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Indian Classical Literature Unit 3 Sanskrit Drama
Indian Classical Literature Unit 3 Sanskrit Drama Notes cover all the exercise questions in UGC Syllabus. The Indian Classical Literature Unit 3 Sanskrit Drama provided here ensures a smooth and easy understanding of all the concepts. Understand the concepts behind every Unit and score well in the board exams.
Sansthanik:
Sansthanika is unquestionably Shudraka’s greatest character. He is a villain. He is a combination of ignorant conceit, brutal lust, and cunning. Nobody knows about his father. He is proud of being the brother of King Palaka’s mistress. He makes use of this connection to manipulate the judiciary. Although Vasantasena hates him, he tries to force his love upon her. He also boasts of his attractiveness.
Sansthanika is extremely timid. He likes to dominate only helpless women. In Act 1, he fears the arrival of some man when he hears Vasantasena calling her maids. After discovering a woman, he makes Vasantasena degrading offers of his love. In Act VIII, he is once again shocked to find Vasantasena in his cart. In the last Act, he fears to face Charudatta as he had plotted against him so many times previously. S
Sansthanika is absolutely stupid. He does not know what to speak and when, but he goes on parading his knowledge all the time. His stupidity can be seen in his command to the courtier to bring his cart in the park through the narrow passage between the two walls.
Sansthanik is brutal. Enamoured of Vasantasena and madly jealous of her attentions to Charudatta, he chokes her, leaves her for dead, and accuses his rival of the mur-der. He is so ruthless that he asks two headsmen to kill Rohasena along with Charudatta.
The Courtier:
The courtier is another character suggested by the technical works, and transformed by the genius of Shudraka. He is a man not only of education and social refinement, but also of real nobility of nature. But he is in a false position from the first, though a true gentleman at the wretched court of King Palaka. At last he finds the courage to break away, and risks life, and all that makes life attractive, by backing Aryaka. Of all the conspirators, it is he who runs the greatest risk. To his protection of Vasantasena is added a touch of infinite pathos when we remember that he was himself in love with her. Only when Vasantasena leaves him without a thought, to enter Charudatta’s house, does he realise how much he loves her. Then, indeed, he breaks forth in words of the most passionate jealousy.
Sarvilaka
Sarvilaka is a Brahmana, but he is a thief. He has no wealth. He loves Madanika, Vasantasena’s maid and steals the gems left by Vasantasena in Charudatta’s care to buy her freedom. He has learnt the art of theft from some teacher called Yogacharya. He does not find anything wrong in thieving. He prefers theft to work. He justifies his action by saying that Ashwathama, Dronacharya’s son, would not have secretly killed the sons of the Pandavas, if there was anything wrong in doing so.
Sarvilaka is very intelligent. He reveals his intelligence when he makes a hole in Charudatta’s house for theft.
Sarvaloka is courageous. He does not like to attack women. He believes that wealth accumulates with courage. He maintains a sense of duty even in theft. He is quite considerate. He is quick to understand his duty and when Madanika advises him, he is willing to return the gems stolen from Charudatta’s house.
Sarvaloka is Prince Arya’s friend and liberator. He is ready to do anything for his friend. He purchases Madanika as his bride, but leaves her immediately to free Aryaka, his friend, as soon as he learns that he has been captured by the king. He helps Aryaka to escape from the prison. Sarvaloka is also an expert in conspiracy. It is he who enters Palaka’s palace and kills him. It is he who restores Aryaka to the throne.
Sarvaloka is also worried about the safety and security of both Charudatta and his wife. He, thus, is a combination of both good and bad qualities.
Aryaka is a captive prince freed through the efforts of Sarvilaka and Charudatta. He later deposes King Palaka and restores to Charudatta his fortune and his rightful place in the world.
Madanika is Vasantasena’s slave and confidant. whom Sarvilaka purchases as his bride. Rohana is Charudatta’s son, to whom Vasantasena gives a little gold cart to replace a clay one, which is all his father is able to afford. Palaka is the unjust king deposed by Prince Aryaka.
