The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c10.s3.26

c10.s3.26

The fame of the work in Rājaçekhara's time is attested, and already before him the imaginary conflagration of the queen had excited the imitation of Harṣa in the *Ratnāvalī*; Vāmana ² cites from it, and Abhinavagupta ³ knew it. Nor is there any doubt that it is the poet's masterpiece and the most mature of his dramas. (Great promise, however, in a different vein is shown in the *Cārudatta*, of which we have only a fragment in four Acts without beginning or final verses. Cārudatta, a merchant whose generosity has impoverished him, has seen a hetaera Vasantasenā at a festival, and they have fallen in love. Pursued by the king's brother-in-law, Saṃsthāna, Vasantasenā takes refuge in Cārudatta's house, and, when she goes, she leaves in his care her gold ornaments. She generously ransoms from his creditors a former servant of Cārudatta, who then renounces the world and becomes a monk. In the night the ornaments, which she had deposited, are stolen by a thief Sajjalaka who breaks into Cārudatta's house, in order to gain the means to purchase the freedom of a slave of the hetaera with whom he is in love. Cārudatta is overcome with shame at learning of the theft of goods deposited in his care, and his noble wife sacrifices a pearl necklace, which she gives to the Vidūṣaka to hand over to Vasantasenā in lieu of her lost jewels. He takes it to the hetaera, who has learned of the theft, but accepts it to have the excuse of visiting the merchant once more. She therefore hands over the slave girl to Sajjalaka, and starts out to Cārudatta's house. At this point the play ends abruptly, but it seems as if Cārudatta were accused of theft, and that Vasantasenā herself is in grave danger of her life.