The World of Courtesans c10.3

c10.3

We are not concerned here with the controversy about the date and the authorship of the *Mrichchhakatika*. Internal evidence places the play in the fifth century A.D. and its author seems to have been the person who wrote *Padmaprabhrita*, one of the burlesques in the *Chaturbhani*. The hero of Shudraka's *Mrichchhakatika* is Charudatta, a Brahman merchant of Ujjayini. A stroke of misfortune had impoverished him. In the first act he is shown bemoaning his fate and opening his heart to his friend Maitreya who tries to console him. The dialogue proceeds and soon it is night. Maitreya observes: "At this hour of the evening people are abroad upon the King's highway—courtesans, courtiers, servants and royal favourites. They will take me now for fair prey."