Objective Question
1. A) Choose the correct alternative:
1) Shudraka was ——–
a. a carpenter
b. a goldsmith
c. aking
d. a humorist
Ans: c. aking.
2) Who wrote Abhijnansakuntala ?
a. Bhasa
b. Bhavabhuti
c. Shudraka
d. Kalidasa
Ans: d. Kalidasa.
3) Kalidasa wrote ————– plays.
a. Romantic
b. tragic
c. comic
d. tragicomic
Ans: a. romantic.
4) Bhavabhuti’s style is characterised by ———–
a. humour
b. grandeur
c. melancholy
d. charm
Ans: b. grandeur
5) The title The Little Clay Cart is the translation of —-
a. Uttar Ramacharita
b. Abhijnanasakuntala
c. Mrcchakatika
d. Vikramorvasiyam
Ans: c. Mrcchakatika
B) Fill in the blanks:
1 ) ——has been called the “Shakespeare of India’.
Ans: Kalidasa.
2) Shudraka has ———— a character.
Ans: cosmopolitan.
3) Abhijnanasakuntala was inspired by a story in ———
Ans: Mahabharata.
4) ——–is “the master of eloquence”.
Ans: Bhavabhuti.
5) Shudraka’s characters are ———– of the world.
Ans: citizens.
C) Answer in a word/phrase/sentence:
1) Mention the names of three greatest dramatists of ancient India.
Ans: Kalidasa, Shudraka and Bhavabhuti.
2) What is the remarkable quality of Kalidasa ?
Ans: the grace of poetry.
3) Mention the most important characteristics of Sanskrit literature.
Ans: fondness for system, elaboration of style, love of epigram.
4) What is the predominant characteristic of The Little Clay Cart?
Ans: swift-moving action.
5) What is Shudraka’s style?
Ans: simple and direct.
2. A) Choose the correct alternative:
1) When did Shudraka compose The Little Clay Cart?
a. 2″ century BC
b. 4″ century BC
c. 3″ century BC
d. 1* century AD
Ans: a. 2″ century BC
2) Who translated The Little Clay Cart into English in 1905 ?
a. Horace Hayman Wilson
b. Habib Tanvir
c. Arthur W. Ryder
d. Girish Karnad
Ans: c. Arthur W. Ryder.
3) Shudraka’s The Little Clay Cart is famous for its —-
a. beauty
b. variety
c. tragedy
d. dialogues
Ans: b. variety.
4) What is the name of a rich courtesan ?
a. Madanika
b. Shakuntala
c. Malati
d. Vasantasena
Ans: d. Vasantasena
5) What is the type of The Little Clay Cart ?
a. “drama of invention”
b. absurd drama
c. “drama of recognition”
d. problem play
Ans: c. “drama of recognition”
B) Fill in the blanks:
1) The title of the 1984 Hindi movie based on The Little Clay Cart was ——
Ans: Utsav.
2) ———– is the protagonist of The Little Clay Cart.
Ans: Charudatta.
3)The Little Clay Cart was enacted in New York in —
Ans: 1924.
4) The Hole in the Wall is one of the names of the —- of the play.
Ans: acts.
5) The lack of ———- is the root of all evil.
Ans: money.
C) Answer in a word/phrase/sentence:
1) What is the title of Horace Wilson’s translation of Mrcchakatika.
Ans: The Toy Cart.
2) Who directed a 1984 Hindi movie based on Mrcchakatika ?
Ans: Girish Karnad.
3) Mention the type of drama which draws its plot from history or mythology.
Ans: the heroic drama.
4) Mention the rule about the title of the drama of invention.
Ans: the title be formed by compounding the names of heroine and hero.
5) Who does not appear in acts II, IV, VI, and VIII of The Little Clay Cart?
Ans: Charudatta.
