Musafafabrics1: correct page also and added references

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correct page also and added references

>Redtigerxyz: /* Plays based on Mahabharata */ undue

2021-05-22T17:50:31Z

Plays based on Mahabharata: undue

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{{Short description|Indian playwright in Sanskrit}}
{{redirect|Bhasa|the word for "language"| Bahasa|other uses|Bhasa (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
'''Bhāsa''' is one of the earliest and most celebrated [[Theatre in India|Indian playwrights]] in Sanskrit, predating [[Kalidasa]]. His plays had been lost for centuries until the manuscripts were rediscovered in the early 20th century. Bhāsa had previously only been known from mentions in other works, like the ''Kavyamimamsa'' on poetics from 880–920 AD. In the Kavyamimamsa, [[Rajashekhara (Sanskrit poet)|Rajashekhara]] attributes the play ''[[Swapnavasavadattam]]'' to Bhāsa.

In the introduction to his first play ''Malavikagnimitram'', [[Kālidāsa]] wrote:
"Shall we neglect the works of such illustrious authors as Bhāsa, Saumilla, and Kaviputra? Can the audience feel any respect for the work of a modern poet, a Kālidāsa?"<ref>C. R. Devadhar (1966) "Malavikagnimitram of Kalidasa", p.3</ref>

==Date==
Bhāsa's date of birth is uncertain, but it most likely falls within the third or fourth century BCE.<ref name="Keith1992">{{citation |last=Keith |first=Arthur Berriedale |title=The Sanskrit Drama in Its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfqRhylNBpwC&pg=PA95 |year=1992 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0977-2 |pages=95–}}</ref><ref name="Kroeber1944">{{citation |last=Kroeber |first=Alfred Louis |title=Configurations of Culture Growth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ROvDtaUI9xMC&pg=PA419 |year=1944 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=419– |id=GGKEY:Q5N845X8FFF}}</ref><ref name="Goodwin1998">{{citation |last=Goodwin |first=Robert E. |title=The Playworld of Sanskrit Drama |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_PKcu23-xoC&pg=PR18 |year=1998 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1589-6 |page=xviii}}</ref> Bhāsa's language is closer to [[Kālidāsa]] (1st century BCE) than it is to [[Aśvaghoṣa]] (1st-2nd century CE).<ref name="WinternitzWinternitz1985">{{citation |last1=Winternitz |first1=Maurice |last2=Winternitz |first2=Moriz |title=History of Indian Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ql0BmInD1c4C&pg=PA204 |year=1985 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0056-4 |pages=204–205}}</ref>

Bhāsa's works do not follow all the dictates of the [[Natya Shastra]]. This has been taken as a proof of their antiquity; no post-Kālidāsa play has been found to break the rules of the Natya Shastra's. Scenes from Bhāsa present signs of physical violence on the stage, as in plays like ''[[Urubhanga]]''. This is strictly frowned upon by Natya Shastra.<ref>V. Venkatachalam (1986) "Bhāsa", p.14</ref> However, these facts alone don't make chronology certain. Indu Shekhar states that, "Whatever the exact date [of Natya Shastra] may have been, it is significant that no direct reference to NS was made before the seventh century," when it became accepted as the subject of attention for many poets, writers, and theorists.<ref name="Shekhar1978">{{cite book|author=Īndū Shekhar|title=Sanskrit Drama: Its Origin and Decline|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68wUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA44|date=1 May 1978|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=44–|id=GGKEY:3TX00B7LD6T}}</ref>

