The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c13.s1: 1. Candra or Candraka
The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c13.s1
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1. Candra or Candraka
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SOME mystery exists as to the identity and character of Candra as a dramatist.¹ We have in a Tibetan version a *Lokānanda*, a Buddhist drama telling of a certain Maṇicūḍa, who handed over his wife and children to a Brahmin as a sign of supreme generosity, which is ascribed to Candragomin, the grammarian, in whose *Śiṣyalekhā* is found a verse ascribed to Candragopin in the *Subhāṣitāvali*. If this is the dramatist Candaka or Candraka, who is placed by Kalhaṇa under Tuñjina of Kashmir, and who rivalled the author of the *Mahābhārata* in a drama, is wholly uncertain. The grammarian must have lived before A. D. 650, as he is cited in the *Kācikā Vṛtti* though not by name; a more precise date it is impossible to give, for his reference to a victory of a Jarta over the Hūṇas cannot be made precise until we know what Jāṭ prince is referred to, though Yaçodharman has been suggested. The identification by Lévi of Candra with a person of that name mentioned by I-Tsing as living in his time is seemingly impossible, though I-Tsing ascribes to him the verse found in the *Śiṣyalekhā* mentioned above; the verse is lacking in the Tibetan version and I-Tsing may have made a slip. His contemporary seems to have been a Candradāsa, and to have dramatized the Viçvantara legend.
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¹ Lévi, BEFEO. iii. 38 f. ; Liebich, *Das Datum des Candragomin und Kalidasas*; Konow, ID. pp. 72 f. ; GJL. iii. 185, 399 f.
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To Candaka is ascribed in the *Subhāṣitāvali*² a fine verse of martial tone:
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² v. 2275.
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*eṣā hi raṇagatasya dṛḍhā pratijñā: drakṣyanti yan na ripavo jaghanam hayānām*
*yuddheṣu bhāgyacapaleṣu na me pratijñā: daivaṃ yad icchaty jayaṃ ca parājayaṃ ca.*
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‘I go to battle, and I swear that my foes shall never see the backs of my steeds; for the rest, fate directs the destiny of the wavering fight; I promise nothing, but shall take defeat or victory as it pleases destiny.’ A verse of love is:¹
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¹ v. 1629.
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*prasāde vartasva prakaṭaya mudaṃ saṃtyaja ruṣam*
*priye çuṣyanty aṅgāny amṛtam iva te siñcatu vacaḥ*
*nidhānaṃ saukhyānāṃ kṣaṇaṃ abhimukhaṃ sthāpaya mukham*
*na mugdhe pratyetuṃ bhavati gataḥ kālahariṇaḥ.*
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‘Be gentle; show a little joy; lay aside thy anger; beloved, my limbs are dried up, let thy speech pour ambrosia upon them. Turn to me for a moment thy face, the abode of happiness; foolish one, time is an antelope which, gone, cannot be recalled.’ The other citations we have show skill both in tragic and erotic sentiment.
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Candraka was evidently admired by the authorities on poetics; we find in the commentary on the *Daçarūpa*² a verse, elsewhere ascribed to him, cited as an example where diverse sentiments blend but where one, that of coming parting of lovers, is predominant:
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² p. 163; *Subhāṣitāvali*, 1916; *Çārṅgadhara*, cxvii. 14; text uncertain.
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*ekenākṣṇā paritataruṣā vīkṣate vyomasaṃstham*
*bhānor bimbaṃ sajalalulitenāpareṇātmakāntam*
*ahnaç chede dayitavirahāçaṅkinī cakravākī*
*dvau saṃkīrṇau racayati rasau nartakīva pragalbhā.*
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‘With one angry eye she gazes on the orb of the sun as it tarries on the horizon; with the other, dimmed by her tears, she looks on her soul's beloved; thus the mate of the Cakravāka, feeling the approach at nightfall of separation from her dear one, expresses two emotions, even as a clever actress.’
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Curiously enough we have no less than four stanzas of benediction ascribed to him, which illustrate a formal feature of the Sanskrit drama, the introduction of each play with one or more stanzas involving divine favour. The verses are interesting, not so much for the intrinsic merits of their poetry, which frankly are not great, but because of the curious manner in which Indian poetry treats its deities; the greatest of gods nevertheless in his sportive moods is yet made the prototype of the human lover:³
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³ *Subhāṣitāvali*, 66.
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*cyutām indor lekhām ratikalahabhagnaṃ ca valayam*
*çanair ekīkṛtya hasitamukhī çailatanayā*
*avocad yaṃ paçyety avatu sa çivaḥ sā ca girijā*
*sa ca krīḍācandro daçanakiraṇapūritatanuḥ.*
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‘Smiling, the daughter of the mountain wrought into one a digit fallen from the moon and a bracelet broken in a love quarrel, and said to her lord, “Behold my work”. May he, Çiva, protect you, and the lady of the mountain, and that moon of dalliance all covered with bites and rays.’
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*mātar jīva kim etad añjalipuṭe tātena gopāyyate*
*vatsa svādu phalam prayacchati na me gatvā gṛhāṇa svayam*
*mātraivam prahite guhe vighaṭayaty ākṛṣya saṃdhyāñjalim*
*çambhor bhinnasamādhir uddharabhaso hāsodgāmaḥ pātu vaḥ.*
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‘O mother.—My life.—What is it that my father guards so carefully in the palm of his hand?—Dear one, it is a sweet fruit.—He will not give it me.—Go thyself and take it.—Thus urged by his mother, Guha seizes the closed hands of his sire as he adores the Twilight and drags them apart; Çiva, angry at the interruption of his devotion, stays his wrath at sight of his son and laughs: may that laughter protect you.’¹
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¹ *Subhāṣitāvali*, 69.
Cites (3)
- Subhāṣitāvali — Vallabhadeva (anthologist), Sanskrit
- Daśarūpaka — Dhanañjaya (Daśarūpaka), Sanskrit
- Śārṅgadharapaddhati — Śārṅgadhara, Sanskrit