उत्तररामचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी व्याख्या)

x INTRODUCTION (3) He is unrivalled in the treatment of tender human feelings.²⁹ He is very happy in his description of child life.³⁰ The Uttararamacharita contains many verses that reach the high water mark of tenderness and pathos.³¹ (4) Bhavabhuti had a great command over language and was a master of style and expression. He often composes verses where the sound is an echo to the sense.³² (5) In his descriptions of Nature and human feelings, Bhavabhuti is entirely free from conventions. The attitude of other Sanskrit poets (not excluding even Kalidasa) is generally conventional. They concern themselves chiefly with the cooing of the cuckoo, the mango blossom, the ex- citing influence of moonlight, the Asoka and Bakula trees &c. But Bhavabhuti hardly refers to the note of the cuckoo and the other conventions of Sanskrit poets. He treats us with descriptions of the awful forests, the mellow peaks of mountains, the panoramic views from the tops of mountains, the wild onrush of cascades down the slopes of hills. These and a hundred other particulars of natural scenery which he had himself seen, he is never tired of describing. We shall now turn to some of the shortcomings of Bhavabhuti's works. (1) He is inferior in the skilful development of the plot and in the arrangement of incidents (except in the Uttararamacharita). In two of his dramas he was handicap- ped, it must be admitted by his choice of a plot from the national epic. But even in the Malatimadhava he has introduced scenes that do not fit in with the harmonious development of the plot. (2) He throws the unities of time and place to the winds and betrays a want of the sense of proportion. In the Uttararamacharita, between the first and second Acts an interval of about twelve years elapses, while the remaining Acts follow in quick succession. 29 Mark the verdict of Sanskrit critics 'कारुण्यं भवभूतिरेव तनुते' 30 Mark the verse अनिभिन्न० Act IV. 4 31 e. g. उत्तर० III. 25, 26, 27, 38, I. 43, 46, 49 32 Note Uttararamacharita I. 40, IV. 29, V. 26 33 Vide Dr. Bhandarkar's preface to the Malatimadhava