English
Once again the queen finds undeniable evidence of the king's love for Sagarika ; the king like K£lid£sa's Purtiravas falls to her feet, but the queen retires with ill-suppressed resentment. The amorous Sagarikd is, like Kdlidisa's M£lavik£, locked up by the angry queen. A magician then comes from Ujjayini and shews off his feats. Soon after the palace seems to be on flame, and the king rushes to save Sagarika who was enchained inside, and rescues her ; but the flames disappear ; it was only a feat of the magician 1 When S&garik£ is brought out she is recog- nized to be Ratnftvalf, the princess of Ceylon, as Kilidd- sa's M£lavik£ is recognized late in the play to be Digitized by Google 408 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. the sister of Agnimitra's friend. And like Malavikd, Ratndvali is made over to the king by the queen herself. A still more remarkable play, the N&gdnanda is also attributed to Sil&ditya II, but is probably like Ratn£- vali, the work of some poet of his court. We call it a remarkable work, because it is probably the only Buddhist drama which has come down to us. In this Buddhist play we find Hindu gods and goddesses mixed up with Buddhist objects of veneration. It is this which gives the work its special value. Jimtitavihana, prince of the Vidyadharas, finds Malay£vati princess of the Siddhas, engaged in the worship of Gauri (a Hindu goddess), and falls in love with her. He appears before her, as Dushyanta appear- ed before Sakuntala, and is received with courtesy, and the maiden we need hardly say falls in love with the prince. The usual symptoms of love, as in Sakuntald, affect Malay&vati ; she is feverish, and sandal juice is applied to her person, and she is fanned with plantain leaf. Jimutavdhana employs himself with drawing a por- trait of the maiden who had stolen his heart He asks for a piece of red arsenic to draw the portrait, and his companion picks up from the ground and brings some pieces, from which five colours (blue, yellow, red, brown and variegated) could be obtained. From this account it would appear that the ancient Hindus Digitized by Google CHAP. XI.] DRAMA. 409 like the ancient painters of Pompei used coloured earth and minerals for their painting. Malayavati watches the young prince as he draws the picture, and thinking it was the portrait of some other maiden whom he loved, becomes jealous and faints. In the meantime Malayavati's father sends a message, to jimfitavahana offering his daughter as his bride ; but Jimutavahana does not yet know that the maiden he had seen was the princess herself, and desiring to be true to the maiden he had seen, refuses the hand of the princess ! The mistakes of both the lovers are soon removed. The prince discovers that the maiden with whom he had fallen in love is the very princess whose hand is offered to her ; and the princess too soon discovers that the portrait which the prince had drawn is her own portrait. Wedding follows with great pomp and cere- mony. We have an amusing account here of a parasite of the king's court Sekharaka, who had regaled himself too freely with wine during the festivities, and makes some ludicrous blunders. He declares that there are only two gods for him, Baladeva and K&ma, — the former being a Hindu god known for his drinking exploits, and the latter being the Hindu god of love ; and the valiant knight goes out to meet his lady-love, a female slave with whom he is in love. Instead of meeting that sweet damsel, he meets the prince's Digitized by 4io PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. companion, a Brahman, who had put his garment over his head to keep out insects and so looked like a veiled woman. Sekharaka, not very keen in his perception, embraces the BrAhman as his mistress, to the utter disgust of the latter who stops his nose at the smell of liquor ! Confusion is worse confounded when the sweet damsel herself appears on the spot ; the not very discriminating lover is taxed with courting another maiden, and the Br&hman is treated to some choice epithets as " tawny monkey, " has his sacred thread torn, and offers to fall at the feet of the slave girl in order to get out of the scrape. Everything however is at last explained satisfactorily. We are then introduced to the bride and bridegroom in the raptures of their young love, the latter politely asks for a kiss in these words. O lovely one ! If this face of thine with its pink flush as it is lighted up by the sun's rays, and with its soft down revealed by the spreading gleam of its teeth is really a lotus, why is not a bee seen drinking the honey from it t—Btycfs Translation. But the lover is rudely interrupted by news about his kingdom which takes him away. So far the story is like the story of other Hindu plays. But the last two Acts (V. and VI.) are essentially Bud- dhistic, and illustrate, of course in an extravagant form, the real virtue of self-sacrifice for the good of others. Jimtitav&hana goes to the Western Ghats and sees on the sea shore a heap of bones of Nagas killed by Digitized by Go CHAP. XL] DRAMA. 