Sambodhi 1983 Vol 12

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 29

Chitra P. Shukla
n: plead on behalf of Sita. When, however, Sita enters fire, he i restless and asks his brother to stop her. When Sita comes out pure, 1 ** that he had rejected her only for convincing the people.
i
Kalidasa has treated the incident of Sita's abandonment Raghamsi From the rough or rather human prototypes, Kalidasa ca shape noble and grand personalities. For him beauty is supreme, and lov
the harmonized with beauty. Rama's harsh treatment did not bef his deep and sublime love for Sita. Rama's speech after victory ove Lanka is omitted and the whole incident is hushed up. Again, whe Stra was abandoned from Ayodhya, Rama expressed his firm faith in he chastity_His anguish is expressed in a pointed simile : अयोघनेनाय इवाभितप्त -खोई विदद्रे (The heart of Sita's husband melted like hot iro struck by hammer). Sita is shocked by her abandonment. She is a bi sarcastic in the beginning but she, like her husband, is an idealist She will not commit suicide because she is bearing the progen of Raghu in her womb. She will not cease loving Rama, but will perforn penance so that she may not be separated from Rama in the next birth Valmiki, takes Sta with him and clearly says: I am angry with Rama.
Kalidasa's silence over the fire ordeal and Sita's speech on he abandonment have provided Bhavabhuti with an immortal theme, for his drama, Uttararamacarita. In Mahaviracarita the fire ordeal is narra ted by Lanka and Alaka in a Viskambhaka. Like Kalidasa, Bhavabhut also discards anything that is incongruous with Rama's love. In Uttararāmacarita_he firmly says: उत्पत्तिपरिपूतायाः किमस्याः पावनान्तरैः ! The conflict in Ramayana and Abhiseka was undergone more by Rama than by Sita. In Uttararamacarita the conflict is undergone more, by Sa who understands her abandonment but objects the way in which abe is abandoned. The conflict comes to an end when she witnesses the sufferings of Rama. Bhavabhuti cannot tolerate the endless separation of Rama and Sita and therefore unites them in the end. In Raghuvams'a Sat is brought before the people, people accept her purity but Sita disappears in earth. This point of difference is very obvious and shows that Kalla is a Clacissist while Bhavabhuti is a Romanticist. Clacissism consists in restrain of emotion and passion. A classicist thinks and communicates objectively rather than subjectively. Kalidasa introduces changes which have subtle artistic significance. But he does not and cannot reject history. To a romanticist like Bhavabhuti imagination is more important than rules and facts. To him Rama and Sita are the centres of aesthetic experince. He thinks of them subjectively. He adopts the technique of Chayasata and changes the end. Because he has changed