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
into the street, talks and describes at large, and finally, after
accepting the invitation of a lady from a neighbouring town to pay her
a visit, goes back home to find the lovers united again.
The Prahasanas and Bhāṇas are hopelessly coarse from any modern Europe
standpoint, but they are certainly often in a sense artistic
productions. The writers have not the slightest desire to be simple; in
the Prahasana their tendency to run riot is checked, as verse is
confined to erotic stanzas and descriptions, and some action exists. In
the Bhāṇa, on the other hand, the right to describe is paramount, and
the poets give themselves full rein. They exhibit in this comic
monologue precisely the same defects as are seen in the contemporary
Nāṭaka; all is reduced to a study of stylistic effects, especially as
regards sound. They rejoice in exhibiting their large command of the
Sanskrit vocabulary, as obtained from the lexica, and the last thing
desired is simplicity or perspicuity. Nothing more clearly indicates
the close connexion of the two styles than the fact that we find a type
of mixed Bhāṇa in the Mukundānanda [555] of Kāçīpati Kavirāja, who is
certainly not earlier than the thirteenth century. The adventures
recounted by Bhujan̄gaçekhara, the hero, allude also to the sports of
Kṛṣṇa and the cowherdesses, a double allusion which explains the
difficulty of the style asserted by the author.
7. MINOR DRAMATIC TYPES
The Vyāyoga seems not to have been often written, despite the example
of Bhāsa. The Pārthaparākrama [556] of Prahlādanadeva falls in the
period between A.D. 1163 and half a century later, for its author was
the brother of Dhārāvarṣa, son of Yaçodhavala, and lord of Candrāvatī,
whose reign ranks honourably in the records of the Paramāras of Mount
Ābu. It was acted on the occasion of the festival of the investment of
Acaleçvara, the tutelary deity of Mount Ābu with the sacred thread, and
claims to exhibit the sentiment of excitement (dīptarasa). The story,
taken from the Virāṭa Parvan of the Mahābhārata, is the well-known one
of the recovery by Arjuna of the cows of Virāṭa, raided by the
Kauravas, and the defeat of the raiders. It accords, therefore, well
with the definition in the text-books, for the struggle which it
describes is not caused by a woman, the feminine interest is restricted
to the colourless figures of Draupadī and Uttarā, and the hero is
neither a divine being nor a king. The poet, whose fame as a warrior
and whose princely generosity are extolled by Someçvara, claims for his
poetry the merits of smooth composition and clearness, and these may be
admitted, though the play does not rise above mediocrity. Technically
the play is of some interest, in so far as after the Nāndī the Sthāpaka
enters, recites a couple of stanzas, and then an actor comes on the
stage who addresses him, but is answered by the Sūtradhāra; apparently
the two terms were here synonymous to the author of the play or the
later tradition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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