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rāghava have originated in Gujarat and during the 12th and 13th century. And so, Hanumannāṭakam also must have originated during this time, perhaps following Dūtāngada, as it incorporates in the VIII act, a scene from the Dūtāngada, as remarked earlier.
Then I have received further succour in this matter from an unexpected quarter, a source which would not normally be available to the scholars not knowing Gujarati language.
In Gujarati, there is a Rāmāyaṇa in a versified form composed by a certain Giradhara who flourished in the eighteenth century A.D. The remarkable thing about this Rāmāyaṇa is that it constantly draws upon the Hanumannāṭakam. He acknowledges two sources for his Rāmāyaṇa, viz. Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa and the play Hanumannāṭakam. He says in the beginning of the Giradhara-rāmāyaṇa
वाल्मीकि रामायणनो अर्थ मांहे नाटक कृत हनुमंतजी । ते थकी भाषाग्रंथ कर्यो छे, लेई दृष्टान्त अनंत जी ॥ Further in the Aranyakāṇḍa Giradhararāmāyaṇa, also, the poet says आधार रामायण तणो वाल्मीकि जेनुं नाम । हनुमाननाटकनी कथा मांहे मेळवी अभिराम ॥ ( 3-1-5) ए अर्थ वाल्मीकि तणो हनुमाननाटक सार । ए जुगमसंमत मेळवीने कर्यो छे विस्तार ॥ (३-२२-२७) Then in the Yuddhakaṇḍa also the author says वाल्मीकि रामायण थकी प्राकृत कर्यो विस्तार ।
हनुमंतनाटक मेळवी पदबंध रचना सार || (६-१-७)
Apart from this candid admission on the part of the poet, even in some specific instances also, he indicates that the source of this episode is Hanumannāṭakam or for example the episode of the confrontation of Rama and Parasurama.
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