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The reconciled pair are then taken with the boy to the Digitized by Google CHAP. XL] DRAMA. 401 divine pair Kasyapa and Aditi, and the play closes with the blessings of those holy personages. Two other dramatic works of K&lidasa are left to us. Vikramorvasi describes the loves of the hero Pururavas and the celestial nymph Urvasi. We know that the story is as old as the Reg Veda, and is in its first conception a • myth of the Sun (Pururavas = bright-rayed), pursuing the Dawn (Urvasi = wide expanding). But the origin of the story has long since been lost to the Hindus, and Pururavas of Kalidasa and the Purdnas is a mortal king who rescued a celestial nymph named Urvasi from demons, and felt for her a tender love which was reci- procated. So smitten was the gentle nymph with the charms of the mortal that when she appeared in the court of Indra to enact a play, she forgot her part and betrayed the secret of her heart by uttering the name of the mortal she loved. Urvasi played Lakshmi. Menaka was Varunt. The latter says : — Lakshmi, the mighty powers that rule the spheres Are all assembled ; at their head appears The blooming Kesava ; confess, to whom Inclines your heart ? Her reply should have been— To Purushottama ; but instead of that To Pururavas escaped her lips, Wilson's translation. For this error the gentle nymph was punished ; but Indra with considerate care modified the punishment , into a blessing, and directed the nymph to go and r. c. D., A. I.— III. 26 Digitized by Google 402 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. live with her beloved mortal until he beheld an off- spring born by her. Pururavas vainly tried to conceal his new love from his own queen, and vainly expressed a penitence he did not feel by falling at her feet. The queen somewhat • unceremoniously replied. You make, my lord, an awkward penitent ; I cannot trust you. Wilson. And she left the king to the very cruel but very wise reflection. I might have spared myself the pains, A womm is clear-sighted, and mere words touch not her heart. Passion must give them credit. The lapidary, master of his craft, with cold indifference eyes the spurious gem, Wilson. But the queen soon perceived that her husband's love was beyond control and her resentment was unavail- ing. With a Hindu wife's self-abnegation she contri- ved under the guise of a religious performance to make amends for her former behavior, and even to permit her lord to relinquish himself to his new attachment. Clad in white with only flowers for her ornaments, she came slowly to worship her lord and king who almost felt a return of his previous fondness for her on seeing her in this attire. In truth she pleases me. Thus chastely robed in modest white, her clustering tresses decked with sacred flowers alone, her haughty mien exchanged for pure devotion ; thus arrayed she moves with heightened charms. Wilson. Digitized by Google CHAP. XI.] DRAMA. 4 0 3 But she knew her charms were unavailing ; she pre- sented oblations to the king, bowed, fell at his feet, rose, and then called the moon and the Rohini star to Hear and attest the sacred promise that I make my husband. What- ever nymph attract my lord's regard, and share with him the mutual bond of love, I henceforth treat with kindness and complacency, Wilson* Even Urvasi's companion was struck with this magna- nimous self abnegation, and remarked — She is a lady of an exalted spirit, a wife of duty most exemplary, Wilson. The loves of the king and the nymph and their tem- porary separation through a supernatural incident are then described with all the power of Kalid&sa's pen. He pined during the separation, wandered in the for- est, and addressed birds and beasts and inanimate objects. I have sued to the starry- plumed bird, And the koil of love breathing song ; To the lord of the elephant herd, And the bee as he murmured along ; To the swan, and the loud waterfall, To the chakwa, the rock and the roe : In my search have I sued to them all, But none of them lightened my woe. — Wilson. He recovered her after his wanderings, but was again likely to lose her. For the boy whom Urvasi had borne to her lord,— but had concealed so long,— was seen by chance by his father ; and according to Indra's orders the nymph must return to the skies as soon as her lover Digitized by Google 404 PAURANIK TERIOD. [BOOK V. saw the child she bore her. But Indra again modified his commands, and N&rada descended from the skies to carry Indra's mandate to Pururavas And Urvasi shall be through life united With thee in holy bonds. — Wihon. The third and last play extant from K^lidisa's pen is MAlavikdgnimttra, or the loves of MAlavika and Agni- mitra. We have seen before that this play, — unlike the two narrated before, — is based on historical