The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c10.s8.3

c10.s8.3

In Act I of the *Çakuntalā* the king is struck with the elegance of the simple bark dress worn by the heroine in keeping with her station as a maiden of the hermitage; *kim iva hi madhurāṇāṁ maṇḍanaṁ nākṛtīnām*, 'For what does not grace a lovely figure?' he asks, and illustrates his theme.² The germ of this pretty idea is found in the *Pratimānāṭaka*, Act I, where Sītā playfully decks herself in a dress of bark, evoking the judgement of her friend: *savvasohaṇiaṁ surūvaṁ ṇāma*.³ The converse relationship is here incredible; Bhāsa's imitation of Kālidāsa would be feeble and tasteless, while Kālidāsa's improvement on his original is apt and skilful. The fact of borrowing is established by the episode in the same act of the *Çakuntalā* of the treatment of watering the garden as an act of penance on the maiden's part; an idea which occurs in a closely parallel passage in Act V of the *Pratimānāṭaka*. Bhāsa treats it as bearable, illustrating it by the adduction of an example in the technical form of an Arthāntaranyāsa,¹ while Kālidāsa ² is more severe in his condemnation, using the technical figure Nidarçaṇā, clearly a deliberate variation of the idea. In the same Act of the *Pratimānāṭaka*³ we find Rāma bidding Sītā take farewell of the fawns and the trees, which are her foster-children, and of her dear friends, the Vindhya mountain and the creepers; in the departure of Çakuntalā from the hermitage⁴ the trees and the fawns as well as the creepers share in the grief of her departure; of the deer is expressly used the term 'foster-child' found in the *Pratimānāṭaka*. Again in Act VII of that play Sītā is reminded of the distrust felt by the deer in Bharata,⁵ just as Çakuntalā describes their distrust of Duḥṣanta.⁶ There is a parallel in the *Svapnavāsavadattā*, Act I, where Vāsavadattā is received kindly by the lady of the hermitage, and thanks her for her courteous words, to the scene at the opening of the Çakuntalā, in which the king assures Anasūyā that her speech of welcome is sufficient hospitality (*bhavatīnāṃ sūnṛta-yaiva girā kṛtam ātithyam*). The parallel is completed by the instruction given by the chamberlain in Bhāsa's play to the servant to avoid disturbance to the hermitage with the commands of the king to the commander-in-chief. Similar also is the scene in Act II of the *Svapnavāsavadattā*, in which during the play of Padmāvatī and Vāsavadattā in disguise reference is made to the former's approaching marriage, to the talk of Çakuntalā's friends with her in Act I. We have also in the sixth Act of either play a parallel treatment of the lute lost by Udayana in the one case,⁷ and the ring lost by Çakuntalā in the other;⁸ the verses in which these innocent objects of censure are attacked are similar in spirit and taste.