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
The Avimāraka is a drama of love, primitive in its expression and
intensity; Bhāsa’s love for rapid action is here, as always, strongly
marked, as is also his willingness to repeat incidents and situations;
the hero twice seeks suicide, and the heroine does so once. The
dénouement is artificial, though something of the kind was necessary to
secure the possibility of the marriage of the pair. There is a far more
interesting hint of youthful love in the amours of Udayana and
Vāsavadattā in the Pratijñāyaugandharāyaṇa, where the rapidity of
action is in entire harmony with the skill attributed to the minister,
whose address, courage, and loyalty, make him an attractive figure. The
Svapnavāsavadattā itself reveals Udayana as a faithful and devoted
husband, very different from the careless if courteous gentleman of
Harṣa’s dramas. His love for the queen he imagines lost ennobles and
elevates his character, while motives of statecraft and the affection
shown him by Padmāvatī easily explain his wooing of that maiden.
Vāsavadattā herself is not the jealous if high-minded wife of Harṣa’s
plays; she is the devoted and self-sacrificing lover who is willing to
postpone her own feelings and wishes to the good of her husband. The
king and queen are the finest products of Bhāsa’s characterization of
lovers. In the Cārudatta, however, we have clever studies in the
hetaera, the merchant and the minor figures, though the value of the
play must seem less to us than when completed and elaborated in the
Mṛcchakaṭikā.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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