incidents. Agnimitra and his father Pushpamitra are historical characters ; the latter was the general of the last king of the Maurya dynasty, and he put that king to death and founded the Sunga dynasty of the Magadha kings. M£lavik&is a beautiful attendant of the queen Dh&rini and learns dancing and music from Gangdd&sa. The queen jealously guards her from the king Agnimitra's eyes, but has unwisely caused her picture to be painted in the Chitras&la or Picture Gallery, and a view of this picture inspires the king with a desire to see the origi- nal. Having sent troops against the king of Vidarbha. (Berar), Agnimitra is anxious to see the famed M&lavikS. A contrivance is hit upon ; a quarrel is fomented between Gang&d&sa and Haradatta, two teachers of music and dancing, and Gang&dasa stakes his credit on the perform- ance of M&lavikd whom he has taught. M£lavik£ appears and sings, and the king contracts a passion for her. The jealous queen locks up the amorous and lovely girl, but the queen's finger ring is obtained by a con- Digitized by Google CHAP. XL] DRAMA. 4°5 trivance, and the jailor on seeing it opens the door, and Malavikd is taken out and has an interview with the king. In the mean time the king of Vidarbha has been subdued, and sends among other presents two female slaves, who immediately recognize Mdlaviki to be the sister of Mddhavasena, a personal friend of the king Agnimitra. Peace is concluded with the king of Vidarbha, by which one half of his kingdom, that situated to the north of the Varadd river, — the Wardd of modern times, — is made over to Agnimitra, who in turn makes it over to Mcilavik&'s brother. News is received that the king's son has gained a victory over the Yavanas on the banks of the Indus, and the queen is so pleased that she dis- tributes gifts to all, and feeling perhaps that it is useless to try to stem the king's love, bestows on him the lovely MalavikA. Thus the piece ends happily ; but neither in its plot nor in its poetry is it on a level with Sakuntala* or even with Vikramorvasi. Kaliddsa lived in the sixth century A.D. and graced the court of Vikramdditya. A century after his time, an emperor of India, and a worthy successor of Vikramadi- tya both in prowess and in letters, tried to emulate the renowned Kalid&sa. Sildditya II, called also Sri Harsa- deva, who reigned from 6iO to 650 A. D., and who re- ceived the Chinese traveller Honen Tsang, was not only the emperor of all northern India, but was himself a man of letters. He is reputed to be the author of Rat- Digitized by 406 PA U RAN IK FERIOD. [BOOK V. iidvali y though it is probable the celebrated novelist of his court, B£nabhatta, composed that play * Kilid&sa's- fame had spread all over India by that time, and hum- bler poets unconsciously designed their works on the plots of the great master. This is specially apparent in the Ratn£vali in which plagiarisms from K&lid&sa's plays are obvious. The story, too, of Vassa, the king of Kausambi, and VAsavadattd, the princess of Ujyayini is one which is alluded to in K&lid&sa's Meghaduta, and also in the Brihatkathd of Somadeva ; but it is some- what differently told in the RatnAvali. The play opens with an account of the spring festival when the god of love was worshipped, and coloured water was showered by merry men and mirthful maids on each other. The worship as such has disappeared, but the custom of throwing red powder and coloured water still obtains all over India. The queen goes to the garden to offer worship to the god of love and requests the presence of the king. A lovely attendant of the queen, S&garik& by name, whom the queen had jealously guarded from the king's eyes, comes also to the garden, and she looks on the king from behind a tree and falls in love with him. Sitting alone in the garden the love-stricken maiden draws the likeness of him who had stolen her heart, but * See Dr. Hall's preface to Vasavadatta, Bgnabhatta was also the author of Harsha Charita, a life of the king in whose court he flourished. Digitized by Google CHAP. XL] DRAMA. 407 is discovered by a fellow attendant who is equally pro- ficient in painting, and who draws by the portrait of the king a likeness of S^garika herself. The double portrait is lost through carelessness and is picked up by the king, who falls in love with the maiden whose picture he found by his own. It is impossible not to find in this plot a counterpart of the story of Kdlid&sa's Agnimitra, who falls in love with his queen's attendant on looking at her portrait. Like Kalid&sa's Dushyanta, the king picks up the lotus leaves which had been applied on S£garik&'s feverish person, and finds in the pallid circles therein the contour of the maiden's well proportioned bosom. Soon after the lovers meet, but as usual the meeting is inter- rupted by the untimely approach of the queen.