and Maruts—a

group of deities. ' This dialogue was repeated at sacrifices

in honour of the Maruts or that possibly it was acted by two parties, one representing Indra the other the Maruts

and their followers ' The same mandala contains reference to maidens " who deck in splended raiment, dance

1 MaxMuller's B E XXXIII P 182

and attract lovers" The famous historical dialogue

between Vishvāmitra and the rivers is found in the third

book The fourth book, besides giving a dialogue between

Indra and Varuna gives an instance of confused dialogue

in which three parties Indra, Aditi and Vāmadeva take part.

Vasishta is talking with his sons in a certain hymn in

the seventh book. The tenth and the last book contains

some of the note-worthy dialogues. The lively debate

between Sarma and the Panis, the conjugal coaxing that

Yami practises with her brother Yama, and the more

known anecdote of Purūravas and Urvashi point out un-

mistakable germs of dramatic element in them ' Regarding these hymns, be it remembered, that though they per-

tain to deities of the Vedic pantheon still, they are more

of secular character than of religious one and this

accounts for their disappearance in the younger Veda

that is not throughily ritualistic in contents and applica-

tion Their absence does not therefore indicate the total

discontinuance of the efforts at dramatics on the part of

those people

These hymns, according to Maxmuller, were recited

and represented after the completion of a ritual Windisch

detected similarities in them with old Irish songs and

maintained that the riks must have been alternated with

prose passages thrust in for the sake of exegencies and

therefore impermanent. The connecting links were suppli-

ed by a class of rhapsodists called Granthikas, according

to Pischel who interpreted the word etymologically. Such

alternations of verses and the elucidating prose passages

were noticed in the legend of Shunahshepa given in the

Aitareya Brāhman ( vii 13 ) and in some stories of Buddhi-

stic Jātakas by Oldenberg who put forth a novel theory of

1 I 99 R V I 92', 165, III 33 , IV 19, 42 , VII 33 , X 10, 95 &c.

Akhyān type of literature from which he himself had to retrace owing to defective reasoning in parallelism with Pāli Jātakas which is only accidental and in the loss of prose passages which is incomprehensible when not syllable of the sacred literature was allowed to be either blurred or slurred or. Besides the rise of Granthikas or pathakas is quite of a late date—perhaps post-Brahmanic or post-epic, when legendary or folk-lore type of literature came into being. There are other scholars like Shroeder'

Winternitz Hertel who being either weighed under some etymological considerations or those of christian mystery plays, saw cult-dramas in the dialogue hymns and set them down as the antecedents of the present yātrās and līlās of the Krishna-Vishnu or Rudra-Shiva cults The Suparnādhyāya, a hymn both curious and late is a full fledged mystery according to Hertel

The simplicity of the derotion of the Rigveda gave place to the complexity of the sacerdotalism of the younger Vedas and along with that the dramatics of the time assumed an aspect ritual in the sense that the worship and the purchase of the soma were involved in it to some extent The peroration of a sacrifice was celebrated by a representation in which the priests of the sacrifice played the rôles of different deities The Vājasneyi Samhitā of the White Yajurveda makes mention of Sūta—an actor The Sāmveda is another redaction of the Rigveda made expressly for putting the riks to tune and therefore "shows that the art of music had been fully developed by the Vedic age". Along with songs the Samveda refers to ceremonial dances in which respect it is corroborated by the Atharvaveda that says "Men dance and sing to music-

1 Mysterium und mimus in Rigveda

2 Sylran Levi Theatre 307

to the sound of drum1" Music, song and dance—the three

main constituents of drama and closely related to one

another from ethnological point of view seem to be very

much developed in the Vedic period.

The amusements of the Brahman period are charac-

teristically ritual. The same abusive talk of Yama and

Yami or Sarma and Panis gets reflected though tinged

with ritual aspect. in the Mahāvrat2 festival in which a

Vaiśhya of white colour falls out with a śūdra of black

colour for a piece of round white skin. It also contains

information about a quarrel and the consequent abusive

language indulged in by a Brahmin and a girl of loose

morals The festival is performed at the winter solstice

and hence is believed to have a fertility significance3.

The Kauśītuki Brāhman recognises the prevalence of

dance, song and music In the same Mahāviat, maidens

dance round the fire as a spell to bring down rain—a

practice which is continued even to this day The matrcns

in dance, song, music, abusive conversation and blows

even in religious festivals or rituals presuppose their

free prevaler.ce in popular mimes of the time4 The rarity

of references to such vulgarities shows the sparing use

made by the austere sages in the puritan atmosphere

of the ritual This naive and vulgar aspect of tl e popu-

lar festival must have depreciated its value in the opinion

of the ancient seers who in later literature of sutias and

shāstras exhort the young srātakas to ward them off trom

the practic of silpa—dance, song and instrumental music5

1 A V XII 141 2 Sakhayana Arauyaka

3 Ibid Kieth

4 Hillebrandt and Konow—Indian Drama 42

5 Gr?yasutra II 73 Paraskara

6

The same deprecatory attitude towards drama continues up to the time of the Epics—Mahābhārata in which Draupadi is compared with Sailushi1 which signifies actress—and Rāmāyana in which Sītā reproaches her husband for having given her over to others as a Sailusha gives over 'is wife, and Sailushya is a 'man who is a Jārājīri—living on the prostitution of his wife,' according to the commentator It is this attitude that accounts for the little attention at the hands of Upanishadic, sutra or smriti writers who were occupied with themes at once metaphysical and philosophical

By the time of the sūtra period, the literature or the practice of dramatics religious or secular, latent or patent must have grown in bulk and must have created the necessity of canonizing them. Two of such attempts are noticed by Pānini1 when he refers Shilālín and Krishāsva in connection with the formation of their names assumed by their followers. The passage runs thus —

शिलालिनो मिक्षुनटसूत्रयोः शैलालिनो नटाः ॥ 4-3-110

चन्द्रमण्डलाविनीत् । लड्गाविनो नटाः ॥ 4-3-111

Lévy sees in the aphorisms of Krishāshva and Sailāli first fruits of the labours of ancient Indian dramatic theoreticians,2 but owing to the quaintness of names sees in them ironical appelations of Krishashva, the Indo-Iranian hero having meagre horses and Shilāli having got stones for his bed"

The scattered shreds of Sanskrit drama unite and present a full-fledged drama at the time of Patanjali3 who while discussing the use of the imperfect tense of action

1 Tait parvan 17, 43 Rāmarana II, 30, 8

2 Lévi Théatre 300

3 The date of Patañjali (150 A. D.)

which a persn has himself witnessed, refers to two events viz, "the slaying of Kamsa and the binding of Bali" staged by tw o parties of professional actors who had dyed their faces in some colour.

ये तावदेतौ शौभंिकौ नामितौ प्रत्यक्षदर्शं कंसं घातयantौ प्रत्यक्षदर्शं वालि वन्धयantौ इति चिन्रेपु कम्? चिन्रेपु अपि उद्दूर्णां निपातितताश्र प्रहारा दर्शयन्ते कंसवर्जनयस्थ । तत्रैषु कथम्? यत्र शास्त्रगदुमालम् लक्ष्यन्ते तेsपि हि तेषा उत्पत्तिप्रभृत्या विनाशात् नटद्विर्याचक्षाणा सतो बुद्धिविपयान् प्रकाशयन्ति । अतथ्य सतां व्यामिश्रा हि दर्शयन्ते। केचित् कंसभक्ता भवन्ति केचित् वसुदेव-भक्ता । वर्गोन्यत्व सल्वपि पुग्यन्ति । केचित् कालसुखा शवantि केचित् रक्तमुखा ।

The passage is drawn on in extenso on account of its importance It mentions three kinds of representations that were current in times of Patanjali, one given by human actors who performed the whole scene by assuming the roles of characters to make the story more vivid and impressive, the other, by means of paintings or picture-scrolls and the third by a set of professional reciters -granthikas or kathaks It also shows that the material for representation was taken from the fountain-head of the folk-lore or epic-lore which can be traced back to the Brahmanic times or even before Geneelogical ballads and tables of ancient Bharats, Sudasas, Tritsus,

half historical, half mythical gathas were suug aloud at the end cf long sacrificial sessions even before the Rāmāyan and the Mahābhārat There were rhapsdists and rhapsodists before Vyās and Vālmiki, before Kusha and Lava This gatha literature from Vedic time downwards, of which the two epics from the most important connecting links isa rich mine which is often explored

and laid under by all later writers—sanskrit or prakrit,

escred or profane

The supposition that the representations referred to in

the above passage were only manual acts not accompanied

by speech, that they were mere dumb shows1 would defeat

the very purpose for which they were intended. It is impos-

sible that such strongly emotional mannual acts would be

both adequately expressive and impressive without human

accent On the strength of a reading of a certain manus-

cript to the effect that the followers of Krishṇa are said to

have painted their faces red, while those cf Kamsa painted

black and that the red colour cf Krishna's followers then

proclaim him as the genius of summer who overcomes the

darkness of the winter", Keith says "It is difficult uot

to see in the Kamsavadha at the hands of Krishṇa the re-

fined version of an older regetation ritual in which the

representative of the out-worn spirit of regetation is des-

troyed "2 He traces it back to its primitive form in his

favourite theme, the Mahāvrata ritual and establishes the

fact that the origin of Sanskrit drama has got its ultimate

source in regetation ritual and thereby religion Every

ritual is celebrated in strict religious piety and comes in

course of time to be clothed in allegorical significance by

the simple credulence of the la er followers A secular

festival even on account of extreme popularity is admit-

ted into pious religious fold and a similar allegorical

significance clusters round it That must have been the

case with Kieth's Mahāvrat ceremony as Hillebrandt

rightly observes on the strength of the indecorum in the

passage-at-arms between the Brahmacharin and the girl

or between the Vaiśya and the Sudra

1 Sanskrit Drama Keith

2 Sanskrit Drama Keith

9

In addition to the evidence adduced above, Patanjali

gives Sutras referring to the proverbial hunger of the

actors'.

All the redactions of Mahābhārat2 were completed by

the time of Patanjali and the evidence that it offers

corroborates what Patanjali says regarding the full-fledged

drama of the time Harivamsa, a supplement to the

Mahabharat says that Kamsavadha, Pralambvadha and

Chānūramardana were performed by Apsaras as and after

that Nārada amused the audience by presenting mimicry

by imitating Satyabhāma, Krishna, Arjuna and Baldeva.

The other sister-epic Rāmāyana mentions Nata Nartak-

actors, dancers and the sāmāj3 the audience or the popu-

lar festivals and controverts the theory of the dumb-show

by mentioning Vyāmiśraka4 which according to the

commentator, means a play in which both the Sanskrit

and Prakrit were employed

The secular aspect of the Sanskrit drama is mani-

fest from the great fondness the Budhists had for fine

arts-painting, sculpture and drama and Budhists were

no admirers of Hindu religion and ritual Lord Budha

exhorts one who had taken orders "to gaze on the drama

of the Great Law." The knowledge of the drama is includ-

ed among the Buddha's accomplishments mentioned in the

Lalit Vistār. Dramas were performed on occasions of

ceremonies according to Mahāvamsa An actual per-

formance of a Budha natak given before the king of

1 नटस्य श्रृणोति ग्रनृत्यिरसन श्रृणोति I.4, 29. अगासीनञ्र. 2, 4,

77. नटस्य भुक्तम् II, 3, 67, नटमातान III 2, 127.

2 Hopkins Epic 400–200 A D and C V Vaidya

3 II 67, 1'

4 II 1, 23

10

Sohhāratı referred to in the Avadānasatṛka translated

into Canese in 300 A D gıres a very remote antiquity

to the drama A Deccanese actor represented the lıfe of

Budha befora tha kıng Bımbısāra The Sitābenga cave

on the Rımgad hill in Chaota Nāgpur takestha antiquity

of the drama stıll further bıck to 300 B C by gıving the

signs of grove used as a theatre ' where poetry was re-

cited, lore songs were sung and theatrical performances

were shorn "1 Samāgas were there at the tıme of the epics

and A-holıa who has condeinned them in his edicts on

acco int of the aumalıghts that were shown in them.

This ge's suport from the specimens of full-fledged

dramas of Bhāsa published in tne T V series

The two independent currents of the popular pas-

times secular and religıous gathıc and lymıc, patri-

cıau and plebıan, united ad by the interıction of the

mutuıl influence produced the Sanskṛit Drama The

occaiıon of pıesentatıon wıs of course the rıtıal cere-

mony such as the Aııvamedha or the Pitṛımedha and the

materıal that wıs avaıled of, came from the old lore-

saga epic or gatha-that was floating on the lıps of

society in ihe form of ballads and songs that became

drama as sjon as theır recıtıo n was accompanied by

mımic gesıures 'The old gaıhas-sagas or legends of

epic nature wera loudly recited in public by professional

ruansodists -katnaks, pıthaks or granthıks associat-

ing and diriding to the nselves the roles and thus produc-

ed the drama There was gatha lore even before the re-

daction of the epic as instanced by the Brahmanic and

pre-branmınıc sagas of Shunashepa in Aıtareye Brah-

mana, of Pururıvas and Urrashı in the Shatapath, of

Nachıketa and Yamı ın the Upanıshadıs, of Savıtrı, of

1 Bhaıı

Udayana. of Jataks of Pali Though most of them were merely isolated pieces Still their epic character is quite clear1 The famous warriors of tie epic—Shantanu,

Krishna, Arjuna and others find mention in the pre-epic literature, and lead us to suppose that the cults of Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu, Rama must have influenced the mind

of the people even before their deification in the epics. The use of Sanskrit language, the mixture of prose and poetry, the Krishna worship and the linear simplicity of

the recitation of the gatha-samhita are the characteristics both secular and religious The Vidushaka of the drama is inexplicable from the religious point of view.

The language he speaks and the mirth that is produced at his cost in spite of his Brahmanic birth indicate that this figure must not have been an outcome of religious Brah-

manic pastime but have been taken from the popular mime and must have been the descendant of the Brahmacharin that falls out with the hatera of the Sahavvrate

or of the Vrishalapi of Rg X 88 The languages, Sanskrit or Prakrit were used according to the status of the characters because they were current as the lip-languages and

not as the book-languages of the people. Both Sanskrit and Prakrit had yet to be fossilized into literary forms which they did after a pretty long time—the former after 400 B C and the latter after 400 A. D roughly.

Some scholars take a clue from such words as Pan-chalika, Putrika, Puttala Duhitrika—all meaning puppets made of wood and attribute the origin of the drama to the

dumb puppet-shows, the favourite pastime of the people " The simple puppet-show is everywhere the most ancient form of dramatic representation and it was so in India2.

1 Oldenberg Z G Prosa

2 Pisckel. Home of the puppet-play P S

12

The prototype of the Sūtradhāra who pulls the threads behind the puppets and thus moves them is found in the drama and it is he who is responsible for weaving the different threads of the plot-texture. The Indian Drama is therefore a gradual evolution of the puppet-play strictly a secular past-time as is borne out by the fact that a damsel is introduced in Brihatkatha as the daughter of the asura Maya using a puppet and that a talking puppet impersonating Sita is actually introduced by Rajshekhara in his Bal Ramarana Side by side with the puppet-play there was in ancient time another pastime-the shadow-play instances of which are supplied by later writers, by the shadow-Sita in the U R. and by shadow-Urashi in V U Even Vidushaka is associated with these dumb-shows as a stinjinr character "The Shaubhikas of Mababhasya were persons who explained matters to the audience to supplement either • dumb-actors or shadow figures"

This theory is opposed by Hillebrandt according to whom the puppet or shadow-play is an imitation of drama which again is nothing but an imitation of human life The sutradhara of the drama has nothing to do with the threads but has mainly to measure and lay out the land for the theatre and secondarily and figuratively to measure the threads of the plot "The drama as comedy is a national expression of man's primitive life of pleasure and appreciation of humour and wit and it cannot therefore int to be evolved from the puppet or shadow-shows

The old popular mime that was staged under the auspices of the ritual and that had got its body and perhaps its spirit from the old gatha literature, received

1 Laders

further impetus when the whole floating mass was put

together in the epic in such a way as it could very well

be laid under and represented. The epics with all the

legends and myths, with their intrinsic and inherent

dramatic element gave rise to many other attempts on the

part of reciters either to expound or to represent the

stories in the form of Kirtans or Purānas which were a sort

of monologues. As the cults of Kṛṣṇa Rāma and other

divine incarnations spread their influence, the monologues

were changed to dialogues or polylogues or processions

called Yatras or Lilās in the north or Lalits—and Gon-

dhals—dramatic performances in Mahārāṣṭra. On the

score of their historic aspect the yatras of the north and

the Lālits and the Gondhals are wrongly said to have

originated and influenced1 the Sanskrit Drama while

reverse is the case. The Drama had already attained to

its full form at the time of Bhāsa and Aśvaghoṣa and

Patañjali. It is the drama therefore that gave rise to

these mimic dramatic performances which are certainly

post epic efforts. The Gondhal of Mahārāṣṭra comes

still later. It could not have been there before Maha-

rāṣṭra was colonised by the Mahārājās and Nāgās of

the North and Marāṭha nation and language were evolv-

ed which are dated approximately at 400 A. D.2 The

Gondhal therefore is an imitation of the Kirtan of Brah-

mins administered and altered according to the needs of

the people in the lower strata, and perhaps presents both

the Aryan and non-Aryan elements.

The theory put forward by Windisoh and Hermann

Reich which adduces Greek origin to the Sanskrit Drama

is based on wrong assumption. The Mṛcchakatikā which

1 Dr Belwalkar, D Q

2 V K Rajwade—R, M. Champfu

they both have taken to be the oldest and the typical

Indian drama and which forms the basis of their theory

has been conclusively proved to be an enlarged and im-

proved edition of an earlier play Chārudatta1 and avail-

able upto four acts written by Bhās who lived certainly

prior to the influence of the tornado of the Macedonian

invasion Besides borowal is one thing and influence is

quite another thing The indegenous Indian drama might

have come under a strong influence of the Greek plays on

account of the intellectual contact especially in the period

of Menander's conquest or which even prior to that was

aided by the brisk exchange of trade between Alexandria

and Ujjain through the port of Baryagaza The hords of

the tornado of the Greek invasion and the subsequent

settlements of them on the Indus and the trans-Indus

province might have erected theatres for staging the

Attic comedies that might have influenced and given an

impetus to the Indian drama that had sprung into being

before the advent of the Greeks It is within easy com-

prehension to attribute quite independent origins to both

the dramas Similar thoughts have often occured quite

independently to different persons. The drama when

once originated will undergo similar development and

the scenic requirements for it will also be identical in

most countries. The divisions of the play into five acts;

the entry and exit of all actors, the asides, the scenic con-

ventions are but superficial similarities and could very

well have been developed independently in both the

countries

These scholars however ingenious, scholarly and

scientific their researches may be, start with certain pre-

possessions under which they labour so much that they

1 Belwalkar M K and Ch

try to bring forward to a later date the antiquity of

every thin, Indian and trace its origin in some exotic

civilization like that of Greece which according to them

is the mother of every thing Western Hellenism is

sought to be traced in language, society, religion and even

philosophy of India The Bhagavadgita has not escaped

from being traced to Hellenic influence. As the Hindu

scholars are exhorted by them to be free from the influ-

ence of tradition which colours their views, so these

scholars also require to be told to be free from the bias of

Hellenic influence

The word Yavanika or Javanika is taken to mean

"Gracian cloth" though the use of the curtain by the

Greeks is much questioned. The pati ro apati is said " to

be a persian tapestry brought to India by Greek ships

and merchants" The introduction of yavanis--Greek

maidens--is due to the fondness of Indian princes for

their fascinating looks. The Vidushak, though Brahmin

by birth, is said to be the imitation of the confidential

slave of the Greeks, and Vita, of the Greek Parasite.

Though the action in most of the Sanskrit dramas traverses

a long period of a number of years and though it is a

complex texture of a number of threads, still unity of both

time and action is sought in them The divisions of

Sanskrit drama rest on an analysis of the action and

though such divisions are not recorded in the Greek

drama still the acts are said to be the prototypes of the

acts of the Greek drama. The characters of one are high,

middle and low while those of the other are ideal, real

and inferior The similarity of episodes is also pointed out

The ring in Shāk and Malvikā, the seal in the Rām and the

Mudrā R, the jewel in the Nag and V U, the garland in

M. R and the scented garment in the the M. K. are

dramatic contrivances most pleasantly devised and designed; still atrempts are made to show the debt of fancy coming from Greece. The theory of greek origin is too full of prejudices to command our acceptance in face of the strong proof advanced by Pātanjali against it At the most it can be said with Weber that the Sanskrit drama may have received an impetus by the representation of the Greek plays at the courts of the kings in Baktria, the Punjab and Gujarāth.'

The Sanskrit drama which combined in it both the religious and the secular elements and which in its course of development came within the sphere of influence of the Greek plays, must also have come under the influence of the Kshatra rules of Nāṭya and Rūtraya It could not have been originated either in Ujain-Mālava or in Saurṣeṇa-Māthurā The drama which took its manner from the Vedic dialogues and its matter from the epic-sage-lore and characters from such festivals as the Mahāvrata and which was canonized by Krshashira and Shilāli could not have waited to take its life from the Kshatrap rulers though under whose auspices the Sanskrit language was secularised as is maintained by Levi on the strength of the language of the earliest inscription But there is a good deal of material against this In the first place the Kshatrapas who are wrongly identified with satraps were men of indigenous Hindu extract and had not a drop of foreign blood running in their reins They revived every thing that was ancient and traditional, religious and linguistic and must have revived the Sanskrit language which had perhaps fallen into a little disuetude. The same patronising attitude towards the Sanskrit language is noticed in the inscription of

1 Indian studies Web--

17

Ushavdat (124 A D) and in the still earlier inscription

of the Sunga dynasty The champion of the vernacular

Ashvaghosha who was inspired perhaps with the desire

of handling Sanskrit in as facile a way as of the orthodox Brahmins could accept it as the vehicle for his

drama The use of a particular language in a drama is

generally in accordance with the actual state of things and

though it was the case with the Sanskrit drama at some

period of its development, still the use of different prakrit

languages in the later dramas must be attributed to

literary purposes rather than to any attempt to imitate

the speech of the day On the same ground can be dis-

proved the theory of Konow who accepts Muttura and not

Ujjain as the centre of the origin of the Sanskrit drama

on the basis of sauraseni being the normal prose tongue in

the fragments of the dramas of Ashwaghosha and in the

dramas of Bhāsa The support which Levi takes from a

passage of Bharat's work on dramaturgy is equally

insecure He says that the terms 'Swamin' Sugrhıtna-

man, Bhadramukha, Rāshıriya are borrowed by Bharat

from the actual state of things being appellations in force

in official etiquette in the Kshatrap court. The passage

in question is in the first place corrupt and secondly

nothing more is gained by this similarity which is too

flimsy to warrant an inference regarding the origin of the

drama. It can at best be said that the drama received

further impetus and revival under the patronage of the

Kshatrap kings of both Ujjain and Muttura.

All the theories that have been advanced by several

eminent orientalists regarding the origin of the Sanskrit

drama, however plausible, ingenious and scholarly they

may be, unfortunately have not got in them the strength

of tradition and consequently are not able to stand. Inter-

?

pretation

is

very

scarcely

attempted

with

regard

to

tradition

which

always

builds

a

huge

structure

on

simple

truth

The

Sanskrit

drama

on

account

of

its

origin

being

buried

under

boary

antiquities

and

its

long

life

of

growth,

came

to

be

clustared

round

by

tradition.

In

the

absence

of

complete

dramatic

works

as

such,

the

ancient

writers

did

not

possess

that

historical

or

chronological

sense

to

trace

the

evolution

of

the

theatre

by

means

of

the

direct

or

indirect

evidence

of

Indian

literature

Though

the

Samhitās,

the

Brāhmans,

the

epics

and

the

grammatical

works

furnish

positive

evidence

about

the

origin

and

the

condition

of

the

theatre,

about

the

forms

of

representation

and

dramatic

art

and

thus

present

scattered

constituent

elements

which,

grouped

together

may

evolve

a

drama,

still

at

the

time

of

Bharat,

the

famous

writer

on

dramatics,

blind

credulance

clustered

round

the

truth

and

buried

it

down

from

the

view

of

persons.

Bharat,

the

celebrated

author

of

Nāṭyashāstra

possessed

a

genius

of

the

same

type,

though

not

of

the

same

magnitude,

as

that

of

Vyās

of

the

epic

fame

or

Manu

of

the

smṛti

fame

There

was

always

a

mass

of

material

floating

over

the

society

mastered

by

scholars

orally

but

no

attempt

was

made

to

systematise

and

organise

the

whole

bulk.

It

was

only

a

Vyās

or

a

Manu

who

with

his

comprehensive

vision

could

take

a

complete

view

and

could

restore

order

in

the

chaotic

form

of

Literature

The

various

incidents,

anecdotes,

experiences,

traditions,

histories

that

all

have

been

coglamerated

in

the

famous

epic

were

so

many

disjointed

fathers

flying

anywhere

according

to

the

force

of

circumstances

Vyās

caught

hold

of

them

and

put

them

together

supplying

at

the

same

time

the

soul

of

unity

which

that

disjointed

stuff

required.

In

the

case

of

Manu

again,

the

several

canons

people

It

was

condemned

very

severely

by

the

custodians

of

moral

code.

The

terms

such

as

Rūpajīvi

and

Jāyājīvi—"

living

on

their

charms

or

on

the

charms

of

their

wives"

are

sufficiently

condemnatory.

In

Jain

works

such

as

the

Ārangasutta

and

Rajprasniyā

there

are

condemnatory

or

derogatory

remarks

on

such

ideal

enjoyments

as

arts

akin

to

the

drama.

Bharat

had

to

widen

this

narrow

angle

of

vision.

The

arms

of

which

he

dreamed

in

this

fine

art

and

the

rulers

of

the

age

Every

writer

maintained

that

his

subject

was

the

best

of

all,

that

it

emanated

from

the

mouth

of

Brahman

and

that

it

had

the

Vedic

tradition,

that

it

could

secure

for

the

men

all

this-worldly

and

other-worldly

ends.

It

is

this

theistic

tendency

that

has

led

Bharat

to

say

that

of

the

chief

constituents

of

the

drama

the

element

of

recitation

was

taken

from

the

Rigveda,

song

from

the

Sāmaveda,

mimetic

art

from

the

Yajurveda

and

sentiments

from

the

Atharvaveda.

The

traditional

view

about

the

origin

of

Sanskrit

drama

is

given

by

Bharat

in

his

Nātyashāstra

in

the

following

words:

"When

Brahma

was

a

sage

in

the

Kṛta

age

and

when

he

observed

that

the

people

of

the

world

were

in

the

grasp

of

greed

and

of

desire

and

the

world

is

deluded

by

envy,

by

resentment

and

by

real

and

woe,

when

the

Devas,

Dānavas,

Gandharvas,

Yakṣas,

Rākṣasas,

Mahoragās,

and

the

Lokpālās

entered

upon

Jambudvīpa

then

Indra

and

other

Devas

said

to

Brahma:

"We

desire

a

pastime

to

be

seen

and

heard.

This

matter

of

the

four

Vedas

should

not

be

heard

by

the

Śudras,

pray

therefore,

shape

another

and

fifth

Veda

for

all

the

castes."

Saying

to

them,

"So

let

it

be"

and

turning

away

from

Indra.

He

who

knows

the

essence

of

every

matter

from

Indra.

21

seated in yoga posture called to his mind the four Vedas,

thinking 'Let me make a fifth Veda to be called Nātya

(Drama) combined with epic story tending to virtue

wealth, (pleasure and spiritual freedom) yielding fame—a

concise instruction, setting forth all the events of the

world about to be, containing the significance of every

scripture and foreshadowing every art Thus recalling

all the Vedas, the Blessed Brahmā framed the Nātya Veda

from the several parts of the four Vedas as desired"1

The first exponent of this cumulation of the different

materials or a practical representation was a play named

Amṛtmanthan—the churning for nectar—which was

staged by Nārada and others at the festival of Indra.dhaj.

The stage was presided over and furnished by

many deities. The first play the theme of which was about

the fight between the Suṣas and the Asuras was running

its course when all of a sudden some hindrances arose

and the Sutra-dhāra fainted. The Asuras were dissatis-

fied because the drama depicted them own defeats. They

were, howerer, calmed down by the god who was

thereafter named त्रिपुर Then the theatre came to be

protected by deities not a nook being left without any

deity presiding over it, the centre of it being occupied by

the father of the science of dramaturgy. At some other

play, it is said that the sons and disciples of Bharatmunī

the actors who in a comic vein made fun of some

holy sage, were cursed in consequence, with the loss of

their status which, thereafter came to be on a par with the

Sudras King Nahuṣa was the first man to establish a

theatre on earth "

1 Coomaraswamy's translation—Mirror of Gesture

Bharat thus considered first the formetiol or the crea-

tion of the scienccf dramaturgy followed by the discussion

of two.other.points, namely, the prevention of the obstruc-

tions and the proteclion of the theatre There were four

Vedas and owing to the purity and reverence in which

they wereheld, the fourth class of the Hindū caste-system

was debarred from a study of them It was for their

interest that a fifth additional Veda was fashioned which

was called the नाट्यवेद n

The Nāṭyaveda, therefore, according to tradition

contains the isolation and the elaboration of certain

specific features of the already existing four Vedas—

recitstion from the Ṛgveda, music from the Sāmveda,

the gestures from the Yajurveda and the emotions from

the Atharvaveda Both the Gandharvas and the Apsaras

took part in the play.

The social status of the actors was

very lo-. The first play was sta̧ed on the cccasion of a

religious festiral in honour of Indra's bruner

the staff of vihich was seizd by Indra to best off the

Asuras h,lind risen in irath and which thence,orvard

came to be striled as नन्द and to be used as a protection

at the beginning of the drame. This flag-staff ihlch

was dcorated ith flowers and buntings and the salu-

tation oferred to it at the preliminaries of the dra na have

given rie t a wrong notion ith some scholars iho

conneçin with the ceremonies of bringing in the May-

pole from the roods supported by the comparison mada

by Gro se of the Holi and the May-day rites

1 य च वेदविदरोरसय शास्त्रं कल्पयतुय ।

तस्मात्तुज अमर विदं पठन्तं सार्वविंदम् ॥ नाट्यशास्त्र १.

23

Another tradition tells us that it was Brahmadeva who put together the science of singing or music from the Sāmveda and taught it to his five disciples-भरत, नारद, रंभा, तुम्बुरू, ऊंनरू, who were excultant on learning it and gave an examination in it before Mahadeo who was a great appreciator. These five disciples wrote five Samhitas. The Bharat Samhita came to this world, that of तुम्बुरू went to heaven, those of Tumburu and Huhú went to the nether region Bharat started the dramatics, Narada started the instrumental or the stringed music and Rambhā started dancing

These are traditions no doubt but they should never be discarded because they are traditions, but should rather be availed of for the right and rational interpretation because they contain the opinion and doctrines of the people, accumulated from times immemorial that load it with the subterfuge of blind, unscientific and irrational superstition The origin of the fine arts was completely lost sight of, hidden so much away in the dim distance that it came to be associated with the divine fountain head who is the source of all that is good. These traditions reveal among many others, the following things regarding the Sanskrit drama —

(1) That the origin of dramatics was buried in dim, hoary antiquity and was beyond the ken of even advanced people. Being a social form of art, it must grow with the society,

(2) that it was Bharat who put together all the canons and evolved his Nātyashāstra on the basis of sutras already existing,

(3) that the material for representation was taken

from the epic and the pre epic literature—the exploits of

Suras against the Asuras,

(4) That the occasion selected for representation

was some religious festival like the banner festival,

(5) that the Gandharvas and the Apsaras—men and

women played the different roles ,

(6) That the art of dramatics being perhaps much

indulged in by the commonalty was not held in gracious

looks by the austere Brahmins. that the social status of

the actors was very low—on par with that of the Sudras,

(7) that the fun was sought at the cost of some holy

sage and consequently of Brahmins,—which must have

given rise to the funny character of Vidūshaka,

(8) that the people had begun to appreciate the value

of this social thought rigorous and specific literary art as

being the source of all enjoyment, counsel in matters of

sentiment, mood and rite,

(9) that attempts were made to rehabilitate the

degraded art by connecting its constituents with the

most sacred heritage of the people. namely the Vedas,

(10) That the singing, dancing, and drama were

inseparably connected and had sometaling divine in them,

that they all emanated from some etherial beings

The following verses may be read in connection with

the traditions.

नानावादोपपन्नं । नानारसावतनकम् ।

लोकरत्तानुकरणं । नाटयन्तमयार्थतम् ॥

उत्तमार्थान्वध्यानं । नराणा हृदयस्नानम् ॥

हितोद्देशजननं । इति नाट्यस्य चतुर्विधम् ॥

25

तत्रां तनु तनोति ने-तां नु तनु वितनुते ।

दिवि स्थितवतां नाथ ! नारमेतननारतम् ॥

म ता

स्य तनोति विशां ने नारं कुड्यनिकेरे ।

इ नारे नु ननेति ननु न ॥ ८ ॥

नारं नु मते तु नमतो नु नते ।

निषङ्गिनां मिषङ्गे ने नृपतितरु नते ॥ ९ ॥

देव ननु ननु तस्य रणे रणनादर्षि ।

नृपती नमाते ने नृपान्न परिक्षि न ॥ १० ॥

न न न ।

नाराजिराजिनो दश न न नार्चति ॥ ११ ॥

न त न देवतारोड्य ननान न जातीय !

ननान्त्रुपर हत न परनं नत्कारित न ॥ १२ ॥

नाराज्य पुण्यं वे न निनिमि करोत्यनु ॥ १३ ॥

ननान भाताम्बुजेन ननं नातिरेज्ज न ।

नृपतेर्निनिजानन तन्न निनिनि ॥ १४ ॥

नाट्यशास्त्र १ अध्याय.

CHAPTER II

The mould of Sanskrit drama

Bharat was the first accredited promulgator of dramatic thought. There were Nātyasūtra writers like Krishāswa and Shilālī and dramatists like Bhāsa, Shudraka and Ashwaghosha Shāradātanaya a writer on rhetorics belonging to the 12th or 13th century, refers to one Subandhu,–a pre-Bharat writer on dramatics He in his वृत्तिवार्तिक says, ‘Subandhu enumerates five divisions of Nātakas गुङि, प्रस्थान्त, वृत्त, लक्षित, समग्र This Subandhu lived in the court of the Mouryan sovereign Bindusāra, the son and the successor of Chandragupta and served him also as minister.