411 Garuda the king of birds. Nagas are snakes, but in the conception of Hindu and Buddhist poets they are formed like men, except that they are scaly and have hoods rising from their backs. A compact has been made with Garuda that a Naga will be sent to him daily for his food, and as Jimtitavahana sees a Naga tearing himself from his weeping mother and preparing himself as Garuda's food, his heart bleeds within him. He manages to offer himself up to the ferocious Garuda in place of the N&ga, and the bird flies away with him. There is wailing and lamentation in Jimutavahana's household when the Naga runs there and reports that the prince has offered himself a sacrifice. His old parents and his newly-married wife rush to where Garuda was still eating the prince's flesh, his life all but extinct. The real Naga also rushes in there and offers himself up to save the innocent prince, and thus proves his identity. Not to mention the mark of Svastika on the breast, are there not the scales on my body ? Do you not count the two tongues as I speak ? Nor see these three hoods of mine?— Boyd, Garuda then discovers his mistake and is horrified. Alas ! Alas ! His own body has been of his own accord presented for my food by this noble-minded one, through pity to save the life of a Naga who had fallen within the reach of my voracity. What a terrible sin have I committed \ In a word, this is a Bodhisatva* whom I have slain.— Boyd. • A Bodhisatva is a potential Buddha, or one who has only one more birth remaining before he becomes a perfect Buddha. Digitized by Google 412 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. Jimtitavahana instructs Garuda how the sin can be expiated. Cease for ever from destroying life ; repent of thy former deeds ; labour to gather together an unbroken chain of good actions_by inspiring -confidence in all living beings— Boyd. The heroic prince expires after giving these instruc- tions, as he had been more than half eaten up. His parents prepare to mount the funeral pyre to depart from this world. The lamenting young widow invokes Gauri, the goddess, whom she had invoked before marriage. All ends happily. Gauri restores the prince to life ; and Garuda prevails on Indra, — a Hindu god,— to revive to life all the Ndgas whom he had killed before. Harm not living creatures ; — that is the moral of this Buddhist play. Another century rolled on from the date of Siladi- tya II, and a truly great poet arose, — not a plagiarist of Kdlid£sa,— but his worthy peer in merit and in fame. Bhavabhtiti, also called Srikantha, was a Brah- man, born in Vidarbha or Berar, but soon attached himself to the learned court of Kanouj, then the literary capital of India. From his native region "stern and wild " the poetic child had imbibed that apprecia- tion of nature in her wild magnificence which distin- guishes him from all other Sanscrit poets ; from the cultured court of Kanouj he no doubt learnt that art Digitized by Google CHAP. XI.] DRAMA. 4*3 of poetry and the rules of drama which set off the effusions of his genius. He was not destined, however, to pass his days in Kanouj ; Yasovarman the king of Kanouj was defeated by the powerful Lalitaditya, king of Kashmir, and the poet accompanied the conqueror to Kashmir. Three of Bhavabhfiti's pieces have come down to us. We will begin with the M&lattm&dhava, or the loves of M&lati and Madhava. Madhava is the son of Devarata, the minister of the poet's own country Vidarbha or Berar, and has come to Padmavati or Ujjayini to complete his studies. In that town as he walked along the streets, MMati the daughter of the minister of the place From her casement has beheld the youth,— he graceful as the god of love, herself love's blooming bride,— nor seen in vain. Wilson's 'translation. On the occasion of the annual festival of the god of love, the people flock to the shrine of love to pay their homage. Malati too repairs to the shrine on an ele- phant, and meets Madhava, and the youth and maiden gaze on each other, and fall in love. But the course of true love never does run smooth ; and the king of Padmavati has promised Malati's hand to a favorite Nandana, and the king's minister, Malati's father, dares not openly refuse his consent. The news is a bolt from the blue to the love-stricken Digitized by Google 414 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. maiden, and Kamandaki, a Buddhist Priestess or Abbess, exclaims in pity. What can I aid ? Fate and her sire alone exact obedience from a daughter.