महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

lxvii] Early Plays: Mālatī-Mādhava compares very unfavourably with the sublime character of Rākshasa in Viśākhadatta's Mudrā-Rākshasa. Another characteristic defect of the play is the poet's inability to stop when enough has been already said. Thus Mālyavant's self-revelation— the painful exposition of his motives, his hopes, and his fears—becomes positively tedious, especially in the interlude to act iv; it is not called for, and is technically a blemish. Similarly in act iii, the wordy war between Paraśurāma on the one hand, and Śatānanda and Janaka and Daśaratha and Viśvāmitra on the other, is carried to a length that may perhaps serve to display Bhavabhūti's knowledge of grammar, Yoga, Dharma-śāstra, Mīmāṁsā, and so forth, but that also betrays a radical defect in our poet, the lack of a proper sense of form and measure. As a result, awkward pauses must often have arisen on the stage, one or more characters being compelled to stop and wait till another had concluded his—perhaps poetic, but uncalled for—description or declamation. In fairness to Bhavabhūti however, it must be said that his treatment of the Bharata episode (end of act iv) and of the Vālin-Sugrīva incident can hardly be bettered. Here he gives the desired effect by a few bold strokes; and Vibhīshaṇa's remark (v. 58¹⁸), ‘How touching is this brevity where a prolix statement might have been looked for!’ can very appropriately be applied to Bhavabhūti's own treatment of the theme, as indeed he himself probably intended.¹ Finally we may mention that the language of the play is crude and lacks the grace and polish, and even the directness and vigour, of Bhava- bhūti's later plays. The descriptions are often lengthy and involved, and the diction then becomes stilted and unnatural. The poet may also be charged with some inconsistencies of statement: cp. vii. 16ᶜ with v. 38². The metrical test (see appendix 1) confirms the impression that the play is probably the earliest ² of the three plays of Bhavabhūti. 32. The Mālatī-Mādhava.—This play was probably written not very long after the Mahāvīra-charita. It is in ten acts and is technically called a prakaraṇa, and its plot, taken as a whole, is the poet's own invention. Quite possibly, of course, he may have received from various sources hints for certain incidents and episodes of the story. Thus (as noted at § 4) some parts of it, such as the journey from the Berars to Padmāvatī, are perhaps autobiographical; while others, such as the marriage of a nobleman from the Berars (Mādhava) with a distinguished lady of Northern India

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¹ Bhavabhūti is very fond of introducing in his plays such indirect self-praise : com- pare M.M. i. 35¹⁰, vi. 13²; U.R.C. iii. 47⁵. But he generally takes care to introduce it so skilfully as not to destroy the stage- illusion.

² Compare also the prologue (i. 7²), where the work is called new or apūrva; every play is in a sense apūrva, but it is usually in his first play that an author tries to excuse himself on this ground. Cf. Mālavikā, i. 2.,