Subandhu was first imprisoned by Bindusāra and later on released after his binding himself to nis sovereign's heart by writing the story of Vatsaraj, viz—वासवदत्तानामपायार. Even so early as the period of the Mouryan emperors Chandragupta and Bindusāra, Sanskrit drama was in a very highly developed stage and ministers were engaged not only in writing dramas but also in taking part in their representation This Subandhu is of course different from his name-sake, the author of the prose romance which came to be written in the period of the decline of the Gupta kings

All the same it has to be admitted that there is no work on dramatics which can be definitely set down as having been written before Bharat Bharat lived in the 3rd or 4th century after Christ Levi relies upon the royal titles Swami, Sugrihitāman, Bhadramukha, Rāshtriya

27

which are simultaneously found in the Nātyashastra of Bharat and in the inscriptions of Rudradāman and Rudrasen, two rulers of Kshatrap dynasty of Gujarath and says that Bharat must have flourished under the warm patronage of those rulers, that is, in 200 A. D. Harprasād Sastri also puts him there, while MacDonnel takes him to a later date (700 A. D). But these dates refer to the extant work Nātyashāstra and its author. The name of Bharat as the prime dramatist was already before that since the plays of Bhāsa that point out a markedly wide divergence of technique from the one mentioned in the Nātyashāstra, make mention of Bharat and his epilogue.

The dramatics when once set high and infused with the divinity in a henotheristic spirit by Bharat received attention from the writers of Purānas Agnipurāna—a work of 700 A. D. on account of its debt to Amarkosha gives a full treatment Dhananjaya Mammata, Vishwanath and a horde of others have treated the subject in all its aspects and have evolved from it the aesthetics and the psychology of sentiments

According to the Hindu notions of aesthetics, a dramatist does not differ very much from a poet. A dramatist has to be a poet first and a dramatist afterwards. The requirements and the equipment that a dramatist has to set up are the same as those of a poet

He must have the प्रतिभा or the power of imagination in an unlimited quality by which he can work wondrous deeds (अपूर्ववस्तुनिर्माणक्षमा प्रज्ञा) or by which he can make novel lustrous revelation (नवनवोन्मेषशालिनी प्रज्ञा) or by which he can give descriptions par excellence (वर्णनानिपुणत्व)

In short, he is the god creator of the universe of poeties and as such can subject the world to any transformations that he pleases.

28

अपारे काव्यसंसारे कविरेव प्रजापतिः

यथास्मै रोचते विश्व तथेदं परिवर्तते ॥

ध्वन्यालोक ३२२

In addıtıon to this power of alchemy he must possess

शास्त्रार्थ—word-knowledge and अभ्यास—constant practice

The purpose of writing a drama is thus set forth by Bharat in the follo-wıng verse

तु स्वार्थान सदर्थ्याना गेकार्ताना तर्पास्तिनाम्

वि शान्तिजनन काले नाट्यमेतन्नच्याः हतम्

He also says to the effect " I made this play as follo,ing the movements of the world w,hether in work or pla, profit peace. laughter, battle lust or slaughter

yieldıng the fruit of rıghteoınsness to those w,ho follow the moral laı, pleasure to those who folıoı best, a restraınt for the unruly, a discıpline for the follo,ers of a rule,

creatıng a vigour in the ımootant, zeal in the ıarriors, wisdom in the ısnoıant, learnıng in scholars, affordıng sports to kıngs; enduıance to .he sorroı-strıcken, profit to those ı,ho see: ad,antage; coura,e to the broken-ıılled

It affords exelıent counsel, pastıme ı,eal and all else It is a pastıme a source of ı,it and humour. the soul of joy and delıght

The ultımate aım is the supreme blıss whıch is saıd to be परमात्मप्रेमो-नमालिभूत आनन्द

To the readers, it gıres solace, ınstructions in knowledge, of relıgın morality and phılosophy, profıcıency in the arts and ı,ay of the ı,orld

To the drematıst it brings fame and wealth (काव्यं यशसे अर्थकृते)

One of the aims of the sanskrit dramatısts appears to be the revıval of the epıc-relıgıon by means of renewıng the memories of the people by reıabılıtatıng the characte:s of the epic and strenghthıng the belıef of the peopıe

The drama is thus a source

of religious instruction The philosophers like Shankar,

the sacerdotalists like Kumāriila, the Sovereigns like the

Guptas were doing work in great earnestness to with-

stand the onward march of the heretic religions-Buddhism

and Jainism The beliefs in the potency of sacrifice, the

karma and the transmigration theories were at stake and

were restored by learned erudite exegetic expositions by

philosophers and Mīmāṃsakas. The poets and the

dramatists also added their mite to the general fight

against them Theirs was an appeal to heart rather than

to the head

The dramatic poets more than any other artists

reproduce the life of men around them exhibiting their

aims, hopes, wishes, aspirations, passions in an abstract,

concise way which is more intensely coloured than the

deffuse facts of daily experience It comprehends both the

aspects of the human activity benevolent as well as

malevolent, the play, pastime, merry - making and the

scuffle, the duel fight and the slaughter It shows the pur-

suit of men of both pious and impious temperaments, the

restraint of the turbulent. Bharat says "I made this drama

according to the seven lands and so you (अमरās) should not

feel resentment towards the immortals The drama is to

be understood as witnessing the deeds of Gods and Titans,

Kings of the spheres, and the Branman sages Drama is

that which accords to the order of the world its weal

and woe and it consists in movements of the body and

other arts of expression. The succinct view appears in

न तच्छन्तं न तचिछरं न सा विद्या न सा कला।

नाट्यं यौगिं नटत्कर्म यत्नाद्यैषदृश्यते।

The various types of human activities and the

characters that live them during their life time form the

basis for the classification of the sanskṛit drama Bhāṇa1

or the one–man drama—a sort of monologue,must be the

earliest form of drama—or a “ fermal version of a primi-

tive mimetic performence ” The performer therein

narrates dram tic lly a vari ty of occurences as happen-

ing to himself or to ot ers Love, war, fraud, intrigue,

imposition are appropr te topics and tha narr tor may

enliven his recitat on by a suppositious dialogue w th an

imag n ry interlocutor. “ An appeal is made to heroic and

erotic se timent by the descr ption of heroism and beauty

in the t rbal manner e g śārdūlāvikrīḍitam Viṭhi is of the same

type w th one act and one actor narrating a lore story in

a comic dialcgue consisting of equivocat cn enigmas and

qu bbles There are fragment speeches in the air The

first act of ūlāh- ādhao is an instance in point

Vīth rosā is also restricted to one act and one action

and traverses the lengt a of only one day It excludes

female participation on account of the military transac-

tion that it represents, The theme is legendary in

character and god, or royal sage or man takes part in it

This type of one act play following as it were tre unities

of time, place and character gave rise to āṇaka or act

having characteristics either supplementary or intro-

ductory and written in a pathetic style, and covering

over the period of one day.

When such ankās were put together, a full drama

was evolved. It was a Dima2 or Ihāmṛiga or a nāṭikā if

the acts were four

1 भागस्तु धूर्त्तनारितं स्वाभूतं परेषु वा । यत्रो

पवर्गोयेदक्षो निपुणः पणिडतेऽपि वि-

[ID R 3. 49

2 डिमे दत्तु प्रमाथिदंत्यात्तक. केशिकां विना ।

31

Dima, presents terrific events, portents, incantations,

sorcery, combats, eclipses represented by gloomy charac-

ters eg Tripurdāhr Ilāmriga as tho name signifies,

was a hard search after a maiden and hence depicted the

topic of love or mirth. Nātikā1 is a love romance and as

such is very favourite with the dramatist. Its theme

generally is an intense and a thorough enjoyment of life,

health and vigour, a readiness to take things as they

come, a freedom from over-anxiety about the morrow, an

absence of psychological or metaphysical iddling. This

play is sometimes termed as lesser heroic comedy or

sentimental comedy with a frame-work of intrigue con-

sisting of the efforts of the hero—a gay king to attain

marriage with the heroine who is a disguised princess.

The meetings—secret and secret—are arranged by the

confidants of both. They have to struggle against the

gealousy of the queen, a lady of mature character who at

lest is forced by the circumstances for the final

acceptance of the situation and tho consequent sanction

of the nuptials of both. "The life at the court gives the

opportunity for introducing music, song, and dance as

1 नाटिका यत्र नो स्यात् प्रेम्णा चतुरङ्गम्

मुख्यार्थो नायिकाद्वयस्त्रयायको न च ।

स्यादन्त उत्कृष्टनया संगीत व्याप्तता तथा

नताङ्गुरागो नायग्रात् नायिका नृपवेशजा ।

स प्रचतंत रितास्या देव्या स्वासेन शक्तित

देवी भङ्गतुरर्जयेष्टा प्रगतभा नृपवशाजा ॥

पदेपदे मानवती तद्रशे संगमो द्रयो

रात्रि· स्यात् केशिकी स्वप्नविमर्शा सघयः पुनः ॥ S. D.

elements in the entertainments "मिपदर्शिका. रत्नावली, मालवि-

काग्रिमित्र are famous instances of Nāṭikā.

The Nātaka is a more complex play. It has got a

number of secondary incidents and pīaveshas

of drama is quite free from the restrictions of art. It is a

form of drama par-excellance, serving different purposes

It accomodates itself not only to the grace and charm

of Kālidās but to the unmeasured and irregular genious

of Bhavbhuti It permits the political drama of Vishākh-

datta as well as the philosophical disquisitions of

Krishnamisra and the devotional fervour of Kavi

Karnapura"1 The notable instances of this form of

drama are शांकुंतल, उत्तररामचरित, मुद्राराक्षस, वेणीसंहार, चैतन्यचन्द्रोदय.

The Prakaraṇ like the Mrchhakatika or the Mālatī-

Mādhav takes the theme from a pure fiction or from real

life in a reputable class of society Love is its predo-

minent subject The hero is a member of ministerial rank

or a Brahman or a merchant It is of two types a shudha

one if the heroine is a maid of a family and a sankīrṇa

one if the heroine is a courteran It is a kind of drama

or a comedy portraying the manners of the people of the

common strata in the society It takes it name from the

hero or the heroine Though it may have as many acts

as those in a Nātak still it differs from it, in the

status of the hero and the heroine There are slaves,

Vitas and rogues of various kinds.

Prahasan is a farcical or comic satire on the vices of

Brahman or ascetics. It has for its person heretics,

Brahmans, cheta, Chetī, Vīta It is both pure and mixed

1 K D

Samavakār1 is a supernatural drama in which characters

are divine or semi-divine. Heroic sentiment is por-

trayed in it

Prakarnikā, Sattak and many others are minor Ru-

pakas or Ūparūpakas

The Bhāvprākāsh of Shārdātanaya says that Suban-

dhu enumerates five divisions of Nātakas as :-

1 Purna,e g Kratyā-Ravan , 2 Prashānt, e g. Sva-

pnavāsvadatta , 3 Bhāsvar, e g Mārich-Ravan , Chandra-

gupta, Binding of Rām and Laxman by Nāgpash 4 Lalīt,

e. g Vikramorvashiyam, Vatsrāj and Vāsavadattā

5 Samagra,e g Mahānātak

Tragedy is as a rule prohibited from being shown on

the stage The very thought of producing a tragedy-

showing a calamitous end was alien to Indian mind It

means of entertainment or a pastime-or weal to the world

This tendency of obverting a calamitous end strengthen-

ed and grew into a tradition which was too strong for the

dramatists to break. Drame was not the proper field to

show the worst results of retribution or Nemuses for which

the philosophy and the Karma theory offered ample solu-

tion Fate is nothing outside man. He is what he has

made himself on the strength of his accumulated action

in past lives There is no scope for sympathy for the

worst plight of a man because it is all of his own making

All the evil that he gets is a just retribution. The rule

laid down by Bharat prohibiting a tragedy is strictly

followed by dramatists that came after him. Bhāsa who

1 कार्य समवकारेऽपि आमुख नाटकादिवत् ।

ख्यां तं देवार्षरं वस्तु निर्विमर्शीस्त सध्यः ॥ P. R

is a pre-Bharat dramatist is credited for having written

the only tragedy in Sanskrit literature His play, Urubhanga is termed a tragedy because it offers a calamitous

end to Duryodhana, the enemy of Vishnu But the play fails to satisfy the rules of tragedy laid down by Aristotle The

proper subject for a tragedy according to him, is the spectacle of a man, not absolutely or eminently good or wise,

who is brought to disaster by some error or frailty in him Pity must be roused by undeserved misfortune and terror by

misfortune befalling a man like ourselves All this is absent in the Urubhanga of Bhāsa The devotees of Vishnu are

sure to regard with relish, the fate of the enemy of that god, the evil Duryodhana. The idea, therefore, of producing a

tragedy is entirely wanting in the theory of Hindu dramatics as it is in practice. The severe injunction upon

dramatist refraining them from producing a tragic end could not check the dramatic muse of some writers who

were made of that stuff Some of their plays are, to all outward appearances, comedies in which the tragic end is

perforce suppressed owing to the dramatic canons or to the tradition-built taste of the people which the dramatist

dared not offend. The Uttarāmcharit and the Venisamhār are instances of suppressed tragedies or tragi-comedies

with reference to Sītā and Ashwathāman respectively The absence of tragedy makes clear the purpose of writing a

play which is well expressed in their dictum " All our efforts are for your pleasure '

The difference in the several types of the dramas mentioned above, had for its basis, the difference in

the subject matter or the raw material which was selected for being fashioned The traditional saga of the Gāthā

literature, the Epics-Rāmāyana and Mahābhārat, the later purānas and the works like the Brihatkathā of Gunādhya

were the inexhaustible rich mines always at their command which the writers could draw upon whenever they liked Such of the writers again as happened to bask in the warm patronage of some kings compensated, by returning an encomium on their virtues and exploits by taking a theme from history There were other free lancers who afforded a full fligth to their soaring muse and invented new themes and plots There were other dramatists who with their meagre talents took and dwelt upon the lesser personages and themes of the available sagas "The Hindu Theatre affords examples of the drama of domestic as well as of heroic life, of original invention as well as of legendary tradition" 1

The वस्तु—the plot or incident or the subject—matter falls, therefore, into three clear divisions--1. Prakhyāta—the incident which is very much familiar from tradition, 2 Utpādya—that which is invented by the writer, 3 Misra—one which combines in it both the characteristics

The Vastu or the incident which is thus once adopted from tradition or from invention is sifted in point of the mutual connection of the different threads of the plot—the main currents being separated from the minor ones This divided the plot into two—1 अधिकाऱिकम्2—which is the main because it pertains to the accomplishment of the desired object of the hero and 2 प्रासंगिकम्3 which is the subsidiary one that accelerates the speed of the accomplish-

1 Wilsou Theatre

2 आकार फलस्वाम्यमिथकारींच तत्स्वभू तनिवर्त्यमभिच्छ्यापि कृत स्यादविकारिक ॥ ९ ॥ D. R.

3 प्रासंगिकं परार्थस्य स्वायो यस्य प्रसंगित ॥ D. R.

ment

This

latter

again

falls

into

two

classes

पताका'

and

प्रकरी'

that

deal

with

secondary

topics

that

rise

according

to

the

exigencies

and

that

refer

primarily

to

the

accomplishment

of

the

desires

of

minor

characters

and

secondarily

to

that

of

the

hero

Of

the

two,

Prakari

is

less

in

length

and

strength

than

Patākā

The

Patākā

which

is

a

secondary

incident

is

to

be

distinguished

from

the

पताकास्थानक

which

is

the

Dramatic

irony

either

of

situation

or

of

words

due

to

the

happy

coincidence

of

utterances

These

three

divisions

have

got

three

more

sub-divisions

according

as

the

topic

dealt

with

is

Prakhyāt—well-known

in

history

or

tradition

or

Utpādya—invented

by

the

genius

of

the

dramatist

or

Misra—mixed.

These

are

nine

in

all

There

are

some

incidents

in

the

theme

that

have

histrionic

virtue

in

them,

and

are,

most

effective

when

shown

on

the

stage

while

there

are

others

that

offend

the

public

eye

and

decorum

if

shown

on

the

stage

They

are

either

too

indecent

or

obscene

or

too

void

of

sentiment

to

be

vividly

represented

and

therefore

require

to

be

suggested

only.

They

are

दृश्यश्रव्यम्

and

सूच्यम,

respectively

There

is

again

a

third

classification

of

वस्तु

based

upon

the

nature

of

the

particular

material

such

as

प्रकाशम,

स्वगतम,

अपवारितम,

जनान्तिकम्

They

are

more

stage-directions

than

different

divisions

of

Vastu.

The

means

for

giving

effect

to

the

Sūchya,

the

suggestive

material,

are

the

Vishkambhak,

Praveshak,

Chulikā,

Ankāsya,

and

Ankāvatār

Vishkambhak,3

1

2

नातुवन्ध

पताकास्यं

प्रकरी

च

प्रदेशभाकू

॥

D

R.

3

वृत्तवृत्तिं

प्यन्वनु

माणाना

कथागाना

निर्देशक

॥

D

R.

अपेक्षितं

परिलज्ज्य

नोरम

वस्तु

विस्तरम्

यदा

सदस्सु

चेच्छेप

कुर्योदृष्टिकमक

तदा

॥

D

R.

३

indicates

the

different

units

of

the

story,

both

past

and

future,

through

the

medium

of

mediocre

character

if

it

is

pure,

and

of

mediocre

and

low

characters

if

it

is

Mishra.

Praveshak1

does

the

same

function

through

the

medium

of

low

characters

but

it

intervenes

between

two

acts

The

Chulikā

is

an

utterance

behind

the

curtain

by

some

characters

The

Ankāsya

is

an

utterance

of

a

character

at

the

end

of

an

act

and

it

suggests

the

nature

and

the

advent

of

the

incidents

in

the

following

act

The

Ankāvatār

differs

from

the

Ankāsya

in

actually

represent-

ing

the

incidents

referred

to,

at

the

end

of

the

previous

act

These

means

of

presenting

the

material,

sifting

it

first

according

to

its

suitability

serve

as

so

many

devices

for

securing

economy

in

plot-construction

The

portray-

ing

of

every

minor

incident

will

make

the

play

prolix

and

prolixity

is

a

serious

defect

in

a

dramatist

who

does

never

enjoy

absolute

freedom

regarding

the

length

of

his

play

as

his

brother

artist

the

novelist

does.

A

drama

is

always

intended,

as

Aristotle

says,

for

"a

single

hearing"

The

action

with

its

salient

features

brought

out,

passes

through

five

conditions

which

are

called

the

Arthaprakritis-the

means

for

the

accomplishment

of

the

object

The

whole

action

is

surveyed

from

beginning

to

end,

is

cut

into

five

suitable

partitions

and

is

made

to

run

its

course

through

them.

The

essential

interest

of

the

action

does

not

lie

in

the

straight,

linear

dynamic

movement

of

it

but

lies

in

the

circuitous

movement

that

it

takes,

lies

in

the

rise

and

ebb,

in

the

fluctuating

develop-

ment

of

it

The

five

divisions

in

the

action

are

-Beeja,

Bindu,

Patākā,

Prakari,

and

Kārya.

तद्वदेवानुदात्तोक्त्या

नो

च

पात्रप्रयोजितः

प्रवेशोऽर्थद्यस्यान्त

शेषर्थोपसूचकः

॥

D.

R.

9

1 Beeja1 is the seed of the action and when sown spreads itself and grows into a tree, yielding the final fruit It is the initial incident

2. Bindu2 shows a further developnent of the action keeping unity in the variety of tae incidents of it It is the internal tared that goes through and binds together the differant shreds and acquaints theme when it is likels to be lost sight of, in the maze of the minor incidents.

3 Patākā and 4 Prakari are already explained above ( page 36 )

5 Kārya3 is of course the final achievement or the conclusion

Corresponding to these five stages in the development of the action, there are five Sandhis4 viz Mukha, Pratimaukha, Garbha, Avimarsa, Nirvahana These five divisions or joints on the body of the plot are at the basis of the fire acts of the drama and therefore obey the exigencies of the stage-ma agement They contain elements of such nature as offer tension and relaxation to the feelings of the or-lookers alternately

1 Mukha5 gives time for the seed to grow and sees the possibility of giving rise to various imporis and sentiments The germination and transformations of the seed, the possibility of the adverse fortune, the food for

1 बीज—स्वल्पमात्र सुसृष्ट बहुधा यद्विमपतौ, फलावसान ॥

2 विन्दु—प्रयोजनान विच्छेदे यतविच्छेदकारणम् ।

यावत्मन्नाशिरवन्ध्यतस्य ॥

3 कार्यम—चताधिकारिक वृत्त तदर्थी द समार्भ ॥ भ ना.

4 संधि—अन्तरेकार्यसंधव ॥ भ. ना

5. मुख—चौजममुत्पत्ति नानार्थरससम्भवा ॥ D R.

onticement, the shrewd devices, the advent of pleasure,

satisfaction or misery, the inordinate mutual enthusiasm,

the disclosure of secret, the efforts of rana.in?, the

obstacles and the rupture-are some of the many

mciidents that are depicted in the Mukha--Sandhi

2. Pratimukha' has reference to the Bindu as the

first has to the Been It gives full scope for all to

vigour and activity of the principal character to pit

forth for the final and speedy achievement of the object

No obstacle appears in this sandhi The seed which is

sown in the first sandhi shoots up a little after its germ-

nation and is both visible and invisible to some extent.

The seed manifests itself in any one of the following

ways--

The desire for mutual union, pursuit of the Person

which disappears after having manifested first a little.

advent of adverse fortune efforts for acquiring it a piece

of humour between the hero and the heroine, frequent

encouragement, a sudden impediment that could

the prospective union, the persuasive imp rinitie- the

shaking off of the dependences contains or causes for

faithlessmess in love etc

3 Garbha The Bija which was initiated at if

and disappears a little is moulded into a part

The recomplishment is with it. It is a part

of a sudden 'o llim'tion c re-in n and its

accomplishment beyond it. It value

1 वीजं--प्रतिबिम्बितं--मुखसंधि-। D I

2 बीजं--प्रकटितं--प्रतिमुखसंधि-।

is taken off The action thus goes in a zigzag course

showing the rise and fall not only of the incident but also

of the sentiment It depicts the several guiles that are

practised for union, the information about the where-

abouts of the party, the several inferences about the

attitude of the other party, the talk of compromise, the

plumbing of the sentiments of others, the apprehension

from the enemy and the consequent confusion The Beeja

shows its sprouts in this part and points to the easy and

speedy acquisition of the fruit

4 Avamarsha 1 The import of the Beeja which is

disclosed in the preceding Sandhi is again tested The

test comes through excitement, anger, calmity or an

enticement The excitement or anger is roused by a

fault-finding utterance or by an attempt to imprison or

murder or by the contempt of the elders These things

infuse the strength to pacify or to withstand. The

calamity may be due to one's own disrespect. An

attempt is made to pacify all the elements that have dis-

turbed the course of the action

5 Nirvahana2 completes, unites and focuses together

all the scattered shreds of the story The resolution of the

plot that begins in the previous part is completed in this

The initial incident and a very significant utterance with

reference to it are brought before and significantly welded

together It gives the Prasād, Ananda, Varāpti, and

Prashasti, ( satisfaction, bliss, gift of boon and blessing )

1 क्रोधेनावनृश्येयता वयसनाद्वा विलोमनात्

गर्भोनिमित्तविज्ञार्य सोडवमरोंडनसंश्रयः । D. R

2. वीजवन्तो मुखाद्यार्या विप्रकीर्णा यथायथम् ।

एकार्थसमपनोयन्ने यत्न निर्वहण तदा ॥

Again of the five Sandhis, the first Mukhasandhi gives

the initial incident and some exposition on it and is similar

to Protasis of the greek drama ; the Pratimukha shows the

action its growth or the complications of the incident and

resembles the Epitasis of the greek drama, the Garbha

shows the climax or the crisis or the turning point of the

plot-structure and resembles the Peripeteia of the greek

play The two Sanskrit sandhis—the Avamarsha and

Nirvahana—depict both the denouement and the conclusion

of the plot The falling action is shown in these and there-

fore they are similar to Catabasis of the greek play

The fluctuations in the actual course of the incident

due to the rise and ebb of the energies of the principal

characters are shown in as many stages viz—

Ārambha1 is the initial effort directed towards the

acquisition of the great fruit and is connected with the

Beija and is in proportion to the intensity of the eagerness

of the characters It consists in a determinate will of the

character saying “ I am sure to accomplish the end, come

what may ”.

Prarātna2 —When such a commencement is made

with determinate will, it becomes incumbent upon the

characters, to lay down a scheme and to create and adopt

the employment of means for its speedy accomplishment

the possibility of hindrance is to be averted

Prāptyāshā3 —Clouds suddenly appear on the horizon

and put out of sight, the object when it is just within it.

1. आत्मगुण्यमावमारम्भो फलत्याभाय भृयसे॥

2. प्रयत्नस्तु तद्र्रारमा व्यापारोऽतित्वरान्वित॥

3. उपायापायगत+या प्राप्याशा प्राप्तिसंभव॥

The cup which is full to the brim and which is taken up to the lip and is on the point of being quaffed off is at once snatched from off the lips The arrival and utterance of Gautami ( रे चक्रवाक आमन्त्रयस्व सहचरीम् ) in the Shākuntala or the arrival of the queen Aushinary in the Vikramorvashi or that of Vāsavdattā when the union was quite imminent and 'within sight are some instances in point. It is a winding turn in the course of the plot

4 Niyatāpti1—After the winding, the efforts again take an onward, straightforward course, giving a turn to the rocky impediments in the way and the accomplishment of the object comes to be fully and distinctly viewed.

5 Falāgama2—This is the last accomplishment of the object—the crowning success,—not only the union of the hero and the heroine but all the attending pleasures, the obtainment of all earthly bliss

The Sanskrit drama in general presents three types of plot There are plots designed on "single hearing plan", for instance the dramas of Bhāsa like tha Noutavākya and the Madhyamavyāyosa Such dramas of single hearing are the earliest types of the drama The drama of "expansive plan 'is instanced by the Mālatī-Mādhav or Mrichhakatika They are admirable examples on an immense scale of the unification of the complex materials that are made to balance and illustrate one another These are thus the instances of both brevity and prolixity In some others, the plot is neither too brief nor too prolix as in the Ratnāvali or the Mālvika or the Vicramorvasheyam where the plot appears in a condensed form Though the dramatists

1 अपायाभावंत प्रार्तिनियताप्ति सुर्निश्चित्ता ॥

2 समन्रफलसंपाति फलयोगो ययोदित ॥ D R

present a great skill in the design of plot and in giving it

as far as they can, an appearance of pyramidal structure.

still it has to be admitted that the plot-structure in the

Sanskrit drama is more stereotyped, more conventional,

more rigid and more conforming to the laws of dramatics.

The Sanskrit dramatists are with a few exceptions, poets

first and dramatists afterwards Of the two important con-

stituting elements of a dramatist—the plot-construction and

the characterization, the first is always sacrificed for the

other and both are sacrificed for poetry This is but a

natural outcome of the restrictions imposed upon their

genius by the scientific canons There is always a set

mould both for the plot and the person to be cast into and

there is very little departure from it. The only field where

they are allowed a little of liberty is in the manner of ex-

pression and in the emotions The scope which the poets

have given to their genius in these two departments have

made them master-painters of sentiments and their acompa-

niments. The ancient Sanskrit drama is again more

conventional than real, gives more the recognized forms of

beauty than the representation or the imitation of actual

life The realism of the actual life is seen in the Mrichha-

katika but in most of others, the poetic fancy soars high

and high and its flights are far removed from the world of

actuality The fancy does come down in obedience to

poetic truth or poetic fidelity with the result that there are

son e instances like Śākuntala and the Mālatī-Mādhav

where we get the ideal probability

There is with Sanskrit dramatists a set idealism in

literature which has led to repetitions and analogies of

thought and expressions "Similes, metaphors, stock

witticisms of Vidushaka, poetic conventions had become

quite fossilized in Sanskrit drama. The familiar tree

44

Asoka, the bird chakravāka, the bee, the rescue of the hero

or the heroine from the clutches of an infuriated elephant

are incidents found with every dramatist All this was

common property, the literary stock-in-trade of every

dramatist and poet 1" This was the common fountain of

idealism the rules of which have been already given by

the writers on rhetorics Shūdraka is the only play-wright,

who got himself disentangled from the set idealism and

preached realism in his play The realism of Shudraka

has reference to logical or practical universe The hunger

of Sutradhāra, the fast of his wife, the impoverishment,

the pursuit of the harlot by the city-lewds, the broil of

gamblers, the bankruptcy and the consequent house break-

ing of Sharvilak are all incidents of common occurence-

thoroughly realistic

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.-The plot and the characters

are inseparably and mutually connected. The plot gets

a dynamic force by means of the movement of the

different characters and the characters on their part

are developed by the action, the story, the incident

and the situation There was a number of items in the

preliminaries iat were gone through before the actual re-

presentation of the Sanskrit drama But they were all

finished behind the curtain Hence the first character

that ap eared on the stage before the people is the Sutradhār

He is a character that is not at all involved in the course

of the drama but stands apart a little from the characters

and speaks with somewhat greater authority. He along

with the Praveshaka and the Vishkambhaka fulfils the

interpretative function of the greek chorus He puts the

spectators in possession of all the initial information that

is necessary for the proper understanding of the play He

1 Dr Sukhathanhar's articly B O A

presents a set programme versified to some extent and it

has very little dramatic effect He is the Director of the

company, the principal manager who regulates the thread

or rules of the drama He is generally a Brāhmin and

therefore qualified to recite the Nāndī—the opening

benediction employing a tone neither high nor low"1

Quite a number of qualities are desiderated in him.2

He must be very skilful in the presentation of

the play, must have information about the various arts

and sciences, the use of metres, the use of all kinds of in-

struments He must be conversant with the manners and

the morality of the people He must know the heavens,

geography, genealogies of kings He must be perfect in

limbs, free from disease, sweet-tongued, forgiving, re-

strained, courteous3 etc After the formal utterance of the

benediction a reference is made by him to the author,

giving all that is allowed by the proverbial reticence of the

Sanskrit dramatists If the manager of the company happens

not to be a Brāhmin, he seems to have had no right to the

title of Sutradhāra nor could he recite the Nāndī in which

case, the benediction is uttered by a Brahmin and the

further action or the play establisḥed by the Sthāpak who

possesses all the qualities and the appearance of the

Sutradhāra In the dramas of Bhāsa, the Sutradhāra

appears on the stage after the Nāndī as is clear from

1 Hindu Theatre, Wilson

2 नाट्यप्रयोगकुशलः ; नानाशीलसमन्वित.; सर्वशास्त्रविचक्षणः ;

छन्दोविनानातत्त्वज्ञ , काव्यराश्रविचक्षणः सर्ववादित्रतत्त्ववाद

3 स्मृतिमान्मतिमान् धीर उदार सिमतवाक्शुचि

अरोगो मधुर क्षान्तो दान्तश्र्च प्रियवद

सर्वदोषविनिर्मुक्त सत्यवाददक्षिणस्स्था । नाट्यशास्त्र

सूत्रधारकृतारंभै (Bāna H. C). He is therefore a 'Sthāpak and

the introduction is called the Sthāpanā

The Sutradhāra is accompanied by attendants, one or

two, who are a little inferior to the Sutradhāra in point of

qualities He must be intelligent, beautiful, conversant

with the means and materials to be used on the stage.

It is Sutradhāra and Pāripārshvak1 that play the roles of

the different principal characters in the sequel The

Nati is his wife with whom he holds a conversation

dealing with the usually familiar topics of the household

She possesses all the qualities of the Sutradhāra.

She is a lady of a few words, very clever, modest, devoted to the

service of the elders The erudition, the information, the

versatility are also required of her2 The Sutradhāra,

his wife and attendants are very solicitous of the public

pleasure and entertainment Theirs is a pleasant and

happy household

The dramatis personæ other than the characters

mentioned above ( Prayō tris of the play ) fall into three

groups–high, middle, and low–according to their consti-

tuting merits or demerits.

The hero is taken from the Uttam class and is

presented into four different types according to his status

If he is a god or a demi-god, he is Dhiroddhata, if a king he

is Dheerlalita, if a warrior or minister he is Dheerodātta

1 सूत्रधारगुणेश श्र्चिद्यून मग्र्यमप्रकृति उज्जवलस्वचान मेदावी

नियानन श्टेऽपकरणक्रिय* ॥ भ ना॥

2 मितभाषा विदग्धा च सलज्जा न च निप्रुरा । कृताशीतगुणोपेता गुरूणा

शासनेऽ रता ॥ भ ना॥

minor episode requires an independent hero called Peetha-

marda who is a little inferior to the hero to whom he acts

as a devoted friend and follower He serves as a good

counter-foil or a parasite for increasing the aurora of the

hero Makaranda in the Malati-Madhao belongs to this

class.

The Dhiroddhata type of hero mentioned above is also

called the Pratināyāka-the counter hero or the villain

of the play He is शयोल वीरोद्भत स्तथ्य पापकृत्रयसनो नृप , and he

is instanced by Rāvana in the Vircharit or Duryodhana

in the Venisamhār

The Vidushaka' or the merry, facetious buffoon is the

most important character in the Sanskrit drama He is as

indispensable to the stage as the hero to whom he acts a

jocose companion and a confidential friend He typifies

the lighter aspect and by his sallies and feats in mimicry,

relieves the tension of the feelings brought upon by the

serious sentiment of the hero He is a dwarf, old and

gray and with distorted features He is a Brahmin by caste

but speaks the prākrit He is said to be the successor of

the Brahmachārin of the Mahāvrata ceremony who uses

abusive language to a maid with whom he falls out He

and the maid, both figures from old; popular dramatic re-

presentations are conjointly responsible for giving food for

humour in the dramas. " His attempts at wit which are

never very successful and his allusions to the pleasures

of the table of which he is a confessed votary are absurdly

contrasted with the sententious solemnity of the despair-

ing hero crossed in the prosecution of his love-suit2." The

1 वामनो दन्तुर कुञ्जो द्विजन्मा विचततानन

खलति पिङ्गलाक्ष स वियेयो विदूषक ( भ ना.)

