Mudrarakshasa (literary study)
by Antara Chakravarty | 2015 | 58,556 words
This page relates ‘Minor Female characters of Mudrarakshasa’ of the English study on the Mudrarakshasa: an ancient Sanskrit dramatic play (Nataka) authored by Vishakhadatta which deals with the life of king Chandragupta. This study investigates the Mudra Rakshasa from a literary perspective, such as metrics, themes, rhetorics and other poetical elements. Chandragupta ruled the Mauryan Empire during the 4th century BCE, hence this text can also be studied as a historical textbook of ancient India.
6.5.2. Minor Female characters of Mudrārākṣasa
The Mudrārākṣasa is a drama with a full-fledged political theme and consequently with no female character in the leading role. The female characters known to us in the play are the two door keepers, Śoṇottarā and Vijayā, and the wife of Candanadāsa, who appears on the stage, while the Viṣakanyā and the wife of amātya Rākṣasa are referred to in the development of the plot.
Śoṇottarā is the doorkeeper of Candragupta’s side while Vijayā is of Malayeketu’s. The wife of amātya Rākṣasa is referred to as gṛhajana, the person to be at home. Thus only, the wife of Candanadāsa is worth mentioning as an important female character.
Candanadāsa’s wife is shown to rise to the occasion of her husband’s execution and it is seen that she finds a suitable argument in reply to each of the arguments put forth by her husband.[1] Her love for her husband has made her not only bold but also sharp-witted. Like an ideal Aryan lady of ancient India she wants to immolate herself before she is compelled to listen to an evil report about her husband.[2] For this reason she is not earning for anything, not even for her child. The woman in Candanadāsa’s wife clearly comes out who she is full of grief and cry out of help of when their son asks what he would do after his father’s death. It is indeed by touches like these that Viśākhadatta has succeeded in imparting life and individuality of these characters.
Thus all the minor characters of this drama are seems to be Viśākhadatta’s own creation. Neither in the historical accounts of Candragupta’s time nor in the traditional manuals, characters having the same name as portrayed in the dramas are found. Again it is clear that the characters of this drama are not fair spirits from the far off and unstained wonderland of fancy, nor are they abstract embodiment of perfect goodness or incredible evil. Though Viśākhadatta has portrayed the characters collecting from mainly political world, most of them exhibit the nature of common people having common wishes and emotions. And these kinds of merits have made the characters more enjoyable for the readers or the connoisseurs of this drama.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Ibid., pp. 450-455
[2]:
bhartuścaraṇāvanugacchantyā ātmanugraho bhavatviti / Ibid. p.451