==Discovery of his plays==
In the year 1909 the play ''Swapnavasavadatta'' was discovered by Pandit Anandalvar of the Archeological Survey of Mysore, two years later the Mahamahopadhyaya [[T. Ganapati Sastri]] came upon 13 [[Sanskrit drama|Sanskrit plays]] that were used in the [[Koodiyattam]] plays. The first discovery yielded ten complete manuscripts (''Svapnavasavadattam, [[Pratijnayaugandharayana]], Pancharatra, Charudatta, Dootaghatotkacha, Avimaraka, Balacharita, Madhyamavyayoga, Karnabhara'' and ''Urubhanga'') and fragments of one. Later, he found two more: ''Abhisheka'' and ''Pratimanataka''. Finally, he found intact manuscript of ''Dootavakyam'', adding up to total thirteen plays believed to be authored by Bhasa. Unlike other classical plays, none of them mentioned the author, but one was the ''[[Swapnavāsavadatta]]''. Comparing the style of writing and techniques employed in these plays and based on the knowledge that ''Swapnavāsavadatta'' was Bhāsa's work, all of them were credited to him. Some scholars have disputed Bhāsa's authorship of all the plays but over the years the plays have generally come to be ascribed to Bhāsa.

==Plays of Bhāsa==
The ''Uru-Bhanga'' and ''[[Karnabharam by Bhasa|Karna-bhara]]'' are the only known [[Tragedy|tragic]] Sanskrit plays in ancient India. Though branded the villain of the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', [[Duryodhana]] is the actual hero in ''Uru-Bhanga'' shown repenting his past as he lies with his thighs crushed awaiting death. His relations with his family are shown with great pathos. The epic contains no reference to such repentance. The ''Karna-bhara'' ends with the premonitions of the sad end of [[Karna]], another epic character from ''Mahabharata''. Early plays in India, inspired by Natya Shastra, strictly considered sad endings inappropriate.<ref>K. P. A. Menon (1996) "Complete plays of Bhāsa", p.28</ref>

The plays are generally short compared to later playwrights and most of them draw the theme from the Indian epics, ''Mahabharata'' and ''[[Ramayana]]''.Though he is firmly on the side of the heroes of the epic, Bhāsa treats their opponents with great sympathy. He takes a lot of liberties with the story to achieve this. In the ''Pratima-nataka'', [[Kaikeyi]] who is responsible for the tragic events in the ''Ramayana'' is shown as enduring the calumny of all so that a far noble end is achieved.<ref>Govind Keshav Bhat(1968) "Bhāsa-studies", p.47</ref>

===Plays based on ''Ramayana''===
* ''Pratima-nataka'': The statues
* ''Yagna-Phalam'':<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.281136 |title=The Yajnaphala Of Mahakavi Bhasa }}</ref>
* ''Abhisheka-natka'': The coronation

===Plays based on ''Mahabharata''===

* ''Panch-ratra'': The five-nights
* ''[[Madhyamavyayoga|Madhyama-vyayoga]]'': The middle one
* ''Duta-Ghattotkacha'': Ghattotkacha as envoy
* ''Duta-Vakya'' : The envoy's message
* ''[[Urubhanga]]'': The broken thigh
* ''[[Karnabharam]]'': Karna's burden
* ''Harivamsa'' or ''Bala-charita'': Hari's dynasty or the tale of Childhood

The ''Duta-Vakya'' and ''Bala-charita'' are perhaps the only Sanskrit plays by a famous playwright with [[Krishna]] as the central character.

His other plays are not epic based. ''Avimaraka'' is a fairy tale, which later became part of a [[Mani Kaul]] film, ''[[The Cloud Door]]'' (1994).<ref>{{IMDb name|0080269}}</ref> The unfinished ''Daridra-Charudatta'' (Charudatta in poverty) tells the story of the courtesan Vasantasena and is interesting for the same story was developed by [[Śhudraka]] into the more famous play ''[[Mrichakatika]]''.