2 Monier William Sah.

clumsy interference of the Vidūṣaka in the intrigues of

his friend only serves to augment his difficulties and

occasions many an awkward dilemma As he is the uni-

versal butt and is allowed in return full liberty of speech,

he fills a character very necessary for the enlivenment of

the otherwise dull monotony of a Hindu drama Mānavaka

is his name and he is always by the side of the hero. He is

the companion of his sports and promoter of his amuse-

ments. " The Prākrit drama depicts him as the type of

Brahmana vha) serves as a go-between in love-affairs

masking his degraded trade under the cloak of religion."

Konow takes him to be a figure from the popular drama

who loved to make fun of the higher classes He cannot

certainly be taken to be the transformation of the slave

of the Greek drama because he is Brahmin by caste and a

Brahmin can never be a slave.

The other characters of parasite type that create a

sort of rollicking humour in a Sanskrit play are Viṭa, Cheṭa

and Śakāra. Viṭa1 is a man who is courteous, shrewd and

street. He is of a poetic bent of mind, very quick at re-

partees and leads up a discussion skilfully Viṭa is a

clever jester, quick of retort, singularly audacious and

with a special aptitude for sudden and disconcerting

turns in conversation which enable him to leave the

field with all the honours of victory. Cheṭa2 is made

of the same stuff though a little deformed. He knows

1. देवो, सत्कारकुलो नृपो नृपतिः नृति. । उत्पत्तिहेतो-

र्नारी नग्न·॥

2. कन्याप्रियो बहुलो व्रतो गृहेवशव् । न्यायानु-

न्याय-वित्तशठो नृपतिरेव नृपः॥

the

sense

of

propriety

and

knows

also

when

and

how

to

keep

the

dignity

of

others

He

is

conversant

with

all

arts

and

diverts

the

minds

of

others

by

the

fund

of

stories

which

he

has

at

his

command

But

more

funny,

more

depraved

is

the

character

of

Shakāra

1

He

is

taken

from

the

अयम

class

of

characters

He

is

fond

of

gaudy

clothes.

He

is

very

easily

excited

and

very

easily

pacified

He

speaks

the

Māgadhi

prākrit

He

is

shown

in

the

Mrichhakatika

of

Shudraka

(

for

the

treatment

of

which

see

later)

Though

he

creates

laughter

in

season

and

out

of

season

still

there

is

a

system

in

his

foolery

and

he

never

loses

sight

of

the

object

to

be

accomplished

Levi,

possibly

led

by

the

title

of

this

character,

sees

in

it

the

traces

of

the

Shaka

influence

on

the

Sanskrit

drama

He

says,

The

character

of

Shakār

may

be

regarded

in

this

light,

in

its

hostility

to

the

Shakas.

It

reveals

a

period

when

either

a

prince

was

opposed

to

the

Shaka-Cythian-rule

or

the

Shaka

domination

had

just

fallen

The

Mrichhakatika

may

retain

a

confused

version

of

the

events

of

~

00

A

D

(

For

the

discussion

of

the

Shaka

influence

on

the

Sanskrit

drama

see

ante,

page

17

)

He

is

an

ideal

but,

perhaps

the

most

foolish

person

ever

presented

on

the

stage

A

complete

ignoramus,

utterly

incapable

of

grasping

witticism,

he

is

anxious

to

pass

as

a

man

of

parts

and

tumbles

into

every

word-trap

that

other

characters

lay

for

him

A

perfect

and

entire

coward,

he

is

fain

to

believe

himself

a

perfect

fire-eater

He

swallows

compliments

on

his

personal

appearance

1

उज्ज्वलवल्लाभरण

कुप्यत्यनिमित्तत

प्रसीदति

च

।

अधमो

मागधीभाषी

भवति

शकारः

॥

B

N.

without the dimmest suspicions. He is a source of end-

less enjoyment and profit to the audience

The action hinges upon these four characters, Cheta,

Veeta, Shakār, Vidushaka! and gets as much a dynamic

force as with other characters 'They do not stand apart

as the Sutradhār, his wife and attendants do. Hence they

cannot be put under the class of Prayoktris as has been

wrongly done by Bharat in his Nātyashāstra

There are other male minor characters in the play,

for instance, the ministers, the priests, the harem-keepers,

the rassals, the warriors and the several other servants.

They discharge their own functions severally and con-

jointly, form a very good back-ground by increasing the

aurora in which the principal characters are introduced

They are all the coadjutors of the hero'

The heroine or the Nāyikā, the chief of the female

characters, presents four types quite similar to the types

of the hero. They are Dheerā, Lalitā, Udāttā and

Nībhritā or Salajjā The essential qualities that are

desired of a heroine are well expressed in the following

line,—विधया तिष्ठति मधुरे पञ्चशरेऽभिरक्तकण्ठा (B. N.) The' heroine

of the Dheerā type must be a celestial lady ; the Lalitā, a

wife of a king , the Udāttā, a house-wife and the Nībhitā

a hatera. The heroine is again classified into three

classes as Sweeyā, Anyā, and Sādharanstree. The Sweeyā,

1. कतिपयपुरोदितैर्‌वर्मसहाय । सुहृत्कुमाररटचिक्रादण्डे सान्न्त

सैनिका अन्तःपुरे वर्षवराः किराताः मूकवामनाः ।

म्लेच्छारिभटकारच्वा। स्वस्वकार्योपयोगिनः ॥ D.R.

52

is either the senior queen like Tāṣaradattā or the junior queen like Ratnāvalī Tae Anṛā is a princess belonging to others, but who is an aspirant to the honour of tae queen Be it noted to the honour and high moral tone of the Hindu drama that the Parakeerā or she who is the wife of another person is never made the object of dramatic intrigue Sāgarikā in the Ratnāvalī, Mālavikā in the Nāgānanda and Mālatī are instances of this type

The Sāinīrcastri is a Gaṇikā or hetara and is defined as कामप्रगल्भयौनपुप्ठः

The interest in the feelings of the heroines divides them into three classes as Mugdhā—the innocent; Lāḍitā—the young and sportive and Praṇalā—the blind with love, voluptuous. There are heroines who have got their lovers deeply attached to them (Srājiniṣṭhā), who adorn their household (Tisakṣajñā), who are eager for the arrival of their lovers, (Tiṣṭhoṣitā), who feel grieved to see their lovers separated to others (Śānditā). who are separated on account of some petty love-quarrel (Kelāvetarī), who are put on the wrong track (Viphalābdhā), whose lovers are (on a long journey (Prahitaṅga rā), who themselves make the advances of love or proceed on a visit to their lovers (Avisṛitā The beauty, the lustre, the sweetness, the gentleness, the nobility, the courage, the sentiment—all these virtues that are born with the heroines They also display the natural sport gaits and gestures

The conductors of the heroine in her affairs of love are her friends and maids, nurses and neighbours, female relatives and artisans The Dootis or Sākhās of the heroines are generally smart waiting maids clever, quick-witted, with an eye on the main issue They have got a very keen enjoyment of joke, practical or otherwise.

53

They play their cards with marked success and secure the downfall of the king's friends.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.- The raw material for both the plot and the characters is taken by the Sanskrit poets mostly from the epics, and is fashioned, moulded and made adaptable to the stage. The epics on account of their expansive plan of structure can afford to take notice of only the broad features. The minor details in situations and characters are totally neglected The dramatist takes notice of such subtle details, associates them with characters and interprets thereby the general principles of human life. The Sanskrit dramatists have thus been saved from the trouble of using the creative imagination to bring out being new plots and characters and to make the audience sufficiently equipped to receive them The audience is always in full possession of the necessary initial information about the plot and the characters The efforts which are thus saved in one branch of imagination, viz the creative, are put forth in its other two branches, viz the associative and the interpretative The old plots and characters are rehabilitated to suit the exigencies of the stage and with their help quite an interpretative commentary is offered on the analysis of the sentiments of the human heart

The plot in Sanskrit drama rises, attains to a high pitch and falls-resolves It is thus a pyramidal structure and the various sandhis or acts represent the various important stages in the rise and fall of it. The minor incidents are arranged in strict sense of propriety as in the plays of Kālidās and Shī Harsha The important ones are repeated and focussed for magnifying the results as in

54

the Mritchhakatika and thus unity and oneness are produced regarding the fruit of the action In spite of the solitary instances wherein the unity and proportion of the play are violated, for instance the plays of Bhavbhuti, still the Sanskrit drama in general satisfies the principles of art-construction, viz the proportion, the repetition, the focussing, the similarity and contrast, unity and oneness

The skill in plot-texture appears to the utmost in the scene of ornament of Vasantsenā in the Clay-cart, in the ring- episode in Shākuntala, in the Jṛimbhakāstra in Uttarāmcharita, in the Bakulmālā in the Mālatī-Mādhao, in the ring-incidents of Rākshasa The following are again the best scenes from the point of view of plot, character and sentiment the separation of daughter in Shākuntala and bidding her farewell, disowning of her by Dushyanta, the separation and union of friends Vāsanti and Atreyi in U Rām , Chārudatta being taken to the gallows, the feigned quarrel between Chānakya and Chandragupta, the brave altercation between Karna and Ashwnthāman, the heroic and desperate dialogue between Madhao and Aghorghanta

Though comedies, they contain in them the conflict of views interest, or sentiment that is most essential for the action of a drama There is conflict in the Uttar-rāmcharita in the character of Rāma between the two very important constituents of character—the sense of Duty and Conscience Sītā to him " was above suspicion " but his duty as the king required him to abandon her There is conflict between the innocence and simplicity of boyhood typified by Rāma and the ire of Jāmadagnya in the Mahāvircharita There is conflict in the Mudrārākshasa.

the daṇḍa, to

the party

of the

adversary

of

the

character

of

the

hero,

and

the

absence

of

the

character

of

the

adversary

in

him,

and

the

character

of

the

adversary

set

up

in

him.

It

is

seen

abound

in

the

poetical

compositions

of

Bhaṇa

The

peculiarities

of

the

plot

are

thus

stated

The

writer

or

a

third

stage

of

Sūtradhāra.

of

the

nāṭika

It

is

formed

at

any

time

a

part

of

his

life.

The

brevity

in

length

and

character

in

carried

to

excess

by

Bhāsa

and

is

upon

discussed

by

Bhaṭṭa-nāyaka

The

dialogues,

the

aṣṭakaṣ,

the soliloquies add not only a dynamic element to the plot

but enable the readers to enter into the hidden recesses of

the hearts of the characters. Bhāsa and Viśākhadatta are

the masters of dialogue The dialogue is a means of charac-

terization because it unfolds the character by means

of the utterances not only of the character but of

others about him It is the dramatist's only substitute for

direct analysis It has immense value in the exhibition

of passions, motives, and feelings It must have organic

connection with the action which runs underneath it It

should be natural, appropriate, dramatic, easy, fresh, vivid,

and interesting All this can be said of the dialogues of

Bhāsa.

Besides brevity and impersonality, there is another

feature in the characterization of the Sanskrit drama and

that is 'concentration'-emphasis upon those qualities of

a character that really influence the action The chivalry

and gallantry of Duṣyanta, Pururavas and Udayana,

the chastity and purity of Rāma, the filial affection of Kanva,

the love and respect for the self and the family of Sītā and

Śakuntalā, the friendly regard of Makarand and Mādhav,

the loyal and cautious politics of Chānakya and Rākshas,

the steadfastness and resignation of Chāruadatta, the sacrifice of

Vasantasenā, the maternal care and shrewdness of Kāman-

dakī and Sārkhāyanī, the proverbial jealousy of the queens

and many others are gradually and unmistakably evolved

and emphasised They are focussed and are made to

influence the course of action conjointly

There is one more condition of characterization that

is found in Sanskrit drama - the method of cross-light-

ing The characters are unfolded by means of presenting

parrallel and opposite characters The Sanskrit poets

create parallel figures in their plays which produce a good

failing curses and counter-curses in the Śākuntala.

The ancient eagerness of the lovers as opposed to the jealousy

of the queens in the V. T. and in the Priyadarśikā.

The conflicting interest of the rivals in love in the Mālatī-

Mādhava and the Vṛicāvaṭikā, the fulfilment of each in

the Mudrārākṣasa are instances where contrast as a

design in plot works powerfully.

The principle of contrast is as much important in the

development of plot as it is in that of characters

The rise and fall of actions are but the two ends of the con-

trast and the sharpness of the contrast between them,

more vivid are they.

The Pañcatantra stories present nothing

but contrast between two aspects of the same thing and

cause surprise in the situation, which is revealed in an

ironic way or both the characters and the spectators

The dramatic irony concerns itself with the

hopes and apprehensions a though unexpressed use of word or

use of situations where according to it is revealed as verbal

irony and irony of situation.

The Mudrārākṣasa is replete with verbal irony when the word 'victor' is

uttered in reference to Candragupta and 'grihita' with

reference to Rākṣasa

All the emissaries of Candragupta

that enter into the close and confidential service of

Rākṣasa who in his turn surprise them to be

its enemies men, create so many ironies of situation

The circumstance in Tejomayī-nā is another instance of

the irony of situation.

The deep curse of sentiments is another important

feature in the Sanskrit drama

and it is embodied in the sacrifice of corn the pīta and the

character

The Sanskrit dramatist is first a poet; secondly

a sentimental critic and last a dramatist

The ancient Indian held that a dramatist should set

59

before him for his chief object the creation of sentiment and Rasa-(Rasodbhāvana), which hasled to some defects in the plot-construction.

The main object of a dramatic work is the evolution of some Rasa by means of Vibhāvas and anubhāvas.

" The Rasa is a phenomenon which is both semiphysiological and semi-psychological.

The human sentiments, their rise and fall, are biologically connected with similar disturbance in the biological kingdom.

The supra-human or the infra-human is as much subject to emotional disturbance as the purely human.

It is this that gives rise to phenomenon which the western criticos term as "Pathetic fallacy" or "Sympathetic illusion" which consists in transferring mental or emotional states of human beings to things in the animal kingdom

All the stimuli or the Uddipan-Vibhāvas are means of causing fallacies, illusions, or miscreations

They are, therefore, pathetic fallacies and they abound in both Kālidās and Bhavbhūti

"There are certain permanent or dominant moods of the human mind (Sthāyibhāvas) which generally lie dormant, but are aroused when appropriate stimuli are applied.

The stimuli in a dramatic representation are words and gestures ( Abhinayas ).

As the painter produces an illusion by means of brush and colour so the dramatist by words so rouses some of the dominant moods that for the moment the spectator or the reader forgets himself and has an æsthetic enjoyment of a particular kind

The resultant æsthetic enjoyment or pleasure is called Rasa

The dominant moods are eight in number rati-love, hāsa-laughter, shoka-grief, krodha-anger, utsāha-energy, bhaya-fear, jugupsā-concealment, vismaya-surprise

When they are roused by vibhāvas-stimuli, anubbāvas, and vyabhichari bhāvas, they attain to the condition of the several eight

sentiments or rasas-shringar-the erotic, hāsya-the comic,

karuna-the pathetic, raudra-terrific, vīr-the heroic,

bhayānak-the dreadful, bībhatsa-the depraved, adbhuta-

the wonderful There is one more sentiment-shānta or

the calm which is found in poetry and not in a drama

which contains gestures and movements that work against

it There are other minor rasas, for instance, vātsalya

or filīality, bhakti or devotion, kärpanya or poverty,

shraddhā or faith

The love to a man or woman is roused by such causes

as moonrise, the spring, flowers, bowers These means are

called the Uddīpan vibhāvas and the man and the woman

are called the ālambanavibhāvas-the sub strata for the

emotions The external manifestations such as movements

of eye,glances that convey the working of the emotions are

called the anubhāvas There are secondary moods (fleeting)

beings called the Vyabhichārībhāvas1

The Shringār2 or Erotic is full of refuldgence and is

the product of the permanent mood-love It concerns itself

with v hatever is pure, chaste, refulgent and beautiful. It

has reterence to men and women. It is of two kinds

Sambhoga and Vipralambha The Sambhoga is produced

by garlands, ointments, ornaments, meeting with persons

sports and other things and is given expression to through

sportive words and glances The other, Vipralambha, is

given expression to by despondency, fatigue, jealousy,

suspicions, anxiety, dreams, &c The pathetic or the Karuna

is expressed through tears, lamentations, drying of the

1 Kauc Sabityadarpana

2 रतिरनुरागप्रसव उज्जवलदेवपातकः. 1

mouth and is the result of curse, calamity, loss of beloved.

The comic or* the Hāsya is produced by quaintness in

dress, speech, taste, deformity in limbs and is expressed

by contracting and enlarging the eyes, the nose and the

mouth It mu t contain the three most important elements

of the comic—the degrad tion, the incongruity and the

automatism in manners, whic are satisfied by the charac-

ters like the Vidushaka, or t ie Shakār and the Shekhar

in Nāgānanda The Roudra or the terrific has reference

to demons and goblins, and is the result of anger, insult,

excitement, malice jealousy, both harshne s and highness

of tongue. The hāroic or the Vira h s got reference to a

noble, heroic character and is expressed through detem i-

nate resolutio , modesty, stie ngth, valour, exploits etc. The

fearful or the bhayānaka is expressed by an uncommon cry,

resort to desolate forest, the slaughter of one's own kith.

Tue bibhatsa consists in hearing and witnessing what is

unwholesome, undesi able, revolting to taste. The last-

adbhuta or the wonderful consists in the surprise with

which a man is taken The surprise is the result of some

illusion or magic, or of the intervention of some super-

human influences

In the actuality of life there are forces—call them

abnormal, sub-normal or super-normal—that work indirect-

ly upon the human mind The propensities, benevolent or

malevolent, innate or ctherwise are floating in nature and

take refuge with a suit ble soul The wierd sisters in

Macbeth, the ghost of Hamlet, the Rākshasa and Rākshasi

in Venisanhāra, the river deities in U Rām are so many

propensities of the characters given flesh and body to Their

appearance and occurrence baffles solution and, therefore,

the solution of such inexplicable things is based upon the

traditional belie's in angels, ghosts, spirits, omens, astro-

logy-dreams-that possess enormous influence upon the easily credıble minds

The solution of the inexplicable enıgmas takes the people by surprise and gıves rise to the sentiment of surprise ( Adbhuta ) The potency of the curse of Durvasa in Shāk, the intuitive knowledge of Kanva, the flight of Shakuntalā in the air, the sudden disappearance of Sītā, the use of tırasakarını with whıch Sītā and Urvashı witness the bereaved condition of their lovers-about Āryaka and Pālaka in the Claycart, about Sāgarıkā in the Ratnāvalı and the Priyadarshıkā, the philosophy of flesh and blood of Rākshasa and Rākshasī and the explorts of the child-heroes—Lava and Bharat are all instances of Adbhuta rasa

REPRESENTATION —The performance of a Sanskrit play began wıth a dance both violent and tender, followed by a song whıch was recıted both in standing and sıttıng postures. Before the actual recitation of the Nāndı there was a number of prelimınarıes' that were gone through. The drums were beaten, the sıngers and the musicians entered, tried their' voices , the instruments were adjusted so as to produce a sweet triple symphonv The Sutra-dhāra raised the banner with a song scatiering flowers Then was repeated in a medium voice, the Nāndı2 consist ing of one or more verses of two or four lines, calling

1 पूर्वरंग = प्रत्याहार, अवतरण, आरम्भ, आश्रावणा वाद्यर्रत्ति, उत्सापन, परिवर्तन, नान्दी, त्रिगत, प्ररोचना

2 नान्दी:- आशीर्वचनसंयुक्ता नित्यं युग्मार्थयुज्यते । देवद्विजनृपादीनां तस्मान्नान्दीति संज्ञिता ॥

for blessings and offering salutation by the Brahmin Sutra-

dhāra The characters then moved and danced on the

stage There was a funny talk between the Sutradhāra

and the Vidushaka. The Nati appeared and announced

the contents of the drama The Sthāpak-a non-brahmin

manager came and opened the introduction. Then the

introduction crmmenced It had thirteen different ways

of introducing the matter and the characters, the chief of

which are a Kathodhat.―“the words of the Director may

be, caught up by a character entering from behind a curtain

Yaugandharāvan catches up the consolation offered to

the actress which is applicable to his own scheme Bheema

denounces the benediction of his adversaries in the Veni-

samhara " Pravarataka may enter who has just been

mentioned by the director in a comparison with the

season of the spring (Pramadāshikā) "Prayogātishaya,

where the Sutradhāra actually mentions the entry of

character of the drama as in Shākuntala, ‘ Uddhātya-

abrupt dialogue as a means of connection as in Mudrā-

rākshasa "1

After the introduction, came the body of the play

which was cut into suitable divisions or Ankās in which

food was given to the nourishment of several sentiments

with due sense of propriety and with due vigilance as re-

gards the chief aim to be achieved Last of all was

uttered the Bharat-Vākya or the epilogue in which pious

wish was expressed for prosperous times both to the audi-

ence and the characters or to the sovereign patron. Cur-

tain was dropped at the end of every act and all characters

made an exeunt.

1 K D

64

The dress and the colour varied according to the

status and the clan to which the particular character

belonged The ascetics were clothed in barks of trees

proper to taeir way of life. The keepers of the harem put on

a red jacket The gandharvas, the yakshas and other

semi-divine beings and kings in general had to put on gay

garments, the parents put on colourless garments The

pastoral and other low class people used dark blue clothes

The mad characters were shown in dirty clothes.

The kings were shown in bright sable complexion.

The foresters like the Kirātas, the Dravidians, the Barbaras

the Ādhras, the Pulindas and the Deccanis were painted

in pitch-dark The Yavanas, the Sythians, the Palhavas,

the Balhikas, the Brahmīns and Kshatriyas were shown

redish-yellow. The Pānchālas, the Shursenas, people

from Magadha, Vanga, Anga and Kalinga were dyed in

black colour

The ornaments that were put on by the characters

were made of thin copper plates1, of abhrak, of reeds and

they were coloured, so also the instruments and the

armours were made of bamboo reeds even or of earth and

then they were coloured and wrapped up in cloth The

flimsy substance was specially selected, for it mattered

very little if they were crushed to pieces in a scene of

altercation or fight

The languages differed again according to the status

of the characters The gods, the angels, the Brahmins, the

heroes of the four types spoke in Sanskrit Other charac-

ters less in dignity made use of any one of the several

1 तस्मात्ताम्रमयं पत्रकारक रञ्जिततरपि ।

मृण्मयरपि मध्यस्थैः कार्योण्याभरणानि च ॥

Prākrits suited to the caste and country from which they hailed

The heroines used two languages The Shauraseni with them was the normal vehicle of prose and the Mahā-rashṭri of poetry.

There were other seven languages: Māgadhi spoken by the keepers of the kings' harem;

Ardhamāgadhī by the Che's and the merchants, the Prāchya or the Eastern dialect by the Vidūshaka;

the Avanti by deceits; Shauraseni by the heroines and their maids, the Bālhīka and the Deccani dialects by the people coming from those particular countries.

The Mrichchakatikā shows quite a variety of prākrits with some minor subtle distinctions

In spite of the strong injunctions that the usage of the plays as regards the language should be nothing but copying the actual practice in real life still the languages—Sanskrit and the Prākrits had fallen into dis-uetude and had become quite artificial by the time of the Sanskrit classical drama.

At the time of Bhāsa the languages—Sanskrit and the Prākrits were the lip-languages and not the book-languages of the people'

The Sanskrit ceased to be a spoken language perhaps after 200 B. C contemporaneously with the time of Patanjali

Then the Pāli and the Prākrits took its place and continued to hold it for the next 400 years—upto the time of Hāla Sātavahana or Vatsyāyana.

Then the domain was given to the Apabhramsas to traverse upto 500 A. D.—upto the advent of the modern vernaculars.

On the languages depended the Vṛittis or the styles.

What the sentiments are on the psychological side, the Vṛittis are on the intellectual side of words

As the actions produce the sentiments so the iwords produce the Vṛittis.

The Vṛittis tell about the languages, the coun-

tries, the dress, the customs, and manners

They have got the power of both the expression and the suggestion

They are four in number viz. Kāishikī (graceful), Sāttvati (grand), Ārabhatī (violent) and Bhāratī (verbal).

Of these the first pertains to the sentiments of comic, pathos and the erotic, makes use of song, dance, lovely raiments and expresses itself on the substrata of both males and females

It has got four ways of expression—Narman-wits of love, Narmaspunja—loveat the first sighte q meeting' of the king and Mālvika, Narmasphōta—suggestion of rasa, Narma-garbha—hiding of secret signs c f. Vatsa, comes in the garb of Manoramā

The Sāttvati has got reference to the heroic, wonderful and sometimes pathos and erotic

Its subjects are virtue, courage, self-sacrifice, compassion, righteousness, and is expressed in four ways challange or Utthāpaka,e q Vāli defies Rām in M V Sanghātya—breach of alliance e.g in M R Parivartak—change of action, e q Parashurām offers to embrace Rām in M V and Samlāpa-dialogue of warriors

The third Ārabhatī refers to fury, horror and the means of expression are magic, conjuration, underhand devices and the elements are sankshipti—as in Elephant of mats in Rat, Vastūsthāpanā—creation of an object by magic means, Sampheta—angry meeting as between Mādhao and Aghorghanta, Avapāta—scene of attack—the escape of monkey in Rat.

The last Bhāratī refers to words and has for its means the human voice

It expresses all sentiments

The introduction of M. R and Veni are instances of this Vritti.

Each one of the four Vrittis is associated with one of the four Vedas and has undoubtedly got something to do with the countries and the people who dwell in it

The ritas (रीतस्) are six according to Bhoja.

They are Āvanti,

Māgadhī, Vaidarbhī,1 Lāṭī,2 Gaudī2, Pānchālī 3 Of these the

important are 3rd, 5th and 6th. The Vaidarbhī shows

"majesty elevation, clearness precision, beauty elegance

metaphor homogeneity, softness and natural flow. The

Gaudī has fondness for long compounds and relies on

force and beauty. The Pānchālī has sweetness and

softness

The Vr̥ttis or the pravr̥ttis and the r̥tis include in

them all the intellectual and the emotional qualities of the

style. Of the intellectual qualities clearness is produced

by refraining from the use of ambiguity, simplicity by

refraining from the use of old obsolete words and long

compounds and a load of attributes which render the style

cumbrous (c.f Bāṇa and Bhatt Nārāyaṇ), impressiveness

is produced by the employment of contrast and similes

which are replete in Sanskrit literature, by the isolation

of sentences (as in Bāṇa) and lastly the picturesqueness

is produced by the description of the still life as in the

forest Dandakā or Jābāli's hermitage or by the description

of action involving movements as in the fight of Lava

and Chandraketu, Rāma and Jāmdagnya The chief

attraction of it lies in the creation of images. It is

opposed to artificiality (as in Bhatt Nārāyaṇa).

Of the emotional qualities, the strength causes the

expansion of heart and rises in vehemence in the senti-

1. वैदर्भी—असूत्रता दोषमात्राभि: समग्रगुणगुण्ठिता

त्रिप्रन्यास्वरमयीभाया वैदर्भी रीतिरिष्यते

2. वैदर्भीपञ्चार्या प्रेयसी करुणा भयानकान्तरयोः लाटीं गौडीं रौद्रे कुर्वात् ।

3. पाञ्चाली—१ वंशः केशेँ पुनर्दृश्यों । समस्त पञ्चपदो वन्व पाञ्चालिका-

मता । अतः प्राज्ञप्रबन्धेषु सारध्यान्नैकरसात्मकृतिः ।

ments of horror and fury. It is expressed by compound

letters, conjunct consonants formed of cerebrals other than

na, by long compounds of words formed of palatal and

cerebral sibilants Sweetness is the source of pleasure

and appropriate to the sentiment of lore, pathos, and calm

It is produced by the use of mutes, nasals, ra and short

syllables Both strength and sweetness are the outcome

of idealitcy that depends upon the powerfullness of emo-

tions and the adequateness of the manner of expression.

The violation of the self-respect and the honour of the

wife. the insult and the slaughter of the father of Ashwat-

taman, the slaughter of the brothers of Duryodhana give

rise to powerful emotions that produce the ideality.

The " Ludicrous " quality appears in the description of

Jaddravida dharmika in the M. II , in the Charvaka scene

in the Veni. and by the Vidushaka in almost every drema.

The basic principle of this quality is the degradation of

the comic character from the normal standard of humanity,

and the automatisms and the incongruity of its actions.

Sympatiy is seen in the case of some dramatists like

Bharabhuti and Bhatt Narayan who enter into the chara-

cters themselves and consequently get reflected. The

last and imporiant quality of style in Sanskrit poet is

' Harmony ' The sound is never at variancs with the

sense that is expressed. Even the different metres have

been made the handmaids of the sense and the sentiments

to be given expression to Contempt is expressed by

Drutarilambita Eulogy, sublimity, sorrow for past glory

are expressed in Anushtubh. Shikharini is appropriate

for grief, heroism and roughness in description Realistic

descriptions are given in the Mandakranta. Cruelty,

mercilessness, valour, established maxims are the

proper subjects for the Shardulvikridita. Hopelessness,

69

disappointment, indifference are expressed by both Aryā and Praharshini. Defiance is expressed by Vasantatilakā. Though these are the results of direct analysis of the various metres employed in the plays still no strict and fast rule can be laid regarding the employment of metres

The Nātyashāstra says-the erotic sentiment demands metaphors and prefers the Aryā The heroic prefers the use of short syllables, similes, metaphors The sentiment of fury adopts the same metres with short syllables similes, metaphors. The pathos prefer long syllables.

Of the seven tunes in the symphony of music the ma and pa should be used for comic and erotic, the sa and ri for the heroic and the wonderful, the ga and ni for the pathos, and the dha for terror and horror The various terms that occur in the fourth act of the Vikramorvashiyam when the king in a fit of insanity, raves show the high level that was maintained in music. The king there sings in as many as eight different tunes viz Charchari Khandaka, Khuraka, Kulilikā, Mallaghati, Khandikā, Chaturasraka, Dwipadikā etc.

Theatre.-The Sanskrit dramas were performed in a temple of god on the occasion of a festival of that god (e. g Kāpriyanātha of Ujjain) or in the palace of kings on the occasion of a special rejoicing or solemnity like that of royal marriage (e g Shri Harsha) or on the open space like the bank of a river (e. g in the case of Bhavbhuti's plays). As early as the Mauryan king Bimbisāra the Sanskrit plays were represented before the kings. A Boudha nätaka was performed before the king of Shobhāvati. The Kuttinimātā of Damodar, a book written in the reign of Jayāpīda of Kashmere (800 A. D.), gives an account of the performance of the Ratnāvali of Harsha. The mountain caves were used for the recitation of the epics as is

shown by Rāmgarha hill in ChhotāNāgpur In the

palaces of kings there was a Chamber or hall known as

Sangītashālā—Music Saloon in which dancing and sing-

ing were practised and sometimes exhibited (for instance

Mālvika, Vāsavdatta, Āranyakā). When such chambers

were not available, the performances were given in a

building called the prekshāgrīha, set apart for public

entertainments Bharat in his Nātyashāstra refers to three

kinds of theatres The first was the spacious one

called the Vikrishta or Jyestha having the length of

108 hands (hand=18 inches), the form of a moun-

tain cave It had two floors and was divided

into Nepathyagriha Rangashirsha and the place

for the audience It was not recommended so much as

the acoustic effect was diminished by its expanse The

second was called the chaturasra of medium size, 64 hands

long and was intended for kings It was divided into

three parts–Nepathyagriha, Rangashirsha, Rangapitha.

It was not exactly a square but a ten-cornered building

and the rangapitha a four-cornered one The level was

raised and supported by four pillars. The third called the

Tryasra or a triangular one was intended for the

common people It had two doors, one at the apex

and the other in the middle of the base of the triangle,

the base forming the stage. The Nepathyagriha was the

most backward room in a hindu theatre, where the deco-

rations were kept and where the actors attired them-

selves and remained in readiness before entering the

stage, whither also they withdrew on leaving it The

rest of the house was divided into two, one for the audi-

ence and the other stage The auditorium was marked

off by pillars, in front a white pillar for the Brahmins,

red one for Kshatriyas, in north-west, a yellow pillar for

Vaishyas, and in the north-east a blue-black pillar for the Shudras. The pillars were richly decorated with garlands. The seats were of wood or of bricks arranged in rows The ranga or the stage was in front of the spectators adorned with pictures. Behind the stage there was the curtain called पाटे or अपाटे and behind the curtain there was the tiring room. When a character made appearance in hurry, or alarm, he entered with a toss of the curtain (अपाटेपेण) The actors were thus hidden from the audience by a screen, through which they entered or made on exit Though there was nothing complex in the scene arrangements still there was a number of stage-directions for the characters which they could not give effect to and consequently left to the imagination of the audience Janāntikam, swagatam, ātmagatam (जनान्तिकम्, स्वगतम्, आत्मगतम्) were so many different forms of soliloquies and as such did enable the hearers to enter into the inmost recesses of their hearts and to know its subtle working; but in addition to that they were stage-directions that secured economy in the stage arrangement. The same can be said of Ākāsha-bhāshita—utterances behind the curtain signifying horror, confusion, or voices of gods. The scene-arrangement was very simple and limited, there being perhaps only two curtains, one between the stage and the audience and the other between the stage and the tiring room The stage was divided into three parts, the front stage was used to represent any open space, street, square or field The back stage represented a room in a palace or council chamber or any interior, and the third the upper stage was used for any elevated spots, walls of places or towns This was also used as the stage for the drama within a drama, the instances of which are in the Ratnāvalī, Mālvikā and Uttararāmcharita.

72

The other accessories of the stage were also limited and much had to be supplied by either the imagination of the audience or by the description of the Sutradhār or by gesticulations of the actors " Thus though the car of Dushyanta might have been represented on the stage the horses would be left to the imagination and the speed of the chariot indicated by the gesticulations of the charioteer.1 " A car might have been brought on the stage in the Mrichhakatika The dramas of Bhāsa and the Uttarāmcharita required the presentation of the ariel chariots of gods Seats, thrones, weapons were made of bamboos or of mechanical mass or of cloth.

