पृष्ठम्:Bhagavadajjukam Bodhayana - V Prabhakara Sastri 1986.pdf/६

             
the 1st century A. D. ("History of classical Sanskrit Literature"
P. 570.)

Like the Mattavilasa Prahasana, this Prahasana also is full of humour with interesting remarks of satirical nature, and it is written with the main intention of ridiculing the Bauddhas and Buddhism. The main characters in the play are the Parivrajaka or Sannyasin (Bhagavan), his disciple Sandilya and a young and beautiful courtesan (Ajjuka). The play opens with a discussion between the master and the pupil on Hindu Dharma. But Sandilya makes it clear in inambiguous words that his main interest was neither in following Hinduism nor Buddhism but in getting two square meals a day through begging, putting on robes which ever suit the purpose. Born as he was in the family of so called Brahmins who had neither Vidya nor Tapas but were only used to subsist on the remnants of the Pindas offered to the crows while worshipping the manes, he embraced Buddhism with the bope of getting sumptuous food through the collection of alms. But he was very much distressed by their one-meal-a-day practice and had to come back to the Hindu fold, just to act as the load-carrying-ass (Bhanda - bhara - gardabha) of the ascetic. When he is advised Adhyayana by his Guru he questions its utility. As the Guru goes on explaining the futility of the wordly pleasures and the importance of Yoga the attention of the pupil was revetted on the comely courtesan in the adjacent garden. As this unilateral discourse proceeds, the damsel suddenly falls down dead due to snakebite. The young man is very much aggrieved.