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Essay name: Bhasa (critical and historical study)

Author: A. D. Pusalker

This book studies Bhasa, the author of thirteen plays ascribed found in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. These works largely adhere to the rules of traditional Indian theatrics known as Natya-Shastra.

Page 128 of: Bhasa (critical and historical study)

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128 (of 564)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


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108
fan, took the word as an epithet of 'Fire'-
'औत्सर्गि� दाहकस्वभाववान् [autsargika dāhakasvabhāvavān] ' � and by the insertion of तयोर्मध्यात् [ٲǰ ] in the
third line, rendered the verse as meaning "Fire left
unburnt the poems of Bhāsa like mercury"; while the
reading, as it stood, meant, according to Dr. Sastri, "Fire
did not burn those portions of both Bhāsa and Vyāsa
which described Visnudharma". He, however, concludes
that the exact meaning is to be got at by having other
manuscripts of the original and the commentary.
We think that the word fan in the quotation does.
not refer to any works of Bhāsa, but the whole verse is
meant to state the tradition of Bhāsa's works having
survived the fire ordeal. Mr. Sankar successfully tries to
extract the required confirmation of the tradition from the
verse by emending विष्णुधर्मान� [ṣṇܻ󲹰 ] to विष्णुधर्मन्, [ṣṇܻ󲹰, ] and पारतवत� [ٲ ] to भारतवत�.
[ٲ.
]
He takes the verse to mean that the Svapnavāsavadatta
in Bhāsa's works equals Bhārata in merits. There is thus
no necessity to suppose the transference of the tradition of
the Svapna as done by Dr. Bhandarkar," because the
verse confirms the tradition and is not at variance with it.
That really seems to be the sense. Hence the attempts
to identify the Visnudharma with some published or
unpublished works seem to us rather futile and baseless."
Mr. R. Kavi of Rajahmundry in a paper read at
the Third Oriental Conference held at Madras, attributed
the Dāmaka Prahasanam and Traivikrama to Bhāsa.5
Dr. Jolly in a learned article in Festgabe Garbe has
disproved the alleged connection in the case of Dāmaka
Prahasana, and Prof. K. Rama Pisharoti, one of the
leaders of the opposition, places the Traivikrama in the
12th century A.D., and ascribes it to some Cākyār,
possibly Nilakantha.
6.
some
Dāmaka Prahasana would serve as the best
illustration of what may be called a 'compilation'. Traces
of borrowing from different sources are evident in many
parts of the work. Thus, the first scene has been patched
1 Critical Study, pp. 48-49; App. II b. 2 AMV, 2, pp. 42-43. 3 IA,
42, p. 53 note. 4 Bhandarkar (op. cit) refers to two works of the name of
Visnudharma or Visnudharmottara, both Puranas. Hirananda Sastri (MASI, 28,
p. 27) identifies the Visnudharma of Bhāsa with Visnudharmottariya published at
Bombay. One Visnudharmottara, containing one of the oldest and most exhaustive
Kramrisch, Calcutta,
1928. 5 OC, III, pp. 80-85, 6 Jolly, Festgabe Garbe, pp. 115-121; Pisharoti,
Shama'a, 1924, pp. 213-222 at p. 214; Damala, edited by V. Sarma, Lahore, 1926.
treatises on Indian painting has been published by Dr. Stella

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