Discrimination was shown in giving the different roles of character to be presented in the play Males were as a matter of course represented by males Females also were represented by females in general, instances are found showing that it was not altogether uncommon for men or lads to personate female characters like the Boudha priestess, Kāmandaki in the Mālatī-Mādhao or Sankrityāyani in Priyadarshikā The roles of gods and goddesses were played by persons who were neither tall nor short, neither fat nor lean, but lustrous and beautiful. Those of demons and goblins were played by the stunted and the pigmy, having a roaring voice, and a furious look The king's roles were played by persons with good limbs and character, with shrewdness and learning The servants and the Vidushakas were represented by persons of the ugly appearance, stunted stature, deformed limbs.

1 K D

CHAPTER III

The Pre-Kālidāsan Drama

(1) BHĀSA

As far as our knowledge of the Sanskrit dramatists

goes, we can say that to Bhāsa belongs the palm of being

the pioneer Sanskrit dramatist. It was he who broke the

ground first The drama and the dramatist were not held

in high esteem by the general public The keenness of

this feeling was made blunt by Bhāsa What Marlowe

did for Shakespeare in paving the way for him, Bhāsa

did for the later Sanskrit dramatists. His plays, there-

fore, deserve to be looked to with great Clemency and they

command the respect of all lovers of Sanskrit dramaturgy,

not because they are the finished products of a tried hand

but because they are the first specimens of a fully developed

child in drama who had to write because he was inspired

from within to write, overcoming not only his own dis-

inclinations but also the religious and the social bias of

those who surrounded him. These plays show what the

play was like which our old fathers read and staged not

influenced in the least by the Hellenic influence a stamp

of which has been detected by some on the Kālidāsan and

the post-Kālidāsan dramas

The later poets found the bony structure in the

dramas of Bhāsa and they by means of their genius

clothed the bony skeleton with the romance of words and

ideas. The plays of Bhāsa are like the morality or miracle

plays of the English theatre. Some prominent or note-

worthy episode is taken from the epics or the purānas or

the legend, arranged, sifted and a kind of dramatic

interest is created in it by means of apportioning suitable

dialogues to the characters. The original episode which

it forms part of, is as it were a grain in the great ocean

of the epics and therefore receives a very scanty attention

of the author though he possessed a master-mind The

later men with genius comes up, notices the charm in

the gaps of the broader aspects neglected by the epic

poets and he makes the detached incidents very interest-

ing by filling the gaps with new material of his own in-

vention. The action which in the hands of the epic

writer goes by leaps and bounds, runs very slowly in the

hands of the later writer, who concerns himself with only

one solitary theme or episode The same thing can be

said of characters. The epic writer creates a number of

men and women and theratore misses even the most pro-

minent features of the chracters Such unjust treatment

of chsracters in big books offends the moral sense of read-

ers. A later writer can justify his production or imita-

tion by saying that it was necessary to remove the in-

justice in the moral world and thus to rehabilitate the

characters. It is this function that is expected of the later

dramatists and Bhāsa has discharged it in the case of his

epic-puranic, the legendary or folk-lore plays Bhāsa

is the first known dramatist to put an episode of romance

from the epic or the folk-lore in dramatic structure. It

cannot be said with any scientific accuracy whether the

dramatic mould of the Bhāsa's plays could be attributed

to some written work on dramaturgy or whether it was

his own The only known work of established repute is

the work of Bharatmuni but the question of its date is

yet a debatable point The dramas of Bhāsa show clear-

indications

of

defiance

rather

than

of

obedience

to

the

rules

of

Bharat

Howsoever

great

antiquity

Bharat

may

claim,

he

may

even

say

that

he

was

the

stage-manager

in

the

theatre

of

Indra,

still

we

can

say

that

at

the

time

of

Bhāsa

the

dramaturgy

was

not

cast

into

a

definite

and

accurate

science

The

common

technique

of

the

Bhāsa's

dramas

is

certainly

very

crude

and

is

at

variance

with

Bharata's

rules

The

scenes

of

death,

battles,

slaughter,

plays

and

games

that

are

prohibited

by

the

canons

are

shown

by

Bhāsa

(c

f

combat

of

Arishta

and

Krishna,

the

slaying

of

Kamsa,

Dashrath's

death,

the

death

of

Chanura,

Mushtika

lying

on

the

stage)

Vāli

and

Duryodhan

perish

on

the

stage)

There

is

a

game

of

ball

shown

in

the

Swapna.

The

common

technique

of

plot-construction

of

Bhāsa

referred

to

by

Bāna

fully

applies

to

these

thirteen

dramas

(Nāṭakachakra)

They

begin

with

Sutradhāra

giving

the

salutation

and

not

with

Nāndi.

They

give

a

number

of

characters

or

Bhūmis

(the

Swapna,

16;

the

Pratidnya,

16,

Avimāraka

20,

Bālcharita

30).

They

have

in

them

the

Patikīs

or

secondary

episodes

viz.

Padmāvatī

in

Swapna;

of

Bharata

in

Pratimā;

of

Sugrīva

in

Abhishekha;

of

Sankarshana

in

Bāl-Charita.

There

is

in

the

plays,

no

Prastāvanā

but

Sthāpanā.

There

is

no

reference

to

the

poet's

name

in

any

one

of

them.

There

is

free

use

of

magic

in

Dūta-vākya,

Avimāraka

and

M

Vyāyoga.

The

Bālcharita

and

Pancharatra

make

use

of

dance

as

an

ornament

of

the

drama.

The

whole

dramatic

design

is

under

an

overwhelming

influence

of

epic

tradition

and

epic

recitation.

The

bharatvākya

or

the

epilogue

1

मूत्र

गारुत्मतारं

धनर्त्तान्तकं

भुमिभृताम्

।

1

सप्ताभि

र्यश्व

लेमे

भासो

देवकुले

शिव।

1

ह

च.

9

is not regular but varied. राजासिंह प्रशास्तु न Cs the usual

burden of it But it expresses the ups and downs in his

life Sometimes he desires for the disappearance of the

misfortunes, at others, he desires for an universal rule of

his. These facts about the common technique, as well as

the prākrits and other coincidences of metre, style, words,

phrases, ideas and idioms point to the fact that the dramas

are distinctly the outcome of one and the same pen-

manship.

The dicision regarding the authorship of one of the

thirteen plays will automatically decide the authorship of

all The Swapna drama which was a great favourite with

the old rhetoricians is identical with the Swapnavāsav-

dattā in the T V series which were unearthed by the inde-

fatiguable scholar of Trevendrum, the late Garapati Shāstri

One of the four mss says in the colophone " Swapna-

nātakamavasitam " while the other threa say " Swapna-

Vāsavdattā samāptā ." The illustration referring to the

marriage between Padmāvatī and Udayana-Vatsa given by

Sarvānanda (of 1200 A D ) in his commentary of the

Amar is instance the Arthashringār is found in the

Swapna of the T V Series 1 Sport is prohibited by the

canons of dramatics to be shown on the stage but the

rhetorician Abhinavagupta (1200 A D ) refers to an in-

stance of a game being staged which is met with in the

Swapna (act II) when Padmāvatī and Vāsavdattā play

with a ball 2 Kshirswāmi the commentator of Amar

illustrates the terms Devī and Bhattini by Vāsavdattā

and Padmāvatī repectively which cannot be taken to

1 पद्मावतीपरिणयोडर्थशृङ्गार स्वप्नावदत्ते

2 × कचिक्रीडा वथातनप्रसङ्गवदत्तायाम् Ch. I.

refer to the characters in the Brihatkathā because the

terms are strictly dramatic terms, nor can they refer to the

characters in the sister plays of Harsha because there is

no Padmāvatī as second heroine. They must therefore

refer to the characters in the play of Bhāsa Another

rhetorician, Shāradātanaya while making an exposition

on the five Sandhis illustrates them with situations in the

Swapna and quotes as an illustration of the Beja Sandhi,

a verse which is actually found in the Swapna of T. V.

Series 1 Bhojadeva in his Shrngarprkāsh describes the

dream of Udayana which is exactly found to be the dream-

scene in the Swapna-Nāṭik of T V. Series.2 Vāmana's

instance of Vyājokti is the same verse in the fourth act of

Swapna, and the line yō bhartṛiṇdasyā kṛte na

yudhyet' is also taken from the same drama and not from

the Arthashastra because the rhetoricians are sure to draw

upon the books of poetics and dramatics rather than of

politics The Swapna—Vāsavdattā is ascribed to Bhāsa

again by Rājshekhara in his anthology and by the two

disciples of Hēmachandra in their Mirror of Dramatics

(Levi--two plays)

In all the thirteen plays the writer has maintained

cruel reticence about himself disregarding even the usual

formality of mentioning his name that is followed by one

and all dramatists in Sanskrit The only course left for

1 चित्रप्रसक्तः कामो मे वीषया प्रतिबोधितः

तां तु देवों न पर्यामि यस्या घोषयति प्रिया S. V. and भाव प्र. 8 ch.

2 हारच्छेदाकौरव वाताविद्धेन भामिनी । काशपुष्पलवेनैव साक्षुपातं

मुखं मम ( व्याजोक्ति )

3 यो भर्तृपि‍ंडस्य कृते न युध्येत

us is to glean the information given in his own book and

in the books of others and to decide his time and

surroundings His plays show that he is a devotee of

both Shiva and Vishnu, that he reveres Brahmins and

condemns Buddhism and Jainism with the words Nagnāh

andhsnaramanakāh 'The references to Magadha Rāja-

griha, Venurana, Nagvana show his familiarity with the

province of Magadha and not of Ujjain as is maintained

by some The patron Rajsimha who is so often mention-

ed in the epilogues is not the Western Kshatrap king

Rudrasimha, nor the King Rājassimha of the south who

ruled in 700 A D, but some king of Northern India whose

kingdom was bounded by the Himarat on the north and

Vindhya on the south and by the two seas on the East

and West.

Dramatics and rhetoricians from the twelfth century

backwards up to the first, refer to the great name of

Bhāsa as a dramatist of established repute and draw upon

his plays Sarvānanda, Shāradātanaya (both of 1200 A D)

Bhojdera (11th), Abhinargupta (10th), Vāmana (8th) have

been already referred to. The famous dictum which com-

pares the plot-architecture of Bhāsa with that of a sacred

temple comes from Bāna (700 A D) Vākpati of 800 A D

refers to Bhāsa as a friend of fire Rajashekhar the author

of the anthology cannot be the same man who wrote

the three dramas Dandi (600 A. D.) quotes from

Bālcharita and Chārudatta. The reference to Bhāsa in the

introduction of Mālvika of Kālidās takes us back to 600

A. D The influence of Bhāsa on Shudraka is too obvious

to be set aside The Mrichhakatika of Shudraka is an en-

larged edition of Charudatta of Bhāsa, and Shudraka

lived by the beginning of the Christian era. Another evi-

79

dence has beez quoted by Ganapati Shāstri from Bhāmaha1

who is wrongly taken by him to be prior to Sātvahan

and thus belonging to 100 B C. But Bhamaha belongs to

800 A. D. because he presupposes the Kāshikā and the

Nyāsakār both belonging to 700 A D. 2

The lower limit of the date is fixed by Kālidās. The

upper date is also definitely fixed by the Nirvāna of Lord

Budha (543 B C) The deprecatory remark about the

Budhistic monks (Nagnandhashramanakah in A V.),

the use of the word Shramana and not of Pravrjit, the

references to Rajgriha, Venuvan and Nāgvan that rose

into prominence with Budhism take Bhāsa long after

Budha. The society of his times though under

Brahmanic influence dreaded always the onset of the two

heretic faiths, the Buddhism and the Jainism. The Meta-

thetic confusion of king Brahmadatta and his capital

Kāmpilya made by Vidushaka in S. V is clearly due to

his knowledge of the Jātaka stories The poet must have

lived, therefore, long after Budhism had deeply planted

its foot and was gradually making an onward march.

Another support is lent to this by the reference to the king

Darshake3 of the Shaishunāg dynasty ( 500 B. C) whose

name must have taken a long time after his death to be

incorporated in a dramatic play

The archaic or the un-Paninian4 forms of grammar

cannot take Bhāsa prior to Panini Though Panini lived

1 हतोऽनेन मम भ्राता मम पुत्र. पिता मम ।

काव्यालङ्कार of भामह and प्रतिज्ञा.

2 Prof Phatak

3. एपा खलु महाराजदुहितुः भगिनी पद्मावती नाम. Ś V.

4 काशिराजे, गजः, यूपस्तन्भः, रुढ्यते, पुपो लभेत, दिव्यते, वज्झसे.

and wrote his śāstrar in the 700 B C still it is not

that the grammar at once attained fame as soon as it was

written It took a long time to settle and to become an

authoritative book which it did not certainly do before

Patanjali, who as tradition says, took to writing his Mahā-

bhāshya because the old books had become obsolete

The verse1 which is common to both the Arthashāstra

and the Pratidnyā might possibly have been borrowed by

both from some common source because a book of drama

will never be laid under by such a puritan writer as

Chānakya and that too in a work on politics and not on

rhetorics Besides the Arthashāstra is not credited with

such a great antiquity by some scholars on the score of

its divergence from the account of the Indikā of Megas-

thenes and the writer's geographical vision being confined

to Southern India We for ourselves think that the

Natyashāstra of Bharat, the Arthashāstra of Chānakya

and Kāmsūtra of Vatsyāyam appear characteristically

to be similar and must therefore have been the outcome of

the same times and tendency. They all are secondary

compositions, half-metrical1, half-prose based upon ancient

treatises of sutra-type. The occurrence of the word

Surunga which is derivable from the Greek Syrinx sets

the Nātyashāstra down as a post-Gracian composition.

The passage in the mouth of Rāvana in the Pratimā

is very significant It is not simply a bragging utterance.

It refers to "Alānavyam Dharmashāstrām" the date of

which is pretty certainly fixed from 200 B. C. to 200 A. D.

1 नव द्वाराच चलित्य पूर्ण शुमसूक्त दर्भेष्टतोत्तरौयम्

तत्तस्य मा भूदरक च गच्छेत योभर्तृपीडस्य ऋते तु युद्धेत

प्र. IV and अrye शा.

( Dr. Bühler ).1 Bhāsa, therefore, comes after the compilation of Mānava-dharma shāstra ( 200 B. C ). The theory about Rāma being the incarnation of Vishnu which is referred to in the Nāndi of A. V. but which did not come in vogue up to the time of Patanjali and certainly not at the time of Pānini who refers to Vāsudeo and Arjuna but not to Rāma, was not accepted at the time of the Rāmāyana ; and the Rāmāyana is dated at somewhere prior to the Mahābhārata that refers to Rāma's story, Bhāsa naturally, therefore, comes after the composition of Rāmāyana. The plots of A V., S V. and Pratidnyā are found in the two later Sanskrit adaptations of the original Brihatkathā in Paishāchi belonging to Gunādhya of 100 A. D. But nothing is gained from this argument because it is not certain that Bhāsa modelled his plays on Brihatkathā It is possible that he may have taken the plots from the folklore then existing Bhāsa, therefore, must have lived before Kālidāsa and after the composition of Mānavadharmashās-tra, and Rāmāyana, after the Rāma-incarnation theory came into vogue. The date falls between 200 B. C. and 600 A. D. and as Kālidāsa refers2 to him as an old ancient writer Bhāsa must have lived long prior to him; before Ashwaghosha whose Prākrits are assuredly and unquestionably so akin in character The profuse use of short metres and the scanty use of the long ones and his pre-Bharat dramatic technique are other arguments in favour of the priority of Bhāsa to Ashwaghosa Bhāsa's. Chāru-

1 मो काणपगोत्रोद्भवस्मि साड्ढोपाख्यं वेदसधीये माननीयं धर्मशास्त्रं माहेश्वर योगगात्रं वार्शस्पत्यस्मृतिशास्त्रं मेधातिथेन्योयशास्त्रं प्राचेतसं श्राद्धकल्पं च

2 प्राप्त्यावत्तीतरत्नाकरकोविदामुपगूह्यमाहात्म्यम् । (मे.)

6

datta has been drawn on profusely by Shudrāka belonging

to 100 B C Bhāsa lived definitely in 200 B C

The above discussion is enough to dislodge from their

position those scholars who notice in the present plays

signs of the times as late as 700 A. D1 and support it on

the strength of Mattavilās-prahasan of Mahendravarman,

a Pallava King They have got two arguments, one about

the patron-Rājasimha referred to in the Bharat-vākyas

and the other about the Prākrits The first has already

been dealt with The purity of the ancient Mss de-

pends much upon the copyists The Prākrits of Bhāsa

do show some clear signs of antiquity even after making

due allowance for the neglegence and the caprice of the

copyists The archaisms pointed out and the conclusions

arrived at by Dr Sukthankar who put them to scientific

test are noteworthy1†

Some scholars2 put Bhāsa as early as 500 B C on the

strength of the pre-Paninian archaisms and the verse

that is found buth in Pratidnyā and the Arthashāstra the

author of which is put by them to be posterior to Bhāsa

Both these points are dealt with already

The tradition contained in the line* cannot be given

any credence as it will necessitate the identity between

Bhāsa and Dhavaka and consequent contemporaneity

with Harsha on the strength of the line+ but about whose

1 Ernelt, Deodhar, Pishoratis and Raddi

2 Ganpati Shastri, Khuperkar

• धावकऽपि हि यद्वासः कर्त्तानामग्रिमोऽभवत् ।

• श्रीहर्षपोतेर्धावककृतीनानामिव वनम् । K P

‡1 The promiscuous use of the doubts—अहाऽऽं, अहाणं,

2 अर्ह with unassimilated conjunct rh

patronage to Bhāsa both Bāna and HuenTsang are

silent This identity between Harsha and Bhāsa is again

supported by the similarity both verbal and conceptional

along with the verses that have been alleged to be from

the Karivimarsha of Rājshekhara. 'But the attempt is

described as subversive of the accepted chronology of the

Indian writers '

Some again doubt the authenticity of the plays on the

ground of the crudity and puerility of them which they

say is impossible to be harmonized with the encomiums

showered upon the poet by Kālidāsa and others. But that

very puerility of the plays indicates the stage prior to those

of Kālidāsa and Harsha The pity is that Kālidāsa and

other poets could not have pre-guaged their greatness

before they were actually great

Bhāsa wrote thirteen plays that formed his Nātak-

Chakra, the composition of which shows three clear periods

in his poetic career During the first, the one-act plays

like Madhyam-Vyāyog, Dootvākya, Dutghatotkacha, Karna-

bhāra, were composed The second shows a little advance

in plot-construction in Panchrātra, Pratidnyā and Chāru-

datta The third is a period of finished products as typified

by Ch Pratimā, S V, A V The plays fall into two divi-

sions, (1) The epic-purāṇic (2) The folklore or the saga

3 अतः not used in any other mss, found once in

Bhāsa, noticed by Varuchi.

4 आम archaic found in the Turfan mss "Yes"

5 करेइअ occurs also in Turfan mss and therefore

archaic

6. दित्स, दित्सा, दिम्स्स, दिस्स।

7 खु.

8 Pronouns तुवं and वअं sanctioned by Vararuchi.

plays, the best in him being disclosed in the first as regards both the conception of a theme and the execution of it, whilst in the latter the conception being too dominant and powerful for the execution With more research the remaining acts of Chārudatta and some more plays that are referred to will be discovered

The debt, both conceptional and verbal, that the later writers owe to Bhāsa is immense Shudraka has planned his whole drama on Bhāsa's Chārudatta The sameness of story, character, language are too clear signs to deny copying The only departure consists in removing the defects of crudity The wearing of bark-garments of Sītā in Pratimā and of Shakuntalā in Shāk, the recognition of Vatsa and Sak, the watering of plants, are some of the numberless similarities between Kālidasa and Bhāsa Bhavabhuti has taken the picture scroll in S. V and the capture of Kurungi in A. V and set them in his U R and M M The variety and the bluntness of characters that we meet with in Panchrātra is shown by Bhatta Nārāyan The whole plot-texture and the romance of the scene are copied by Harsha in his two sister plays The scene of Chandandās and his son is modelled upon a similar scene in Urubhanga

THE PRATIJÑĀ-YOUGANDHARĀYANA :-This play extends over four acts The whole drama is a short representation But even in this short compass, the action makes a very rapid progress The story was held in high esteem on account of its romance The attractive features of the original story are clothed in still more attractive garb and when there was some link missing it has been supplied by the poet The action in the first act takes long strides and the same pace is kept up even in the

85

succeeding acts. Characterization is not attempted ;

poetic muse is not invoked These things are there but

have been treated as quite subservient to the main thing

viz. the plot or the action The originality of the poet

does not lie in the invention of the plot because it was

already there nor in the idealization of the action but lies

in adding motion to the plot, in making it look like ordi-

nary incident of daily occurence and rendering it adapt-

able to the stage. How has he achieved this ? Chiefly by

means of dialogues The characters talk rapidly without

using a single superfluous word Every word, every move,

every gesture, makes towards the final achievement.

Just at the out-set, there seems to be an error about the

identity between Pradyota and Mahāsena Bhāsa identifies

the two—Mahāsena of Ujjain and Pradyota of Magadha.

Shri Hersha has fallen into the same error, while the

Brihatkathā makes a distinction between the two, and

gives two different daughters who are afterwards wedded

to the king The above error is due to the sameness of

romantic atmosphere in which both Vāsavadattā and

Padmāvatī breathe

In the first act the business is monopolised by Young-

andharāyuna while in the second it is, Mahāsena that does

it The various attempts made by the father to find out

suitors for Vāsavadattā are shown in the second act

Various messengers come to his court, ask for the hand of

his daughter on behalf of their masters Bharatrohak

catches Vatsa alive by a very skilful plan—wooden

olephant The name of Vatsarāj is very dramatically

introduced to the king when in an anxious moment he is

taking stock of all his high relatives and seeing whether

there is any proper suitor for his daughter The scene

does not change in this act

The third act deals with Vidushaka, Shrimanaka and Yougandharayana giving the humour in the first part and seriousness in the second.

The humour as usual turns upon the sweet-balls and the struggle for them between Vidushaka and Unmataka The humour is very crude as compared with that in other dramas

Other vidushakas talk upon sweet-balls but the discussion is interspersed here and there with his rise and witty remarks and is also accompanied with his being involved in the love affair of his friend.

All this is not found in the Vidushaka of Bhāsa The third act presents a good scene in which the two ministers of the king hold a conference

Both of them present themselves in the different garbs and have to save their incognito appearance.

When they find the Agnigarh to be quite devoid of men, they speak out their hearts and think upon a plan for the rescue of their master

The fourth act depicts Gātrasevak and his drunkenness, the interview of the two hostile ministers, the capture of Yougandharāyan, the flight of Vatsa with the princess and the final marriage

It commences with a praveshak which is meant to carry some hints about the elopement of Vatsarāj with Vāsavdattā which is the Kārya of the piece

Characters —Yougandharāyan is faithful and dutiful to his master He works for the good and the prosperity of his master by means of a marriage alliance

But he appears too much on the scene, talks too much of his powers, swears too much to achieve his ends and ultimately is not able to put forth as much as he promises.

The goal is attained not through the agency of his powers but through the powers of the king and through the laxity shown by the opposite party in their manœuvers

other party is deliberately treacherous to its own cause and within its own ranks. Yougandharāyana towards the end looks like a defeated man whose cause is baffled by the superior machinations of his adversary Bharatarohaka who makes his appearance before him when he is taken as captive Harṣa's Yougandharāyana does not brag so much. He is as keen in his devotion to his master, as vigilant in securing his prosperity and as ingenious in inventing new means and methods for bringing near the king's wedlock The remarkable thing about him is that he makes his appearance at the opening! of the play and then disappears to appear towards the end of the action.

He remains behind the curtain and pulls the wires by which all the characters move and talk. Bhāsa's Yougandharāyan is on the stage all the while, makes a great show of spreading a net-work of spies and wants to resemble Chānakya but therein he fails. In the first place the cause is not a worthy one, secondly he has not that tact and power of organization of Chānakya. By his multifarious activities he wants to pass off as a man of action but his utterances and achievements point to a different direction He is a fatalist. He is always prepared to give the enemy his due1 He is vain when he compares him with Drouni 2 He is roused to his sense of honour and dignity as a minister by the utterance of the king's mother and quits in a sentimental and a sensational mood he takes water in his hand and lets it down vowing3

He is outwitted by Mahāsena He is non-plussed when he hears that the device of escape he had suggested cannot

1. साधु मोः शाल्ड्रायन साधु । अवस्था खलु नाम अनुगुणमपि सुहृदने कल्पयति।

2 गुरोरवजितं हत्वा ज्ञानं दृढीभवि स्थितम्

3 मोचयामि न राजानं नाद्रिं योगन्धरायणः

be availed of since the King had cast a love-glance on the

princess and could not, therefore, approve of his unworthy

device He does not stop to think the feasibility or prac-

ticability of his schemes His impetuous nature, his in-

considerateness are seen in the number of vows and

swearings. Emotional he is throughout the play The

pratidnyā or the vow stares at him to a syllable and he can-

not allow time to pass He joins the fray, withholds the

rushing tide of the tornado and ultimately gets himself

bound over to the enemy in chains quite boastfully and

jubilantly1 Further, he is face to face with his compeer

Bharatrohaka who comes there in a triumphant mood

He takes a compassionate view of his opponent and re-

moves the iron manacles The interview between two

ministers reminds one of a similar scene between Chānakyā

and Rākshasa when the latter was baffled in his attempts

and was won over to the side of Vrishala Chandra-

gupta.

Mahāsena has a good minister in Bharatrohaka He

is inimical towards Vatsa whom he wishes to subjugate

and to give him a good turn. It is for the sake of his

daughter that he wants to capture Vatsa, which he does

very skilfully in consultation with his minister Bharat-

rohaka, by the device of wooden-elephant and thus exploit-

ing the hunting instinct of Vatsa He is anxious for the

marriage of his daughter There is a sudden change in

his feelings towards his enemy. He orders his men to dress

up his wounds, to receive him with honour and hospita-

lity due to a prince, to give his favourite lute in charge of

1 जितमिति राजदुले सुख विशामि । and

प्राप्तो जयक्ष नृपतिसख महाक्ष शब्द ।

his daughter. He finally removes him to Manibhumika

for keeping him away from the sun He himself is unable

to explain this sudden change in the attitude.

Vatsa is a king that commands full confidence and

respect of his people and his ministers. He has a very

trusted and devoted minister He is very much fond of

games and hunting which is the cause of his capture.

Swapna-Vāsavadattā.-This drama contains the same

initial cry intended to hush up the noise in the audience

and to prepare them for the advent of the characters. The

characters are never ushered in without previous intima-

tion to the audience. The praveshakas are very short.

They introduce only some characters. The second act con-

tains a beautiful and interesting scene. It begins in

humerous references to Padmāvatī's personal charms,

made by the new foster-sister Vāsavadattā and the fun,

started by her, recollects upon her quite unconsciously

She learns that the king Vatsa asked for her hand and that she

was already betrothed by the king to Vatsa who had gone

there on special mission and that the ceremony was to be

performed that very day

The match is suggested just in the beginning of the

act and it is performed by the end of it The poet has not

given any time for the love to grow The mention of

Vatsa's name is causal and much has been made of this

casual reference The second act achieves much in com-

parison with its length The match may have been de-

sired and attempted at the consent of the queen because

she is a willing party to the scheme formed by Youngandha-

rāyana in order to secure the prosperity of Vatsa Vāsa-

vadattā comes to know that Padmāvatī has begun to

cast lovefully greedy glances on her husband She sees

before her own eyes the marriage taking plac

It may be that from a distinctly prospective point of view, she may be a party in effecting the maraiage, still the natural female jealousy for a partner in love takes hold of her and makes her restive in emotion

Every thing is done in post-haste that even the characters are not prepared for the issue Such rapidity in the progress of events creates an impression of unnaturalness about them. The law of causation takes some time for its fruition.

The disturbance in Vāsavadattā's mental quietude is visible in the third act Morose as she is, she is called upon to put together a garland with two mysterious herbs effectice of अवियग्राकरण and मपत्नोमर्दन ( for sceuring long life to her husband and humiliation of co-wife ) Vāsavadattā does it with complete resignation

She sacriflces her pride and vanity, sacrifies her strong desire of having no co-parcener in her love at the altar of her husband's prospective prosperity

The whole action centres round the minister. The idea contined in the prophecy about the matrimonial alliance between the families of Darshaka and Vatsa occurs to him first

He is not so serious about the actual marriage as he is about securing the prosperity by the acquisition of the lost kingdom The marriage is a matter of expediency

The king even is very unvilling as far as marriage is coacerned Every one rouchsafes an openion in favour of Vāsavdatā when the comparison comes

The fourth act presents a scene which is highly sentimental, highly poetic, and dramatic and at the same time highly practical

The apperance of the king and his friend, their disccussion about the relative merits of the

1 यथा यथा हि त्वरते तथा तया डर-ग्रक्रियते मे हृदयम् ।

91

two, the exit of Vāsavadattā which is both emotional and dramatic, are the good points in it.

This play also gives some bright flashes of the poet's imagination The minister and the heroine of Udayana present themselves under a different garb suitable to her-

mitage life The two items, the introduction of Vāsavadattā in the service of Padmāvatī and the report of burning to death of them both in the Lāvanak fire are exhibited in the sequel The queen enters into the service very easily tarough Tāpasī and the Cheti who are struck with her inherent royal lustre The report of the fire is brought by a celibate of the Rājgrha. The concocted report is listen-

ed to by the minister with such a rapt attention and with such an unaffected ignorance that they show that he was a consummate master in the art of affeciation

The news of the loss of the queen and the king's fervent regard for her, are disclosed to Padmāvatī, the bride elect in whose heart rises a sly hidden desire for wedlock

Another striking feature is the power of his narratives The Brahmachārīn narrates the incident of fire in Rāj-grha in the Lāvanak palace very vividly and impressively Hamsakā in the Pratiñya shows the same skill

The dream-scene is placed in the last act The king is led to the Samudragṛha where Padmāvatī is being treated for her headache Avantikā is there who has the power of allaying the poignancy of the ache. The king is amused by the simple stories of kings and towns told by Vidūshaka and is lullled to sleep when he dreams of Vāsavadattā She is there in the garb of Avantikā and she takes up the hints and answers the querries uttered in

his dream. The king further on calls back all the former

incidents the lute, the disciple, the way of instruction, her

singing and the picture-board sent to him The enigma is

solved when the picture-board is shown to Padmāratī

The marriage then takes place

PRATIMĀ. - The drama receīves its name from the

statue of Dasharath which Bharata sees in the statue house.

It has got seven acts and it corers a period of fourteen

years from Rāma's setting out to forest to his triumphant

return from Lankā. There is an irony of situation creat-

ed by the Valkala-bark-garments They are introduced

by way past-time, as ornaments-just to see how they fit

in with Sītā But those very garments are turned very

cruelly to this account viz the accessories of hermitage

life which Rāma is called upon to accept1 The three

boons of Kaikeyī are gradually introduced The entrance

of Laxman and the initial retort which he gives to his

elders reminds one of Bhima in Veṇī-S Laxman is so

very wroth that he is bent upon extirpating the whole

female race

The woeful condition consequent upon the bereave-

ment by the two sons and Sītā is very vividly described

in the second act The whole scene is a picturesque and

graphic description given with an ineffable power

The drama presents a wonderful power of compression

on the part of the poet. The scenes in the Rāmāyana, im-

portant from the point of view of sentiments are made to

pass dramatically before the eyes of the public The day

of coronation is with dramatic suddenness transformed

into a day of exile The bark-garments that were only

1 वल्कलैः क्रियतां वासः कथमित्युपदेष्टुना ।

brought in as a source of amusement are turned to account as necessaries of forest life which Sītā is called upon to accept The news of his father's death is gradually revealed to Bharata while he was reviewing the statue-house The mothers are also very skilfully introduced to him in it The anniversary scene is appropriate and natural to details In the forest-stay, the exact time might not have been observed, the proper articles might not have been secured and it gives a natural opportunity to introduce the topic of golden-deer It is essentially required for the Shrādha ceremony and mystically it is presented before Rāma. Rāma goes to hunt and Sītā is abducted by Rāvana The immense gap between the abduction of Sītā and the triumphal return of Rāma is left to the conception of the audience The valkalas,

the statue-house, the anniversary scene, the explanation given by Kaikeyi about her line of conduct, the description of scenes through the ærial car are the new changes effected by the poet in the original There is no perceptible departure from the original in point of charecterization The obedience, unflinching determination, love for the familypprestige of Rāma, the fiery temper and brotherly affection of Laxman, the dutifulness, submission and resignation of Sītā, the unbounded filial love of Dasharatha, the sacrifice and despondency of Bharata, the loyalty of Sumantra are there in the Pratimā as well as in the original Rāmāyana There is rehabilitation with regard to Kaikeyi only who is generally held culpable in the affairs of the exile Bhāsa brings in the infallibility of the sage's words of the curse on Dasaratha and relieves Kaikeyi of the severe taint. She says that she was only an instrument and that she had no personal or selfish motive in sending off Rāma, and she would have even sent Bharata.

but that he was already away with his uncle and the word

" years " slipped through her lips instead of " days " and

the wonder is that she is freed from all the taint by the

simple Bharata It is made pathetic with the presence of

Kausalya and Sumitra

Bharata learns about his father's death which is re-

vealed to him gradually in the statue house His mothers

meet him there The fourth act deals with Bharata's re-

turn and the coronation of Rama's sandals Ravana comes

as a mendicant and carries away Sita. The anniversary

of the father comes in here An explanation is offered by

Kaikeyi regarding the woeful eventuality of Rama's exile.

Jatayu is killed in the sixth act and Bharata resolves upon

proceeding to Lanka for Rama's succour. In the last act

Rama comes back from Lanka after putting his enemy to

death He is crowned in the end

" The unrivalled merit of Bhāsa lies in the deli-

neation of the real nature of things in their varied condi-

tions by sweet, apt and lucid words suggestive of lofty

ideas In the Pratimā the central sentiment is the

धर्मवीर mingled with करुणरस, the धर्मवीर manifesting itself in

the enthusiasm displayed by the hero in cherishing the

single thought of carrying out the Dharma-fulfilling

mandates of his father "1

BHĀSA'S CHARACTERISTICS —He aims at direct

action and not at characterization, nor in plot-construc-

tion There is the appropriateness of speech and character

The characters never talk more nor less Rapidity, force,

vigour are the features of his style His greatness is in

narrative and dialogue He has got a host of characters

1 T Ganapati Shastri Pratimā

in his plays. Each character has his own sphere of influence wherein it shines and does not clash with another.

