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200
Mrchchakatikam
That the Brahmaņas hated the Buddhists requires no proof at all. Even if it were needed, the attempt to find that in the Sanskrta dramas would be futile. Only the Prabodhachandrodaya of Kṛṣṇa Mishra is openly against the Jainas, the Kāpālikas and the Bauddhas. But it was composed around 1065 A.D. during the reign of the Chandala King Kirtivarmā. Among the old dramas thirteen works All but three of them are based of Bhasa must be mentioned first. Bhasa was on the stories from the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata. a devotee of Kṛṣṇa and Balarama but no trace of ill-will against the Buddbists is found in his works. Kalidasa supports sacrifices and slaughter of animals for religious purposes in his dramas but does not express hatred against the Buddhists. In the Mudrārākṣasa both Bhavathe contending parties are fair to the Jainas and Buddhists. to the extent of bhūti supports Vedic rituals staunchly and goes showing Vasistha taking beaf but he too refrains from expressing anything against the Buddhists otherwise. Mṛchchakatikam is the only drama where hatred for Buddhists is apparently revealed but a careful study of the circumstances reveals that, that is not indicative of the real situation of the time.
TULSI-PRAJNA
Dr. Ambedkar quotes twice from the drama to establish his thesis. The first quotation from the Mrchchakatikam is taken from the Seventh Act of the drama. The Buddhist monk there is seen approaching by the hero Charudatta who considers it as a bad omen and leaves the place through a different route. The second quotation is taken from the Eighth Act of the drama. The monk is washing his clothes in a pool. King's brother-in-law, Shakara That accompanied by Vita turns up, abuses and even beats him. quotation is followed by the following comment :
"Here is a Buddhist monk in the midst of the Hindu crowd. He is shunned and avoided. The feeling of disgust against him is so great that the people even shun the road the monk is travelling... A Brahmana is immune from death penalty. He is even free from corporal punishment. But the Buddhist monk is beaten and assaulted without remorse, without compunction as though there was nothing wrong in it".
That the hero changes his route as soon as he sees the Buddhist monk does not prove hatred for the Buddhists definitely. Sight of the naked, diseased, monks as well as that of persons with heads shaved or hair scattered are regarded as bad omen traditionally.2 Vişņu Dharmasūtra says, one should go back to his house and restart if one notices a drunkard, insane, lame, dwarf, shabby clothed
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