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 88 of: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
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68
be unreasonable. Bh膩sa, therefore, comes to somewhere
between the fifth and the fourth century B. C.
iii. The Avim膩raka shows that marriages between
prohibited degrees of consanguinity, e. g. those with
maternal uncle's or aunt's daughter, were recognized in
those days. Manu looks down upon such a custom and
so does Kum膩rila. The Mah膩bh膩rata mentions Arjuna's
marriage with his maternal uncle's daughter. So the custom
seems to be fairly ancient, testifying to the antiquity of the
drama. Perhaps the portion in the present version of
the Manusmrti condemning marriages was not
there in ancient times, as the composition of the
Manusmrti is placed between the second century B. C. and
the second century A. D.
ch
iv. The ethos of the Brahmanical system,
glorification of sacrifices, contemptuous attitude towards
Buddhists and Jains, point to a period not far off from
the origin of these religious systems. Buddhism and
Jainism do not seem to have obtained a sway either over
the ruling Princes or over the public when these plays
were written. This places Bh膩sa at a point very near the
sixth century B. C.
喔�. The Prat, Svapna and Pratij帽膩 testify to the
fact of avagunthana (veiling) system being current
among ladies. The veil could be done away with on
some specified occasions.鲁 Belief in black art and magic
is seen from the Avi, and almost the same masters are
mentioned as in Kautilya. This shows that our poet
is at least a contemporary of Kautilya, if not earlier,
showing thereby, the fourth century B. C. as the later limit.
In dealing at length later on with the sociological
conditions as revealed from Bh膩sa's works, we have
given parallel references from the Kau峁璱liya Artha艣膩stra
and the J膩takas and this shows that Bh膩sa belongs to the
fifth or the fourth century B. C.
叠贬础搁础罢础痴膧碍驰础厂
in these plays are not uniform, except in stating the
1 Cf. Hindu Exogamy, p. 14, Gop膩j膩taka. Kum膩rila, however, in his
Tantra V膩rtika tries to justify Arjuna's marriage with Subhadra as she was not,
according to Kum膩rila, Arjuna's Matula Kanya. Sabarabh膩峁a, Vol. I., Poona, p.
210. 2 Svapna, p. 140; Pratij帽膩, p. 50; Prat, p. 36, also I. 29; 脺ru, p. 101, v.
38; Car, p. 89. 3 Avi, p. 46; Arthasastra, XIV, 148, p. 419.