The characters live a plain, straight-forward life They are all robust, healthy beings, bent upon to look to the brighter

aspects of the world They are less vigorous and more individualistic than those in Veṇisamhār,

less romantic and imaginative than those of Kālidās and of Bāṇa,

less poetic and sentimental or emotional than those of

Bhavabhūti, less homely than those of Shri-Harsha, less practical than those of Viśākhadatta and are less

human and less realistic than those of Shudraka

The marvellousness of prose which is the real merit in a poet is seen in Bhāsa The language is very simple,

natural and at the same time touching, alternated with figures of speech like simile and metaphor. He is the master of dialogues

There are inaccuracies in grammar and rhetorics such as the metathetic exchange of words, wrong joints and

compounds, elision of compound-endings. Some verses are quite devoid of sentiment or poetic strength. The

sentences are replete with wealth of ideas The sweetness of expression and the ease of langnage seem to have attained perfection in these dramas.

(2) SHUDRAKA

Mṛchhakatika. (The Social drama)

Just on the heels of Chārudatta of Bhāsa comes up the Clay-cart of Shudrak Between the two plays there is

so very close affinity both verbal and conceptual, both of characters and situations that one appears to be an enlarged and revised edition of the other and that it has led

Pischel to ascribe the play to Bhāsa The material of

both the plays has been scientifically tested and sifted and

the conclusions arrived at prove that " Bhāsa intended to

write more than the four extant acts of Chārudatta, that

Chārudatta is not an abridgment for the purpose of

stage-representation of the lengthier Clay-cart The

motives underlying the additions and improvements in the

Clay-cart are first an exhibition of the author's knowledge

and familiarity with highly technical and out-of-the-way

shāstras, secondly an introduction of the low-life realism,

thirdly, the addition of a political bye-plot, and lastly an

appeal to the pit by means of broad and rollicking humour

All this also proves the priority of Bhāsa to Shudraka1'.

The play is attributed to a regal author, a thing which

is not of uncommon occurence in Sanskrit literature The

Ratnāvalī and the other sister drama are ascribed to a

bard of similar dignity The point whether Shudraka, the

Monarch, was the patron or the poet is immaterial to the

chronology of the play The poet and the patron, whether

the same or different personalities, must have lived at one

and the same time It is very difficult to prove the historicity

of the king Shudraka, the author, from the references made

to him in ancient books They on the other hand point at

his being a mythic figure, and not a historical one

The prelude to the play refers to him in terms

of the remote past tense (परोक्षे लिङ्) and describes

him as having studied the Vedic lore and also the

art of enticing an elephant like the king Udayana

His sight was restored through the favour of god Shiva.

He had performed an Ashwamedha sacrifice and finally

consigned himself to fire He was the foremost among

the fighters and also a vedicist.

1 Dr Belwalkar p.c v

97

There are then authors from Abal-Fazal back to Bāna who refer to Shudraka. The Ainı-Akabarı says that Shudraka reıgned for 91 years. Rajashekhara attributes the authorship of Shudraka-Katha to two joint authors Ramılla and Somılla.1 Kshirswāmı talks of hım as a friend of Agni and as a Shālīvāhana Bāna makes hım the hero of his romance and says of hım in his Harshacharita that Shudraka with the help of his emissaries deprived Chandraketu, the lord of Chakoras and his minister of their lives The Rājataranginı sets hım beside the king Vikramāditya. Shobhavatı was his capital and he lived for hundred years according to Vetālpanıchvishı. The Skanda-purāna puts hım as the first of Āndhrabhrıtyas. It says in the Kumārıkākānḍa that a great king named Shudraka would reign in the year 3290 of Kali (which comes approximately to 190 A D ) and further on identifies hım with the founder of the Āndhrabhrıtya dynasty. Col Wilford on the authority of the Matsya-Purāna holds that "the first Andhra King reigned about 456 years earlier than the last Pulımata who died in 648 A. D. He first deposed his master, the last of the Kanva dynasty to whom he was a minister and succeeded to the throne, thus founding the Andhra dynasty of Magadha Kings"

Not much reliance can be placed on the evidence of chronology recorded in the Purānas, firstly because the calculation of chronology is not scientific, secondly because very rarely they tally with one another, thirdly in this particular case "it invalidates the popular notion that Shudraka preceded Vikramāditya and consequently lived in 100 B C "2 The chronological data and identifi-

1 They were predecessors of Kalidasa according to Lei

2 Dr Bhandarkar

7

cation of Shudraka with Balhita or Sindhuka or Māhākarni to whom the circumstances in the purānas are attributed are by no means satisfactory The theory put forward by

Col Wilford does not hold because Pulimata could not have died in 648 A D because he was a contemporary of

Ptolemy who wrote his Periplus in 151 B C The chro­nology can be put as under The Maurya dynasty was extinguished in 185 B C and was followed by Sunga

and Kanvas who ruled for 112 years Shimulka, therefore, the founder of the Āndhrabhrityas began his reign in 73

B C " The earliest date is fixed by Bhāsa (whom we have put in 200 B C )because his Chārudatta has inspired

the poet to write his play. The later date is fixed by Avaloka of Dhanika who was a literary man at the court

of Parmara king, Munja of Malva (974–995) Shudraka has been much drawn on by Vāmana (800 A D )

The internal evidence in favour of the antiquity of the play is over-whelming The obscure words, the ex ten­sive use of the P iākrite—the favourite languages of the

Āndhras, the absence of the knowledge of the rules of poetry and the society depicted, point to the same conclu­sion " The style though not meagre is in general simple

and unartificial and of a day evidently preceding the elaborate richness of Sanskrit writing " The Prākrits are certainly older than those used by Kālidāsa in his plays

The Sanskrit in the play shows that the play belonged to a period when Sanskrit was gradually ceasing to be a spoken language of the people, which it did completely

after the time of Patanjali (140 B C.)

There are other points which when put together establish the antiquity of the play The custom

1. शूद्रकादिरचितेषु प्रवन्धेषु अस्य्र भूयान् प्रपंच: दर्शयते ।

103

Pralhāda There can be no good reason why he should not have cited Purāna The author must have been acquainted with the Purāṇas as with the epics We have, therefore, good reason to suspect that the play must have been written prior to the composition of the Purāṇas or at least before the stories they contain had acquired by their aggregation familiar and popular currency "1 The Purāṇas, especially the bulk of them though excepting some few, came to be written in the age of Sanskrit renaissance during the period of the Gupta dynasty.

The heroes of the political bye-plot in the play Gopāla Pālaka and Ārṣaka are mentioned by Bhāsa Pālaka according to Jain Hari-ramaśa (400 B C) was enthroned in the time of the last Teṛṭṭamahar Mahāvira (600 B C) The events in the political rerolution belong to a period shortly after Budha's death (543 B.C) " Śhudraka is historical because he must be the Ābhira prince Śhirdatta who or whose son Ishwarsena is held by Dr Fleet, to have overthrown the last of the Āndhras and to have founded the Chedi era of 248-9 A D which is supported by the play."2 There is the word Nānaka used in the play and which as Weber says is derived from the coins of Kanerki who reigned about 400 A. D

Two dates are thus advanced for Shudraka, viz 200 A D and 100 B C of which the latter can be accepted as more reliable on the strength of the references about the Ānchra king, the indentification of the two, the ancient Prākṛits, and the high antiquity of the society painted

The writer is a devotee of Shiva and Gāuri and seems to be a follower of the Sāṅkhyan philosophy He mentions

1 Wilson, Theatre 2 Konow

out he comes. Here in this play there is no sense of sadness at the beginning to attract and to fix the eyes and

mind of the audience—which is very essential. Tension must be there at the beginning which this introduction

perfectly lacks.

The introduction and the subsequent dialogue on poverty speak much on the condition of the people In

the whole drama there appears to be the social background rendered very terrible on account of the revolution

—political, social and also economic The people were reduced to poverty. Men of the status of Sutradhāra,

Chārudatta appear starving and crying for food. The introductory scene is very effective in making a good im-

pression on the minds of the people of the surrounding economic evil condition Sharply enough has this scene

of poverty been contrasted with the scene that follows in which lewdness and looseness of characters and dissolute-

ness and dissipation of passions run rampant If in the first part the Sutradhāra appears with his inordinate appe-

tite and Chārudatta appears bewailing the onset of evil days, in the second, the Shakāra, Vīta and Cheta appear

changing a harlot Chārudatta is forsaken by his friend and flatterers and prefers death to the ill-betied and ill-

fated life The good sense of the grace of the audience must have been very seriously struck by the contrast

between the altogether different aspects of the society—poverty and lewdness The audience must have been

pained to find that even in the times of common evil there were people who never could see beyond the satisfac-

tion of the sensual lust of the beastly instinct.

In addition to this pleasant contrast between the two widely divergent angles of vision with which the people

are looking at the surrounding society, the first act also prepares the audience for the political situation that is to follow.

'There was something rotten in Denmark' was a fact of common credence and the rottenness not only extended to the domain of politics but even of society.

The scene of Shakār and his friends proceeds, and in the course of it they make advances of love to the hatera who spurns them and tries to turn their minds from her person to her ornaments,1 when there was every danger of her being molested.

The device of hers suggests the main item in the act. Those very ornaments are deposited with Chārudatta, which event is told in the sequel and which, therefore, gives a name to the act (Alankārnyāsa).

The simpletonness of Shakāra or the strak of bravado serves a great purpose in the advancement of plot and for his lapses into it he gets a smart reprimand from his friends

Just in a similar frenzy he refers to the incident of romance and the first glances of love between Chārudatta and Vasantsenā and by the bye the exact locality of the residence of Chārudatta slips from his lips which is very consoling to Vasantsenā who was waiting for some expedient to extricate herself from the terrible love-making of Shakāra

The whole first act gives alternating situations in the scenes

Seriousness and lightness, steadfastness and lewdness, hard pathos and rollicking humour appear by turns and remove the tiresomeness of the act.

One party is disgusted with the world and its inmates and the other party does not believe or bother even that there is any such thing as sincerity or lightness

His whole philosophy which he does not know but which is

1 आये, अस्मात् किमप्यलकरणं तक्र्यते ।

104

clear from his ways consists in that the life has to be

lived because it has to be lived and for no other exterior,

interior or ulterior motive

The scented garment1 is used as an expedient by the

poet to make known to the heroine that the heart of

Chārudatta though much afflicted under poverty was

not averse to the thought of love or to the enjoyments of

youthful life’ The garment scented with flowers is sent

to him by his old friend Churnarridha who along with it

sends blessings. The same garment is given by Chāru-

datta to Vasantsenā and asks her to wrap his dear son

Rohaseṇa from the cool pinching breeze, mistaking all the

while that the person whom he was asking to do so was

Radanikā and no one else.

The introduction of the garment is so very natural

that we do not feel its importance There is no fuss, no

artificiality made about it but all the same it achieves a

good deal, in unfolding the love between the two We

wish some more emphasis were placed on its introduction

The bakul-mālā in the Malati-Madhao, the union gem in

Vikramorvas'iiya or the ring in Shākuntala and Mudrā-

rākshasa are similar incidents—similar expellients but

there is a definite attempt—intended emphasis made by the

poets to bind the minds of the people to them.

The first act begins with the enchanting of the two

hearts under the auspices of Kāmadeo and ends with the

depositing of the ornaments The exchange of glances of

love between the two and the consequent enamouring

were known to the lewd circles in the society. It is a

अम्महे जादो कुयुमन्वानिदो पान्नादओ अणुदासीन सेज्जोअरण पडिद्वासेदि

105

wonder how this fact is not known to Mādanikā who puts a number of questions to Vasantasenā about the discomforture of her heart with which the second act opens. Further, a street brawl is shown between a gambler and a keeper of the gambling house who persues the former for the recovery of the price of the wager.

The Samvāhaka, the shampoccr, the keeper of the house, Māthur the dyūtakar and typical specimens of the scum of the society and the pastime which they take delight in. the loss in that, the consequent flight of the vanquished, the pursuit by the successful, the taking of resort in a temple, the tracing of the track of the run-away by means of the foot-prints or the drops of blood falling from his nose are all natural-ly described

That Samvāhaka who learnt the art of shampooing only for art's sake turns it to account as a means of livelihood, and joins the gang of gamblers by a stroke of misfortune. then loses and runs. By the bye, be makes references to the highly charitable nature of Chārudatta which secures for him a welcome shelter in the lodgings of Vasantasenā.

She is much enamoured of the charms of Chārudatta since their first meeting in the garden of the god of love and she lavishes her best gifts on whosoever happens to make the slightest reference to the manifold aspects of his magnanimity.

The last incident of the act creates some more consternation, the elephant of Vasantasenā having got loose and running amok through the streets of Ujjain. Karda-pūraka displays great valour in bringing the wild elephant under control and releasing from off his teeth the poor mendicant, the Budhistic votary

This incident is similar to the elephant-incident in the MālatīMadhao in which Makarand shows himself off so very valiantly, or

similarto the monkey—incident in Ratnāvalī in which that

odiously monstrous animal plays a havoc in the royal

honsehold Such incidents are always introduced in plays

wit ı a view tı unfolding some chivalrous qualities of

of the principal characters, of giving a touch of romance

to the incident But in this elephant—incident Shudraka

has not introduced Chārudatta The reason of non-appear-

ance of him is obvious in as much as the poet rivets his

attention on the merits of charity and, therefore, makes

all the incidents converge on it It was not his intention

to display his manly virtues. The scented garment, the

main expedient of solace and union, has been brought in

as a gift to Karnapūraka—the menial of Vasantsenā. The

poet employs subsidiary, humorous incidents but he takes

care tı see that the audience are not completely lost in

them, and keeps on reminding them of the principal

thıeads of the incident by making casual, passing reference

here and there

In this act, Darduraka is really a नगरचत्वररूपभू,

bullying tıe poor people, patronising falsely, intervening

into broils and making them worse or creating new ones

whıre the e are none It is but natural that he should

have the clue in tıe political revolution1

The scene of the singing party of Rebhilā, besides

showing the gaity of nature of Chārudatta even in poverty,

prepares the ground for another scene by indicating the late

hour at which Chārudatt ı was returning, (the devotion with

whıch hisattendants wereawaitinghis arrival Sharvilaka

breaks the house in tıe following seene The thief seems

कथंयेत च मम प्रियवयस्येन शर्विलकेन यथा आयंकनामा गोपालदारक

सिद्धादेशेन समाधिष्ट राजा भविष्यति इति ।

107

too unpractised and impractical in his new profession to

which he was driven by the extravagance of his habits.

In support of his devilish design the devotee of Kārtikeya

quotes from sacred literature Satan does always quote

from the Bible He takes measurements of the tiles and

bricks, the san lhi and it, four divisions, puts water in

the cracking hinges, sounds the hollowness of the under-

ground by casting bija and thus treats his subject of

thieving on scientific lines

The fourth act presents incidents that are commonly

found in other dramas, e. g the portrait of the lover, the

call from her mother, the break in the lovely talk. The act

also develops the sub-plot of Madanikā and Sharvilaka

and hints the political situation It gives a long poetic des-

crip tion of the eight-storied mansion of the harlot-prin-

cess, of the furniture—the painting, tamed birds and beasts,

and instruments The piece is a specimen of the grand

prose of long and balanced periods and exemplfies the poet's

power of realism even in style. The description again

speaks much of the powers of observation of Vidushaka

who is conventionally a non-observant or a mis-observant

character in as much as he fails not to see the omni-

potence of the articles of his gluttony in everything

The fifth act is termed as Durdinā—rainy day and

shows the density of the feeling of love inspite of the im-

pediments of stormy and dreadful weather. The youthful

pass.on is just like a colt galloping unreined and unre-

strained by the trammels of decency or conventions—noisy

threats of lighening and clouds—and runs its course with

complete defiance. The act is the पञ्चमाङ्के in which the

action attains to the highest pitch There is a sharp con-

trast between the tumultuousness of the two elements.

The lyrical element is to be understood if in the light of this wide gulf that separates the itwo storms. The scene proceeds tardily in the beginnning and fast at the end so much so that Vasantsenā throws herself in the arms of Chārudatta the moment that she learns about the union of lightening and its lover

The next act is the VimarsaSandhi and presents the policy of obstruction thatched by Shakāra in which fate helps him more than his brains The comedr of errors that is created by the exchange of carts ( pravahana-viparyaya ) charmingly gives quite an unexpected turn to the incident which otjierwise would have remained all accomplished The incident though inconceivable and im-possible in some minor details has got a natural appear-

ance about it as a whole. The element of chance has often such a powerful and inexplicable influence in the occurence of or linary incidents that it baffles our expectations and snatches the cup from our lips. The prize is snatched away from those who deserve and placed in the hands of the undeserving Vasiñtsenā gets into a wrong cart while the renegade and runaway Āryaka gets into hers. Thus Chārudetts loses Vasantseñ and Shakāra secures her by a happy stroke of fortune

It is clear that there must have been a great plot against the king Pālaka-a plot in which not only his servants, loyal and faithful, but such sedate citizens as Chārudatta saw nothing unceremonious to join and sympathise with the culprits The same incidents continue in the next act

The appearance of the Budhistıc mendicant in the next act is not required either by the necessities of the plot or of character Maybe,this order of Budha bhikṣus

was looked down upon the common people, any stick was good to strike them with. A bhikshu was taken to be & common stock of laughter and his maltreatment was much enjoyed by the people.

The element of chance works again in favour of Shakāra in the eighth act. He proceeds unaidedly and unguardedly. He is proof against all entreaties and devices of Vita who wants to put him off guard and off scent to protect Vasantsenā The threat of perennial enmity was given to Chārudatte and has been cruelly executed The greatly horrid task of putting Vasantsenā to death was no sooner conceived than dispatched

The sequel turns against him very rapidly. The reaction is both horrid and huge.

Characterization.-The attempt of Shudraka in bringing into being nearly thirty characters is at once novel and striking He has taken a leaf out of the society and has focussed the historical, religious and economical aspects to illustrate the main one His is eminently a social drama and thus it is a mirror to and of the society in which the poet lived and died The characters in the play are all prototypes of human beings of ordinary calibre, maintaining the same level, although always busy in their own narrow activities. Their rigion and vision are both limited Very scarcely does there appear a towering personality The world is always full of mediocrities and nonentities Among all the galaxy of thirty characters, it is Chārudatta and Vasantsenā only who elbow their companions in the world and rise above them by their sublimity, nobility and sacrifice. But live they must amongst the pigmies of their race who see nothing beyond their own selfish interests. The

110

whole machinery of the play is set to work automatically,

every one being given a function to discharge. There

is neither sloth as to procedure nor dense a headedness

as to the conception of means They all exhibit wonder-

ful dynamic tendency Sharrilaka breaks open the house,

steals the gold vessel but amends are made the moment

that the breach is effected. Āryaka escapes from the con-

fines and tnere is a conveyance kept in reserve for him.

Śhakāra the swindler with whom we expect some em-

barrass rent or mental aberration rises to tie occasion,

throttles Vasantase nā, covers her wi h leaves and runs

to the court. There is no time lost Even minor characters

as Sthārarak3 and Chetā, though t ey are fettered, never

afford to lose any time in bringing into light the atro-

cious deed done in the dark by their master It is this

dynamic activity on the part of the characters that adds

to the rapid growth of the plot-organization

There are some lapses into impropriety Sharvilaka

is typically a sentimental youth, very much inferior to

Chārudatta in the qualities of both heart and head but

he is made to utter the epilogue which legitimately

must come from authoritative lips Ordinarily we wish

Āryaka to appear and pronounce the Bharatavākya

Chārudatta laments on the evil course that his for-

tune takes He is so much disgust d with the ways of

the worid and with the sudden change, tiat he prefers

death to the wretched life Though he is maltreated by

the cruel hand of fate still his strong belief in gods is not

shaken and though he is constantly advised to refrain

from worshipping the mātr s on the ground that the

worship not only is not fructifying but positively harm-

ful still he sticks on to it. (Even in his poverty-stricken

circumstances he does not relinquish his youthful and

costly habits for which he is complimented by Vasant-

senā It is his virtues more than his affluence that has

inspired a high regard for him in the mind of those who

had clung to him in thick and thin. Even in his poverty his

charitable nature does not cease to operate. He is pleased

with the fine display of valour shown by Karnapuraka and

makes him a gift of his garment His fondness for singing

parties and appreciation of the display of fine arts speaks

much on the gay nature of the man The intensity with

which he loves the hatera and the disparagement of

himself on account of poverty and the consequent despair

of securing her are evident from the beginning but how-

soever dense the affection may be, it had for its object one

who had kept a price on her person and whose lovely en-

amourment or enticement was conventionally bound to

be a sham one In the middle of the play, even after

admitting all the intensity and the genuineness of the

sentiment on both the sides we like to question whether

it is a good aspect of the society to hold forth before it

an instance of a Brahmin youth monetarily broken, in

the arms of a city-harlol What a spectacle must it have

been! Another weak point in the character of Chārudatta

is the succour which he gives to the renegade Aryaka

against his king To give shelter to one whose extinction

is threatened is obligatory but loyalty to the king is

equally obligatory on a true citizen The generosity or

liberality of nature with which he lavishes gifts on the

spur of the moment, the garment, the ring, the uttariyaka

etc. is another weak point in Chārudatta It was this

lavishing nature of Chārudatta that had brought on him

the impoverishment. It of course raises him in the estima-

tion of Vasantasenā. He gets blyushed when a question as

112

to his connection with the haters is put to him It is a weak defence that he has offered-the inconsiderateness being attributed to youth Are the rash follies of youth exempted from tainting the character? His impressiveness, his freedom from sin, his attractive personal charms are quite apparent

Vasantsenā The heroine appears under adverse circumstances Unfortunately she does not belong to the high category of family-women born and bred up on a high pedestal w hich the commonalty much less the lewd and the dissolute cannot dare to wink at Completely immunc are the high-born girls from the poisonous looks of the people Shakuntalā is brought up in the innocent company of deers and bares, Sītā and Mālatī are chastity and devine love incarnate. No poisonous taint of earthly love affects them Amongst all the bright specimens of the heroine-world, scarcely is there any one who though endowed wih all the virtues and qualities of the higher species, has to labour under tremendous social odds Virtue has its own value but shines the more under adverse circumstances Vasant'senā is by no means inferior to her worthy compeers in point of beauty, eagerness and steadfestness of love though she is not equally fortunate, in being free from the baneful influences in the society that corrode the bashful modesty of the virgins Vasant-senā puts up with all this by her fixedness or resoluteness of sentiment and resignation of will

Shudraka departs from the convention in the creation of his heroine and puts in a haters in place of a coy maiden The love-its beginning and development-is one stereotyped affair in almost all dramas It is conducted between a maiden and a chivalrous knight The maiden

113

has to restrain the course of her love from being ventilated It is always on the point of bursting out the dams of convention and decency. In the presence of elderly relations, in the presence of the rightful spouse of the hero, she has to gaz her mouth and sentiment The result of such forced gagging is apparont. The strong passion checked inwardly, troubles the concious, un-conscions, and sub-c'ncious rigions of her life, takes away the sap and salt of life Vasantasenā is not put under that handicap Her social status gave her immanity from public censure. She could open her heart to her friends and elders without violating any laws of social decency or etiquette The occupation that she followed is appropiately described by Vita comparing her once to a creeper on the way and and to a well at other time fit to be ba'hed by all aliko and to a boat at a third time. She is vory sensible to the delicacy of love When she sees Madanikā secretely talking with Sharvilaka, she does not wish to intervele and break the dialogue of love. Rightly has she censured the attitude of Shakra, the god of rain for throwing obstacles in her way, he being no less an ardent lover in the case of Ahalyā. The Cheta and the Vita sympathise with her when she finds herself encompassed and entrapped owing to an unforeseen accident-the exchange of conveyance. People in general have a great regard for her inspite of her low profession. Vita is sorry when she is done to deat'h by the villianous Shakāra She is a सोज्ज्वल्नन्दी and a दाक्षिण्योदकवारिधिनी She has a mother of great fortitude because she bears with the least complacence the tragedy of her daughter's life and instead of avenging it on Chārudatta as any waman would have done tries to save him. Both Chārudatta and Vasantasenā are eminently quick-witted and warm-hearted. Both can

face misfortune with resolution and with a fine capacity for grasping the sympathetic features of the situation Each

has the delicacy of feeling, tenderness, the generosity, the tact, the loyalty and the resourcefulness which make them

irresistably loveable Vasantsenā has a loyal lover to make love to, and knows all the time that he is in love

with her. She can lavish unexpected fascinations on him as she could not have done in her true charactar She

has nothing to fear and no one but herself to consider She loves him with self-denying devotion, has to reject

the affections of a rival on his behalf, though she knows that the attempt of rejection is ruinous to the interests of

both, monetarily, socially and personally Even under the trying conditions, the generosity of both never fails

The attempt is made by both loyally, frankly and fearlessly

The Shakāra is an ideal butt. He is perhaps the most foolish person ever presented on the stage Though he is

incapable of grasping witticism, he is anxious to pass as a man of parts by quoting from ancient authorities which

are evidently mythological absurdities A perfect and entire coward he is fain to believe himself a perfect fire-eater.

An obvious lout, he swallows compliments on his personal appearance without the dimmest suspicion. He is a

source of endless enjoyment and profit to audience and his fellow-characters who are always gullying him into

an uneasy conviction that he may yet compass a marriageable interview with Vasantsenā. He considers

himself a knight of good repute, a man of birth, bred up at the court, a relative to the ruling prince Singularly

insolent is he to the high in the society. He gives way at every point to sensual habit-glutton, liar, licentious, pro-

fligate and for means to indulge in the coarse pleasures, a

cheat, a robber. He is gross of body, diseased by vice.

Underneath any disapproval of him lies our enjoyment

of his pleasantry, his good but cruel humour, his wily

nature, his gay way of taking life, his agility and cheer-

fulness of mind, his wild exaggerations of lying, the

intense enjoyment he feels in his own wit, his colossal

ignorance of legendary mythology his power of twisting

out of difficulties, his profound understanding of himself,

his appreciation of all the faults of his character. When

the laugh is over, deserved credit is given to him for

the pleasures enjoyed He has the courage of situation.

Most men would be ashamed of his condition. He

maltreats every one in every direction The prince, and

the magistrate do not escape. His brain is quicker than a

fencer's sword and with the quickness there is a brilliancy

which charms with its surpassing turns of fancy, and even

of thought. His soliloquies are important. He comments

on himself and on the world, full of self-knowledge and

self-excuse, exaggerating into excellences his vices for

his private amusement, discussing with himself how

much honour is worth chuckling over his cheating of

Chārudatta. There is malice in him, cowardice in

him, envy in him, hatred, injuriousness, rudeness,

love to a girl His advances set a terror in the heart of

Vasantasenā He is talking of beating end thrashing

though he is quite incapable of doing either. He is

intended to be the villain and though there is a method

in his buffoonery and villainy still he is not made des-

picable and detestable a villain as it is all clothed under a

garb ot jest,, quaint manners, his absurd mythology, his

rough and deliberate misinterpretations of persons and

words, and his ultra-feminine timidity The same mother

fate of whom he is a favourite child in the early part of the

play turns her relentless hand on him by exposing all

his malicious deeds Rightly does the Vita blame him for

his nasty and spoiling tendency.1 ‘There is in him absence

of love as well as absence of conscience. Combined

with this is sensuàlity—the common appetite of the brute

intensified by the memory, the intelligence and the ex-

perience of man Again the sister of sensuàlity is cruelty—

the lust of the one induces the lust of the other Both Chāru-

datta and Vasantsenā do not feel a natural repulsion to

him There is no trace of even unconscious antagonism

to him.

MINOR CHARACTERS —Sharvilaka has a very low

opinion of his brainhood He improvises his sacred

thread as a piece of string to tie his finger with when

bitten He is a sentimental and emotional youth He is

the hero of the sub-plot which runs parallel to the main

one He is bold and adventurous to a fault He is con-

demned by Madanikā, his heroine. Madanikā in her

steadiness and shrewdness serves a good counterfoil to the

unsteady, everchanging, extremely emotional temperament of Sharvilaka.

Rohasena is the son of Charudatta for whom he has a

warm corner in his heart He does not allow even a cool

1 हा —त्रीणा शतं मारयामि चोरोऽहम् ।

विट :—यदेव परिहतंक्य तदेवोदाहरति मूर्खः ।

शा. :—चारुदत्तविनाशय करोमि कपट नवम् ।

मम वशमगता रावणस्यैव कुन्ती

भीमसेनो जमदग्निपुत्र । द्रोपदीव पलायसे रामभीता

कथं शृङ्गाला उद्यन्ति वायसा गच्छन्ति ।

117

wind to blow over him. His appearance before his father

who was on his way to the gallows produces a very pathetic

effect in the situation Cheta, Vita are very shrewd

characters Vita is learned and has the sense of propriety.

"Mathura, the mister-gambler is a hardened sinner

without bowels of compassion." Faithfulness, inquisit-

iveness, resourcefulness are shown by the maids There

is sacrifice in Dhūtā who is ready to consign herself to fire

The Vridhā comes out of trial with fortitude The chāndā-

las have got the philosophy of grave-diggers. The servants

are blunt They fall out on the smallest pretext

The style is pānohāli and hence is soft and sweet It

is both realistic and naturalislic. The pathetic description

of poverty, the sublime and realistic description of rain,

the execution scene, the appearance of Robasena there,

are very highly sentimental. The wealth of incidents, and

the happy coincidence in their presentation are seen in

a number of scenes, for instance, Vasantasenā entering in

Chārudatta's house, Radanikā being mistaken for Vasant-

senā, the comedy of errors through the exchange of carts 'the

appearance of Veeraka, the city guard in the trial of Chāru-

datta, the broll between Shakāra and Maitreya and the

disclosure of the ornaments

"Wouldst thou the young year's blossoms and fruits of its decline,

And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed,

Wouldst thou then the earth and heaven itself in one sole name

combine

I name thee, O Śākuntala, and all at once is said"

CHAPTER IV

Kālidās

Thus breaks out Goethe, a poet and a dramatist of

great renown in Europe. This eulogistic strain contains

the condensed consensus of opinion of the critics of both

East and West It is Kālidās and the Vedic-seers that

have established both the antiquity and the sublimity of

the Sanskrit literature in the eyes of the world It is a

pity that the date and the life of this illustrious alumnus,

a great votary of creative genius should have been

shrouded in the womb of mystery and should consequently

ly have given rise to a numberless traditions One tradi-

tion makes him ignorant in youth and ascribes the ferti-

lity of his genius to the favour of the goddess Kāi

Another makes him a contemporary of Bhoja (1106 A. D.)

of Dhāia A third one puts him amongst the nine jewels

at the court of Vikramāditya (57 B C ). A fourth one

makes him a resident of Kāshmīr. One more says that he

died in Ceylon by the hand of a courtizan and that it was

discovered by his friend Kumārdāsa ( identified with the

king of that name who lived in the early part of 600 A. D )

The traditions instead of giving any truth only multiply

the personality of the poet This is why Rājashekhara

mentions three Kālidāsas The grain of truth that these

traditions contain is more an æsthetic one than a histori-

cal one.

119

The question about his date is yet a moot one Kālidās could not have lived earlier than Agnimitra, the hero of one of his plays, belonging to the Sunga dynasty of ( 150 B. C. ) and later than Bāna ( 620 A D ) the court-poet of Harshavardhana (607-647 A. D ) or the Aihole inscription of Ravikīrti ( 634 A D. ). His date is thus circumscribed by these two dates Tradition places him in 100 B. C. as a contemporary of Vikramāditya who started an era after him in 57 B. C But this Vikram era is mentioned in no ancient inscription though the preceding Mouryan era is referred to in a number of writings about Chandragupta and Asoka. The first inscription that mentions this era belongs to Chandra-Mahāsena of the Chahamān family and it is dated at 841 A. D. The discontinuance of the Vikram era for a long period of 800 years raises a doubt as to Vikrama himself and consequently of his contemporaries Kālidās and the nine jewels at his court. The nine jewels were all great men in their own sphere and when separated by a wide gulf of time might have been strung together by a later admirer of theirs and made contemporaries of the famous patron of learning The GāthāSaptaShatī that refers to Vikramāditya is of uncertain date and the Mahārāshtrī in the plays of Kālidāsa is posterior to GāthāSattasai. The prākrītized form Uraiyur of Sanskrit Uragapur2 with the loss of two intervocatic ga and pa, is not a reliable philological transformation It is moreover located on the south bank of the Kaveri by the Gadwal plate of 700 A D The close of the Sangham age must date before 600 A D. The reference to Uraiyūr cannot take Kālidās before Christ The Bhita Medallion3 of

1 Ārya 64 2 Raghuv VI 50 3 Cambridge History of Indiā Vol I

Sunga period represents a charioteer with a hermit stopping him from hunting and in the back-ground a girl watering a tree in front of a hut But no importance need be attached to this evidence1 as the scene might possibly have been borrowed from the Mahābhārata

There is an attempt to prove Kālidāsa's priority to Ashwaghosa by the allusions to Sarvadamana in Sākuntala and to the insanity of Purūravas that are discovered in some verses in Soundarananda of Ashwaghosha of 100 A. D. This is further supported by verbal and conceptual resemblances between Raghuvamsa and Buddhacharita About the allusions, one might as well ask why the allusions should not be taken to refer to the same stories in the Mahābhārata.

The discovery of the plays of Ashwaghosha in the Lüders ' Turfan mss. has conclusively established the antiquity of the Prākrits and thereby the priority of Ashwaghosha The percentage of short-metres in Ashwaghosha is another evidence in favour of his priority.

The evidence-astronomical and astrological that we find in the works of Kālidās viz-the eclipses, the equalization of the mid-day, the zodiac sign Lion, the words Ucca, Jamitra—sets him definitely not prior to 350 A. D.

