स्वप्नवासवदत्तम् (महाकवि भास - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी अनुवाद)

INTRODUCTION. ————— Whilst on my tour the year before last for the collection of Sanskrit manuscripts in South Travancore, I came across a palm leaf manuscript of Nâtakas in the Manalikkara Matham, near Padma- [Margin: The acquisition of a rare collection of plays.] nâbhapuram. It was found to contain 105 leaves with ten lines of twenty granthas in each page writ- ten in old Malayalam characters. Though the manuscript seemed to be more than three hundred years old, there was no defacement of charac- ters except in certain parts of the first twelve leaves. The style and dignity of conception appeared to me to be such as characterise the great works of the Rishis, and superior to what we find in the famous works of the great poets. On examination, the manuscript was found to con- tain the following ten Rûpakas :—

1. Svapnavâsavadatta.
2. Pratijnâyaugandharâyana.
3. Pancharâtra.
4. Chârudatta.
5. Dûtaghatotkacha.
6. Avimâraka.
7. Bâlacharita.
8. Madhyamavyâyoga.
9. Karnabhâra.
10. Ûrubhanga. Besides, there was also an eleventh Rûpaka just begun but abruptly left unfinished towards the middle of the reverse side of the first leaf. During a subsequent tour, from one Govinda Pisharodi, an astrologer of Kailâsapuram, near Kaduthurutti, were obtained two Natâkas of a simi- lar character, named Abhishekanâtaka and Pratimânâtaka. It was sub- sequently discovered that the Palace Library also contained a manuscript of each of these two works. All these manuscripts written in Malaya- lam characters were on palm leaves, probably three or four centuries old. Thus were obtained twelve or rather thirteen Rûpakas, neither seen nor heard of before.