মৃচ্ছকটিক প্রকরণে রস বিমর্শ
Volume-XII, Issue-II, January 2024
Volume-XII, Issue-II, January 2024 | ||
Published Online: 31.01.2024 | Page No: 137-146 | |||
মৃচ্ছকটিক
প্রকরণে রস বিমর্শ
ড. প্রসেনজিৎ পটুয়া,
সহকারী অধ্যাপক, সংস্কৃত বিভাগ, রামপুরহাট কলেজ, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, ভারত | |
Rasa Analysis in the Context of the Play Mrichchhakatika Dr. Prosenjit Patuya, Assistant Professor, Department of Sanskrit, Rampurhat College, West Bengal, India. | |
According to the kinds of drama Mrichchhakatika is a prakarana. Prakarana are of two types – sudhya prakarana (pure prakarana) and sankirna prakarana (confined prakarana). If there is a 'kulabadhu' (bride of a traditional family) in a drama, it will be sudhya prakarana. If there is a prostitute in a drama, the play will be sankirna prakarana. The plot of Mrichchhakatika is social in total. According to the dramatic theory of ancient India, a dirshyakavya is dependent on the evocation of a rasa. The noted medium of evoking the rasa is the presentation of the characters. Literature is the mirror of society and it can be properly understood through the reading of Sudraka’s Mrichchhakatika. Sudraka’s Mrichchhakatika is a saga of real, lively society. It is not a narrative of kings and ministers but of common people and Charudatta who is the protagonist of the play is a representative of those common people here. The playwright Sudraka had introduced many characters among whom the most important characters are the penniless Brahmin called Charudatta and the prostitute named Vasantasena. Moreover, the playwright had introduced variegated characters in the play to deliberately depict a detailed picture of real society. The gallery of his characters incorporates prostitute, dasi (maid-servant), thief, chandal (executer), judge, vita, cheta, sakara etc. Sakara is a type of character and such characters have no name. Such characters conversed in Sakari Prakrit language. So, they are called Sakara. These characters of Sudraka have been drawn from diverse strata of society. In most of the Sanskrit plays, kings have been presented as the protagonist but Mrichachhakatika is an exception. Here the playwright has kept the king in the background. The play has recieved much appreciation in the Western world on account of the titling of the prakarana, absence of supernaturalism, vast canvas of societal and state matter, a variegated presentation of diverse professions of society, presence of some relevant matters like gambling, purloining, tale of elephant, the incorporation of some imaginative and suggestive scenes and the fast moving plot with an expert characterization apart from the main plot. There are multiple notes in the texture of the play. The play has not only reflected a greater circle of society through the presentation of the diverse types of people – from king to chandala, from child to old, from rich to poor, from good people to evil-minded people, and various types of language, diverse felicity of poethood, diverse rasas, playfulness, social and personal witticism, presence of diverse incidents, conflicts of multiple self-interest, but it also evokes the diverse emotion related realisations of life, and ethical values. The play also evaluates and analyses these ideas. These things happen in the textual space of the play being in the core of society with the complete negation of unbelieving supernaturalism which is rare in Sanskrit literature. This makes the play unique. | |
Keywords: Prakarana, sudhya prakarana, sankirna prakarana, kulabadhu, dirshyakavya, dasi, chandala, rasa, vita, cheta, sakara, Sakari Prakrit. | |