Short Notes:
(a) Charudatta:
In terms of Sanskrit terminology, The Little Clay Cart belongs to the type of prakaran’ drama. The protagonist of `prakaran’ is a mature and patient Brahmin or minister. Charudatta, a wise and honourable young Brahmana, is the hero of Mrcchakatika.
Charudatta is kind, generous, honest, religious, for giving, and is endowed with beauty and imagination. He is left impoverished after spending his fortune for the welfare of others. To him, life itself is not dear, but only honour. He values wealth only when it supplies him with the means of serving others. We may, with some justice, compare him with Antonio in The Merchant of Venice. Charudatta is satisfied with the theft because the thief could find at least a gem of caskets for theft in his otherwise poor house.
Everybody appreciates Charudatta’s personality. He is extremely handsome. He does not tell a lie at all. During the trial, he frankly admits that the gems being carried by Maitreya belong to Vasantasena. Charudatta sends his wife’s pearl necklace to repay Vasantasena for the gem casket. He is deeply religious. He performs different rites and offers sacrifices. He does not lose his religious faith even when condemned to death for no crime of his own.
Charudatta is very kind. When he discovers Aryaka in his cart in the park, he removes his fetters and lends him the cart for escape from King Palaka. We see the height of his kindness when Sansthanik is brought before him for a sentence; he is pardoned by Charudatta in spite of being grievously injured.
Charudatta is an ideal husband. He loves Vasantasena, but he is in love with his wife, too. He is very fond of his son Rohasena. He wishes to see his son before being executed. He advises his son to pursue learning after his death.
Charudatta is a lover of arts. He likes music. He appreciates Sarvalika’s skill in making a hole in the wall of his house.
In love with and loved by Vasantasena, he is falsely accused of her murder and condemned to die. As he is being prepared for execution, Vasantasena appears just in time to identify the true murderer and save her lover’s life. Charudatta’s fortune is restored, and he is made an official at court by the new and just king, Aryaka.
(b) Vasantsena:
Vasantasena is a wealthy courtesan who is in love with Charudatta. She is a character with neither the girlish charm of Shakuntala in Abhijnanasakuntalam nor the mature womanly dignity of Sita in Uttar Ramcharita. She is more ad-mirable than lovable. She is witty and wise. She excels in painting. She knows Sanskrit quite well. She knows the art of conversation. She can compose poetry as well.
Vasantasena has no greed for wealth. She refuses to accept the wealth sent by Sansthanik. She pays the shampooer’s debt. Sarvilaka comes to Vasantasena’s house to buy Madanika’s freedom. Vasantasena over-hears the facts concerning the theft of her gem-casket from Charudatta’s house. She accepts the casket, and gives Madanika er freedom. When Vasantasena finds that Rohasena is peevish because he has only a little clay cart to play with, instead of a toy cart of gold, she gives him her gems to buy a toy cart of gold. She returns the necklace to Charudatta’s wife. Madanika, her maid, says about her that she would free all her maids without even taking any wealth to do so.
Vasatasena is very beautiful. She has been called the jewel of the city of Ujjayini. Both Charudatta and Sansthanik admire her beauty and use different terms to describe it. When Sansthanik strangles her, the courtier says that beauty has been lost from the earth. He corn-parekher with the Goddess Laxmi.
Vasantasena is as true as steel in her love; this too, in a social position which makes suchiconstancy difficult. She loves beauty and quality, and not wealth as such. She tells Sansthanik that love is generated by quality, and not by force. Charudatta is poor, but she loves him from the bottom of her heart. She accepts the necklace sent by him because it gives her an excuse for a visit to his house. When she goes to the park to meet her lover, she is set upon by Sansthanik. He pursues her with insulting offers of love but she repulses him. He chokes her and leaves her for dead. She is rescued by a Buddhist monk. While Charudatta is being falsely accused and tried for her mur-der, she is being nursed back to health. She appears at the place of execution in time to save her lover’s life.
