English
’ Wild raves the torrent as it rushes past Aad rends its crumbling banks ; the wailing owl ‘Hoots through its skirting groves, and to the sounds _ The louil long moaning jackall yells reply. 416 PAURANIC PERIOD. [Boox Vv. Suddenly Madhava hears the voice, musical and wild of a young woman in distress.— Ah cruel father | She you meant an offering To the. king’s favour, now deserted dies.. — Wilson. That voice is not unfamiliar to MAdhava’s ear; he bursts into the temple and finds Malatt dressed asa victim and about to be sacrificed by Aghoraghanta, the terrible priest. of Chamunda. Some TAntrika rites require the sacrifice of a virgin,—-and the sweetest and purest virgin in Padmavati town had been selected and kid- napped for this sacrifice, Malati herself does not know that she was stolen ; ‘ST reposed” she says “* At eve upon the terrace : when I woke 1 found myself a prisoner. ?— Wilson. Madhava rescues his beloved and slays the malignant priest. ‘ But the more malignant priestess Kapala Kun- dala vows revenge. We pass by a great many minor incidents. A friend of Madhava, Makaranda by name, who is in love with Nandana’s sister, disguises himsclf as Malati, and is married to the king’s favorite Nandana. The amorous husband comes to court his bride, but meets with rough usage which, a maiden arm could scarcely inflict ! Nan- dana’s sister then comes to teach her sister-in-law better manners, but finds her own beloved Makaranda as the pretended bride. An elopement follows; the king sends his guards to arrest the ctlprits ; but Madhava and his friend Makaranda beat back the guards, and the CHAP. XI] DRAMA. 417 king generously forgives them in consideration of their valour. . Here the play might happily have ended with the marriage of the two pair of lovers with the king’s sanc- tion ; but Bhavabhiti prolongs the story to bring in some powerful description of nature and of human feel- ings. His incidents and plot, as usual, are unnatural and extravagant, but his descriptions are matchless in power. Mélatfis once more kidnapped by the foul priestess Kapala Kundala, and Madhava goes in search of her among the Vindhya mountains. Sauddmint who was a Buddhist priestess before, but has now acquired supernatural powers by the practice of Yoga, resolves to help Madhava ; and from her lips we havea powerful description of the locality. How wide the prospect spreads,—mountain and rock, Towns, villages and woods, and glittering streams ! There where the Para and the Sindhu wind, The towers and temples, pinnacles and gates, And spires of Padinavati, like a city Precipitated from the skies, appear, Inverted in the pure translucent wave. , There flows Lavania’s frolic Stream, whose groves By early raiis refreshed, afford the youth Of Padmavatt pleasant haunts, and where Upon the herbage, brightning in the shower, The heavy uddered kine contented brouse. Mark ! how the banks of the broad Sindhu fall, Crashing, in the undermining current, Like the loud voice of thunder-laden clouds, " RGD, A, I-—-TL : 27 aw 41s PAURANIK PERIOD. (BOOK V. The sound extends, and like Heramba’s roar, As deepened by the hollow echoing caverns, It floats reverberating round the hills. Those mountains, coated with thick clustering woods Of fragrant sandal and ripe MAlora Recall to memory thé lofty mountains That southward stretch, where Godavari Tmpetuous flashes through the dark deep shade Of skirting forests, echoing to her fury. Wilson, Saudamini by her magical powers rescues Malati, and MAlatt and Nandana’s sister are happily wedded to Madhava and Makaranda. The other two plays of Bhavabhiti are taken from the Ramayana. One of them the Mahdvira Charita\. narrates the story of Rama from his boyhood to his con- quests in Ceylon and return with Sita to his native country. This play is decidely inferior to the other plays of Bhavabhiti, but nevertheless contains passages of great power. There is a ring of true poetry inthe passage in which the ancient king Janaka, (the pro- mulgator of the Upanishads and the proud asserter of Kshatriya equality with Brahmans in learning) is roused to indignation by the pretentions of Parasurama, the son of Jamadagni. The old king indignantly exclaims: “ Although he hates us, still we have had patience with him so long. When he shakes us again like a blade of grass, then let the bow be bent against him, although he be a Brahman.” , Equally appropriate is the proud contempt with CHAP, XL} - DRAMA. 