In these literary works, the life of Cārudatta is the central theme; the story of Āryaka is of secondary importance and only serves to bolster the main plot. The fact that Cārudatta and his associates are the focal point, is attested by the name of the play – Mṛcchakaṭika. The name refers to a toy cart made out of clay; Cārudatta’s son, Rohasena refuses this mṛcchakaṭika; the play is the story of this toy cart – it was a golden cart in the past and turned into a clay one due to a sad twist of fate; it again turns golden with time. Cārudatta’s beloved, Vasantasenā is reduced to tears upon looking at the clay cart and the little child, Rohasena fretting about it; she fills the cart with her golden jewellery and thereby helps turn the cart into gold; the play thus captures Vasantasenā’s unconditional love for her beloved, Cārudatta and the motherly affection she has developed for his child.
As Cārudatta occupies the focal point of the plot, the story of Āryaka and others is not touched upon fourth act onwards. The poet enriches the story by the descriptions connected with Dhūtā-devī, Cārudatta, and other associated characters – this can be especially observed between the sixth and the tenth acts. Āryaka appears only once in those acts. Pālaka, who is supposedly the king, does not appear on the stage at all. In addition to the primary love story of Cārudatta and Vasantasenā, a sub-story connected with Śarvilaka and Madanikā also occurs in the play. The playwright’s creative talent has enabled him to beautifully knit various strands of the story together, thereby enabling connoisseurs enjoy holistic aesthetic delight; he has included gripping incidents which also help in the development of the characters of Cārudatta and Vasantasenā; their love matures with time, but they traverse a landscape of emotions constituted by desire and disappointments; their lives are also pushed towards mortal danger; however, everything ends on a positive note at the end.
A conscious connoisseurs may notice that the flow of the story slows down around the second and the fifth acts; however, this shouldn’t be considered a defect in the play – the slower pace helps us understand the way in which the love between the hero and the heroine deepens. Amidst all this, the poet has included episodes connected with Śarvilaka’s theft, the fight between the gamblers, the quarrel between the guardians, the cross-examination in the court of law, and many more; these add intensity to the plot.
Suppose we are to believe the theory that the episodes connected with Āryaka and Pālaka are later-day additions. In that case, we must acknowledge that the person who has added these episodes is intelligent and talented. He has knotted the two streams of stories together and introduced interesting connections between the characters. Śakāra is the king’s brother-in-law; he desires Vasantasenā. Saṃvāhaka was associated with Cārudatta for a long time and seeks assistance from Vasantasenā; having gained her help, he is ever grateful to her and pays back her kindness; he ensures that Cārudatta is not subject to capital punishment. Śarvilaka who robs Cārudatta’s house is a friend of Āryaka. Candanaka, who serves Pālaka, is dear to both Āryaka and Cārudatta. Vardhamānaka, who serves Cārudatta as his cart-driver drops off Āryaka at the garden; similarly, Śakāra’s cart-driver, Sthāvaraka drops off Vasantasenā in the same garden. They had respectively taken the side of Cārudatta and Āryaka. Śakāra accepts his defeat finally, and humbly submits himself. Āryaka and Cārudatta reunite. Vasantasenā’s jewellery goes from Cārudatta to Śarvilaka and from him back to Vasantasenā, who in turn gives them away to Rohasena; the vidūṣaka takes the ornaments from the little child and it works as evidence against Cārudatta in the seat of justice.
Though the play has over thirty characters along with many narrative strands, we can easily see that the poet has seamlessly blended them all together; the story is enjoyable and does not lead to any kind of confusion. Though the number of characters may appear large, from the backdrop of the aesthetic delight that they together evoke, we can say that the poet has employed them in the most optimal manner.
To be continued ...
The current series of articles is an enlarged adaption of Prof. A. R. Krishnasastri's Kannada treatise Saṃskṛta-nāṭaka. They are presented along with additional information and footnotes by Arjun Bharadwaj.