We have thus seen that Kālidās cannot be taken to 100 B C or 100 A. D. There is no evidence to take him in the next two centuries even because there is no paramount sovereign with whom we can associate the high-patronage to learning, the era, and the reign at Ujjain The word Vikramāditya is not, therefore, a proper noun but a title and there is evidence to show that this title was assumed by some illustrious kings of the Gupta dynasty Vikramāditya of Kālidāsa is identified with Chandra-

1 D R. Bhandarkar

gupta II who was the Lord of Ujain and whose coins found in Kāthiāwar show the title and the date 413 A D1

This title is also assumed by Skandagupta (450 A D) as is maintained by Pathak2 The patronage that Kālidās enjoyed under the Guptas is compensated by him by writing a paneg ric poem on the Guptas, allegorical allusions to whom he hidden under the heroesof Raghuvamsa

Rāma and Puṇaravas both represent ScndaGupta3 Raghū in his worl -conquest conquerers the Hūṇas who had cettled on the bank of the river Vanksu—the Oxus (Indus, V L) The date of the fir t establı hment of the Hūṇa cmpire on the Oxus is 150 A D and they were defeated by Skand gupta in 155 A D It is maintaned that Kālidās was an eld rly contemporary of Skandgupta

The r ference to Hūṇas in M Bhārat is inexplicable in this theory

Dr Ho rnle holds that Vīrumāditya is no other than Yaśodharman of Ujain who about the year 528 accompli hed the delivery of t eir country from oppression by inflicting a decisive defeat on Mihirkula, a Saka king who was taken prisoner and who is eulogised in the i andonor in ecription of 532 A D in M Haraprasād Shastri relies on the hist rical data furnıshed by Raghu

VI and supports Dr Hoornle Prof Bhāndarkar5 takes some stanzas in Raghu V relating to the King of Anūpa called Pratipa who belonged to the Kārtivīrya lineage and had his capital at Māhishmatı This is, he says a clear reference to the Kalchuri dynasty “Kālidās flourıshed about the middle or in the second or third quarter of

1 Dr Bhandarkar for B O S S, V A Smith 2 Ind Ant 1911

3 H R Blide, É C 4, J R A S 1909 5 I ant 1911

122

the sixtn century". This date synchronises with the

dates of Varāhamihira and Amarsinha (600 A. D.) who are

made contemporaries of Kālidās by the Jyotirvidābharana

This work on astronomy has been ascribed to Kālidās and

has been proved to have been written after the year

523 A D, under the patronage of one Vikramāditya The

work has been based on the theory of Varāhamihira, and

therefore cannot be given the ancient date (B C 33)

which it claims This work refers to Vikramāditya,

in some dozen places and this Vikramāditya is the

same persenality who ruled in Mālwā sixty years

prior to the visit of HuoenTsang (629-45), who placed

his friend Matrigupta on the tarone of Kashmir,1 who

was also styled as Shilāditya, by HuoenTsang, who put

the Sakas to flight and killed them in the rigion of

Karur2 the date of which has been proved to be 544 A D.

by Dr Fleet3.

"Kalidas thus lived in the middle of the sixth

century '

Analysis of the works of Kālidās reveals the fact that

they fall cleariy in three periods Some of the works are

purely descriptive-objective forms of poetry e g the

Ritusamhāra The objective element of pcetry came in

course of time to be merged in the subjective element and

gave us quite finished products of the mixture of tha two

typified by the epics The dramas deal with only the sub-

jective type The lyric of the highest form appears in

the Meghadūta The works record eridence for three dis-

tinct periods in the developme t of the poetic genius of

the poet. (1) The formative period when tae poet was

assessing his powers, (2) the transitional period, (3) The

1 Raj Tar 3-12; 2 Alberun's India 3 Corpus Ind P 55

123

period of perfection Of the three dramas the Mālvika A.

and Vikrama Ū fall within tha second transitional period

while the Shākuntala–the perfect production is the fruit

of the last period It is but natural that the young novice

should have tried his hand first at the objective type of

poetry and then gathered strength to write lucid exposi-

tion on the complexities of the human heart The senti-

ments and their expression must have come last of all in

the period of mature perfection First the historical

comedy followed by the mythological comedy and crown-

ed by the sentimental comedy–this is the gradual process

of the development of poet's genius

A close examination of the poet's feeling of diffidence

with which he introduces Mālvika A.1 and its gradual

transformation to the feeling of confidence with which he

introduces his Shākuntala2 shows that the three plays be-

long to the different stages in the development of his

dramatic genius. This is corroborated by the description

of sentiment. The abnormal sensuality in the love in

the Mālvika A. is considerably reduced in Vikramorvashi

and is very rarely found in Shākuntala. Mālvika is pure

but is brought up in the royal atmosphere and therefore

can be expected to be familiar with the working of love

Urvashi is labouring under a curse which must have rob-

bed her of the sensitiveness to that sentiment. Shakun-

talā is purer and simpler still. The course of love again

1. प्रतिनायकामागरविसुन्दरीभिसिक्तकार्दीनां प्रणयवातिक्रम्य वर्तमान-

कवे: कालिदासस्य कथमपि परिपद बहुमान ॥ माल

2 अद्य सत्य काव्यासन्नप्यितवस्तुनां शादुन्तल्नामेवेन नवेन नाटके-

नोपन्यायतव्यम् ॥ गा।

is impeded in both by the hard rocks of jealousy of Irāvatī

and Aushinari while it runs smoothly and unimpededly

in Shākuntala The finish and the polish of language

and etiquette, the texture of plot, the unfolding of charac-

ters leave no doubt as regards the fact that the skill shown

in Shākuntala must have been acquired by the poet by the

initial attempts in the dramatics in Mālvikā A. first and

Vikram U. second The authenticity of one penmanship

of the three plays is clear from the phonetic and conceptual

resemblances and the Prastāvanās bear out unmistakably

the fact that the renowned penman was Kālidās.

" His writings show indeed a keen appreciation of

high ideal and lofty thought but the appreciation is

aesthetic in its nature; he elaborates and seeks to bring

out the effectireness of these on the imaginative sense of

the noble and grandiose, applying to the things of the

mind and soul the same sensuous standard as to the

things of sense themselves He is the great, the supreme

poet, poet of senses, of aesthetic beauty, of sensuous emo-

tion He is, besides, a consummate artist, profound in con-

ception, suave in execution, a master of sound and lan-

guage who has moulded for himself out of the infinite pos-

sibilities of the Sanskrit tongue, a rise and diction

which are absolutely the grandest, most puissant and

most full-voiced of any human speech, a language of

gods "1

Malavılagnimitra.

" The subject of the three plays of Kālidās is taken

from the heroic mythology and a royal demigod and

nymph, of more than human mould are the hero and the

heroine "2 In Mālavikāgnimitra the plot is so simple

1 The age of Kālidas—Arbind Ghosh. 2 Wilson Theatre.

126

There is first the scene of prāshnikatva-examination,

but none is so much eager and interested in deciding

whether Ganadāsa or Haradāsa is superior, as in bringing

Mālavikā on the stage and displaying before the king all

her personal charms The queen puts all possible hind-

rances in the way and finally quits the theatre in anger

The second occasion of Mālvikā’s introduction is another

fine piece of poet's invention The queen suffers a fall

from a swing and Mālavikā is sent to kick the Asoka and

get flowers Agnimitra who lies hidden offers himself to

be kicked instead of Asoka but is discovered by the queen

who gives a reprimand1. The fun reaches climax when

Vidushaka advises the king to trust to his heels.

The fourth act is another instance of the masterpiece

of the poet's inventive faculty. Mālavikā is put in a lock-

up by the two queens but the serpent-ring on the finger of

the queen is secured very cleverly by creating a sham

commotion by the snake-bite of Vidushaka The ring-

Nāgmudrā is given to the jailor and the prisoner is at

large. The same act gives a picture-scene which achieves

much in point of dramatic economy The vacillating

temperament of the king in point of love is brought home

to Mālavikā who is sorry for the step she had taken 2 The

final fruition is put off by the sudden entrance of Irāvati

The last act unfolds the story of Mālavikā's birth and she

is given ready admittance in the royal harem by the

queens

1 नतु अशोक कुषुमं दर्शयति । अयं पुन पुष्पपतति फलति च ।

2. तत्रामिदानिमित्तायासिष्ये ।

127

Agnimitra is a prince of Sunga dynasty. "He is a

love-sick hero but the reports of the battles and victories

reminds us of his kungly functions and high importance.

The curt reply from the Vaidarbha rouses his ire and he at

once proceeds to arrest Mādhavasenā with whom he wants

to have a matrimonial alliance. That he is a hero of the

Shatha tvpe1 is clear from the plot which he thatches in

consultation with Vidūshaka and Panditā Kausiki for

bringing together the rival preceptors over the point of

superiority of the knowledge of dramatics The underly-

ing m tive in sounded by the qeen though very shrewd-

ly he keeps himself away and leaves the decision to the

Panditā. The bounding nature of his love is manifest

from his eagerness to have a glimpse of Mālavikā2 for

which he gets a retort from his friend.3

His love has for its object a dancing girl--a maid

servant of the queen. It, therefore, shows a lower taste

and goes against the chivalrous spirit of the king The

stead-fastness of love is doubted by even Mālavikā in the

picture scene. He is a man unsteady in love, wavering

in confidence, with no initiative, afraid of the wrath of

Irāvatī and relying upon the sublime and resigning temperament of Dhārinī.

The Vidushaka in this play is more a friend and con-

fidant than a jester of the king He along with Jayasenā

is connected with every affair of the king's love which he

manages very skilfully. He tries to snatch the bracelet

1 ईरां. नाठ, आविश्वसनीयहृदयोडसि ।

2. चक्षु सदृशतमधीरतया व्यवस्थितमिव मे तिरस्करणीषु

3 उपस्थितं नयनमधु । सन्निहितमक्षिकam ।

from off the king's wrist to be given to Mālavikā for her

skill and thus kills two birds with one stone Even in

his ravings he does not lose the sense of propriety He

creates a sham bustle over his snake-bite and secures the

ring for the release of Mālavikā from the jail for the ready

and timely help that he gives to his friend to extricate

him from ugly situations, he gets severe reprimands from

the queen.' He proceeds with the love-affairs more seri-

ously than his friend and contributes very little to the

comic side of the drama.

The most effective characterization in this play

appears not in male characters but in female ones and

that too in the two queens Mālavikā is a princess of the

royal blood of Vidarbha but is introduced as a waiting

maid The king is impressed with her beauty when he

sees her painted among the attendants of the queen It is

her beauty that rouses the jealousy of the queens who

keep her away from the king's gaze Her talents evoke a

compliment from her preceptor.3 With boldness she

appears in the open assembly and gives expression to her

love for the king 4 She constantly importunes her heart

to desist from the course of love as the object is too high

to be reached 5 She doubts the density and the sincerity

1 कथम् खलु ननुग्रन्धमन्यथा जीविष्यति । सत्यमुख ब्रह्मावधाना कतः प्रयोग । साधु रे विदग्धवानर साधु परित्रातस्तत्व्या सेकटारस्वपक्ष ।

2 मालविका सर्विशेषं सगुदर्शनपयाद रक्ष्यते ।

3 परमप्रवीना मेधाविनी यततथ्रयोगविपये भाविकं उपादिश्यते मया तस्यै

ततद्विशेषकरणात्प्रत्युपदिशति इव मे वाचा ।

4 न खलु परार्थीना त्वयि गणय सत्कणाम् ।

5 आविज्ञातहृदयम् भरतारम् ।

of the king's feeling. She is afraid of the queens She secures help from her friend Bakulāvalikā and her matron Kaushiki.

AryāKaushiki records all the facts faithfully and calls them up with wonderful memory and vividness She is a sister to Sumati, the minister of Mādhaosen. She believes in the courses and working of fate She puts faith in a certain prophecy that Mālvikā is to be wedded with a king after one year She appears in the last act and narrates the whole account, as to how they came there and how she was driven to accept the red robes of a nun, She is not so much in the confidence of Mālvikā as Bakulāvalikā but she is thoroughly familiar with every item though she has no hand in its manipulation She is an instance of an old done-up lady looking with an indulgent eye on the pranks of love. She does not discourage them, she does not dislike them. Kāmandaki of Bhavabhuti arranges every item and takes interest in it Kāmandaki would have certainly taken part in the amorous affairs of the lovers, had it been allowed by the laws of the order to which she belonged.

She must have been repenting for the rash act of becoming a nun It is Kaushiki that calms down the mind of Dhārini and strengthens her fortitude for giving the hand of Mālvikā to the king.1 She comforts the mind of Dhārini She is an authority on the dance and on the cure of the snake-bite and alone among the women who speak Sanskrit.

The queen Dhārini is sister to Vīrsena of Anta-pāla who makes her a present of his trophy—the two female captives. She is simple and sympathetic By

1. प्रतिपक्षेऽपि परं सेवते भ्रातृवत्सला साऽऽद्रय ।

9

nature she is free from jealousy though she is often

roused to it by her co-wife She gives her own anklet

to Mālvikā when she is deputed to kick Ashoka for

flowers She is very much moved by the sham bustle

of Vidushaka's snake-bite1 She parts with her ring

to be tried as an antedote, little knowing that the wily

brahmin would make use of it in releasing the prisoners.

Her resignation of will is so complete that not only

does she unite the king and Mālvikā but she also sends a

word of consolation to Irāvatī2 There is a just cause for

anger but she rises above it by her grace, dignity and

magnanimity Dhārinī is an ideal Hindu woman, calm,

tranquil, sublime, prizing the husband's happiness most,

easily moved to pity and charity

Irāvatī is a matter-of-fact lady She does not

depend so much on ceremony It is her jealousy and

passionate impetuosity3 that the whole plot moves

round. She is not mindful of the right and rank of the

king4 nor is the king on his part very much favourably

impressed by her. The unsteadiness in the love of the

king makes her so restless that she is led to an outbreak

against him She charges the queen with partiality to-

wards Mālvikā5 Even up to the last she does not forget

her dignity but sends a word through her maid when the

king is led to enjoy perfect happiness

1 धिक् धिक् अहमेव ब्राझणस्य जीवितसंशयेनिमित्तं जातास्मि ।

2 साधारण खलु तासां मम चायमभ्युदयः ।

3 महतों खल्वस्याः सभावना ।

4 शठ आदिश्वसनीयहृदयोऽसि ।

5 दृष्टो भवत्या पक्षपात ।

131

Vikamorvashiyam.

This play shows an advance in imagination over

the preceding play in which the characters and situa-

tions have the solid, historical back ground Here

there is the mythological back-ground. Further ad-

vance of creating human figures of airy nothing is still

reserved for Shākuntala. If the current of love in

Mālvikā is checked and impeded by social decency, here

it runs in a passionate and undiciplined way. The

central theme in Mālvikā is romantic though the

situations are realistic. The personages and situations

of the superhuman portion of the drama are both ele-

gant and picturesque and the grouping upon the peaks

of the Himālaya or the descent of Nārada through the

fields of ether, the transformation of Urvashi into a vine

are the results of the superhuman element which is

at work.

The story of Purūravas is told not so much in con-

formity with the version of Purānas, which is given

as follows : " A celestıal nymph loved and married an

earthly king, warning him, however, that she could abide

with him only so for as he would be careful that she should

not behold him disrobed. For many years they enjoyed un-

alloyed happiness when her companions the nymphs and

the spirits who had sorely missed her resolved to bring

her back by stratagem and contrived by sending an

opportune flash of lightening at night that the condition

of her existence on earth should be violated . In that

flash she saw her lord divested of his robes and with a

wail forthwith vanished The king mourned for her and

sought her all over the world until after long sorrowful

wanderings he found her and they were miraculously

132

reunited

"

The

story

occurs

in

Matsyapurāṇa

and

in

Shatapatha

Br

The

change

that

the

poet

has

wrought

in

this

original

is

highly

romantic

The

ugly

and

indecent

condition,

viz

the

disrobing

on

the

part

of

the

king

has

been

changed

to

the

sight

of

the

son's

face

The

play

is

also

said

to

be

a

dawn-myth

put

into

a

dramatic

form

The

nymph

Urvashi

is

turned

into

a

vine

as

soon

as

she

beholds

her

lover

Urvashi

is

another

name

for

dawn.

Her

lover

is

the

Sun.

The

vine

bleeds

and

speaks

when

broken.

It

appears

in

this

form

in

the

Greek

mythology

and

the

ballads

of

the

middle

ages

Urvashi

belongs

to

the

kind

of

species

known

as

apsarasas

which

are

supposed

to

have

semi-divine

powers

and

to

have

an

aquatic

origin.

The

aquatic

origin

and

human

speech

are

biologically

impossible

to

be

associated

Ethnologically

they

must

be

a

people

very

beautiful,

living

in

huts

erected

on

and

supported

by

a

pillar

fixed

in

the

centre

of

a

lake

It

is

the

wild

fancies

of

poets

that

have

made

the

Gandharvas,

and

Apsarasas

as

more

superhuman,

more

etherial,

more

ideal

"

Trivial

as

the

incidents

may

appear,

unimportant

as

may

be

the

loves

of

the

hero

and

the

heroine,

both

persons

and

events

are

subject

to

an

awful

control

whose

interference

invests

them

with

a

dignity

superior

to

their

natural

level.

Fate

is

the

ruling

principle

of

the

narrative

and

the

monarch,

the

nymph

and

the

sovereign

of

the

gods

himself

are

portrayed

as

subject

to

the

inscrutable

and

inevitable

decrees

of

destiny

The

simplicity

of

the

story

does

not

admit

of

much

display

of

character

but

the

timid

constancy

of

Urvashi

is

not

unhappily

contrasted

with

irresolute

haughtiness

of

the

queen

The

poet

too

has

shown

himself

not

unacquainted

with

the

springs

of

human

feelings

and

his

133

observations on the relations of the sexes in domestic life are equally shrewd and just1." The feeling of love is shown with all the usual and necessary accompaniment, but it is defective in this that the love is not first-hand-not chaste on both the sides. Had Urvashi been a simple, coy maiden rescued by the chivalrous king not owning any harem, the scene would have been very grand The chief charm of this piece is its poetry. The story, the situations and the characters are highly imaginative and nothing can surpass the beauty and justice of many of the thoughts

The incidents in the play fall into two groups that are separated by a wide gulf of time. The first three acts require a fortnight A period of twelve years passes between the third and the fourth.

'The beginning of the play is similar to that in the plays of Bhāsa (the chirping sound of birds ) The poet goes on with a cautious step The first act depicts the mental perturbation of the Apsarasas, the rousing of the chivalrous spirit in the king's heart, the defeat of the demons, the consequent rescue of the damsels, the fainting and the recovery of Urvashi The love appears in both the aspects - the Sambhoga and the Vipralambha. The seed is sown in the mutual glances at their first meeting, The feeling takes such long strides in its development and influence on the king that the change in him is easily betrayed to the queen. She already possesses a scrutinizing eye and she deputes her maid, her wily Chētī to have further light thrown on the affair. The second act is a little prolix in as much as it contains two incidents-the arrival of Urvashi and the dropping of

I. Hindu Theatre, Wilson

134

the birch-leaf - achieving the same dramátic purpose.

The birch-leaf is a romantic expedient as an epistle of

love and is useful afterwards in aggravating the jealousy

of the queen But the appearance of Urvashi serves no

end. On the other hand the scene would have been

more pathetic had she been kept away. The same birch-

leaf is inadvertently lost by Vidūshaka, goes further in

the custody of the queen and is turned to account after-

wards for silencing the king who wants to evade

The progress of the love is compared to the current of

a river dashing on hard rocks' There is once more the

prospect of reunion in the curse and the counter-curse

consequent upon inadvertence on the part of Urvashi

on the heavenly stage The whole plot can be said to be

a uni-thread texture though there is the minor thread of

Chitrarath and the heavenly paraphernalia interwoven.

The play is a love-frolic in a royal house-hold like Rat-

nāvali or Mālvika, with this difference that Urvashi is

a celestial nymph possessing some mystic-superhuman

powers She can witness in person the pitiful condition

and the piteous accents of the king and can remain un-

seen The vow-the gratification of the lovers which

the queen undertakes besides manifesting a romantic

element, throws light on the character of the queen

and thereby on the wife-folk of ancient India The ob-

struction in the way is removed by the sacrifice and

resignation of the queen who expresses an honest wish

for unity between herself and her rival

1 नयाऽ इव प्रवाहो विपमाशिलासंघटस्खालितवeg

वित्रितसमागमसुखो भवासिघय: शतगुणी भवति ॥

tion and king Skandagupta on that of history5. He is in-

troduced in the play engaged in a deed of chivalry-a

skermish with the demons for the rescue of damsels. He

is very highly connected, claiming his birth from the

Moon2. Like the kings of the ancient time, his valour en-

titles him to an invitation from Indra wheneever any

fight is imminent, but unlike them he possesses a sense

of modesty when he attributes all his successes to Indra3.

His ardour for valour never flags. Being undaunted he

desires for further encounter The sentiment-whether

of heroism or of love is unadulterated with hypocricy

The sincerity and intensity of passion go to the length of

driving him to insanity In addition to the lack of ini-

tiative which is common to all the heroes of Kālıdāsa, Puru-

ravas suffers from the lack of self-restraint and manli-

ness This is why he han a passionate dispair raves at the

sudden metamorphosis of Urvashi There is a mixture of

sense and non-sense, of sanity and insanity, running in

and out of one another and adds to the mystery of his

nature He has got his own attractiveness He is deli-

cate of body, sensitive as a child and fearful of the un-

favourable tidings about his lost beloved He trembles

before the unanswering trees and birds Even in the midst

of affairs of both love and war he never forgets his attend-

ance to the solar deity. He possesses a deadly armoury.

Just towards the end, his feeling suffers a sudden change-

the conjugal love giving place to filial and parental

love

1 H B Bhide, F O C

2. सोमोदेकान्तर· 1

3 उपस्थितसंपराय महेन्द्र. विजयसेनासुबे नियोजयति 1

4 अनुत्सेक कत्लु वित्रमालङ्कारः1

137

The Vidūshaka, his friend, is not a good companion.

He never takes the responsibility of extracting the king

from awkward positions in the love affair but on the other

hand creates more. He is stupid and clumsy, quite in-

capable of holding in any secrets He is not only not

resourceful as his name-sake in M. A. but spoils

the resources at his disposal. He loses the birch-leaf

letter and creates the whole trouble for the king The

humour that he breaks out in is of the routine type-

pertaining to the attractions of the kitchen, deformities of

his own person and the treatment of him as a butt by the

maids of the queen

Urvashi belongs to that species of beings called the

Apsarasas who can be said to be the courtezans at the

court of gods and hence she does not mince matters with

her friend regarding her love and enticement by the king

The feeling of shame is cast off by her and she at once

admits that the god of love is sent by her as a messenger.

In these frank admissions of the workings of her heart in

the unimpeded course of love she can be compared with

Vasantsenā The feat of chivalry on the part of the king

sows the seed of love which shoots up and grows so

luxuriantly and absorbs the mind of Urvashi so much

that she is landing herself into errors in the presence of

the austere audience Even though her status allows her

to proceed ardently in her affair, she is afraid of the queen.

The sentiment with which she is affected, though intense,

is not sublime. It makes her blind to the other sentiments

of the human heart The love is selfish to the core For fear

of separation from her lover she foregoes the delightful

fondling of her child and thus betrays a woeful lack of

motherly love.

138

Aushinari is a dignified queen She has not got that composure of mind which is with Dhārini in M. A In a fit insane jealousy and anger she leaves the king, goes to the garden to soothe down her excitement but finds there one more additional ground for aggravating her jealousy—the birch-leaf letter Like an ideal and dutiful Hindu woman, she persuades herself to accept the affair in good grace She repeats for the harsh treatment meted to the king for his deviation and proceeds herself to perform the vow—प्रियखप्रसादन—gratification of her lord. She sacrifices her love and secures the pleasure of her husband1 in which point she serves a good counterfoil to the character of Urvashi who sacrifices every thing for her selfish love

Shahuntula

" No composition of Kālidāsa displays more the richness of his poetical genius, the exuberance of his imagination, the warmth and the play of his fancy, his profound knowledge of the human heart, his delicate appreciation of its most refined and tender emotions, his familiarity with the workings and counter-workings of its conflicting feelings—in short more entitles him to rank as the Shakespeare of India"2 This play gives the sweet union of Earth and Heaven according to Goethe who takes Earth to represent thoughtlessness, sensuality, sin or fall and Heaven to represent merit, virtue It is a combination of sin and merit according to Tagore, and this combination is illustrated by the poetic history of the two

1 अयम् प्रभृति या त्रिय आर्यपुत्र. प्रार्थ्यते या आर्यपुत्रसमागमप्रणयिनी तया मया प्रीतिसंवेशन भवितव्यम् ।

2 M Williams

139

characters The marriage of Navamālikā and Sahakāra,

the union of two types, of love—the Sāttvic and Rājas—

of conscious and sub-conscious sentiments and finally of

Heaven and Earth are so many side-lights on the alle-

gorical significance of the theme—call it then a .physical,

metaphysical, sentimental or spiritual allegory. The play

presents a conflict between two very dominant human

feelings—sense of happiness and sense of duty—answers

and solves the riddle of life in its brighter aspect. It thus

disproves the charge that 'it moves in a narrow world far

removed from the cruelty of real life and that for the

deeper questions of human life Kālidās has no message for

us.'2 The characters fall into two distinct groups accor-

ding as they move in two different atmospheres—tem-

porary and permanent, civic and rustic, equivocating and

truthful, sinful and sinless or innocent

The bony structure of the incident is taken from the

Mahābhārata and seensto have been improved upon by the

poet. The new elements introduced by the poet have given

quite a different appearance to the original episode and

justify the poet's claim to originality and explain why he

laid his hand upon an already known incident The curse

and the counter-curse of Durvāsas, the flight of Shakun-

talā with Menakā, Dushyanta's help to Indra are new

events. Durvāsa, Mārīcha, the boy-ascetics, the maids,

the vidushaka, the fisherman are new characters and they

pour lite-spirit in the original dull episodes, consisting of

the hunting, the sight, the marriage, the dispatch and dis

avowal of Shkuntlā.

The striking sameness in the ring-and-fish incident

told by Herodotus in his story of Polykrates and told also

2 K D

140

by Kālidāsa has led some scholars to suppose that the

Shākuntala is founded on one of the most universally

familiar stories of European folk-lore. The lover in both

the stories, stricken by a wicked spell, forgets his love,

rezovers his memory of her only on seeing the golden

ring he gave her and which is brought back to him under

a variety of romantic circumstances Kālidāsa produces

the ring by the force of sheer accident The ring is dis-

covered in the stomach of an exceptionally fine fish

caught in a stream into which Shakuntalā had accidental-

ly dropped it and the fisherman, accused of stealing it, is

brought into the presence of the king for judgment, the

ring is produced and the moment it catches the monarch's

eye, he awakes as from a trance and asks for his wife

The resemblance in the stories though certainly very

astonishing does not warrant any inference as regards

the debt of borrowing on either side It is possible that

both the poets were struck by the homely aspect of the ring

and made its use in the build of the plot independently

of each other The ring, on account of its inseparable

association with the finger and its tiny form, serves as

a good means to accelerate and accentuate the speed of

the dramatic action. It is always a theme for a sub-

current that wields a tremendous influence on the main

one It is an easy but sure means of recognition and

identification. Persons may change, sentiments may

transform, properties and authorities may transfer hands,

but the ring remains firm and steady under the most

trying circumstances and consoles the grieved. Such a

handy means is too common in every-day life not to be

availed of There is a ring in Rāmāyana which is handed

over by Hanumat to Sītā who is satisfied as regards

141

the personation of the spy. The ring is in M. A, in

Mūdra R and in Ratnāvalī

The ring episode is the centralising force in the action

of the drama from the beginning to the end. The initial

insignificance of it gradually assumes significance and

becomes the sole attractive force at the end There is

nothing unusual that it is on the king's finger, that he

offers it compensating the debt of her friends, their

modest reluctance for its acceptance, the presentation of

it to Shakuntalā, the loss of it by her, the gulping of it

by a fish and its final restoration In spite of the great

magnitude of mischief that is wrought by the ring, it

comes out as a harmless means when Māri̇cha discloses

the account of the curse of Durvāsas. The recognition

that is achieved by the ring is also achieved by another

means, viz - the ऋष्यरंडक (the magic box ) Wife,

husband and son are all recognised by these two means

The play gives the welding of three threads, two major

ones -one referring to Dushyanta and his royal household,

the second referring to Shakuntalā and the sphere of hermi-

tage and a minor one-that of Māri̇cha The bi-polar weld-

ing continues upto the last act where the third thread

comes in. The king is introduced as seeking pleasure in

hunting The king, a frequenter of the harem as he was,

could not have been so very easily extricated from off the

ties of his harem and from the responsibilities of his court

and chamber and could not have been brought so very near

the scene of romance as is done by means of hunting.

The scene again incidentally throws a number of side-

hints - the king's youth, his jovial temper, his agility, his

delight in manly exercises, his command over and

respect from his soldiers The stretched bow is readily

wound up at the request of Vaikhānas who being pleased

with this piece of conduct of the king confers on him

a boon1. This puts a stop to all speculations as regards

the final catastrophe Through whatever calamitous

situations the hero and the heroine may pass, one thing

is quite clear to them—“ the king is to get a sovereign

son ” Another indication comes later on regarding the

possible adverse change in the fortune of the heroine.

The Muni—the foster-father had repaired to some Teertha

to perform some observances to avert the evil The

minds are thus prepared for the eventuality The plot and

the characters develop so rapidly in the first act that the

poet has no time to explain the situation The plot moves

on of itself The characters plod on in a way quite uncon-

'sciously to them or to those who surround them Every

thing happens in accordance and consonance with the gene-

ral trend of the scene and in harmony with the high notions

of romance In the second act the king stops and takes

stock of the events that passed before him in a dramatic

way. The second act is a reflection of the first and ex-

plains the psychological basis on which the events in the

first act appear to have rested The seed is sown in the

first interview The second act describes the mental con-

dition of the king, his eagerness to proceed further to-

wards the end The third act sheds further light on the

feeble conditions of both the parties that are brought face

to face and are thus convinced of each other's sincerity

and the galloping nature of the feeling of enamourment.

There are two pictures in this act—the love-perturbed

state of mind of Dushyanta and the simple, innocent girls

trying their best to assuage the worst effects of a feeling

1 चक्रवर्तिनं पुत्रमाप्नुहि ।

which they could not diagnose, attributing the derange-

ment to Madan on the evidence of analogy of which they

had heard in itihāsa-nibandha. The suppressed feeling

find forcible expression in the case of Shakuntalā who

improvises the writing materials and puts forth a love-

epistle. The scene proceeds smoothly in two different

streams which further unite at the entrance of the king.

The maids shrewdly retire, the lovers get confidence but

both labour under the restrictions of society. The scene

is interrupted by Gautami who comes there inquiring

after her health1 Thus they part to taste the cup of

miseries kept in reserve for them by destiny.2

The fourth act is the key-stone in the arch of plot-

architecture at which the plot presents a pleasant static

condition The whole hermitage, human and otherwise,

is bidding good-bye to their mistress who had endeared

herself to them by her genial and affectionate company.

Each one of them typifies a certain aspect of the senti-

ment of pathos while Kanva is pathos incarnate. He

gives expression to the best sentiments and is con-

vinced of the divine aspect and potentiality of the union

by the bodiless speech, at which he gives a long breath of

relief3

Whatever be the other aspects of life that this drama

may represent, it surely represents the strife between

forest life and civic life The struggle reaches its climax

1. रे चक्रवाक आमन्त्रयस्व सहचरौम् ।

2. अदो विडम्बय प्रार्थितार्थसिद्धयै ।

3 हन्त मो. शाकुन्तला पतिकुलं विसृज्य लङ्घयमिदानीं स्वाश्रयम् ।

जातो ममायं विपदः प्रकामं प्रत्यर्पितन्यास इवान्तरात्मा ।

in the fifth act where an open challenge is offered by the

simple and guileless ascetics to the fore-most in the civic

life - the king Madens and boys, Kanva and Gautami

are taken in by the high-sounding utterances of the towns-

man who is conversant with the affairs of the world

They are ignorant and innocent of the many-sided deceit-

ful devices of the court The unmasking of Shakuntalā

has unmasked the king who has his nature turned naked

and who struggles to find shelter in prophecies and curses

Victory, of course, belongs to the forest life because it is

ready to sacrifice and submit to the wiles and guiles of the

town life

The Vishkambhaka of the sixth act carries the same

struggle further by presenting a broll between the simple

fisherman and the police in which the former comes out

triumphant though with a good deal of sufferance It is

this realism that appeals to the pit and gives to the drama

a realistic touch There is idealism at the beginning and

the end of the drama while the intervening acts present

realism The sixth act is important on account of the

intervention of the superhuman element in the course of

the plot When the things present an inexplicable front

then the simple credulence or faith of the people in the

mysteries of the superhuman has to be exploited. The

Purohita had offered a sound suggestion out of the impasse'

but the event would have lost its charm and have looked

too prisaic, had it been allowed to take place The play

would have ended there. The superhuman, therefore, comes

in and astounds the people including the king as regards

the real nature of Shakuntalā.

The superhuman element works under a variety of

circumstances in the Shākuntala Kanva comes to learn

145

of the piece of indiscretion on the part of Shakuntalā by inward vision. The curse and the counter-curse of Durvāsas, the creatures bestowing ornaments, the nymph suddonly carrying away Shakuntalā, Sānumati witnessing the love-stricken condition of the king, Mātali appearing through the mid-region, Dushyanta accompanying him in the aerial car, the herb transforming itself into a serpent are all instances of the working of the super-human element in the play

The scene of repudiation is very forcily worked out. The resolution of the plot commences from the sight of the ring which brings the king back to his consciousness and puts him in deep despondency The festival of the season is prohibited and all the jubilations stopped The despondency is heightened by the mention of the merchant who leaves a large property but no issue in spite of his big harem. A rollicking humour is created by getting Vidushaka caught in a trap of Mātali who appears to invite the king for a fight against the demons.

The final scene reflects credit on the poet's sense of propriety The union is effected under an atmosphere of piety in the hermitage of the Sage Māriicha'. The piety is again heightened by the topic that is discussed there. The repudiation of Shakuntalā necessitated some such scene. Both the first inception of love and the final fruition take place under the auspices of two revered sages'. The affair though blessed by the sages suffers reverses only when it departs from their holy influence and is transferred to that of the king Māriicha's hermit-

1. उदारमणीयास्वर्गान्धिकतरं नित्यृत्तिस्थानम् ।

10

age has got all the simplicity and innocence of Kanva's hermitage and in addition is more divine and more mature in thought.

