Chaupannamahapurischariyam

Author(s): Shilankacharya, Amrutlal Bhojak, Dalsukh Malvania, Vasudev S Agarwal
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 43

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THE DRAMA VIBUDHĀNANDA
($ 23
his master in order to discover the whereabouts of the king and who had already received the news of the king's offer. With the Vidüşaka and a ceți, who later joins them, a humorous scene arises.
After the exit of the kañcukin and the ceți the prince enters, wishing to meet the king. The Vidüşaka suggests that he should first of all rest himself in the picture-gallery of the kanyantahpura (which is where they are at present ). Here, without being aware of it, they are seen by the princess Bandhumati and her maid Candralekha. While Bandbumati draws a picture of the prince at the suggestion of the maid, they both hear the prince telling the Vidüşaka about the girl with whom he has fallen in love. But the princess is afraid that the prince is talking about some other girl. The maid insists that Bandhumati and no one else is the object of the prince's eulogy. The prince in turn wonders whether he is loved by the girl he has seen. The Vidüşaka assures him that he has inferred that with certainty from her gestures.
In the meantime the kañcukin makes his appearance to deliver the message of the king and for this purpose requests the prince to come to the upper storey. The two girls who were watching here conceal themselves. The kancukin delivers the offer of the king to the prince but the latter is reluctant to accept it: as regards the proposal that he should take over half the kingdom he wants to wait for instructions from his father, to whom he has sent a massage ; again he feels unable to marry the princess because he has lost his heart to another girl. The watching princess swoons, but Candralekha rightly conjectures that the prince has not recognized the princess in the girl he saw and consoles the princess accordingly. On the exhortation of the Viduşaka the prince ultimately accepts the second offer. The kañcukin goes to convey this reply to the king,
The Vidūşaka finds the picture of the prince and shows it to him. He also conjectures that the princess has drawn it and that she is the one with whom the prince has fallen in love. On his advice, the prince draws a picture of the princess beside his own picture. When this has been done both leave. The girls reenter the room and the princess is overjoyed when she finds out that the prince has painted her. At this moment the prince sends back the Vidūşaka to efface the picture he has so rashly drawn. But Candralekha seizes the Vidūsaka, he cries for help, the prince comes - and stands in front of his beloved. After the necessary declarations the hands of prince and princess are joined by Candralekha.
At this moment the kañcukin enters, congratulates the prince and requests the two to set off for the marriage-ceremony. In doing so he gives rise to an evil omen : he wants to say it is high time and uses the expression dhaukate kalah which can also mean death is near. He therefore quickly corrects dhaukate kälah into dhaukate lagnam. On this occassion the prince observes that nobody can escape his fate.
All go off-stage with the exception of the kañcukin who has to announce the marriage to the citizens and to ask them to decorate the town. Suddenly he hears a noise arising from the palace. He quickly repairs to the palace and is received by mournful cries. The king appears with the queen Citralekha and bursts into lamentations : the prince has succumbed to a snake-bite immediately after the marriage-ceremony. The animal was in a casket of the princess, in which he bad uncautiously placed his hand. When the king has ended his elegy the kañcukin appears with the news that the princess has followed the prince to the funeral pyre. The queen wails loudly and swoons for some moments. The king declares that he will renounce the world and install his son as his successor on the throne. The queen's objection that the son is still too young does not dissuade him. The drama ends with a monologue of the king.
$ 23. Remarks on the drama. The play is staged by the minister Vimalamati who in this way induces his royal master Mahābala ( 4th prebirth of Rşabha) to take the pravrajyä. As we learn from