Just like Bhavabhūti, Rājaśekhara too begins his play on the Rāmayana by praying to the Vāg-devatā. In the ten acts of his play, he has covered the story of the first half of the Rāmayana starting from Viśvāmitra escorting Rāma. The following is its summary –
Śunaśśepa converses with a rākṣasa – viṣkambhaka. (Viśvāmitra is away to fetch Rāma for the protection of his yāga); Rāvaṇa comes to Mithilā, desirous of possessing Sītā. Janaka tells him that suitors will have to string Śiva’s bow; Rāvaṇa, however, feels that doing so is below his dignity and pledges that he will kill the person who marries Sītā (Act 1). Conversation between Nārada and Bhṛṅgiriṭi – viṣkambhaka (Tāṭakā, Subāhu, and Mārīca are slain). Bharata muni, who had directed the play sītāsvayaṃvara – the suitors’ selection by Sītā in the devaloka as per the instruction of Indra – now stages it in Rāvaṇa’s Laṅkā to entertain him. In the garbhāṅka, i.e., a play within a play, Sītā marries Rāma, which enrages Rāvaṇa. (Act 3). Conversation between the upādhyāya and the vaṭu – the teacher and the student – viṣkambhaka. Indication of the battle between Paraśurāma and Śrī-rāma. Daśaratha, who had gone to the svarga-loka arrives in Mithilā in Indra’s chariot. (Mātali, the charioteer, describes the exploits of Paraśurāma that are engraved in the chariot). By the time Daśaratha arrives, preparations are being made to see off Sītā and Rāma. Paraśurāma comes there and is enraged by the fact that Śiva’s bow was broken. Lakṣmaṇa bends and breaks the bow of Viṣṇu, which was with Paraśurāma and marries Urmilā. Paraśurāma and Śrī-rāma get ready to fight (Act 4). Conversation between Māyāmaya and Mālyavanta – viṣkambhaka. Rāvaṇa is in agony. He flirts with the make-believe Sītā that Mālyavanta had prepared, realises his folly and falls into despair. Rāvaṇa enters the pleasure gardens, and his craving only increases. Śūrpaṇakhā, who nose is chopped off complains to Rāvaṇa; the king of Laṅkā is now even more enraged with Rāma (Act 5). Conversation between Śūrpaṇakhā and Māyāmaya – viṣkambhaka. While Daśaratha and Kaikeyī are away in svarga-loka, Māyāmaya and Śūrpaṇakhā take their forms and banish Rāma to the forest. Vāma-deva and others declare that this was not right, and still, the impostors don’t budge. In the meantime, Daśaratha and Kaikeyī return, learn about everything that had transpired and lament. Sumanta drops off Sītā, Rāma, and Lakṣmaṇa at the River Narmadā and narrates the happenings to everyone there. Ratnaśikhaṇḍa, a messenger of Jaṭāyu, informs them about Sītā’s abduction and the death of his master (Act 6). Vibhīṣaṇa’s vandī and Sugrīva’s pratihāra converse - viṣkambhaka (Daśaratha dies; Rāma befriends Sugrīva and Vibhīṣaṇa). Samudra, out of fear and respect towards Rāma’s arrow, greets Rāma, accompanied by Gaṅgā and Yamunā; he gladly permits Rāma to build a bridge over the ocean. Once the bridge is built, a fight ensues between the vānaras and rākṣasas. Rāvaṇa chops off the head of magical Sītā even as Rāma watches; while for a moment they believe that Sītā actually is killed, the reality is revealed soon. Siṃhanāda and Rāma fight each other (Act 7). Conversation between Durmukha, Sumukha, and Trijaṭā – viṣkambhaka (Siṃhanāda is slain.) Rāvaṇa converses with three rākṣasas – he learns the death of Meghanāda; the rākṣasas also tell him that Kumbhakarṇa was woken up and was slain on the battlefield. (Act 8) Conversation between Yama-dūtas – viṣkambhaka; from the dialogue, we learn about the warriors who were killed in the battle over a duration of five days. Indra, Daśaratha, and cāraṇas describe the battle between Rāma and Rāvaṇa, as they look down from the skies; they also note the slaying of Rāvaṇa. (Act 9). Dialogue between Alakā and Laṅkā – cities personified – viṣkambhaka; the details of Seeta undergoing the test by fire are reported. Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, Sītā, Trijaṭā, Sugrīva, and Vibhīṣaṇa travel by vimāna to Ayodhyā. Ratnaśekhara, a vidyādhara, who was sent by Mahendra describe the various places they see on the way. Vasiṣṭha, Bharata, and Śatrughna welcome them home. Rāma’s coronation. (Act 10)
The play Bāla-rāmayana has both the positive traits and shortcomings that we see in the Mahāvīra-carita. Like in the play penned by Bhavabhūti, here too, Rāvaṇa is always interested in Sītā; Kaikeyī and Daśaratha are not at fault. The garbhāṅkas that portray Sītā-svayaṃvara and Yantra-Sītā add to the ‘thrilling elements’ of the play; the playwright Rājaśekhara might be trying to make a point by their inclusion – he, perhaps, wants to beam with joy for having surpassed Bhavabhūti in the skill of play composition. Nevertheless, to say that Rāvaṇa was thrilled in these circumstances is not proper; in his play, Rājaśekhara seems to have paid more attention to descriptions using flowery language, as against the overall aesthetic relish; in other words, varṇanā dominates over Rasa. Even his descriptive segments are pedantic and unnecessarily long – the rule that war should not be portrayed on the classical Indian stage must have acted on his mind in designing the structure of the play in the particular manner; but we must hasten to say that such excessive varṇanā is superfluous in many cases; in the last act, the poet says that he wishes to supersede Meghasandeśa and Raghuvaṃśa (sarga 13); plays need not have such ambitions. Every act has a viṣkambhaka; in most cases, verses dominate over prose utterances. (The play has about seven hundred and forty verses in all). The play is filled with conversations, and they dominate over action; the poet appears to have paid more attention to bombastic language rather than bringing captivating action on the stage. He has sarcastically said right at the beginning of his play – “Check if my composition has the bhaṇati-guṇa; if it does, read it!” (Bāla-rāmāyaṇa, 1.12). Words and phrases such as Manorathamodaka and Madanajaya-mahā-vaijayantī are not rare. However, mere bombastic conversations do not add up to make audio-visual art; an admixture of exuberant verses and prose, as seen in Rājaśekhara’s Bāla-rāmāyaṇa neither makes it a campū nor a nāṭaka; how will such a jarjara-kāvya-kanthā stay upon naṭa-vaṭu-vadana?
To be continued ...
The current series of articles is an enlarged adaption of Prof. A. R. Krishnasastri's Kannada treatise Saṃskṛta-nāṭaka. They are presented along with additional information and footnotes by Arjun Bharadwaj.
