The Sanskrit drama : $b in its origin, development, theory and practiceKeith, Arthur Berriedale
History
The Sanskrit drama : $b in its origin, development, theory and practice
Keith, Arthur Berriedale
Sanskrit drama -- History and criticism
to Act IV; he has induced the Kaliph of Baghdad by a false report to
instruct Kharpara Khāna to send Mīlacchrīkāra to him in chains, and he
has won over various Gūrjara princes by promising them the lands of the
Turuṣkas when they are defeated. We then find Mīlacchrīkāra discussing
his situation with his minister Gorī Īsapa; Kharpara Khāna, on the one
hand, and Vīradhavala press him hard; the king declines, however, even
to think of retreat, but both king and minister flee hastily before the
sound of the approach of Vīradhavala’s army and the voice of the king,
who is disappointed not to capture his foes, but obeys loyally
Vastupāla’s counsel against rash pursuit. Act V shows us the triumphant
return of the king, his reunion with his wife Jayataladevī, and
exchange of felicitations with Vastupāla and Tejaḥpāla. We learn that
Vastupāla has accomplished a further feat; he has intercepted at sea
Radī and Kadī, Mīlacchrīkāra’s preceptors, returning from Baghdad, and
the king has been forced, in order to secure their safety, to enter
into friendly relations. Finally the king enters Çiva’s temple, where
the god presents himself before him, and grants him a boon; the king,
however, has little that is not formal to ask, so fortunate is he in
his ministers.
Neither as history nor as poetry does the work claim any high merit.
Its chief aim is to provide unlimited eulogy for Vastupāla and
Tejaḥpāla, and secondarily for the king who is lucky enough to have in
his retinue these remarkable models of intelligence and skill. It must
be admitted, however, that the author does not exactly convey the
impression of the real success of his objects of admiration; the
impression is rather one of minor successes and a good deal of rather
obvious diplomacy. Style, Prākrit, and metres are decidedly
stereotyped.
A certain number of dramas of similar type has been preserved. [520]
Gan̄gādhara’s Gan̄gadāsapratāpavilāsa [521] celebrates the struggle of a
Campānīr prince against Muhammed II, Shāh of Gujarāt (A.D. 1443–52).
The stream, though scanty, flows continuously to the Ḍillīsāmrājya
[522] of Lakṣmaṇa Sūri of 1912.
The adaptation of English drama is seen in R. Kṛṣṇamachari’s adaptation
in 1892 of the Midsummer Night’s Dream in his Vāsantikasvapna. [523]
3. THE ALLEGORICAL NĀṬAKA
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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