Sambodhi 1996 Vol 20

Author(s): Jitendra B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 68

VIJAY PANDYA
SAMBODHI
has to perform the sacrifice. There are five altars prepared for the Mahāyajña. Sixty-four yoginis have come to play Rāsa. Ratnapuñja the prince (son of Vijaya and Devīprabha) is there with the sword in his hand. Again, the demon brother of Āhitātma tries to disrupt the sacrifice but is foiled by the king of serpents. Meanwhile, Candralekhā too arrives on the scene. Both co-wives of Vijaya cordially meet. Again the demon sister of Ahitātmā tries to create an obstacle but the Tattvaprapanchana removes it with his power of penance. Ultimately Carupāka is prepared and Vijaya obtains Mahāsiddhi. Ajñāsiddha blesses the prince to be the cakravartin in the city of Māyāpuri on the mythical Vaitādhya. The fifth act, and the play ends with the fond hope by the playwright that it would continue to be read for a long time to come. Literary Estimate of the Play As can be seen from the storyline that, the plot is quite complex, full of turns and has a story of two births of the hero and one of the two heroines. It is full of supernatural elements. deus ex machina is quite often resorted to in the play to achieve a denoument. The playwright is steeped in the long tradition of the Classical Sanskrit literature and has advantageously employed the various motifs in the play. Consequently the echoes of the art of his illustrious predecessors are audible in the play. Among his predecessors, apart from Kalidāsa, who himself is a tradition. Bhavabhūti seems to have influenced Devacandragani most. To the dramatic genius of Devacandragani, Bhavabhūti seems to be a kindred soul. In fact, a short note may be added on the influence Bhavabhūti has exercised upon our dramatist. In the delineation of supernatural elements, Bhavabhūti's impression, particularly of the play Malatīmādhava, (MM) can be discerned. As in the MM., here also, tantric rites are depicted. In the friendship between Vijaya and Tattvaprapancana, a shade of friendship between Mādhava and Makaranda can be observed. Ahitātmā is portrayed on the lines of Kapālakundalā in the MM. In the third act, a maid servant goes out to a nearly garden to pluck the flowers and is attacked by a tiger as in the MM, wherein also, a tiger happens to attack. Vijaya goes to the rescue of the inaidservant but, in the meanwhile, Tattvaprapancana is also sent to the succour of Vijaya by the heroine Candralekha. So, then Candralekha is abducted as Malati was also kidnapped in an almost similar situation, by Kapālakundalā.