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.
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ideas and ideals etc. The table appended herewith will
clear our position with regard to the outward form of
these plays. In the table we have given the total numbers
of verses, slokas and dialogues in each play as also of the
irregularities in the slokas, which, following Prof. Dhruva
we have styled as "poetic licence" (where there is a breach of
the rule as to the iambus in the third foot of every pada), and
"weak ending" (where the last syllable of the line is short)."
We find three distinct periods in the career of our
poet. The first was of the small one-act plays where the
poet tried his apprentice hand on ready material. The
plots are taken from the Mbh, and the poet has added
nothing, or very little of his own in the dramas. The
epic metre predominates and the proportion of the verses
to the dialogues is very large. Gradually, as the poet
came to understand the importance and the appeal of the
dialogues in the representation of the dramatic
compositions, on the stage, there was an increase in the
number of dialogues and hence the proportion of the verses
to the dialogues is gradually on the decrease in the latter
productions of the poet. In versification, the percentage
of the breaches of the rule as to di-iambus varies between
sixteen and eighteen, and that of the weak endings shows
great divergences, the variations being eighteen to
forty-five. No strict rule can be stated with regard to the
weak endings, as some of the mature products of our poet,
e.g., the Svapna, Pratij帽膩, and Car, show a large
percentage, viz, 23, 31, and 30 respectively. In
connection with the "poetic licence", it may safely be
assumed that the number of such cases is gradually less
and less in the later works, and, curiously enough, the
Svapna is an exception with twenty-three percent of such
lapses. The Karna from the Mbh plays is unique in that
it shows a very low proportion of slokas and presents no
breach of rules as to the di-iambus and the long letter
ending the line; the reason may be found in the very small
in the Karna. The Uru in
common with the Karna, shows a low percentage of the
epic metre, which can be accounted for on the ground of
the requirements of the heroic and tragic sentiments
predominating these plays, which demand the use of long
number of slokas (viz. 41 ?
118, 126.
1 Parakramani Prasadi, 1923, Intr., pp. 22-25; Thakkar Lectures, pp. 82,
