Mallikamakarandanatakam

Author(s): Ramchandra Mahakavi, Punyavijay
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 20

Introduction
She advises Makaranda to go to the Siddha yatana and stay there as (even) minor calamities do not visit a person during his stay in the Siddhayatana. Tapasakumāra too advises him to go there and follow Māgadhika's instructions scrupulously. Māgadhikā and Makaranda then leave for the Siddha yatana. From behind the scenes there is the sudden fall or throw of a huge slab of stone from above. It was the doing of Candralekha who was terribly angry with Makaranda for pursuing her daughter (Mallikā) even in a different dvīpa and wanted to kill him on the spot at one stroke. She asks Devalaka to remove the slab of stone so that she could agaip kill him although already dead, Devalaka removes the slab of stone but to his surprise none was to be found below it. Candralekba is sorry that her plot went awry. She gets enraged with Manoramā for interfering in her planned strategy. Tāpasakumāra addresses his mother in these words: “O mother, why do you want to kill that innocent and high-souled man? You better kill me who is the real source of your agony." Candralekhā is still angry, holds Tāpasakumāra by the hair and asks Devalaka to take Manorama with him. Thus they all leave the stage.
Act IV : Makaranda, who is seated in the Siddhāyatana, thinks to himself as follows : "Although I am separated from my beloved, I do not die. On the contrary, seeing that Tāpasakumāra who hears close resemblance to Mallikā-my beloved-I desire to live. Better I take to asceticism following the example of Tāpasakumāra so that in heaven at least I shall be united with my beloved (Mallikā). But why is Candralekha infuriated with me? Certainly she must have abducted Mallikā from her (fosterfather) Brahmadatta's house. Magadhikā could throw some light on this ipcident of abduction. From behind the scenes a voice is heard : “... O princess where are you now? Please reply to me. O pitiless Candralekha, what kind of turbulence or agitation is this of yours that you put obstacles in the way of your own daughter ?" Makaranda recognises the voice to be that of Māgadhikā. She then enters the stage. In her conversation with Makaranda she informs him thus : Mallika was abducted from Panca-śaila and transformed into a male by the use of a magic pill by Candralekha. She was transformed into a male only to prevent her abduction by an inimical person (Makaranda ?)." Māgadhika further informs him “she has been taken out from the arbour to her own mansion by Candralekbā and she has been flogged for the simple reason that she still remembers you." Makaranda who is unable to save his beloved from the clutches of her cruel mother wishes to kill himself with a sword but his hand is as it were paralysed. A divine voice, however, prevents him from committing suicide. Māgadhika explains the purpose of her visit : "I have been sent to offer to you these precious garments and ornaments by my princess (Mallika). She actually offers them to him.] She had received them from Citrāngada." She has in