Indian Antiquary Vol 53

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 13

JANUARY, 1924 ]
influence may extend northwards and his friendship with the Huṇaraja may also be strengthened. When news is received that the Sindhu princess is voyaging to Ceylon, the minister manages to waylay this ship in Travancore waters with the active cooperation of the Hûna fleet, and Vasumân, the officer in command of the sea-coast who was also the brother of the Travancore king's consort, sends the captive princess to the royal Palace. There the king falls in love with her and manages to meet her in the royal pleasure gardens, to the intense chagrin of Vasumati, who tries to marry her rival to the Chêra prince Vasuvarman and thus remove the unwelcome competitor out of the way. This plot fails, as in the other drama, by the counter-machinations of the king and his Vidûshaka, who successfully personate the Chêra prince and his boon-companion. By the artful scheming of the minister, coupled with the influence of her brother, Vasumatî is, however, finally won over to consent to the marriage of Vasulakshmi with her own husband, and Vasurasi, the Sindhu' prince instructed by minister Buddhisågara, comes post-haste from his country to celebrate his sister's marriage with the Travancore king. By this alliance, it is stated, the friendship of both the parties with the Hûnaraja 29 was strengthened and the influence of the Travancore king was visibly enhanced.
RAMAVARMA-YASOBHUSHANAM AND VASUMATI-KALYANAM
7
It will be seen from the above summary that the thread of the story is the same as that of the other drama of the same name and that the difference is only in the names of the characters. The only new point here is the introduction of the Honaraja as the third party in the alliance; but unluckily no definite clue to the identification of this foreigner is forthcoming in the drama. In all probability, however, the allusion may fitly be to the Hon'ble East India Company, which has been described 29 as, and was in fact a fast rising power in the political horizon of India, whose help and goodwill were much coveted and sought after by the Indian princes of that period. From the Travancore State Manual,30 it is learnt that 'the port of Alleppey was opened out for commerce in the reign of this king (Ramavarman) much to the detriment of the Dutch trade' and that great facilities were afforded to certain wealthy merchants of Sindh and Cutch to colonise at that port, so as to assure the commercial prosperity of the State. In the drama again Sindhuraja is mentioned as the friend of Ramavarman's uncle, 31 Marttânḍavarman, and although the province of Sindh 33 is located in northern India, with the country of Kachchha in its vicinity, we are led to think that the references in the drama are not to the northern provinces of Sindh and Cutch as such, but to certain merchants of these countries, who were generally carrying on a brisk trade along the West Coast down to Ceylon, and whose settlement at the new port of Alleppey was the happy achievement of king Râmavarman. When the Dutch trade was thus undermined, the Hon'ble East India Company, which had only a few decades before got a slippery footing at Anjengo and Vilijnam, was now enabled to have a more secure commercial as well as political base of operations on the West Coast, and with the establishment of good relations between the Travancore king and the northern merchant-princes of Sindh and
ॐ सवनेव तीर्थेन विनयपश्चिमानूपवासिनीऽपि भरतवर्षमान हूनराजस्व चिरमवृत्तमपि सन बहुकी भविष्यतीतिमन्ये ।
30 Vol. I, p. 372.
31 segamapas vakare diye. बोधीति धनुरागमेषु सहतेः तुल्यश्च बाहोर्बले । 33 सिन्धोरुत्तरकच्छभूमिमवधीकृत्य हिमाद्रेः क्षितिं (सन्विक्पावसन्निभी वसुनिधिः क्वातप्रभावः क्षितौ ॥