I was thinking about this play yesterday, and thought I'll make small thread for those interested.
1. This play ('Urubhangam', 'The Shattered Thighs') -- for which I've made a cover -- is a one-act [vyayoga] play by Bhasa, inspired from the Mahabharata, that ocean-sized epic.
1. This play ('Urubhangam', 'The Shattered Thighs') -- for which I've made a cover -- is a one-act [vyayoga] play by Bhasa, inspired from the Mahabharata, that ocean-sized epic.
2. First things first, this was the original Penguin cover -- of the plays in case any of you want to buy a recent translation of 6 plays.
3a. Set on the18th day of the Kurukshetra war, the Kaurava warlord Duryodhana who hides in a lake, wounded, then dies at the hands of Bhima thanks to Krishna's cunning, the blind king Dhritharashtra heads into the forest, & Ashwathamma sets out for the night-massacre of Pandavas.
3b. Unlike in the 'traditional' Mahabharata, in this play Duryodhana dies, not as a villain but as a heroic figure who comes to terms with his life's work: the devastation his greed had wrought. In his last moments, he recommends peace and describes the heavens that await him.
4. per Dhananjaya's Dasarupakam [10th CE], a one-act play must conform to certain norms: [from Gerow]
a. be based on a well-known story from epics,
b. must have famous and noble men [not Gods, or arguably, women] for protagonists
a. be based on a well-known story from epics,
b. must have famous and noble men [not Gods, or arguably, women] for protagonists
4 [contd]
c. must lack sringara and hasya of the five ways that define plot development
d. expresses brilliant rasas
e. no imbroglio involving women
f. incidents cover one day,
g. depicts the separation of men.
The Shattered Thighs contains all.
c. must lack sringara and hasya of the five ways that define plot development
d. expresses brilliant rasas
e. no imbroglio involving women
f. incidents cover one day,
g. depicts the separation of men.
The Shattered Thighs contains all.
5. Perhaps most remarkably, unlike in most traditional Sanskrit plays, where the protagonist never dies on stage, here Duryodhana does precisely that. He dies, unlike in the standard telling, before Ashwathamma can come and report on how he massacred the Pandava armies.
6. Most dramatic of all is that, this play along with twelve others were discovered in 1909-1910 by T. Ganapati Shastri, a Sanskrit scholar, who was scouring southern Kerala/TN for manuscripts [remember, a full manuscript of Arthashastra had just been discovered in 1905].
7. per legend, the plays were found in an earthern pot, at the Manalikkara Matham in Kanyakumari district. Interestingly, K V Manalikkara, a patriarch of the monastery wrote among other things, 'Rahul Sankrityante Darshana Rekha'. [if interested, also see]
8. The thirteen plays found in Malayalam script were edited/published by T. Ganapati Shastri as 'Trivandrum Sanskrit Series'. Open question was: who was the author of these plays? There are no explicit markers of the writers' name. TGS argued they were by Bhasa.
8a. The 13 plays:
based on Mahabharata
- Madhyamavyayoga
- Dutavakya
- Balacarita
- Dutaghatotkacha
- Karnabhara
- Urubhanga
- Pancharatra
based on Ramayana
- Pratimanataka
- Abhisekhanataka
standalone
- Pratijnayaugandharayana
- Svapnavasavadatta
- Avimâraka
- Charudatta
based on Mahabharata
- Madhyamavyayoga
- Dutavakya
- Balacarita
- Dutaghatotkacha
- Karnabhara
- Urubhanga
- Pancharatra
based on Ramayana
- Pratimanataka
- Abhisekhanataka
standalone
- Pratijnayaugandharayana
- Svapnavasavadatta
- Avimâraka
- Charudatta
9. These plays are fascinating for various reasons, including (a) how they take morally ambiguous characters in the epics and recast them (b) adding new 'stories' into the Mahabharata (c) the extensive usage of Prakrit words and (d) how do we it was really Bhasa?
10. Most famous of these plays is 'Karnabharam' and 'Swapna Vasavadattam'. Here, the great film actor Mohanlal performs as Karna in 'karnabharam' on stage, after having learnt Sanskrit dialogues and so on...
11. Kalidasa (4th-6thCE) in 'Malavikaagnimitram' speaks about Bhasa as 'pratita-yashas' (famous in far away places) and Banabhatta describes Bhasa as being famous for innovating by getting the sutradhara (the stage manager) of the play to commence plays (sutradhara-krtambhaih).
12. As mentioned, each of the 13 plays don't explicilty refer to an author, but begin w/ phrase fragment 'naandy/ante tatah pravisati sutradharah' ['after the blessings, the stagemanager enters'].
As for Bhasa's date, a circumstantial thesis placing him from 4th BCE to 4thCE
As for Bhasa's date, a circumstantial thesis placing him from 4th BCE to 4thCE
13. The great Vishnu Sukhtankar relied on a linguistic investigation to idenity the age of Bhasa. He studies the Prakrit used...
eg.,
1. 'amhaam' instead of 'asmakam'.
'amha[k]am' is found in Ashwaghosa.
2. 'karia' instead of 'krtva'...
on Sukhtankar->
eg.,
1. 'amhaam' instead of 'asmakam'.
'amha[k]am' is found in Ashwaghosa.
2. 'karia' instead of 'krtva'...
on Sukhtankar->
14. By 1920s, a general sense of disquiet abt open questions: (a) the playwright was Bhasa (b) were the theatrical innovations unique (c) is only a subset of these plays by Bhasa (d) were the 1-act plays parts of longer versions (e) why are sources only from medieval-era Kerala?
15. Over the past century, many eminent minds have wrestled with the 'Bhasa problem' -- the two brothers A.K and K.R. Pisharotti, C.R. Devadhar, Vishnu Sukhtankar, H. Bruckner, H. Tikken, N.P Unni, E. Gerow.
Other mansuscripts have also emerged.
Other mansuscripts have also emerged.
16. During the course of 20thC, discoveries include a manuscript of Ascaryachudmani by Saktibhadra; a manuscript of the Avimaraka with an unknown author Katyayana as supposed author. There is also the question of how Kuttiyattam plays work into this tradition of Bhasa plays.
17. Overall, a fascinating but incomplete investigation.
As Herman Tieken writes: "The basic problem in the study of the thirteen so-called Trivandrum plays is the lack of any reliable starting-point..." [end]
As Herman Tieken writes: "The basic problem in the study of the thirteen so-called Trivandrum plays is the lack of any reliable starting-point..." [end]
