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The Treatment of Suspense in Dhanapala's Tilakamañjari
Dhanapala may not be taxing our credulity a little too much when, in his anxiety to summarize the past events and point out a doubt,117 he expects us to belive that the crew sailing down below could listen to the remarks of Malayasundari apparently addressed to the temple-priest boy. The poet certainly intends here to exploit the remarks fully for the purpose of drawing our attention to his ingenuity as to the clue provided well in advance to Samaraketu for tracing the whereabouts of the unknown beloved, viz., Malayasundari. The purposefulness of this recapitulation is highly transparent in the remark with reference to the letter from the father of Samaraketu,118 the contents whereof are connected with the incident of the siege of Kañei by Vajrayudha,110 It is now only that we gather the purpose of Vajaryudha episode, viz. to bring about the martial nature of Samaraketu and his love for Malayasundari for whose sake he mounted the night attack.220 The incident is recollected again in the form of news brought by a Brahmin at the Prasantavaira hermitage,121
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The poet's minute care for gathering the threads of the narrative is evident when we notice how Gandharvadatta is made to know about her father Vicitravirya, the Vidyadhara emperor, through Bandhusundari when the latter reports to her how her daughter Malayasundari tried to commit suicide,122
Dhanapala's skill is again evident when he cuts short the narrative on linking the threads of it and also echoes the curiosity of the audience about the part of the narrative now left untold, 123
The element of suspense is again introduced when Malayasundari, who swooned on the sea-shore near the Prasantavaira hermitage, suddenly found herself in a wooden aeroplane floating in the waters of the Adrṣtapara lake situated thousands of miles away from the hermitage, 124 The suspense is resolved when we know how Mahodara had angrily thrown the aeroplane there when he cursed Gandharvaka.125 The event is intelligently exploited to recapitulate past events under the pretext of reflections of Malayasundari. 126
Scarcely do we remember that the letter, which Malayasundari accideutly found tied to the skirt of her garment,127 the one that was handed over to Gandharvaka by Prince Harivahana,129 The mystery as to how it came to be tied to the skirt of Malayasundary's garment is unvelled only when Gandharvaka relates about his curse,120
The suspense as to why Gandharvaka could not return 130 is resolved only when he discloses how while returning from the Suvela mountain he happened to see unconscious Malayasundari lying on the sea-shore, and how in a bid to search some medicinal herb to counter the effect of poisonous fruit she had eaten, he incurred the curse of Mahodara, and how the aeroplane, with Malayasundari lying unconscious in it, was thrown in
| SR No. | 520754 |
| Book Title | Sambodhi 1975 Vol 04 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani |
| Publisher | L D Indology Ahmedabad |
| Publication Year | 1975 |
| Total Pages | 427 |
| Language | English, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati |
| Classification | Magazine, India_Sambodhi, & India |
| File Size | 30 MB |