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 330 of: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
330 (of 564)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
310
stage, they related to the R膩m膩ya峁嘺 and Mah膩bh膩rata
personages, were didactic, and glorified sacrifices, dak峁峁嚹�,
d膩na and similar virtues prized by the Hindus.
Why anonymous ? Neither want of merit nor their
being the stage versions can be the reason why these
plays have come to us without the name of their author
being appended to them."
We think that in B膩峁嘺's time these plays were not
anonymous as he has not mentioned anonymity as the
characteristic feature of Bh膩sa's works. After these works
were introduced into the South and formed part of the
Caky膩r repertory, they were possibly accepted without
affixing the author's name thereto, and all excepting the
select few came to look upon these works as hailing from
the South. Absence of circulations of these plays except
in the south and the staging of select acts from these
works without mentioning the author's name made their
association with Bh膩sa appear quite impossible.
Taking the plays to be anonymous from the
beginning and not after the time of B膩峁嘺 as we have
stated above, the possible reasons for their anonymity
appear to be the following: (1) The rule of Bharata
with regard to the mentioning of the name of the author
in common with some other rules was not obligatory in
the days of Bh膩sa. The texts on dramaturgy of those
days appear to have allowed these 'lapses'. In course of
time, by the period of K膩lid膩sa, Bharata was strictly
followed and breaches of his dicta were looked as
sacrilegious. (2) Or perhaps the poet might have
purposely kept off his name as actors, dramatists etc.
were not held in repute by the orthodox Hindus as
the Arthasastra, the epics, and the Sm峁泃is tend to show.鲁
The name of the author was known to a select few, and
later it remained associated only with the Svapna, the
relationship with the other plays evidently not mattering
much with the Pandits.
鈽�
Possibility of finding Bhasa manuscripts
elsewhere in India. The Southern manuscripts of Bh膩sa
1 Cf. Chapters II, III, V,, VII, VIII. Contra, Raja, ZII, 2, p. 260.
cf. Sukthankar, JBRAS, 1925, p. 139. 2 Cf. Chapter IV-(9) Bhasa and Bharata's
Natyasastr膩; the other rules as to fight, sleep, death, etc. on the stage.
Arthasastra, II, 26, p. 48; R膩m膩ya峁嘺, II. 30. 8; Mbh, IV. 17. 43: Manusmrti,
III. 1555; IV. 64. 215; and other Smrtis.
