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Mudrarakshasa (literary study)

by Antara Chakravarty | 2015 | 58,556 words

This page relates ‘Use of Anuprasa-alamkara� of the English study on the Mudrarakshasa: an ancient Sanskrit dramatic play (Nataka) authored by Vishakhadatta which deals with the life of king Chandragupta. This study investigates the Mudra Rakshasa from a literary perspective, such as metrics, themes, rhetorics and other poetical elements. Chandragupta ruled the Mauryan Empire during the 4th century BCE, hence this text can also be studied as a historical textbook of ancient India.

Go directly to: Footnotes.

[Full title: Use of ṃk in ѳܻṣa: Śṃk (1). Գܱ]

In the ѳܻṣa, վś󲹻岹ٳٲ has used both the Śṃk and ٳṃk for enhancing the beauty of the drama. He is an expert in choosing the proper ṃk in the proper situation for the embellishment of the rasa concerned. Here in this drama we can find a good number of ṃks of which we are going to discuss one by one. All the definitions of the ṃks that are mentioned in the following are based on 󾱳ٲⲹ岹貹ṇa.

Both in the śⲹ屹ⲹ and ṛsⲹ屹ⲹ, Śṃk have a special effect on the connoisseurs. Let us discuss about the Śṃk available in every act of ѳܻṣa in the following:

Գܱ is defined as, Գܱ� śabdasāmya� vaisamye’pi svarasya yat[1] -the repetition of the same words (consonants) constitutes Գܱ, though there may be dissimilarity in vowels.

Գܱ is of five varieties according to 󾱳ٲⲹ岹貹ṇa. In the following śǰ첹 of act-I:

ullaṅghayanmama samujjvalata� 貹� kopasya nandakulakānanadhūmaketo�/
ⲹ� parātmaparimāṇavivekamūḍha� ka� śālabhena vidhinā labhatā� ś�//
[2]

There is Vṛttānuprāsa in the purvardha or the first half of the verse and Cchekānuprāsa in the ܳٳٲ or the last half of the verse, as can be known by the repetition of the letters na, ma, ra, sa and bha. In the same way, the verses VII.15, III.19, IV.6, V.16, I.20, II.13, I.15, and I.23 etc. are the examples of different types of Գܱs. Thus, the expertism over this ṃk of our dramatist can be felt through these examples.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

󾱳ٲⲹ岹貹ṇa,X.3

[2]:

ѳܻṣa, I.10

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