In the first part of the drama the notions of both the hero and the heroine do not pertain to the devine aspect of 'Love', because they both seem to be high devotees of the " Love at first sight " Who ever loved that has not loved at first sight?" seems to be the dictum of the poet laid at the basis of the play It is the uncertainty of the sentiment that leads to the final tragic catastrophe Not only with Shakuntalā, but with both, 'all is a matter of heedless and headlong love at first sight' Both suffer on account of their inconsiderate conduct and it is by this sufferance that the rājas nature of love is whetted to its divinity

There are two clear aspects in the character of Dushyanta The first appears when he talks highly of himself — that he is a Paurava, and that nothing is inaccessible to him, that all movements of Shakuntalā concern himself The other aspect appears towards the end when he appears to be influenced by the divine in nature, feels the throbbing of shoulders, sees a boy, takes him to be a part and parcel of some divine lustre, sees the sovereign features on his body, feels the son's touch and expects that his mother must be Shakuntalā and that Shakuntalā is no other than his consort And agreeably enough all that he expects comes out to be true The over-confidence and self-respect in him reach a climax in his case and bring upon him a deserved retribution in the separation of his lady-love The sin is committed and the retribution comes upon him so mercilessly that

he rouses pity in us. "This link between sin and retribution," according to Moulton, "becomes a form of art-pleasure and no dramatic effect is more potent than that which emphasises the principle that whatever a man soweth that shall he also reap." The two aspects of rājas nature seem to be in conflict in the character of Dushyanta He loves the right thing and for the right reasons. Then he is careless of self-interest, loves Shakuntalā not for anything else but because she attracts his soul.1 He really knows nothing of her, is wonder-struck at her inexplicably mystic appearance in the muni's hermitage The prevailing, all-powerful influence of love is seen throughout the play in all its different aspects "Cupid is represented in his novelty, cruelty, in his freakishness, who makes his victims in the play suffer-now kind, now cruel, now hoping, despairing, accepting, refusing, yielding, repelling, fanciful and serious "

But even this love is a second maid to his fondness for martial and hunting exploits. The first and the last impression that he leaves is that he is predominantly of a hunting and fighting temperament The disturbance in his sentiments is well expressed by himself2

From beginning to end, Dushyanta shows a woeful lack of initiative in all his dealings resting more or less on the course that the events take Fortune, of course, always favours him In the love-affair in the first act and also in the filial love in the last he relies more on

1. असंशय क्षत्रपरिग्रहक्षमा । यदार्यमस्यामभिलापि मे मनः ॥

2 यथा मगो नेति समक्षमार्गे । तस्मिन्नतिक्रामति सशयः स्यात् ॥ पदानी दृशा तु भवेत्प्रतीति: । तथाऽऽवयोः मे मनसो विकार. ॥

psychological

inkling

and

falls

into

a

piece

of

inconsider-

ate

and

rash

conduct

The

desire

to

pay

homage

to

the

patriarch

and

to

enjoy

the

hospitality

at

the

hands

of

the

maids,

the

acceptance

of

the

request

of

the

sages

to

guard

the

hermitage,

the

dispatch

of

Vidushaka

back

to

his

capital,

the

brave

avowal

of

love

to

the

maids

of

Shakun-

talā,

the

repudiation

of

love

in

the

open

court

done

in

a

way

quite

detrimental

to

the

honour

of

a

woman,

filial

yearning

towards

the

child,

are

events

that

point

to

the

want

of

considerateness,

a

sign

of

weak-mindedness

which

errs

more

in

struggling

to

find

support

in

some

psychological

or

physiological

suggestion

There

are

contradictions

in

his

utterances

1

Rightly

has

he

been

guaged

by

his

friend

who

taunts

him

many

a

time

निशाकर-

रातौ

&c.

and

also

by

the

straightforward

मृगया

(cf

परातिसन्यानमधीयते

यैर्वियोगे

ते

स्त्री

किलाम्बवाच

)

"Dushyanta's

attempts

to

conceal

his

identity

as

a

king

probably

with

the

sinister

purpose

if

Shakuntalā

would

have

him

for

another

"The

utterances

are

so

many

shrewd

equivoca-

tions

The

divergence

in

the

utterances

of

characters

is

defended

by

some,

attributing

it

to

the

moral

tone

of

those

times

and

maintaining

that

the

ideals

of

morality

were

much

lower,

and

the

purity

of

life

was

less

valued.

The

attempt,

however

well-intentioned

it

may

be,

is

far

from

being

scholarly

A

human

being,

according

to

the

Hindu

theory

of

karman

is

the

result

of

his

past

accumulated

actions

1

आनिर्‌वचनीयम्

परकृतम्

।

अन्याय

परदार

पृथ

च्‍चायापार

।

न

खलु

च

परिभोक्‍तुं

नेव

शक्नो

मि

हातुम्

।

चलकतु

दू

यमानं

प्रत्याय

यर्ताव

मा

हृद्‍यं

।

done in his past lives The genetic transmission of the

parental characteristics, the surrounding circumstances

are some of the many factors that operate upon the human

being along with the accumulated merit of the past lives.

Shakuntalā is a fine instance of a character that shows

the influence of the parental characteristics, and the force

of circumstances. She is an offspring to Menakā from

Vishwāmitra and is brought up under the pious influence

of Kanva The bark-ware which she puts on, the work

of watering the creepers and the uncommon youth and

beauty are at once the force of circumstances but the

ambitious desire expressed in the demand of sovereignty

for her male issue is an outcome of her inner nature.

Again, youth and love play havoc in the hearts of

girls but that they should have found a suitable field in

Shakuntalā leaving Anasuyā and Priyamvadā quite

immune from them shows the influence of Menakā

on her The climax of vice or virtue always lends a

charm to the action. That both the hero and the heroine

both should love each other at first sight is natural but that

both should proceed straight-way to marry is indiscrete

Dushyanta's case is a fine example of the retribution that

comes upon a man when inconsiderateness reaches

a climax. It is this bitter experience which Dushyanta

and Shakuntalā get that forms the thesis of the play

Shakuntalā is a coy maiden of the hermitage. She

is beautiful1 and simple2 The sage shows great confidence

1 चित्रे निवेश्य परिकल्पितसत्ययोगा । रागोच्चयेन मनसा विधिना हताऽसृ

वीरत्नसृष्टिरा प्रतिभाति सा मे । धातुर्विभुत्वमधुचिन्त्य वपुष्य तस्याः ॥

2 आजन्मनः शाक्यमाशिक्षितो यः जतः । by शाक्षरच

तपोवनसंचारिणोऽङ्गनाऽडनेन मौहूर्तिकेन क्रतवस्त्र by सौतिमो.

150

in her powers when he engages her to do the cduties of a

host in his absence Fortune does not favour her from the

beginning The abandonment by her mother, the chance-

nursing by a Shakunta bird, the curse of Durvāsas, the

loss of the ring, the damage to her honour, are a few of the

many oppressions of fate She rises above all these, treads

very cautiously on the path of love, and endears herself

to the domain of the hermitage by her sweet conduct.

When the worst comes in the wreck of her honour in the

presence of her relatives she breaks away from decency

and pleads her own case and submits with a resignation

quite similar to that of Sītā of the Rāmāyaṇa "Shakuntalā

is shown just after the first interview to have been lifted

as it were by love in a few days out of simple and in-

nocent girlhood into mature and considerate womanhood.

The progress of love makes a good advance through the

willing co-operation of her two friends, Anasūyā and

Priyamvadā and the easy consent of her foster-father

Kaṇva There is shyness on both sides—perfect silence as

regards expression of their passion until nature impels them

to give expression to it And when one of the party fears

that the sentiment for which she sacrificed her coyness as

a maiden and good-will of her father is in danger, all the

frankness at her command is summoned with boldness

and an unmincing confession of love is made She is not

ashamed of it It is her glory and it is her joy though it

is her necessity Shakuntalā is the image of deep, true

and imaginative love, love as a passion not only of the

senses but of the intellect and soul Her natural tender-

ness comes out in all its magnitude when she is in love.

The tenderness, loneliness, imagination meet in words and

as her tenderness increases afterwards, so also does her im-

agination as well as her sense of the matter-of-fact world

expand with it. The atmosphere of love pervades Shakun-

talā's sphere of influence which oreates love in whatso-

ever or whomsoever it touches. The love has got'a remark-

able resignation to the adversness of circumstances, willing

to hold oneself accusable rather than the culprit himself.

The Vidushaka here is not strictly a confidant with

the king who narrates the whole love-affair to him but

nullifies its effect by saying that it was all a joke. Once

only does his conventional trait-the fondness for eating-

raise its head up1. Not being a party to the king's secret,

he is not pursued either by the maids of the queen nor is

his help sought by Shakuntalā's maid. Compared with his

namesakes in other dramas, this man is a weak chatacter.

To Kālidāsa perhaps the creation of humour did not matter

so much as the creation of the more powerful and serious

sentiments, Shringār and Vāstalya Kanva is an " ascetic

without a child, who lavishes on his adopted child all the

wealth of his deep affection and who sends her to her

husband with words of tender advice. He is brilliantly

contrasted with the fierce pride and anger of Durvāsas

who curses Shakuntalā for what is no more than a girlish

fault and the solemn majesty of Māricha who though

married has abandoned all earthly thoughts and enjoys

the happiness of release2"

Both Anasuyā and Priyamvadā are literally true to

their names, one being free from jealousy, serious and

sensible and the other a sweet-talker and gay They are

of the same age, of the same feeling, of the same thought

and action, -their sameness being extended to every

1. कयं बुभुक्षया खादितव्योऽस्मि ।

2 K D

152

possible thing There seemed to be apartness only in their

bodies but not in their souls 1 Of the two boy asectics

शार्दूलव is proud while शारद्वत is calm and restrained.

The language all through possesses a high tone and

pitch of elegance Words and expressions that come out

of the lips of any character are appropriately polished

according to the social etiquette There is not too much

of polish which always smells want of sincerity The

observance of natural and usual etiquette gives a touch

of naturalness The real merit of the poet lies in his sug-

gestiveness and the use of similes which is his forte2

The similes render the style brilliant and fascinating

The style is Vaidarbhi and hence possesses the ten quali-

ties of both sound and sense e g majesty, elevation, clear-

ness, beauty, elegance, softness, precision, similes,

etc The sources from which the similes3 have been

taken cover all possible departments in the universe

"heavens, earth, biological and zoological kingdoms,

domestic life, family relations, social life, mythology, fine

arts, mental stages and conventions--poetic or otherwise "

His comparisons are imaginative, intellectual, emotional,

and conventional There is novelty and variety in them

They are direct, short and pithy and there is freedom of

spirit about them.

1 अहो समवयोल्परमणीय भवत्पीना सौहार्दम् ।

2 उपमा कालिदासस्य ।

3 Similes in Kalidas—Gode, F O C

CHAPTER V

Bhavabhūti--The poet-Dramatist.

Bhavabhūti breaks the reticence that is usual with sanskrit poets and enables us to stand on some terra firma by giving information about himself in the introduction of his Mahāvīracharita. It is as follows -

"आस्ति दक्षिणापये पद्मपुर नाम नगरम् । तत्र केचित्तैररीया कार्यपाश्रणयुरव पद्धत्क्रियावना पञ्चाम्रयो धृतव्रता। सोमपीथिन. उदुंबरनामानो ब्रह्मवादिन प्रतिवसन्ति । तदस्युष्यायणस्य तत्रभवतो वाजपेययाजिनो महाकवे पञ्चम. सुगृहीतानाम्नो सद्मोपालस्य पीठ पवित्रक्रीडनोलकण्डस्यात्मसंभव. श्रीकण्ठपदलाञ्छन पदवाक्यप्रमाणज्ञो भवभूतिनां तत्करुणापूर्ण ।

We thus see that Bhavabhūti was born of Jatukarni and Nīlkantha, son of Gopal Bhatta residiug in Padmapura in Daxināpatha. The family of Udumbaras to which he belonged claimed lineage from Kashyapa and followed the Taittirīya Shāk'ha. Tradition clusters round the name of the poet which was Shrikantha first but was substi-

tuted for Bhavabhūti through the favour of Shiva who gave ashes to him An identity is established between Bhavabhūti, Umveka and Mandana1 though it is contradicted by solid evidence, viz. 1 Umveka and Mandana were two different porsonalities according to Ghana-

shyāma, his commentator, 2 Bhavabhūti betrays sympathy for Buddhism. This confusion is due to his proclivities

1. शंकरदिग्विजय.

154

towards sacrificial activities which he had inherited from

his ancestors who were सोम and वाजपेययाजिनः

He was a great student of sacerdotal learning a great mimāmsaka

and claimed the discipleship of Kumārilabhatta 1

As against this he mentions one ज्ञाननिधि as his guru who was

a परमहंस2 Is this word ज्ञाननिधि to be taken as an epithet ?

Opinion is divided as regards the locality of his place

of birth Ghanashyāma puts him down as a native of

Dravida country from his style This is corroborated by

the famililarity with which the scenes round about the

river Godā and the outskirts of the Vindhya mountain are

described in U R and M M The same famililarity is

also noticed in the descriptions of scenes round about

Kanouj-e g. the village Kālpi, its Shiva temple and its

festival at which his plays were staged The rivers Sindhu,

Para, and places Madhumati and Padmāvati can still

be identified 3 Dr Bhandārkar makes him a native of

some place near Chandrapur or Chāndā in C P

In face of this diverging evidence it can be said " that the place

of Bhavabhuti's nativity was not the scene of his literary

triumphs and that these were attained under the patro-

This prince of Hindustan was Yashovarman of

Kanouj The chronicle of Kashmere mentions another

1 इति श्री भट्टकुमारिलशिष्यमहद्भटृभूतिकृते मालतीमादवे पञ्चमोडृ-

Colophone of one ms of M M

2 श्रेष्ठ परमहंसाना महर्षीणां च यथाद्दिरा । यस्य ज्ञाननिधिर्गुरुः ॥ म तौ

3 पद्मावती = पद्मपुर - नरवर-Cunningham

4 Hindu Theatre, Wilson

155

poet named Vākpatirāj who lived at his court along with Bhavabhūti.1

Yashovarman was subdued by Lalitāditya of Kashmir who ruled from 693–729 A. D2 Vākpati makes a eulogistic reference in his Gaudvahō to the nectar-ocean of

Bhavabhūti’s poetry which he has laid under3 The same prākrit poem of Vākpati describes a solar eclipse which has been dated by Jacobi on the strength of Chinese chronology at 14th August 733, A.D This fixes the date of

both Vākpati and his preceptor Bhavabhuti.

Bhatta Kumarila who was a preceptor of Bhavabhūti lived just a little prior to Shankarāchārya whose date has pretty nearly been settled to be 800 A D. “Bhavabhūti falls, therefore, between the last decades of the 7th and the

early decades of the 8th century.” The absence of reference to Bhavabhuti in the long list in Harshacharita is due to the fact that Bāṇa lived in the first part of 700 A D.

The date is further circumscribed by the quotations from Bhavabhūti given by Kshiraswami who was the teacher of Jayāpīda4—the grandson of Lalitāditya Amongst other writers that refer to Bhavabhūti are Kshemendra, the

contemporary of Anantarāj of Kashmir (1028-1063), Rāja-shekhara, the priest of Mehendrapāla of Kanauj ( 903-967

A. D ), Dhananjaya and Dhanapāla, patronised by Munjā (974 -995 A D ) and Vamana ( latter half of 800 A. D ).

1 कविताकपतिराजश्रीमवभूत्यादिसेवित· ।

जितो ययौ यशोवर्मा तद्गुणस्तुतिवान्दिताम् ॥ रा त ४१९४५.

2 Cunningham 695 A D (Pandit)

3 भवभूतिजलनिधिनिर्गतकाव्यामृतरसकणा इव स्फुरान्ति । गौडवह

4 751-785 A D Dr Bhandarkar M M

156

The two traditions that fix the contemporaneity of Bha- vabhūti and Kālidāsa have not got any historical truth.

The मेजप्रणय of Ballāla makes Kālidāsa, Bhavabhuti, Bāna, Mayūr simultaneously enjoy the patronage of Bhoja, the king of Dhār But the work can only be received as an authority for the priority of the writers described in it to

the date of its own composition, or as an authority for their gradation according to their literary merits, the grouping whether of place or time being altogether fanci- ful The other tradition refers to the change of Anuswāra

in the line—अविदितगतयामा रात्रिरेव व्यरंसत्।

This date is in harmony with the internal evidence

The horrid element and sentiment described in the fifth act of M M—the conduct of the two blood-thirsty

characters, Aghoraghanta and Kapālakundalā is similar to

what we find in some places in the Daśakumāracharita

of Dandi, ( 700 A D ) and in the fourth uchhvāsa of

Harshacharita of Bāna The scenes appear to be charac- teristic of the same age.

The society painted in the plays

belongs to the same age The manners are purely Hindu

without any foreign admixture Women of rank could

appear in public without a tiraskarīṇī ( mask ) " The

licensed existence of Budha ascetics, their access to the

great and their employment as teachers of science are

other peculiarities characteristic of an early date The

worship of Shiva in his terrific form and the prevalence

of the practices of yoga are indications of a similar ten- dency With respect to the yogins by whom mystic rites

were mostly cultivated, it may be observed that there are

many reasons for giving them a remote date " The people

were running mad after the dreadful and heinous in

1 Wilson, Theatre

157

Tantrism for the every accomplishment of their object.

The most decided evidence of an early date is furnished by

the allusions to the Vedas and to some parts of the Hindu

ritual which are not now familiary known· and which

there is reason to think, have long fallen into disuse.1"

Bharbhūti wrote three plays Mahāvircharita, Mālati-

Mādhav and Uttarramcharita There is one stanza2 that is

ascribed to Bharbhūti It occurs in नाट्यप्रपात्ते but not

in any one of his plays. The subject of two plays is taken

from the Rāmāyana while of the third from the Brihatkathā.

The three plays together develop and solve one very im-

portant problem in human life. The first, Mahāvircharita

depicts the boy-hood, its sincerity, innocence and

reverence for elders The second, Mālati-Mādhav, has for

its subject the flippant youth, its impetuousness ardent-

nesse, sentimentality. reverence and regard for the object of

love and sincere sacrifce for love The third, Uttarāmo,

depicts an advanced house holder who cautiously treads

on the path of worldly life who is more careful for the

opinion of others, whose conscience always struggles with

the sense of duty and whose duty comes out triumphant.

There is first the childhood or boy-hood with all its

buoyancy, with a strong reverence and regard for the

elders with all the halo of innocence Play is the all-

and end-all of its activities. The child enters youth

with its powerful sentiments upon which ideals are

formed, for which lives are sacrificed. The youth with

all its potentialities leaves the world of hard and dry facts

and enters the world of ideals or romance. Exhibitions

1 Wilson, 'Theatre',

2. निगद्यानि पद्यानि यदिनाट्यस्य काक्षति·।

मिथ्यरक्षा चिनिक्षित· किमिक्षुान्तरसेभवेत।शा।

158

of heroism and chivalry are attempted The hopes, the

desires, the attempts, the ambitions are in full force and

at times race is run even after phantoms. Lastly comes

the stage of advanced age with its maturity of thought

and action An old man is an experienced man who has

travelled through all the din of misery, is impressed with

the futility of the youthful effervescence of energy, looks

back with sorrow on the innocence of childish days and treads

very cautiously the life that is left. This obviously fixes

the order of the plays The internal evidence of structure

language and ideas points out to one and the same author-

ship of the plays. The beautiful verses that are common-

ly found in the plays prove that Bhaṭṭabhūti was first a

poet and then a dramatist. The fine thoughts that may

have occurred to him in a happy moment of inspiration

may have been translated by him in a poem The poet

must have had a good stock of such fine strains and he

must have, on presentation of a suitable opportunity on a

dramatic situation drawn upon that stock.

The Mahāvīrcharita and the Uttarāmcharita try

to bridge over the communal differences between the

Brā̄hmins and Kṣatriyas. The fight reaches its climax

in the alteration (M V act 3rd ) in which both the

parties pour down on each other the bitterest venom The

soothing influence comes from Rāma The plays also

describe the pleasures of happy companionship of persons

not given to the matters of this world, always engrossed in

high thinking, and trying to create a paradise on this earth

The plays of Bhaṭṭabhūti are very charming chamber-

poems rather than stage dramas Though he says that they

were staged on the occasion of the festival of Kālapriya-

nātha of Ujjain still it is very difficult to imagine the

nature of stage-contri-vances that were used to show the

talk of Jatāyu and Sampāti-two birds, the talk of two

beings of the fairy world-वियाधर and वियाधरी or the किवर-

मिथुन in M V., the movements of persons in an aerial car,

the concealment of Sītā underground, the sudden dis-

appearance of Mālatī, the offering of an oblation in a

sacrifice, &c

Mahaviracharita

The Māhavīracharitra depicts all the important items

and characters in the early life of Rāma The first act

gives the talk between Vishvāmitra Sīradhvaja, Rāma,

Laxman, Sītā and Urmilā, the reviving of Ahalyā, the

proposal of marriage made by Sarvamāya, priest of

Rāvana the death of Tātakā, Subāhu and Mārīcha, the

bestowal of jrimihakāstra and the settlement of marriage

on the breaking of a bow A plot is hatched by Mālyavān

and Shurpanakha to set up a quarrel between Rāma and

Parashurāma The third act gives the famous altercation

between Shatānand Kaushika and Jāmad_gnya. All the

details that brought about Rāma's exile,-the insinuations

of Mantharā, the banns of Kaikayī and Rāma's determi-

nation to proceed to the forest are given in the fourth

The incidents that happened in Kishkindhā are given in the

fifth viz the description of Dandakā, Bibhīshana's message

through Shramanā, the death of Vāli The sixth act des-

cribes the fight between Rāma and Rāvana Rāvana is

killed in the last act.

There are thirty-seven characters in all ( 24 males, 13

females ) excluding the minor ones such as spirits,

demons and attendants Tongue is given to cities e g.

Lankā and Alakā in M. V and to rivers, e. g. Tamasā

and Muralā in U. R.

160

Rāma is the hero of the play He has been ascribed quite a mystic birth1 as is seen in the case of all great men Sīradhwaja, the brother of Janaka and the two daughters are impressed very much with his mystic powers2 For the transparency of his heart he is complimented by his brother3 He is not at all perturbed when the ambassador of Rāvana announces the wish of his master of getting the hand of Sītā He is reluctant to kill Tātakā but 'kills her on the responsibility of the sages4 Rāma of Bhavabhūti, especially of M V., does not command from us that reverence on account of his extremely sacrificing spirit as in the case of Rāma of Vyās or for the matter of that even Rāma of U.R In his connection with Parashurāma, Rāma has recourse to sly words and even in the midst of emergency he leaves the scene quite abruptly at a time when no man of a tolerably chivalrous spirit could have left And why does he leave? Apparently of course at the invitation of his mother-in-law Secondly Parashurāma is won over and is made to relinquish his unfailing weapens—certainly by tickling his high sense of self-praise, by lauding his qualities and the moment that Parashurāma throws off his weapons, Rāma takes them up in his hand and catches the first opportunity to put them touse.

Rāma of Bhavabhūti is born to suffer and not to vindicate The injustice is avenged by the circumstances

1 प्राप्ताः कन्चिदिवश्रुगोपचारैः । पुण्यश्लोका वोशेलेंद्रपुत्राः

2 द्वितीयस्य च वर्णस्य प्रयमस्याश्रमस्य च ! अद्भुतो रम्ये इमे मूर्ती वयसो नूतनस्य च ।

3 अतिसौजन्यादार्यस्य तस्मिन्नपि निसर्गवैरिणि निशाचरे बहुमानः

4. युष्माकमस्युपगमा प्रमाणं पुण्यपपायः !

or by the Time-Spirit and Rāma the sufferer becomes a

tool in its hand. People sympathise with him in his

bereavement, not because the enemy has done so much

injustice to him but because he has suffered so much.

Rāvana comes and takes away his wife People talk ill

of his wife. A messenger brings the news about the

calumny and he abandons her But what does he actually

do in getting back his lost wife ? The element

of chance works in his favour The chance repeti-

tion of his own life by Lava and Kusha reminds him

of the past incidents and brings home to him the purity

and chastity of his wife In this way he is a central tragic

figure suffering not through any folly of his own as we

find in the characters of Shakespeare. He suffers for

others from purely altruistic motives Though the char-

acter is defective in not being a psychological whole,

still historically the attitude of Rāma, championing the

sacerdotal cause of Aryan Brahmin settlers against the

aboriginal evil spirits can be defended. Rāma is an

immature child always guiding his activities according

to the deliberations of elders He acts because he can-

not afford to remain inactive but does not act according to

his own initiative. He merges his own will in that of

others

Another important male character is that of Parashu-

rāma He is an enormously impetuous man. So many

times he had made clear to the world what an insult

either to him or to his relative meant His father was

lightly treated by some king which sin the whole race of

the culprit had to expiate by offering themselves as so

many victims to his terrible axe It is on account

of these frightening antecedents that Sītā and other ladies of

11

the harem lose the strength of their nerve? when they hear that he was making his way towards Rāma He is a man of quick temperament He is irritated easily and pacified also very easily Such persons fall easy victims to the insinuations of wise brains Rāma detects this defect in him and takes advantage of it He tickles him by giving a word of praise of his own self, of his weapons, his parents, his preceptor, and his achievements

The encomium proves too sweet a pill to be thrown aside and out he exclaims "राम राम सर्वथैव हृद्यंगमोडसि" This is a triumph for Rāma for which he receives a compliment from the सर्वः He is appropriately described by Rāma in

त्रातु लोकानिव परिणत कायवाक्रवेद

धात्रो धर्मो शिततनु तनु त्रिदशेश्वस्य शिष्यः।

सामध्यान्नामिव समुదय सच्चयो वा गुणानामू

आविर्भूय स्थित इव जगत्पुण्यनिर्माणराशौ॥

Of the other characters, Laxmana is an impetuous, impetuous youth, Rāvana is unrepentant, unyielding, uncompromising, imprudent, braggart, overconfident of his own power and dignity, Mālyawān is optimistic and aggressive and the rest are philosophers

Of the female charactes, only two, Sītā and Shramanā, help the development of the action Sītā and other girls are introduced as witnessing the martial feats of Rama and Laxmana—the breaking of the Shiva-bow, the death of Tātakā and Subāhu It is, therefore, no wonder that they desire to be wedded with the boy-warriors. When Parashurāma, inflamed as he is, makes his way through the harem for Rāma and when Rāma cannot be prevailed upon to withhold and the jssues are quite clear, Sītā casts

163

off her mask of bashfulness and stops Rāma from proceeding further. Occasion demanding, she proves true to the

dignity and honour of herself and her family.

Shramanā is a highly cultured lady She serves a

guide to Rāma on his path and gives him a good deal of

valuable and useful information In point of culture

and gentility she can be compared with Vāsanti or

Kāmandaki or Shankrityāyani.

Malati-Madhao

The present play is an apt illustration of what the

author says about the drama. A drama, according to him,

should contain many incidents full of sentiments It should

present the romantic gambols of lovers There should

be plots and counter-plots, clothed into finely woven

texture of language It should be a mirror to the society.

This exactly applies to Mālatī-Mādhao The plot-texture

is arranged on an expansive plan having in the main

the incident of Bhurivasu and Deorāta, progressing with

the help of Kāmandaki. The free handling and exchange

of the two very powerful means—कूटचार्य and चित्रफलक,

help the plot in making rapid progress Various are

the maids and men who assuage the troubles of the lovers

but the real maid is कूटमाला and the real 'best man' is

चित्रफलक These two delicate means of union belong to

the world of idealism in which the poet profoundly rambles The characters are ideal, living in an ideal world

passing an ideal time, in an ideal company, in ideal

gardens.

The tiger-episode gives an occasion for the display

of chivalry on the part of Makaranda, who proves his

mettλε and desexxes his lady-love Mādhaσ fails to rise

to tne occasion and he faints but recovers by ithe touch

of Mālati's hand The fourth act is the keystone in

the arch of plot-architexture The words of Madayantikā

" Let us start the preparations for the marriage " point

out to the प्रयत्न The removal of the obstruction or the

obriation of the misoccurrence comes later on

Mālati censures her father for his mercilessness When

Mādhaνa sees that all hope of securing Mālati is gone, he

sees no other suitable occupation but the most detest-

able one-the sale of human flesh. The fifth act gives us

some idea about the horrid blood-philosophy of the time

The goddess and her human oblations, the charms and

the wands, the spirits and the goblins were the signs of

the times The Buddhism and the Jainism were waning and

the doctrine of Ahimsā underwent the greatest reaction.

From the point of dramatics, it is a good interlude

between two quiet events The fifth act gives a good

occasion for Mādhao to display his chivalry ( as

Makaranda did in the Tiger-episode) Madhao shows that

he is a fighter of no less mettle His friend's fight is

directed against beastly strength But his is a fight

directed against the baneful social evil which in the

name of religion was corroding the society

The action becomes static in the sixth act The

arama should have practically ended there The poet's

muse is free from the disturbing intricacies of the plot

and is enjoying rest and as a result, we meet with speci-

mens of some fine poetry According to the belief of the

day, the heroine is brought to the temple of the town-deity

on the day prior to the day of marriage, avowedly for the

riddance of oil but expressly for the secret marriage managed by Kāmandaki. The unwholesome foreign element is scared from the temple and the inner chamber of it by an order that the bride-elect has to put on the marriage costume and ornaments It is, therefore, a good place for the lovers to meet

The seventh act is devoted to the progress of the sub-plot which had to be set aside owing to the importance of the main one The characters were seriously busy in bringing to a happy and successful issue the love-affair of Mālati and Mādhava But when that is in sight they find time to look to the side-affair The happiest moment in the life of Nandana is made to turn upon him in an ironic way. He was to be wedded to the fairest damsel but time turns against him so much that not only is he not married with her but he finds his own sister abducted. Makaranda enters into the very heart of the harem disguised as an intending member of it—to be joined in wedlock and thus is able to work an effective breach in the plans of Nandana Another impediment crops up and seems for a moment to foil their hopes and to threaten their fulfilment for ever The suddenness and the inevitability of it baffle even the superior wisdom of Kāmandaki who creates good prospects for the lovers’ union Agnōrghanta and Kapālkundalā are waiting in ambush to fall foul upon Mālati since she is taken off from their hands at the time of sacrifice An opportunity comes and they wreak greater vengeance upon their prey, Mālati, as a result of which all characters prepare for suicide in utter disappointment

The plot is prolonged by two acts due to this serious impediment. The two acts achieve nothing in the ad-

vancement of either the plot or characters The characters

are the same as they were at the end of the seventh

What is done is done worse and at times threatens to

undo what has been done Howsoever firm their attach-

ment may be towards each other, it should not have

driven them to have recourse to suicide, which is the

greatest weakness in human character The last two

acts have some importance in them from the point of

view of poetry and description The poet gets time to

dwell upon incidental topics and subsidiary characters-

Another note-worthy feature is that the elder classics that

were up to that time neglected are drawn upon not only

in point of ideas but in point of words and situations also.

The suggesting clue of the ninth act appears in the

mention of Saudāminī-lightning and the pleasures of

friendship and union are compared to the transient and

unsteady flashes of lightning The kāpālikatva of the father

Bhūrivasu has been referred to by Mālati and subsequent-

ly the ghastly scene of Kāpālikā appears, It is such

flimsy indications that serve as suggesting clues to what

is to come. The sequel must be a natural outcome of

what proceedes and should not be made to hang upon

such flimsy pegs The suggestion is effective if it strikes

the sub-conscious region of our focus The suggestion

should be of ideas or of situations rather than of words or

it should be by contrast. None of these devices is

attempted by the dramatist and, therefore, they are less

dramatic Better had they not been done

MADHAO -Kāmandaki describes him as the moon

rising from Deorāta He is young in age but advanced

in lore. He loves his friend so much that he faints

when the latter is engaged in a tiger-fight The possible

blemish in his character revealed by his conduct in the

tiger-scene is made good in the horrid scene of Aghora-

ghanta Mādhāo is shown as a fighter for a worthier cause,

demolishing and destroying the author of human sacrifice.

The only thing that pulls him down a little from the en-

nobling light in which he is shown is his readiness to take

to the sale of human flesh. He secures Mālati as a prize

for his bravery displayed by him in her release from the

magic clutches and the cannibalic lust of the two feroc-

ious devotees of Shākți.

Another flaw in the character of Mādhāo-and it is

common with all the important characters in the play-

is the readiness for suicide He is a favourite child of

fortune Even in the dreadful catastrophe which has

baffled the superior wisdom of Kāmandaki, and which is

very insurmountable, Saudāmini rises up in the manner

of lightning and rescues Mālati

Nandana serves a good counter-foil to the character

of Mādhāo There are two ways in character-caricature,

one by unfolding one by one the best features of the

principal character and the other by unfolding the worst

features of the rival character. The greater the contrast

between the two, the greater the effect. If one is the

embodiment of all that is good and beautiful,

the other is the embodiment of all that is bad and ugly

not only rise by his own merits but rises also by the

worst demerits of his rival Nandana. Rightly has

Nandana been victimised by his own silliness because

not only does he lose his bride but also loses his sister.

He should have taken the mask off his bride's face and

have thus brought to light the plot of Kāmandaki The

villain in a play is always crooked and merciless, with

an untiring zeal for the persecution of the hero and the heroine

Makaranda is a loving friend. He must be very delicate and small. He could very easily be substituted for Mālatī How is it that this delicate youth whose frame was as frail as that of a woman could suffer the dreadful nailings of a tiger and rescue the young girl ?

Mālatī is presented as a timid, coy maiden belonging to a high and noble family She is very particular in keeping the good name of her family untarnished She does not value Mādhao or her life more than the good name of her family, father and mother. Eagerness, straight-forwardness, sincerity, bashfulness, religiosity are some of the prominent virtues shown in her She had a great hope in her father but it is shattered when she finds herself offered by him to secure the good wishes of the Amātya Her mind is tossed like a shuttle There are many ups and downs and many oscillations There are many actualities of unions and separations and also probabilities for a permanent good-bye to her lover Being satisfied with the unflinching veracity and unfailing virility of the wisdom of Kāmandakī and also with the sincerity of Lavangikā, she has made them the custodians of her heart and destiny She is a poor soul and, therefore, falls a victim to the carnivorous and cannibalic eye of Aghoraghanta and Kāpālikā All powerful sentiments are of one kīth and kin They succeed in making contradictory effects They make their victims both acutely sensitive and also deadlly senseless Despondency in life is made of that stuff It is on account of despondency that life had become irksome to her Bhavabhūti and Shakespeare both have depicted love, rushing headlong

against all im·odiments in the characters of Mālatī and

Juliet respectively. The long-standing family-fued comes

in the war of final fruition of their love, the impeded pace

of which is accelerated through the attempts of nunlike

Kāmandakī and monk-like Friar Mālatī's passion differs

from Juliet's not of course in intensity but "in the

unconquerable reserve even to the extent of denying her

utterances to him she loves more than her life,-a res-

traint to which the manners of Hindu women were sub-

jected even while they were in enjoyment, as appears from

the drama, of considerable personal freedom" 1 Not only

Mālatī but all heroines suffer from the same restraint,

Vasantasenā only being excepted.

