Bhallaṭa is best remembered as the poet who put the genre of anyokti (allegorical verses) on the map. He composed a century of verses and elevated this genre, which was only a trickle before. To this day, his poem arguably remains the best of its kind. A verse from the opening section of Bhallaṭaśataka describes the nature of suggestive poetry in a memorable manner:
बद्धा यदर्पणरसेन विमर्दपूर्व-
In Chikkapete area of Bengaluru, near the garment shop belonging to Late Rajasevasakta Pamadi Subbaramashetty, on a lane to the east of the shop, was a large house. It was an enormous bungalow. Advocate Venkatagiriyappa lived there. Venkatagiriyappa was my father’s maternal grandfather. His era was the period that the British began ruling the Mysore province.
Artha-prakṛtis capture the gradual development of the plot. The Nāṭyaśāstra identifies five stages of development, namely
Now, with the advent of democracy, our lives are full of constant turmoil. The king reigned over a kingdom that was subject to rule by a single ruler. Democracy, on the other hand, has many leaders. It is difficult to achieve consensus with multiple leaders - more so about wealth and its distribution. So, what is theoretically thought to be a multi-leader system practically results in anarchy.
समस्या – सञ्चुकोच कमलं दिनोदये
कमलानां दिनोदये विकासो दिनान्ते सङ्कोचश्च लोकप्रसिद्धः । इह तद्विरुद्धमभिहितम् इत्यसङ्गतिः ।
परिहारः –
सुन्दरीयमभिरूपदीर्घिकां स्नातुमुत्सुकतयाविशत्तदा ।
तन्मुखेन्दुमहसावहेलितं सञ्चुकोच कमलं दिनोदये ॥ (रा. गणेशः)
Vastu refers to the story or the plot of a play and is also referred to as itivṛtta. The vastu or itivṛtta is of two kinds – ādhikārika and prāsaṅgika.
The ādhikārika-itivṛtta refers to the main plot of the play – it is the primary story that runs through the play and is its most important thread.
But then, what is the use of lamenting over that? There is another side to this topic. We see this kind of admixture only among the rarefied urban population. Those who are wealthy or in prestigious positions or in seats of power are into mixed relationships for many reasons. These are the urban nouveau riche. If we leave them aside and look at populations of tribesmen and categories of poor people, we see resistance to the idea of this admixture. Such people have maintained the differences in clans and categories that have come to them from time immemorial.
ಉಪಗುಪ್ತ ಮತ್ತು ವಾಸವದತ್ತೆಯರನ್ನು ಕುರಿತ ಕಥನಕವನವೊಂದರಲ್ಲಿ ಪೈಗಳು ವಾಸವದತ್ತೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಬಂದೆರಗಿದ ಕೊಲೆಯ ಆರೋಪವನ್ನು ಬಣ್ಣಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಈ ಪ್ರಸಂಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಊರಿನ ಜನರು ಗಾಳಿಸುದ್ದಿಗಳಿಗೆಲ್ಲ ದಿಕ್ಕುದೆಸೆಯನ್ನು ಕಲ್ಪಿಸಿ ಅವೆಲ್ಲ ಕಡೆಗೆ ವಾಸವದತ್ತೆಯೇ ಅಪರಾಧಿನಿ ಎಂಬತ್ತ ಬೆರಳು ಚಾಚುವ ಬಗೆಯನ್ನು ಹೀಗೆ ಕವನಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ:
ಸೂಚಿಸುತಿದೆಲ್ಲವೀ ಸುದ್ದಿ ವಾಸವದತ್ತೆ-
ಯನೆ, ಉದೀಚಿಯನೆಂತೊ ಸೂಜಿಗಲ್ಲಂತೆ (‘ವಾಸವದತ್ತೆ’, ಪು. ೨೭೦)
