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Karnabhara鈥擳itle: Drs. T. Ganapati Sastri, Woolner and Sarup take the title to mean Karna's task or responsibility referring to the generalship of Karna in the great Kuru war, and Dr. Sastri states that probably, at least one more act is necessary to describe the feats of Karna." We, however, take the play to be complete in itself, and interpret the title as karnayoh bharabhutani kundalani dava karnena purva danasurata prakatikrta | tamadhikrtya krtam natakam | During the interval of time that elapsed between the verbal gift of the Kundalas and their actual delivery, those Kundalas were felt as if a burden (bhara) to his ears (Karna) by Karna. His selflessness, generosity and magnanimity rose to such an extent that the very moment he offered by word of mouth anything in gift to another it became the property of the latter and its presence with Karna was unbearable to him. Thus interpreted, Karna is presented in the most favourable light and there is no necessity to take the play as incomplete and infer the existence of a further act. The play simply informs us of the generous nature of the high-souled Karna and we have no further expectations raised by the play which remain to be fulfilled. The play thus is complete. 1 G, Sastri, Trivandrum Sanskrit Series No. 22, Preface. Woolner and Sarup, Thirteen Triv. Plays, Volume 2, p. 32.

189 Plot The generalship of the Kaurava army falls on the shoulders of Karna after Drona. The stagemanager after his benedictory stanza hears some noise caused by the warrior messenger of Duryodhana telling Karna of the dreadful fight which is quite imminent and near at hand. Karna, however, is ready in his war-dress and is proceeding to the battle-field with Salya; so the messenger makes his exit as there is no necessity to deliver the message. Karna is in a gloomy mood. He asks Salya to drive the chariot to the place where Arjuna is. But at the moment he is held back by the memory of the fact of Pandavas being his younger brothers. He then tells Salya the story of his learning the various astras (weapons) from Parasurama under the pretext of being a Brahmana. One day while he (Karna) had gone to the forest to bring fuel, fruit, etc., his preceptor fell asleep on his lap. A worm bored a hole through his thigh but he did not make any movement lest his preceptor might get disturbed in his sleep. The cold blood, however, oozing out from the thigh awakened Parasurama, who became angry after learning the true state of affairs, and cursed him that his astras would fail him at the time of need. Karna now wants to test his knowledge but finds it fruitless. In his grief he invokes peace and blessings to all, and asks Salya again to drive the chariot to the battle-field, but is stopped by a Brahmana mendicant who begs a big boon from Karna. Karna offers him in turn cows, horses, elephants, the whole earth, the fruit of Agnistoma, and even his person, but the Brahmana refuses all, and demands the natural armour of Karna. Salya seeing through the deceit of Indra sounds a note of warning, but Karna after stating that the sacrificial merits and gifts alone are permanent in this transient world, satisfies the Brahmana who is really Indra in disguise. Indra makes his exit after receiving the armour, but in return sends Vimala, a Sakti, through his servant to Karna; and the latter accepts it only because it proceeds from a Brahmana. Then Karna ascends his chariot, and asks Salya to drive it to the battle-field. The usual epilogue concludes the play. Deviations. In the epic, the incident of Indra getting the armour from Karna occurs earlier while the

190 Pandavas were in the forest; the poet has transferred the incident to the battle-field to make it more touching. Karna in the Karna is depicted as more noble; he demands nothing in return from Indra. Salya in the Karna is sympathetic towards Karna; he is not intent on insulting the latter or contradicting him and thus making him lose heart, as stated in the epic. Type. The play cannot be a Vyayoga, as there is no fight and no Vira rasa. It may be classed under Utsrstikanka, which is thus defined (Da s a r u th a, III. 70-72): utsrstikanke prakhyatam vrttam buddhya prapancayet || rasastu karunah sthayi netarah prakrta narah | bhanavatsandhivrtyangairyuktah stri paridevitaih || vaca yuddham vidhatavyam tatha jayaparajayau | There are no wailings of women in the Karna as required in an Utsrstikanka; but, as already stated, Bhasa's works do not conform in every minute detail to the definitions given in our extant texts on dramaturgy. Sentiments etc. There is a pathetic note (karuna) pervading the whole play. The whole atmosphere is serene and serious, relieved to some extent by a high class character (Indra in the disguise of a begging (Brahmana) speaking Prakrit and his peculiar mannerisms, which supply some sort of humour (Hasya). The poet has thus purposely used Prakrit in the mouth of a Brahmana to relieve the tension and hence there is nothing peculiar or 'curious' in it.' The simile comparing the heroic Karna overwhelmed with grief with the sun covered by clouds is very finely expressed. (v. 4). atyugradiptivisadah samare'graganyah saurye ca samprati sasokamupaiti dhiman | prapte nidaghasamaye ghanarasiruddhah suryah svabhavarucimaniva bhati karnah || Critical remarks. This is the shortest play in the group. It has no female characters. After considering the conception of tragedy in the Greek and Shakespearean sense, Prof. Ramachandra Rao has included the Karna 1 Of. Winternitz, Bulletin of the Ramavarma Research Institute, 5, p. 4. It is to be noted in this connection that the soliloquies of Sakra are all in Sanskrit.

191 among the few Indian dramas that he styles tragedies." But the Karna is not a tragedy. The notion is due to the misinterpretation of the title. The Karna means and emphasizes, as stated above, the particular aspect of Karna's character, viz. his magnanimity. It does not mean Karna's task, and hence there is no necessity to show Karna's death or even to refer to it at all. The pathetic. element accentuates the liberality of Karna. The drama is complete in itself. It serves its purpose after Karna is shown in a favourable light. In its interpretation as "Karna's task", the play fails to create any impression whatsoever about Karna's task: much less can it be taken to be incomplete. Thus, the burden of (Karna's) ears' is the only correct interpretation. Bhasa has shown similar subtlety of meaning in naming one of his plays as the Pratima. The play was primarily written for didactic purpose, possibly to impress on the minds of the princes the importance of generosity. The air of Brahmin superiority is found pervading this short piece also. Karna's dictum that everything else (even good learning, firmly footed trees, and fountains of water) vanishes but sacrifices and charities live to the end is finely expressed in v. 22: 6 siksa ksayam gacchati kalaparyayat subaddhamula nipatanti padapah | jalam jalasthanagatam ca susyati hutam ca dattam ca tathaiva tisthati || The ideal to be aimed at and striven for by every wearer of the crown is beautifully described by Karna in v. 17: dharmo hi yatnaih purusena sadhyo bhujangajihvacapala nrpasriyah | tasmat prajapalana matra buddhya hatesu dehesu guna dharante || Dr. Winternitz states that "the Karna of the Mahabharata is a far more interesting figure than that of our one-act play" but in this connection it should be borne in mind that the Karna, along with all the plays of our group, is to be considered from the point of view of the spectators 1 Paper read at the Mysore Oriental Conference. The Professor kindly supplied me with a copy of the paper. 2 Bulletin of the Ramavarma Research Institute, 5, p. 7.

192 of that period as well as from the 'Indian' point of view which is essentially of a devotional character. The colophon Kavacanka Nataka' of another manuscript' gives the alternate title of the play, lending additional support to the interpretation of the title 'Karnabhara' as suggested by us. The word Anka in 'Kavacanka' possibly stands for the Utsrstikanka tpye of rupaka and it is well known that the scribes read their own types of dramas in the earlier plays.