‘VISION OF VASAVADATTA’
Bhasawas one of the earliest dramatists of India, but it is not known when exacttylTe flourished. All that is certain is that he lived lone before Kalidasa, for that poet refers to him as a ‘far- famed’ predecessor of his in -the- art of ^drainatic composition, and speaks of his works as .‘ancient’. Though once renowned, Bhasa liad been all but forgotten till a few years ago when more than a dozen anonymous plays were published at Trivandrum and identified by their editor as the productions of this old dram- atist. Some scholars have doubted the authenticity of these plays; and the evidence either way being unconvincing, the pro- blem of their authorship should be regarded as still unsolved. What seems probable is that the plays do not represent the actual work of Bhasa, but are only abridgments or adaptations made in later times by the actors of Malabar to meet the require- ments of the local stage. t The Sva pna-vdsavadatta whose story isjiarrated below has long been recognized as the best of Bhasa’s plays. Thus a.writer of the ninth century a.d. says that when the whole c^cle of Bhasa’s plays was^ thrown into the fire, the Svapna-vdsavadatta alone remained unconsumed by the flames — a statement which in all likelihood signifies that the sever-
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estf criticism could do nojharm to it Its chie f ex cellences .are, the simplicity and directness of its style and the beauty and nobility of the life It depicts. Th^ plot is dr awn from tEelegendary lore of ancient Tndi a and re lates to the life and doings of the half-mythical andZMf-historical hero, Udayana, who is said to have reigned
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over the p rovinc e of Vatsa with its capital at Kausambi, some- where^ near modern Allahabad. T he adv entures of Udayana hav^furnishedthe ffremelor many a Sanskrit work, and the place
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whichthey have gained in Indian literature is next in importance on!y~to that of the achievements of the heroes of the two great epics^— the Ramayana and the. Mahdbhdrata, Bhasa. ..himself has dramatised the earlier portion of Udayana* s life in his Prati-
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jndyaugandhardyana which is included in the Trivandrum collection.
