________________
53
भृगुपतिमृत्युनिरोधकृत रघुपति भाण विचित्र ।
ए कथा छे हनुमाननाटक, विशे परम पवित्र ।। १-४६-७
Further Giradhara-Rāmāyaṇa has a very curious puspikā, at the end of every capter इति श्रीरामचरित्रे वाल्मीकिसम्मतनाटकधारायां बालकाण्डे प्रथमोऽध्यायः ।
(Kānda and adhyāya will change) Giradhara, of course, has been influenced by that epoch-making work Ramacaritamānasa by Tulsidāsa, Anandarāmāyaṇa and Bhavartha-Rāmāyaṇa in Marathi as well. However, nowhere, he mentions these works by name, except the Hanumannāțakam.
Can this deep influence of the Hanumannātakam be not attributed to the geographical proximity of the play Hanumannātakam, which in all likelihood, must have originated in the land of Gujarat or in the vicinity of Gujarat and it was easily accessible to the poet Giradhara who profitably utilised the play.
The relationship between the Giradhara-Rāmāyaṇa and the Hanumannāțakam and other Rāmāyaṇas require further probings.
But for the present, in all probability I think, the Hanumannātakam originated in Gujarat during the 12th or 13th century A.D.
References 1. In the Histories of Sanskrit Literature, the play is discussed
under the title of Mahānāțakam as in Sanskrit Drama by Keith, History & Sanskrit Literature by De and so on. The scholars like De and S.P. Bhattacharya have also discussed the play under the title of Mahānāțaka. See their articles entitled “The problem of Mahānāțaka' by De and 'The Mahānātaka Problem' by S.P. Bhattacharya in Indian Historical quarterly, September 1931 and September 1934 respectively.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
