Dasarupaka (critical study)
by Anuru Ranjan Mishra | 2015 | 106,293 words
This page relates ‘Summary of the Urubhanga� of the English study of the Dasarupaka of Dhananjaya: an important work on Hindu dramaturgy (Natya-shastra) from the tenth century dealing with the ten divisions of Sanskrit drama (nata), describing their technical aspects and essential dramaturgical principals. These ten types of drama are categorised based on the plot (vastu), hero (neta) and sentiment (rasa)
Part 2 - Summary of the Ūrubhaṅga
has written the plays for the sake of people, in which he has depicted the sentiments and characters of the people very naturally. The Ūrubhaṅga is one of his works, which is an ٲṛṣṭiṅk type of drama. It has followed almost all the rules of the ṭyśٰ. The summary of the Ūrubhaṅga has been given below.
The story of the drama is the smashing of the thighs of Duryodhana in the club fight. Three warriors enter the stage after the stage-manager finishes his preliminaries and they, between themselves, give a detailed description of the battlefield on the eighteenth day of the great Kuru-ṇḍ war. According to them, whole battleground was full of corpses, jackals and vultures gathered to eat flesh from the dead bodies. In the mean time, some noise is heard behind the curtain which is identified later on as that produced by the terrible mace-fight between ī and Duryodhana. The warriors turn their faces to the place where the club fight was going on in the presence of ղ, Vidura, 峾 and ṛṣṇa. They then describe the fight very realistically. In the opinion of the second warrior, ī was physically stronger while Duryodhana was more adept in the club fight. In the fight, later on ī gets a terrible blow on his head and falls down which plunges the ṇḍ supporters into anxieties and gladdens 峾 at the victory of his disciple. Duryodhana then taunts ī, by telling him not to be afraid as he was not going to kill him, though his life was at his (Duryodhana’s) mercy. Seeing this, ṛṣṇa makes a secret sign to ī by striking on his own thighs. This infuses a new spirit in ī and he rises up energetically quite fresh for fighting again after a loud thundering shout. After fighting for some time, ī hurls his mace with both hands on the thighs of Duryodhana violating the rules of club-fight assuggested by ṛṣṇa. Duryodhana’s thighs are broken and bleed profusely and he falls to the ground. At his fall, ղ sets out to fly to the heaven and 峾 becomes enraged at the unjust treatment accorded to Duryodhana but on ղ’s advice, ī is led elsewhere by the ṇḍs with the help of ṛṣṇa. 峾 opens the next scene, shouting loudly that he is going to kill īand asking Duryodhana to hold on a little longer. Hearing this, Duryodhana crawled with great effort, as his thighs are brokenand tries to pacify 峾 by saying, “Let who offer of funeral oblations live and let strife and enmities end.�
However, instead 峾 becomes even more enraged and talks of killing all the ṇḍs. Duryodhana, however, shows saintly resignation saying that it was no use fighting in the then circumstances and that it was not ī but the great lord ṛṣṇa who had entered, as it were, ī’s mace and made present of his (Duryodhana’s) life to the god of death.
Then enter ٳṛtṣṭ, Իī, the queens of Duryodhana and his son Durjaya, all bewailing his sad end and searching for him on the battlefield. All this pains Duryodhana to the most, more poignant than his physical injuries. The sight of his queens crying aloud, walking on bare foot and bare-headed, without their usual veils, strikes a serious blow to Duryodhana.
More is yet to come. At the approach of his parents and at the express desire of his father to salute him, Duryodhana tries to get up to fall at the feet of his father but falls down again.
The scene between Duryodhana and Durjaya is the most patheticand the most touching, in the whole range of Sanskrit literature and no apology is needed to quote the whole scene extensively owing to its bringing out the inner traits of Duryodhana, which is really heart-rending. His inability to offer his lap as a resting place for his beloved son is the unkindest cut of all to Duryodhana. The sorry plight of Duryodhana reminds ٳṛtṣṭ of the deaths of his hundred sonsand the old man falls down unconscious. Duryodhana requests him to console his mother by telling her that her son died in the war without showing his back and that he is dying in the same dignity in which he was born. His love for his mother is brilliantly shown by his prayer to be her son in all his future lives if there were any slight merit to his credit.
His message to his queens also is not to lament for him as he is meeting with the hero’s death, having performed in all earnest his duties of the kingly office and he is dying heroically. His parting advice to his son also is worthy of the great hero; he preaches reconciliations, his enmity with the ṇḍs constitutes a sort of representation and purification of the soul; also śٳٳ峾 then enters the stage, making a big sound with his bow, all wrathful at the news of the condition of Duryodhana. To his query, Duryodhana replies that his condition is due to his discontent but śٳٳ峾 declares his intention of slaying the ṇḍs and ṛṣṇaand Duryodhana tries to dissuade him saying that it is now of no use after the loss of his brothers, ṇa and others, in his present condition to revive enmity. śٳٳ峾 however, tells him that it appears as if his dignity has been killed along with his thighs; but Duryodhana silences him by saying that honour (Բ) is the life of the king and it was for Բ alone that he fought. The evils wrought by the ṇḍs are nothing as compared to his treatment of the ṇḍs. All this fails to convince and satisfy śٳٳ峾 who takes a vow, with 峾 as a witness, to fight with the ṇḍs and crown Durjaya as the emperor. Duryodhana feels satisfied at this and then gets a vision of his ancestors at his death. His body is covered with a piece of cloth after his death. Then ٳṛtṣṭ in his grief declares his intention of going to the forest for the penance and śٳٳ峾 starts to kill the ṇḍs in their sleep with upraised weapon. The general praise by all for the protection of the earth by “our king� after destroying his enemies ends the drama.
(The summary has been taken from “� A Study� of A. D. Pusalkar, 1940, pp.195-99).