Madanrekha Akhyayika

SR No.: 002639
Original Sutra Author: Jinbhadrasuri
Author: Bechardas Doshi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1973
Total Pages: 304
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 15 MB

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One might feel that the delineation of neither the Erotic nor of the Furious is thorough going and fully exploited by the poet. But the reason for this is that the prevalent sentiment of the whole work is the Pacific (śānta) one ; and the Erotic and the Furious are meant to heighten the particular situation to the extent they donot hamper the general perva. ding effect of principal sentiment which the poet, therefore, never allows to be forgotten or subdued even for the time being. It is by introducing the moralistic and religious overtones throughout the work that the poet achieves this predominence of the Pacific poetic relish while utilizing the Erotic and the Furious ones to ultimately nourish it.
Although the whole story runs on the realistic plane, twice does the poet bring supernatural into play thereby seizing the opportunity to delineate the Wondrous (adbhuta) sentiment. On the first occasion, a flying Vidyadhara catches Madanarekha in the mid-air when she was tossed in the sky by a mad elephant.28 On another occasion a celestial being riding a divine aeroplane descends in the presence of saint Maņicüda and others and, contrary to all the prevalent conventions and protocol, pays his homage first to Madanrekha a mere woman in preference to an omniscient saint. 21 Keeping in view the divine status of the character, and the popular bellef in the power of flying in the case of mythical Vidyadharas, the induction of the supernatural element on such occasions does not tax the Imagination of the audience.
Among the seasons, Jinabhadrasūri has tried his hand at the description of the Spring season 25 and of the Sarad season 26 ; the former being made to serve as a background for the Erotic, while the latter of the two is introduced without any compelling narrative purpose; at the most one might justify on the ground that it was the proper season which preceded and heralded the introduction of the incident of the invasion. The descriptions of both these seasons are too brief to stand comparison with the similar attempts of Vālmīki, Kālidasa, or of Ašvaghosa, much less of the later poets like Bharavi, Magha. Bana and others. All the same, they do fit in the context very nicely and are not at all farfetched,
A few situations are also aoteworthy inasmuch as they testify to the effectiveness of the poet's power of imagination. There is a fine situation in which the villain and the heroine look to each other from different angles, one regarding her as a prospective pray willing to submit to bis passions but feigning disinterestedness, while the other accepting the presents
23. MRA, p. 113. 24. Op. cit., p. 125. 25. Op. cit., pp. 87 ff. 26. Op. cit., pp. 146-149,