Kāmandakī is the main moving figure in the drama

who very skilfully manipulates the course of the incidents.

She probably belongs to the Jain order and not the Buddhist

She was a co-student with Bhurvasu and Deorāta.

She appears just in the nick of time when she is most re-

quired by the situation Every one has a great confi-

dence in the wisdom and shrewdness of her She loves

both the hero and heroine as she would love her own

children She is well-versed in religious injunctions

"The plan set up by Kāmandakī never fails" (says

Makaranda) is the keynote of all her activities Every

event, small or great, every notion, religious or secular is

moulded by her genius to suit the final catastrophe, a very

fine specimen of which is in the sixth act, where the inner

sacred chamber of the temple is made use of as a haunt

for lovers The pious lady is overcome with filial love

so much that she quite in a motherly way breaks out into

tears at the handing over of her trust to Mādhavo Her

1 Wilson, Hindu Theatre

170

secret emissaries in the plot are Lavangikā and Buddha-rakshitā. Throughout the play we search in vain for any aspect of their monastic life to which they had been ordained Their sole business is to enter into the secrets of lovers, to create new ones, to suggest remedies when the parties are baffled and again to move in society with good and untainted grace and high status

The whole cosmos is full of miseries What is required is an agency that takes a broom-stick in the hand and sweeps away the misshapen ugly monstrocities as typified here in Aghorghanta and Kāpālikā Both Saudā-mini and Kāmandaki belong to this celebrated order or agency. They start on self-sacrifice and disinterestedness and carry on the pious work of sweeping away from the human world the agencies of evil Saudāmini is more sedate, more relieving, more watchful and more effecient than Kāmandaki

Uttar-Rāmcharita

"The subject of this play is a continuation of the play Mahāviracharita in which the martial exploits of Rāma are dramatized. This play comprises events that occured subsequent to the war which constitutes the subject of the Rāmāyana"1 The hero and the heroine are introduced talking on the miseries that generally beseat the house-holder's life The sage Rishyashringa has commenced a sacrifice and all the matrons have left for it leaving Sītā alone at nome with Rāma to divert her mind The picture-scroll is a means used for diversion It reminds them of their past occurences-the physical and mental turmoil through which they had to pass The picture-scroll scene

1 Wilson, Hindu Theatre

gives the psychological keynote to the drama. The various

films that pass by are so many vivid images of the fancy

of the poet and the thoroughness of the fancy goes to the

extent of forcing out tears from rocks or of pounding any

adamantine heart 1 The scene has two aspects, descriptive

and sentimental, the first appearing in the descriptions of

clouds, mountains, lakes, rivers, sites, demons, monkey-

friends and the other in that of grief of separation, and

hardships of life Rāma is in a happy moment when all

of a sudden the worst calamity to a householder and to a

husband falls on him like a bolt from the blue-the

scandal about Sītā. The scene ends in the wreck of the

house-hold Rāma sets aside all considerations of love,

decency and sympathy and throws his wife to the care

of the elements.

The second act is separated from the first by a wide

gulf of time. The unity of time is not kept up Rāma

abandons Sītā at the end of the first and sets out to stop

the penance of Shambuka The intervening incidents

like the birth of Kusha and Lava, their rearing, their

initiation, their study of Vedas and archery, their superior

intellect are mentioned in the Vishkambhaka. The action

progresses more behind the stage than on it. The stage

is used for the sallies of wit and genius. The poet loses

himself in the description of sentiment and, therefore, has

no consciousness enough to measure how far the plot

is progressing. This consciousness comes up towards the

end and then he hastens to wind up the events in a

Vishkambhaka

1. आपिर्वाचा रौद्रस्य दलति वज्रस्य हृदयम् ।

2. कषायाद्-यो वर्लिमत्र नितृणः क्षिपामि ।

The

third

act

is

termed

छाया

because

Sītā

moves

along

with

Tamasā

invisibly

on

the

stage

and

notices

the

pitiful

plight

that

Rāma

is

in

Sītā

has

no

misgiving

about

the

genuineness

of

Rāma's

love

The

act

mentions

the

attack

on

the

cub

followed

by

the

description

of

Rāma's

sorrow

Rāma

wanders

and

raves

like

Purūravas

The

action

again

remains

static

in

this

act

The

poet

loses

himself

in

the

description

of

pathos

Scenes

from

Dandakā

are

described

भाण्डायन

and

सौ

यातकी

appear

in

the

fourth

act

and

describe

the

agonised

condition

of

Janaka's

mind

The

pathos

would

have

been

more

telling,

had

it

been

put

in

the

mouth

of

the

mother

of

Sītā.

But

mythology

came

in

the

way

of

the

poet

The

meeting

of

Janaka

and

Kausalya

removes

all

the

misgivings

regarding

the

treatment

of

Sītā

who

is

treated

as

a

daughter

1

The

introduction

of

the

two

boys

of

the

hermitage

reminds

Sītā

of

the

growth

of

her

two

sons

The

atmosphere

of

the

hermitage

is

brought

before

us

by

the

commotion

that

is

caused

among

the

boys

by

the

sight

of

the

horse.

सौधातकी

is

a

free

lance

among

them

enjoying

the

queer

look

of

the

long

beards

and

the

matted

hair

of

the

sages

and

their

ways

of

offering

hospitality

He

is

new

to

the

hermitage-life

Lava

is

not

simple

and

timid

He

pelts

the

horse

and

does

not

run

away

at

the

sight

of

the

refulgent

weapons

The

fifth

act

gives

the

wordy

conflict

between

Chandra-ketu

and

Lava,

revealing

various

features

of

both

the

nobility

of

mind,

the

discipline,

and

the

knowledge

of

the

code

of

fighting

It

describes

the

Vir-rasa

The

actual

fighting,

and

the

havoc

in

the

army

take

place

behind

the

curtain.

1

अस्माकं

तु

जनकसुतां

वेन

दुर्दितकैः

.

The plight of the forces caused by Lava, the arrival of Chandraketu, the respectful and loving references of Sumantra and Chandraketu about Lava, their speeches, his confusion and the use of Jṛimbhakāstras are things that come one after another in a natural way.

The sixth act gives in a विप्रकंमक scene similar to one in M. V where two Gandharvas talk upon the fight between Rāma and Rāvana. Here a couple of semidivine beings (विद्याधरs) from their aerial car take a bird's-eye-view of the fight between Lava and Chandraketu. Rāma appears on the scene on his way back from Shambuka, and notices valour displayed by Lava especially in the use of the weapons. The sixth act does mainly the work of gradual evolution of the feelings of Rāma about his sons Lava and Kusha. Kausalya¹, Sumantra² and Rāma³ notice in the two boys great akinnness with Rāma and the identity is unfolded to them step by step and finally it is decided on the evidence of the use of the जृंभकास्त्रs.

The seventh act gives a drama within drama and as such very vividly reminds Rāma of all that he has done In brief it is an epitome of the outer drama from the point of view of dramatics. All the impersonal forces that were acting upon the mind of Rāma in his sub-conscious—the bitings of his conscience that was constantly preying upon his mind, the injustice with which Sītā was abandoned,—have been impersonated by means of this drama within drama. The inner commotion of Rāma finds vent through the speeches of the Earth and the Ganges—two

1 न केवलं देहवन्येन स्वरेणापि रामभद्रस्यानुकरोति ।

2 धृतधनुष रघुनन्दनं स्मरामि ।

3 अनाददात् स्तुत इव निजस्नेहेस्य सार· ।

characters in the drama. The evidence for the purity of

Sītā is given by वाल्मीकि and पृथिवी In the Rāmāyana, Vālmīki

himself comes forward and swears to the purity of Sītā and

stakes his own penance-merit on its opposite A similar

plight in the Shāk. is explained by the रक्षाकृत् which but

for the touch of the parents would transform itself into a

serpent and bite

CHARACTERIZATION —Rāma is a perfect householder

having great regard for religious duty He has

no suspicions whatsoever lurking in his mind about

Sītā's purity Sītā is pure to him by her very birth, no

other purificatory means being necessary. Even after

her abandonment, he keeps by him a golden image of Sītā

The grief of separation boils up his heart sealed like a

medical jug He is thoroughly conversant with the ways

of the world He is wordly-wise His form is greatly

impressive, his power greatly sanctifying He is as it

were the most exalted form of religion in its serene aspect

walking in bodily form as Kusha says of him on his first

visit Lava in an ironical way tries to find out flaws in his

spotless character, viz the destruction of Suradā's wife, the

three steps which he had to retrace in the fight with Khara

and the skill in the destruction of Vāli His character

typifies the struggle between the conscience and the sense of

duty "The quiet devotedness with which Rāma sacrifices

his wife and domestic happiness to the prosperity of subjects

is a worthy counter-part to the immolation of his natural

affections to public interest

1 उत्पत्तिपरिपूताया किमस्या पावनान्तरे

2 हिरण्मयी सीताप्रतिमृति

3 Wilson, Theatre

175

Laxmana is a general supervisor in the royal house-

hold He diverts the minds of both Rāma and Sītā in the

picture-scroll scene It is he who is assigned the mission

of taking Sītā in a chariot and leaving her to the care of

the elements. It is again he who appears in the last act

with a mission of arranging a theatre for staging a drama

within drama. The easily excitable temperament is not

met with in this play.

The character of Sītā is presented in the purest glow

possible in the beginning. Sympathy is created in the

mind by seeing her pregnant, of purest character, of com-

manding appearance and conduct, with sympathetic and

affectionate attitude from the elders in the family and

with lovely regard for her husband Even such an august

personality who has for her mother विसंभरा and for her

father जनक is made subject to the vilest columny ! She

appears to speak in a taunting tone She is very glad to

note that the king is still alive to his duties as a king for

which he has abandoned his own wife.

Both sitā and Shakuntalā labour under the same dis-

ability—the disowning by their husband Actuated by the

same motive, Rāma and Dushyanta do not wish to be

lowered down in the eyes of the public. Dushyanta does

it under the influence of a curse. But Rāma has no such

grievance. With his eyes wide open he abandons his

sweetheart because he is afraid of flouting the public

opinion.

Ātreyi and Vāsanti talk very ideally and poetically.

They know the orıgın of the Rāmāyana and the orıgın of

metre They are sorry for the interruption in their study.

Some characters in the play impersonate rivers.

"spirits of the air of the forest who mingle familiary and affectionately with demigods and sages"

There is no humourous character-Vidusbaka in his plays "He omits him whom he could not have handled effectivelly and, therefore, had to select in place of comic relief, incidents of terrible and horrible type blended with supernatural"1 The deliberate attempt to create bomour in U R (IV) is deplorable

Bharabbūti is eminently a poet of sentiment His dramas are the comedies of sentiments. The plot and the characters are neglected in preference to the development of sentiments The most prominent sentiments are selected Other intricate ones are only referred to There are so many complex feelings with us, the potency of which is felt but not explained We are not able to say why we take fancy to a particular person or thing2 Some indescribable feeling it is that deadens our sense3 Sometimes we are baffled as to whether a particular sensation is happiness or otherwise.4 His theory about sentiment is expressed in a verse uttered by Tamasā in U R. viz

एतेऽपि रस एव निमित्तभेदाद्द्रैः पुष्टिं प्रयागिवाश्रयते विवर्तान् ।

There is only one master-sentiment which is 'pathos' and all others are different manifestations of it as whirlpools, eddies, bubbles, billows are all transformations of water.

1 K D

2 तत्सस्य किन्त्वत्रैव योधि यस्य प्रियोजने व्यतिपज्यति पदार्थान्तर कोऽपि हेतुः।

3 विकार कोऽप्यन्तर्जायति च तापं च कुलते

4 विनिःश्वसितुं शक्यो न सुखामिति वा दुःखामिति वा ॥

177

Another important feature of the poet lies in his nature-descriptions "The temper of Bhavabhūti was akin to the grand and inspiring in nature and life".1 "He shows a just appreciation of the aweful beauty and grandeur of nature enthroned in solitudes of dense forests, cataracts and lofty mountains He has equally a strong perception of stern grandeur in human character and is successful in bringing out deep pathos and tenderness. His genius was more of a lyric than of a dramatic nature. He had not the art of putting himself into various situations, of forgetting one and becoming quite a new man in and feeling he occupies a very high rank".

"Kālidasa has more fancy, greater art, more skill in suggesting Bhavabhūti has originality in plot and conception but no skill in the arrangements of incidents and in denouement."2

The style is vigorous and harmonious. It is very rarely simple The poet is 'fond of elaborate overloaded description प्रौढत्वमुदीरता च वचसाम् ("richness and elevation of expression") is the keynote of his writings "It suffers from the drawbacks such as long compounds, obsolete words and prepositions, clumsy constructions and grammatical offences It was Bhavabhūti's boast that upon him the goddess of speech and eloquence waited as a submissive maid and so we may not assume with him "rhyme was the rudder to the sense", in other words that his diction was determined by the exigencies of metre or the like. On the contrary his word-order is deliberate, and almost alway artistic "3

1 K D 2 Dr Bhandarkar M M

3 Dr Belwalkar G R (preface) H O S

12

CHAPTER

VI

Shri Harsha, The Patron-Poet

Shri Harsha is another poet belonging to the high category of kings like Shūdraka. He was a great patron of learning Opinion is divided as regards the identity of Shri Harsha

(i) There was first the king Harsha of Kanauj and Sthaneshwar He was the same as Shīlāditya referred to by Huoen Tsang. His father Prabhākara, the enemy of Hunas and Gurjars, died in 604 A D leaving two sons Rajavardhana and Harshavardhana, of whom the former faught with Deogupta who had put to death Grahārman, husband of Rajyaśrī Shashānka of Bengal and a friend of the Guptas killed him. There was a scuffle between Shri Harsha and Pulakeshi II This Shri Harsha lived in the first half of the seventh century (604-648 A. D)

(ii) There was another king Shri Harsha, king of Kashmire, who was also a great patron of learning and author of several compositions The treatises were in fact written by other hack-writers (possibly by Dhāraka). Kalhana gives the line beginning from नृपम-हरि-अनन्त-कटङ-ह्रेप

This Harsha lived between 1113 and 1125 A D

(iii) The third Harsha is the author of the famous epic Naiṣadhīya

Of the three, the third cannot be the author of the plays as his poem does not refer to any one of them or to any situation or characters in them though it mentions a

179

number of works at the end 1 Besides there is no resem-

blance whatsoever either verbal or conceptual. The

second also cannot be the author of the plays because

authorities belonging to a time prior to 1113 A.D refer to

the dramatization of his plays-(Itsing refers to the per-

formance of Nāgānanda and Damodaragupta, contem-

porary of Jayāpīda of Kashmir (779-813) refers to that of

Ratnāvalī in his Kuttinīmata )

The author (or the patron) of the plays must be the

king Harsha of Kanauj (604-648). He had patronised

Bāna It is his patronage of learning that has given

rise to the theory that the plays must have been

written by some poets at his court and must have

been ascribed to him. It is maintained that Ratnāvalī

is written by Bāna though there is a volume of internal

evidence that militates against it. The power of imagi-

nation, the harmony and picturesqueness of words, the

flashes of genius found everywhere in Kāidambarī are

rarely met with in Ratnāvalī All the same it has to be

admitted that the difference in the nature of the two

themes treated in Nāgānanda and Ratnāvalī, the tenets

of the two rival religions, do not fail to raise the suspi-

cion as regards the one penmanship of the three dramas

There are clearly two hands, nay, three hands that are at

work in the plays Of the three plays, two have got the

same theme while the third stands independently by itself

with regard to the author and the theme.

The author is under obligation to Kālidāsa whose

plays have been laid under both in point of situations

and dialogues. From the M. A. he has taken the idea

1 It refers to स्तैय्यर्गुणचरित, श्रीविजयप्रशस्ति, नवसाहसाङ्क, छन्दप्रशस्ती

and खण्डनखण्डन.

of a zealous queen

The garden scene, the imprisonment

scene and the recognition scene in the last act of Rāt

are borrowed from M A. From the V Ū he has taken

the idea of a dutiful queen The disregard of the king's

protestations and the consequent प्रियङ्गुमन are there in

both Besides this, there are similarities of both thought

and expression In imagination and grace he is inferior

to Kālidāsa

Ratnāvalī

Credit is given to Shri Harsha for starting a new era

in the history of both Hindu manners and literature by

writing the play Ratnāvalī The story in the play was

already extensively popular in society "Ratnāvalī indi-

cates a wider deviation from manners purely Hindu, more

artificial refinement and more luxurious indulgence and

proportionate deterioration of moral feeling Considered

from a purely literary point of view, Ratnāvalī marks a

change in the principle of dramatic composition It may

be taken as one of the connecting links between the old

and new schools 1

The plot in the play is simple and straightforward

It recounts the incident happening in a king's household

A number of small events scarcely recognised as we read,

push on the action and call from moment to moment on

the intellectual eye to follow them They are only a

back-ground for the characters The real merit of the

play lies in the skill of selecting the happy and romantic

incidents, viz the breaking loose of the monkey, the mut-

tering out of the secret by Sārikā, a bird, the संकेत and the

अभिसरण of the sweet-heart the consequent jealousy of the

queen, the प्रियङ्गुमन etc The story of वत्स, the king of

1 Wilson, Theatre

181

Kausambi, is connected with that of the Ceylonese King The theme of the play as given in the prelude is a flimsy one The play illustrates the principle that big distances are always very easily bridged over if fate wills it The minister योगन्धरायण appears in the first act and talks upon the prophecy about the marriage and the consequent prosperity of the king. There is then the description of the city-people and the celebration of the वसन्तोत्सव The king in a happy mood describes the मदनोत्सव-यान. The queen performs the मदनक्रीडा The act is named as मदनमहोत्सव

The second act gives the consternation caused by the breaking loose of the monkey The picture-board is left behind by Sāgarikā. The Sārikā bird who hears the whole love-affair repeats it verbatim to the king The Sārikā scene is highly imaginative and serves a good deal in the economy of plot by saving the introduction of some characters How far the Sārikā was able to utter human accents and how far it was successful from the point of stage-effect is a question. The name of वासवदत्ता which is uttered unwittingly by Vidūṣaka awakens the king who drops down the hand of his sweet-heart. The Vidushaka drops the picture-board and creates confusion ( as the birch-leaf in V U ) and puts the king in an awkward situation The second act is the longest, being full of humorous and funny incidents, feats of his folly, verging on both sides of sanity. It ends in creating anger and jealousy in the queen over the love-affair of the king and Sāgarikā

The third can very fitly be called "a comedy of errors," created by a maid-servant who happens to overhear the conversation between Vidushaka and Susamaḡatā about dressing Sāgarikā in the apparel of the queen. The scene

is effective and natural. This conversation is reported to

the queen who wants to take advantage of it. The queen

puts on the dress of Sāgarikā and waits upon the king

who quite unawares expresses to her his mental

anguish created by Sāgarikā When the whole secret

is out, when the culprits are caught red-handed, Vidu-

shaka and Sāgarikā consent to be bound over to the queen

This act is called सक्तत

The fourth act gives the इन्द्रजालिक scene The scene

is depicted with humour and vivacity 'The introduction

of the juggler is a manœuvre of the minister Vidushaka

wants to test his magic by asking him to produce Sāgarikā

before the king The arrival of Vasubhūti puts an abrupt

end to the scene The plot which is being shrouded up

in mystery is gradually resolved Vasubhūti explains the

incidents one alter another But there again comes a

great uproar on account of fire in the palace The अभिज्ञान

comes towards the end of the fourth act योगनन्द्रायण appears

and explains everything. He is the author of the whole

mystery.

The King Vatsa is the hero of the play according to

the conventional notions of dramatics though the action

in all its stages is manipulated by the minister Yaugand-

harivana The second marriage which forms the busi-

ness in Rat appears to be the invention of the writer as it

is very differently told in Brihatkathā, the heroine being

named पद्मावती and being a princess of Magadha and not

of Ceylon He is described as one having desisted from

warlike activities, being full of love and comparable to

the god of love He is a gay monarch very much fond of

jubilations and rejoicings He is so very beautiful that

Sāgarikā wishes to see him often and often Just towards

183

the end, he is presented as taking interest in matters other than those of love, e g the battle with his enemies, his encampment, the condition of his army and the exploits of his soldiers In the first three acts he appears to be a hopeless king whose sole function of life appears to dance to the tunes of love, now with one woman, now with another This aspect of his nature is changed towards the end. He is a political king having high regard for the envoys, taking delight in acrobatic feats, presenting them with gifts He is most nervous when he learns that his own harem is on fire He rushes into the flames of the fire in a chivalrous spirit in order to rescue Sāgarikā who is kept in a lock-up by the queen As a reward for the bold deed he receives Sāgarikā from the hands of the queen.

Yaugandharāyana is the sagacious and astute minister of the king. He appears in the beginning of the play, then goes away again to appear at the end He pulls the threads of the action though he is all the while behind the curtain. The whole plot appears to be the play of his imagination. He sets the ball rolling and the other characters satisfy the conditions laid down by him or add their strength in accelerating the motion of the ball The prosperity of his master is the goal which he sets his heart on. He even wants to take advantage of the course of stars or the science of astrology. He directs all his energies to the fruition of the prophecy about the king's sovereignty of the world dependent upon his marriage with Ratnāvalī. The father's wish—giving no offence to Vāsavadattā—is also overcome very skilfully by circulating a false report that the queen is burnt down in Lāvānaka fire The ship in which the princess is escorted is wrecked but fortunately she gets a plank for support and is carried back by a

184

merchant of Kausambi The ऐन्द्रजालिक is also one of his manœuvres

Sāgarikā or Ratnāvalī is a daughter of the king of Ceylon She is called Sāgarikā because she is rescued from a wrecked ship Of her it is foretold that the man to whom she is to be married is to assume world-sovereignty Her father wishes that she should be married to Vatsa but could not make a proposal himself as it would offend Vāsavadattā, his niece. He consents on hearing that the queen is burnt in the Lāvānaka fire But the girl as she is escorted to the new spouse is drowned in the ocean She catches a board and is further rescued by a merchant who produces her in the court of the king. She has a रत्नमाला with her which later on is used as a means of recognition and identification

Vāsavadattā is a jealous queen like all queens in other dramas The Vidushaka falls at most critical junctures, drops down from his armpit the चिवुकफल in the presence of the queen He suspects the high parentage of the girls The articles of the kitchen form his usual topics Susamgatā is a companion of Ratnāvalī. Sāgarikā's life was already like a wrecked vessel but it is ruddered properly by Susamgatā and steered through the din of the miserable life and ultimately is brought to a safe harbour

The Ratnāvalī is more a drama than a poem while the Priyadarśikā is more a poem than a drama " The poetry of the Ratnāvalī is merely mechanical We have no fanciful illustrations, nor novel and beautiful similitudes, nor do any sentiments worthy of notice occur except the generous remark made by Vatsa on the death of the king of Kosala The belief in vulgar magic or common conjuring which is repeatedly expressed in

185

the drama is worthy of remark as it is something new.

The supernatural powers described in M M are of a very different description from the art that makes a flower blossom out of season or covers a building with illusory flames' 1

Priyadarshikā

The play is another romance of love written by Shri Harsha on the same theme as that of Ratnāvali—the ideal love-story of Vāsardattā and Vatsa.

It is a description of a gambol of love in the royal household The homely details in the royal household have been transfigured by the subtle touch of the magic of poetry.

The two plays are obviously the variations of one and the same theme " The double comedy in Priyadarshikā is a happy thought, the intrigue in act IV is notly conducted so as to show Vāsavadattā in the light of an affectionate niece and the scene with the bee is attractive"

" Udayana entrusts his kingdom to his minister Yougandharāyana.

Mahāsena wishes to get his daughter Vāsavadattī married with the king though he is his enemy.

Mahāsena, therefore, is not sure of acceptance and thinks upon a plan by which he exploits the king's fondness for hunting.

A wooden elephant is constructed and placed at a certain place The inside of the elephant is full of armed men who attack and imprison the king when he is alone He is further taken to Mahāsena who promises him liberty on the condition that he.instructs Vāsavadattā in singing and dancing.

But the teacher runs away with

1 Wilson, Th. Lect.

his female disciple, an act which is endorsed by the father

of the bride"

There are some minor changes effected by the poet in

the original ( e g वासवदत्ता daughter of प्रथ्योत etc )

The latter part of the दीर्घिका scene is an exact echo of a

similar scene in Shākuntala in which the heroine com-

plains of the trouble from a humming bee In the third

act, there is a गर्भनाटक which is quite a prototype of the

outer drama ( as in U R ) and which is enacted with the

aim of bringing about the union of both the king and

Āranyakā with the least perturbation to the queen

The king Vatsa is introduced as a prince of martial

ardour, taking delight in the accounts of warfare The

general comrs and gives an account of a recent skirmish

with Vindhyaketu and places the spoils of war before

the king Rumanvat also gives an account of a success-

ful campaign against the king of Kosala He is very

beautiful The moment he is seen by Āranyakā, she

compliments her father for making a right selection.

Vatsa boasts of the strange adventure which he has to en-

counter for his love He is once imprisoned by the father

of Vāsaradattā and is asked to instruct her in the fine

arts The captive not only instructs but wins over the

affection of the princess and runs away with her

Vāsaradattā is like all other queens in Sanskrit

dramas, very religious, worshiping some deity, the sun or

the moon, making over presents to Brahmins, observing

fasts,and consequently presenting an emaciated appearance.

Āranyakā is a high-born girl She is sorry to find

herself reduced to a position in which she is required to

obey orders rather than to give them In this lamentable

condition she prefers to remain incognito. She does not wish to disclose her high pedigree and is willing to put up with anr kind of mental torture She is so shy and bashful that she does not speak out her heart even to her bosom friend and prefers to put an end to her life

Sankritārany is an old venerable lady belonging to the king's household She acts the same part that is acted by परिवर्तिका in the M A. This old lady is a party to the plot which is laid for bringing about the union of the king with Aranyakā. She is a distant relation of the queen who reveres her as her mother and consequently she commands respect from every one including even the king She is consulted in all matters of importance and her advice is always sought for guidance She very shrewdly detects the disturbance in the routine behaviour of the king. She sets aside her imposing elderliness and joins with Manoramā and Vidushaka in finding out means to restore the mental quietude. She with the other coadjutors hits on a very charming plan of presenting on the stage the romantic adventure in the love of Vatsa and just in the thick the king is very stealthily and silently allowed to glide on the stage as a substitute for Manoramā who is acting the hero in the गर्भनाटक. She is fully successful in the mission assigned to her by the poet She is a woman of imposing personality, commanding respect from both the parties, whose advice can be listened to, who can avoid the gulf from widening, who shows complete disinterestedness in the events of this world, who takes a light view of love, who pities the lovers but does not accuse and in short whose function of life is to give a comic and joyful turn to the melancholy appearance of this world

158

Nāgānanda

6

This play is a play of romance of rather a serious nature The principal characters are semi-divine The

hero is a Vidyādhara and the heroine is a Sidhā The incidents take place in a तपोवन by the side of the Malaya mountain. The story is based on the विगयराजतक referring

to the tenets that Lord Buddha preached during his life-time The internal evidence does not corroborate the

theory about its authorship which is ascribed to Shri Harsha The theme, the tenets, the characters the deities

worshiped and invoked in the Nāndi and the outer garb go against it The writer perhaps obliterates his personality

and existence in that of his royal patron in recognition of his patronage In the present play the whole philosophy of

human life is given expression to by Jīmūtavāhana, the hero of the play who is just a mouthpiece of the poet The

tenets of Buddhism which Harsha lived and loved, devotion to parents, the lack of interest in the kingdom, the disgust

over the heaps of bones of Nāgās, the repulsion of feeling towards worldly affairs are all the doctrines of the authors to promulgate and to propagate which he wrote the play

The first act gives three scenes-the Malaya scene in which nature is described by the hero in all its grandeur

the temple-scene in which the seed of the action is sown in a dialogue between the hero and the heroine, lastly

there is the ascetic scene The last scene achieves a good deal from the point of dramatic economy The ascetic sees

the couple together and is very glad to find from the foot-prints that the person is a sovereign The scene of the

first act is laid in a तपोवन on the out-skirts of the Malaya mountain which is the creation of the poet's fancy and

the hero and the heroine and the parents. They all are

anxious on account of his sudden disappearance Garuda

comes but is struck with the high mettle of his prey. He

is set athinking He repents for his carnage The par-

ties are united in the end

The hero Jimūtavāhana is a young man with a strong

poetic and romantic vein He is an idealist out and out

He is always caught by a strong momentary impulse and

helruns after it Not even for a moment does he come down

to a level from which he can realize that there is some-

thing like a practical world which he has to deal with

He is very eager to render service to his parents, sees no

other happiness but serving them. He goes

to the Malaya mountain at the behest of his father who

wants to find a suitable place for retirement There he

comes across with Malayavati. Since that time he is

totally transformed. He loses his former courage, and

devotes very little time to the service of his parents He

becomes quite restless, and wants to attest the events in his

dream. He puts Mitrāvasu on a wrong track The pro-

sal that comes from him is the most agreeable one but

he gives a point-blank and a definite nay In this charac-

ter, there is first the impulse of devotion to parents, then

comes love, after that, pity Pity is then followed by

the desire for sacrificing his best interests Lastly comes

the sufferance for a worthy cause The defecis that are

responsible in wrecking the hearts of those that are attach-

ed to him are due to his impulsive or sentimental nature

The marriage with Malayavati which he prized most is

shown no preference before the वध्याभिलाष to which he clings

Even the motherly regard and affection 'which is shown

at the beginning to be the guiding principle of his life

is of no consequence to him before the उत्सर्ग of the slab of slaughter. The garuda takes him away but does not devour him being impressed with his augustness

Shankhachūda is a Nāga At the behest of his master he proceeds to the यज्ञशाला for offering himself as a prey to the Eagle The तिर्ये is requested by the Nāga king not to pounce upon them as by the rumbling sound of his wide wings a good many Nāga females suffer abortions. This anecdote seems to have been copied from M. Bhārata in which भीम offers himself a victim to one Bakāsura The same incident is treated at length by Bhāsa in his मध्यमव्यायोग The scene in this play is very pathetic We get here the lamentation of a mother for her son who is soon to be killed by the eagle The grief is a genuine one She is afraid of her son's death and sees Garuda everywhere and in everyone. Jīmūtavāhana is much moved by the pitious accents of the old woman and requests the boy to hand over to him the emblems of a victim The scene is a master-piece as a scene of pathos. The poet has done well in creating a strong dramatic irony of situation in presenting the red robes of a marriage ceremony and turning them to quite a different account as the funeral suit.

The whole scene of Shankhachūda appears to be a parody deliberately planned to illustrate the horrors of a ruling incident of the time. In the first place it cannot be justified by the theory of causation Dramatically it does not rise out of any incident. Historical and rational interpretation appears to be this. The Nāgas, a race of people, very devout followers of the law of Lord Buddha, must have been persecuted The Nāgas were the aborigines in India and were the first to embrace the new faith

of Lord Budha They were called Nāgaś not because they were serpent-born but because they by means of some mechanism managed to have the hood of a cobra upon their heads as a protecting sign The scene by means of the pun upon the word Nāga surely hints at the persecution of the followers of Budhism

Vıdushaka is a man of the world When the prince wants to retire to a forest he places before him the most practical view He shows much boldness which borders upon officiousness The Vita is another character that creates humour in the play but his humour comes of a stronger vein and is, therefore, offensive He has in one hand a goblet and in the other flattery He is depicted as a perfect type of a confirmed sensualist 'Eat, drink and be merry' seems to be the philosophy of his life.

The Shekharaka pursues a certain young woman in a fit of drunkenness He belongs to the lewd circles in the society. What he calls love is nothing but bodily lust He uses woman but does not love her His speeches are full of hateful phrases, images gross and abominable He is a prototype of shakāra in M K

Malayaratı is the heroine of the play She comes from a Sıdharāja family She is introduced like Mahā-shwetā singing the prayers of Gaurı The marriage is proposed and the selection of the bridegroom made by her father But the proposal is rejected by the bride-groom She feels offended when she listens to the unpleasant answer from him She is determined to put an end to her life like all other heroines of Harsha Both she and her husband are good natured but just after the wedlock both are placed in the teeth of some dangerously momentous issues. The bride-groom does not recognise the solemnity of

marriage contracts and offers his life for whosoever is in

trouble

With regard to characterization, Harsha has got no

retributive justice The catastrophe is not the outcome of

any defect in any character. In both the hero and the

heroine, " Harsha depicts emotions of self-sacrifice,

charity, magnanimity and resolution in the teeth of

death "

In all the characters of Shri Harsha, his heroines

leave a greater impression on the minds than what his

heroes do The heroines are loving maids They prefer

to die for the love which they cherish They are not

jealous of the first queen They do not like to divulge the

secret even to their bosom friends They are all princesses

who pass off to the harem of the king on account of some

mishap to the father's family The heroes are a bit over-

drawn They are not steady in their emotions. Both

Vatsas are पतङ्गपतितेस ( acting like moths )

The style is simple and expressive though less

imaginative and graceful

13

CHAPTER VII

Bhatta Nārāyan

Venisamhāri—The Romance of War

Bhatta Nārāyaṇa, the author of the play Venisamhāra,

is a Brahmin having the surname सिंᷫ expressed in the title

मगराजधर्मा 1 तिᳫ is a surname of a high family in Bengal

where it migrated from Kanauj for enjoying the patronage

of the dynasty of Kanvas ruling over both Kanauj and

Bengal prior to the Pāl dynasty of the eighth century

( 730 A D ) The tradition contained in the Vangarāja