Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c13.21

c13.21

Bhāsa’s Cārudatta has a family resemblance with the first four Acts of the Mṛcchakaṭikā. Those who would bring Bhāsa down to the sixth or seventh century hold that he merely abridged the more famous play. On the priority of Bhāsa, the conclusion is irresistible that he was drawn upon by the later dramatist who wrote probably in the fourth century A.D. The work is ascribed to a king Śūdraka, but the remarks on Śūdraka himself show it to be the handiwork of a court poet.³ In any case, the Mṛcchakaṭikā is one of the most remarkable Sanskrit works in point of dramatic portraiture and liberality of sentiment. The tyranny of custom is relaxed. Śûdraka, who, in spite of Konow's brilliant hypothesis, must remain a legendary person, is represented by the Sûtradhâra in the customary prologue as endowed with many of those qualities which the Hindu ideal of kingship demanded. He had knowledge, religious as well as secular. He was versed in the Ṛigveda and Sâmaveda, in mathematics and arts. He was warlike and energetic and the delight of those who knew the Vedas. In the body of the play itself love and politics go hand in hand. In the tenth and last Act, misrule and oppression lead to a revolution resulting in the death of the king Pâlaka.¹