The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice c16.s3.1

c16.s3.1

Murāri declares in the prologue to the solitary drama, the *Anargharāghava*,² which has come down to us, though quotations show that he wrote other works, that his aim is to please a public tired of terror, horror, violence, and marvels, by a composition elevated, heroic, and marvellous throughout, not merely at the close. He defends his choice of the banal subject of Rāma; his character adds elevation and charm to the poet's work, and it would be folly to lay aside so splendid a theme. The *Anargharāghava*, however, does little to justify the poet's confidence in his choice of topic. The theme, treated already at length by Bhavabhūti, offered no chance of success save for a great poet, and Murāri was not such a poet save in the estimate of occasional later writers who extol his depth (*gambhīratā*) without any shadow of justification.