Prasanna-rāghava
Jayadeva, the author of Candrāloka, has also penned a play called Prasanna-rāghava. The play in seven acts narrates the story of the Rāmāyaṇa starting from Sītā’s svayaṃvara to Rāma’s homecoming after fourteen years of exile. Śūrpaṇakhā and Mālyavanta play no role in the plot. The playwright, however, introduces a few fantastical elements – it is not just Rāvaṇa who competes and fails in stringing Śiva’s bow, but Bāṇāsura participates as a suitor in Sītā’s svayaṃvara as well. Sītā and Rāma had seen each other in the gardens of Mithilā and had fallen in love at first sight. Rāma sees the occurrences in Laṅkā through the magic of the vidyādharas. The play contains about three hundred and ninety-three verses, and has detailed descriptions of Rāma’s exile, war, moonrise, return to Ayodhyā, etc.
The speciality of the play lies in the simple and more nuanced ideas the poet brings about through his verses –
प्रत्यङ्कमङ्कुरितसर्वरसावतारान्नव्योल्लसत्कुसुम-राजि-विराजि-बन्धम्।
घर्मेतराङ्कुरिव वक्रतयातिरम्यं नाट्यप्रबन्धमिति मञ्जलसंविधानम्॥
Putting together the letters in bold in the above verse reveals the name of the play. Unfortunately, the playwright has used his ‘artistry’ in such gimmicks instead of employing it aesthetically in the design of the play. The fourth act is reasonably appealing; it is mostly relishable, thanks to Paraśurāma’s character and the vāk-paripāṭī-pāṭava of the poet.
Jānakī-pariṇaya
Rāmabhadra-dīkṣita, who lived towards the end of the seventeenth century CE, has penned a play called Jānakī-pariṇaya-nāṭaka. Though the title appears to suggest the wedding of Sītā and Rāma, the play narrates the story until Rāma’s return from exile and his coronation as the king. The playwright has included all the (unaesthetic) elements that the poets before him had invented and seems to have determined to excel them in his own way. The rākṣasas Vidyujjihva, Rāvaṇa, and Sāraṇa disguise themselves as Viśvāmitra, Rāma, and Lakṣmaṇa and appear in Mithilā to win Sītā’s hand in marriage. Elsewhere, Mārīca and Karāla appear as Kāśyapa and Piṅgala, display a fake Sītā before Rāma; the make-believe Sītā appears to enter fire out of pain of separation from Rāma. The rākṣasas in disguise motivate Rāma to follow his ‘wife’ and enter the fire. Rāma prepares to jump into the fire and climbs upon a rock to do so; even as he steps upon the rock, it turns into Ahalyā; a gandharva appears there and reveals Rāvaṇa’s evil conspiracy to them. Rāma is successful in lifting Śiva’s bow and snapping it into two; he marries Sītā as well. Rāvaṇa forces himself into the event and determines that he must abduct Sītā by force.
The attempt to have Rāma killed by Paraśurāma fails. Vidyujjihva and the other rākṣasas enter the hearts of Mantharā, Kaikeyī, and Daśaratha, and banish Rāma to the forest. There, Virādha and Śūrpaṇakhā put on the guise of Rāma and Sītā; in their attempt to abduct the real Rāma and Sītā, Vidyujjihva kidnaps Śūrpaṇakhā, falling victim to their own deception. Intercepted by Jaṭāyu, they fall onto the ground. Lakṣmaṇa slays Virādha and chops off Śūrpaṇakhā’s nose and ears.
The incidents starting from the abduction of Sītā until the death of Vālī are enacted in the form of a play before Rāvaṇa, to entertain him; this is an instance of antarnāṭaka – a play within the bigger play. Using the bracelet that had the magical power of rākṣasāndhaṅkaraṇa, i.e., the ability to turn invisible in the presence of the rākṣasas, Sītā also watches the play and learns of her husband’s exploits. (Rāma wanders about like a madman, looking for Sītā; he enquires about her from all mountains, rivers, plants, and birds.)
After Rāvaṇa is slain by Rāma, Śūrpaṇakhā appears in the guise of a tāpasī before Bharata and Śatrughna in Ayodhyā; she reports to them that Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa met with their end in a battle and Sītā committed suicide. Dejected, Bharata and Śatrughna decide to enter fire; by then, Āñjaneya hurries to the spot and tells them about the well-being of Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, and Sītā. In no time, Rāma and others return to Ayodhyā, and the paṭṭābhiṣeka takes place.
The poet does not appear to have been bothered about how illogical the storyline would appear when he stuffs it with so many magical elements; he hardly seems to care about the propriety of the characters. There are, nevertheless, a couple of elements in the current play that are better than the others – for some reason, the playwright has not employed innumerable verses like his predecessors to describe the battle that takes place between Rāma and Paraśurāma, Vālī, and Rāvaṇa at various instances during the story; nor does he go verbose in describing Rāma’s aerial return to Ayodhyā. Though the play abounds in verses, they are set to vṛttas that are smaller in length. The dialogues are not long and pedantic either. In sum, though the play is not really entertaining, it is simple in its language.
To be continued ...
The current series of articles is an enlarged adaptation of Prof. A. R. Krishnasastri's Kannada treatise Saṃskṛta-nāṭaka. They are presented along with additional information and footnotes by Arjun Bharadwaj.