In making the heroine of his play a courtesan, Shudraka follows a suggestion of the technical works on the drama; he does not thereby cast any imputation of ill on Vasantasena’s character. The courtesan class in India corresponded roughly to the heterae of ancient Greece or the geishas of Japan; it was possible to be a courtesan and retain one’s self respect. Yet the inherited way of life proves distasteful to Vasantasena; her one desire is to escape its limitations and its dangers by becoming a legal wife.
(c) Maitreya:
Maitreya is a poor Brahmana. He plays the role of the Vidushaka in Shudraka’s play. In this Vidushaka, we find an instance of Shudraka’s masterly skill in giving life to the dry bones of a rhetorical definition. The Vidushaka is a stock character who has something in common with a jester; and in Maitreya the essential traits of the character—eagerness for good food and other creature com-forts, and blundering devotion to his friend—are retained, to be sure, but clarified and elevated by his quaint humour and his readiness to follow Charudatta evenin death. The grosser traits of the typical Vidushaka are lacking.
Maitreya is Charudatta’s friend and confidant. He likes good food. When Charudatta becomes poor, he eats somewhere else, but resides with Charudatta in his house. His life is associated with Charudatta’s loss or gain. He opposes the idea of returning the pearl necklace after the theft of Vasantasena’s casket of gems. He advises Charudatta to tell lies. He argues that there is no witness to Vasantasena’s handing of her casket of gems to him. He also advises Charudatta not to love Vasantasena be-cause for him, courtesans are cunning. He is sorry for Charudatta’s impoverishment, but encourages him to be-lieve that impoverishment becomes him.
Maitreya does not reveal Charudatta’s condition before others. He tries hard to prevent Vasantasena from knowing his condition in the first Act. Maitreya is timid. He does not like to accompany Vasantasena in darkness. He is not interested in religion at all.
Maitreya is extremely hot-tempered. He does not care for the fall-outs of his temper. He loses his temper when he comes to know about the advances made by Sansthanik and the courtier to Radnika, Charudatta’s maid. In Act IX, there takes place a scuffle between Maitreya and Sansthanik and Vasantasena’s gems fall to the floor. As a result, Charudatta is proved guilty and com-mitted to death for his crime. In short, Maitreya is neither a glutton nor a fool, but a simple-minded, whole-hearted friend.
(d) Sansthanik:
Sansthanika is unquestionably Shudraka’s greatest character. He is a villain. He is a combination of ignorant conceit, brutal lust, and cunning. Nobody knows about his father. He is proud of being the brother of King Palaka’s mistress. He makes use of this connection to manipulate the judiciary. Although Vasantasena hates him, he tries to force his love upon her. He also boasts of his attractiveness.
Sansthanika is extremely timid. He likes to dominate only helpless women. In Act 1, he fears the arrival of some man when he hears Vasantasena calling her maids. After discovering a woman, he makes Vasantasena degrading offers of his love. In Act VIII, he is once again shocked to find Vasantasena in his cart. In the last Act, he fears to face Charudatta as he had plotted against him so many times previously.
Sansthanika is absolutely stupid. He does not know what to speak and when, but he goes on parading his knowledge all the time. His stupidity can be seen in his command to the courtier to bring his cart in the park through the narrow passage between the two walls. Sansthanik is brutal. Enamored of Vasantasena and madly jealous of her attentions to Charudatta, he chokes her, leaves her for dead, and accuses his rival of the murder. He is so ruthless that he asks two headsmen to kill Rohasena along with Charudatta.
(e) The Courtier:
The courtier is another character suggested by the technical works, and transformed by the genius of Shudraka. He is a man not only of education and social refinement, but also of real nobility of nature. But he is in a false position from the first, though a true gentleman at the wretched court of King Palaka. At last he finds the courage to break away, and risks life, and all that makes life attractive, by backing Aryaka. Of All the conspirators, it is he who runs the greatest risk. To his protection of Vasantasena is added a touch of infinite pathos when we remember that he was himself in love with her. Only when Vasantasena leaves him without a thought, to enter Charudatta’s house, does he realise how much he loves her. Then, indeed, he breaks forth in words of the most passionate jealousy.
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