The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c11.s1: 1. The Precursors of Kālidāsa
The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c11.s1
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1. The Precursors of Kālidāsa
c11.s1.1
KĀLIDĀSA refers in the prologue to the *Mālavikāgnimitra* not only to Bhāsa but to Saumilla and Kaviputra—perhaps rather the Kaviputras—as his predecessors in drama. Saumilla, whose name suggests an origin in Mahārāṣṭra, is mentioned by Rājaçekhara along with Bhāsa and a third poet Rāmila. Further, the same authority tells us that Rāmila and Somila composed a *Çudrakakathā*, which is compared to Çiva under the form of Ardhanārīçvara, in which he is united with his spouse, perhaps a hint at the union of heroic and love sentiments in the tale. A fine stanza is attributed to them in the *Çārṅgadharapaddhati*:¹
c11.s1.2
*savyādheḥ kṛcatā kṣatasya rudhiraṁ daṣṭasya lālāśrutiḥ*
*kiṁcin naitad ihāsti tat katham asau pānthas tapasvī mṛtaḥ?*
*ā jñātaṁ madhulampaṭair madhukarair ārabdhakolāhale*
*nūnaṁ sāhasikena cūtamukule dṛṣṭiḥ samāropitā.*
c11.s1.3
‘Had he been ill he would have been emaciated; wounded, he would have bled; bitten, have shown the venom; no sign of these is here; how then has the unhappy traveller met his death? Ah! I see. When the bees began to hum as they sought greedily for honey, the rash one let his glance fall on the mango bud’. Spring is the time for lovers’ meetings; the traveller, far from his beloved, lets himself think of her and dies of despair.
c11.s1.4
The Kaviputras, a pair according to the verse cited from them in the *Subhāṣitāvali*², were apparently also collaborators, a decidedly curious parallel with Somila and Rāmila, as such collaboration seems later rare. The stanza is pretty:
c11.s1.5
*bhrūcāturyam kuñcitāntāḥ kaṭākṣāḥ: snigdhā hāvā lajjitāntāç ca hāsāḥ*
*līlamandaṁ prasthitaṁ ca sthitaṁ ca: strīṇāṁ etad bhūṣaṇam āyudham ca.*
c11.s1.6
‘The play of the brows, the sidelong glances which contract the corners of the eyes, words of love, bashful laughter, the slow departure in sport, and the staying of the steps: these are the ornaments and the weapons of women.’
c11.s1.7
Strange that so scanty remnants should remain of poets who must have deserved high praise to receive Kālidāsa’s recognition, but the fame of that poet doubtless inflicted on them the fate that all but overtook Bhāsa himself.