His most famous plays ''[[Pratigya Yaugandharayanam]]''<ref>Ahlborn, Matthias (2006) [http://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2070 Pratijñāyaugandharāyaṇa : digitalisierte Textkonstitution, Übersetzung und Annotierung], Universität Würzburg, Dissertation (German translation)</ref> (the vow of Yaugandharayana) and ''[[Swapnavāsavadattam]]'' (Vasavadatta in the dream) are based on the legends that had grown around the legendary King Udayana, probably a contemporary of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]. The first play tells the story of how the king Udayana married the princess Vasavadatta (his first wife).The second play tells the story of how the king Udayana, with the help of his loyal minister Yaugandharayana, later married the princess Padmavati, a daughter of the king of Magadha, and thus made this king his ally rather than enemy.

Though his plays were discovered only in the 20th century, two of them ''Uru-Bhanga'' and ''Karna-bhara'', have become popular due to their appeal to modern tastes and performed in translation and Sanskrit.

Many of Bhasa's plays are staged in [[Koodiyattam]] even now, like parts of ''Pratijna-Yaugandharayana'', ''Abhisheka-nataka'' etc.

==Modern revival==

The first person to revive Bhasa in modern [[Indian theatre]] was a Professor of Ancient Indian Drama at [[National School of Drama]], and theatre director, [[Shanta Gandhi]], who first directed productions of ''[[Madhyamavyayoga]]'' (1966) ("The Middle One") and ''[[Urubhanga]]'' ("The Broken Thigh") in Hindi. A decade later, his work was approached by playwright [[Kavalam Narayan Panikkar]] and theatre director, [[Ratan Thiyam]] using Manipuri dance and theatre traditions, and traditional martial art of [[Thang-Ta]], who first performed ''Karna-bhara'' ("Karna's burden") in 1976, and later ''Urubhanga''.<ref name=Da>[[#Da|Dharwadker, p. 167]]</ref><ref>[[#Da|Dharwadker, p. 105]]</ref>

[[Waman Kendre]] did an adaptation of ''Madhyama Vyāyoga'' in three different languages - ''O My Love'' in English, ''Mohe Piya'' in Hindi and ''Piya Bawari'' in Marathi.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/interviews/30-waman-kendre-interview.asp |title=Interview with Waman Kendre |access-date=25 July 2015 |publisher=Mumbai Theatre Guide}}</ref>

The legendary [[Natyasastra]] scholar and [[Koodiyattam]] maestro Guru [[Mani Madhava Chakyar]] choreographed and started to perform ''Swapnavāsadatta'' and ''Pancharātra'' for the first time in the history of [[Koodiyattam]].

==See also==
* [[Sanskrit literature]]
* [[Sanskrit drama]]
* ''[[Urubhanga]]''

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Thirteen Trivandrum plays ascribed to Bhāsa( 2 Vols), translated by H.C.Woolner, Lakshman Sarup, 193
* {{Citation
| author=Māni Mādhava Chākyār
| author-link=Māni Mādhava Chākyār
| title=[[Nātyakalpadruma]]
| publisher=Kerala Kalamandalam, Vallathol Nagar
| year=1975
}}
* {{cite book |last=Dharwadker |first=Aparna Bhargava |title=Theatres of independence: drama, theory, and urban performance in India since 1947 |publisher=University of Iowa Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-87745-961-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLQaz-12Eo8C&q=Shanta+Gandhi&pg=PA314 |ref=Da}}
* ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Theatre: Bhasa'', by Biswajit Sinha, Ashok Kumar Choudhury. Raj Publications, 2000. {{ISBN|81-86208-11-9}}.

== Further reading ==

*A.D. Pusalker : Bhasa – a study. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India 1968
*[[V. Venkatachalam]] : Bhasa (A monograph in the 'Indian Men of Letter Series'), Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1986; Second Edn. 1994; (pp. 16+192) (Translated into Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada and Telugu-Pub. By Sahitya Akademi)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhasa}}
[[Category:Sanskrit poets]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian poets]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Sanskrit dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Koodiyattam exponents]]
[[Category:3rd-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:4th-century Indian writers]]

Bhāsa - Revision history

Musafafabrics1: correct page also and added references

>Redtigerxyz: /* Plays based on Mahabharata */ undue