उत्तररामचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी व्याख्या)

VIII INTRODUCTION. when rhetorical conventions prescribed that long compounds were the soul of prose, as expressed by Daṇḍin in his Kāvyādarśa.²⁷ III Bhavabhûti's works Bhavabhûti is known at present by his three plays, the Mahāvīracharita, the Mālatīmādhava and the Uttararāma- charita The first and third are based on the Rāmāyaṇa. The plot of the second apparently is the author's own creation, but it seems to us that the suggestion came to him from the story of Madiravatī, which we now find in the Kathāsarit sāgara (VIII), which work is based on the Bṛihatkathā of Guṇāḍhya. Out of these it is beyond question that the Uttararāmacharita is a product of the poet's mature intellect. It seems to us in the present state of our knowledge of his works that the Mahāvīracharita was his first work and the Mālatīmādhava the second When he wrote the Mālatī mādhava he must have incurred the ridicule of the critics of his time (vide the verse from the Mālatīmādhava quoted above) This presupposes that he had placed before the public some work of his As we at present know of only three works of his, it follows that the Mahāvīracharita preceded the Mālatīmādhava The fuller details about his ancestors contained in the Mahāvīracharita point in the same direction Whether Bhavabhūti wrote any other work cannot be said with certainty In the Sārṅgadharapaddhati there are two stanzas attributed to him which are found in none of his three works ²⁸ Therefore it is not unlikely that Bhavabhūti may have composed some other work which has not come down to us 27 ओजः समासभूयस्त्वमेतद्गद्यस्य जीवितम् । पद्येप्यदाक्षिणात्यानामिदमेकं परायणम् ॥' I 80 २8 लिखितानि पदानि यदि नात्यल्प डा भवति । किं तत्कथानिदिति ... क्रियते- Bhavabhūti also in the Rasikajīvana compiled by Gadadhara bhatta In the सूक्तिमुक्तावलि of जहण the first verse is attributed to a poet मालतीमाधव, the reading being वधनायस्य for यदि नात्यल्प In the सूक्तिमुक्तावलि there are other verses attributed to भवभूति which are not found in his known works