419 which the mighty Ravana listens to proposals to avoid hostilities with Sita. The source of the Godavari,—in the poet’s own native land,—is thus described. Where, amid Janasthana’s frowning woods, The tall Prasravana uprears his head, Dark tinctured in the clouds, and bathes his brow With their descending dews; thence through his caves, He calls the oozing moisture, and sends forth The pure Godavari to win her way, Stately and clear, through ancient trees that shade, Impervious tangling, her majestic course. Wilson. The other play Ustara Réma Charita continues the} story of the Ramayana to Sita’s exile, and’ to the recon- ciliation of Rama with his children Lava and Kusa, In power and vigour, and in graphic and forcible des- cription, this play is equal to the MAlatt Madhava, while in pathos and tenderness it will compare with anything in the whole range of Sanscrit literature. The story is the story of the Ramayana and need not be told in detail. The play opens with a conversation of Rama and Sit4 now returned from Ceylon, and seated on the throne of Ayodhy4 or Qude. In the second scene Lakshmana exhibits to them a series of paintings representing the past occurrences of Réma’s life, and the gentle Sita can scarcely look over the scenes of her past sufferings ‘without sorrow. The poet of course ~ has a word to say about his beloved Godavari which Bursts forth, and down the mountain wends her way Through gloomy shades and thick entangling woods. ' Witson, 420 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK Vv. and R&ma reminds Sita of their happy days passed there in touching lines,— Recall’st thou, love, our humble happy dwelling Upon the borders of the shining stream Where every hour in fond endearments wrapped, Ox in sweet interchange of thought engaged, We lived in transport, not a wish beyond Each other, reckless of the flight of time ? Wilson, The languid Sita, then gone with child wants repose, and Rama lovingly addresses her— “Be these arms thy pillow, ‘Thine, ever since the nuptial knot united us, Thine, im the days of infancy and youth, In lonely thickets and in princely palaces, Thine, ever thine, Sité, ‘True, true, my ever kind and cherished lord. Sleeps. dma, Her latest waking words are words of love, And naught of her but is mos! dear to me. Her presence is ambrosia to my sight ; Her contact fragrant sandal ; her fond arms Twined round my neck are a far richer clasp Than costliest gems; and in my house she reigns The guardian goddess of my fame and fortune, Ob ! I could never bear again to lose her. Wilson, The last sentiment is artfully put in here by the poet, for RAma is on the eve of losing Sita again. Weak as he is loving and gentle, he hears with distress, immedi- ately after leaving Sita in her sleep, that his subjects are ill pleased with his conduct in accepting Sit4 again after she had been carried away by Ravana. Too weak to CHAP. XI] DRAMA. 424 bear popular dissatisfaction he submits to their desires, and sends poor Sita to exile. Twelve years have since passed and gone. The twins to whom Sita gave birth soon after her exile have grown to be sturdy boys, versed in arms as in learning under the tuition of Valmiki. Sita leads a pensive life in the forests, her face, ‘ Pale and wan and wet with tears, | She moves along like Tenderness Invested with a mortal dress ; Or like embodied Grief she shines That sad o’er love in absence pines, Wilson, It i is arranged that Sita, rendered invisible by divine power, should have an interview with Rama, and the poet must needs have the interview on the banks of the Godavari. There Rama strays accompanied by Vasant a friend of Sita, and Sita and Tamas4,—invisible to Rama, —also repair there. Every scene there recalls to Rama the by-gone days. when Rama and Sita lived there to- gether and fills him with grief ; and VAsanti does not fail, by cruel though gentle hints, to bring home to Rama his injustice towards Sit4: Bhavabhiti is too spirited not to feel indignant at Rama’s extreme weakness in yield- ing to popular clamour, and at his unspeakable injustice in sending an innocent and helpless and loving wife to exile. And though the poet shares a Hindu’s feeling of general respect for Rama, yet the reader can perceive the poet is determined to give Rama “a bit of his. mind” for his unparalleled feebleness and crime. . 422 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. VAsanti takes care to remind RAama,— Here in this plantain grove Behold the marble which in happier days Supported thee and Sit& Here she sat And from her hands gave fodder to the deer, That boldly crowded round their gentle mistress, Réma. T cannot bear to look upon it. [ Weeps. . S ME es Wilson. Poor Sita, whois. present, though invisible to Rama, can bear it no longer, she exclaims, Vasinti, this is cruel : My lord demands respect from all, and most From those who love me, ‘Wilson. But V4santi is inexorable, and goes on speaking to Rama, How hadst thou the heart To drive that gentle being from thee? Once She was thy love, thy other dearer life, Light of thine eyes, and nectar of thy soul,* Wilsen. In vain does Rama plead the people’s will.