Bhāsa

Bhāsa is among the earliest known Sanskrit playwrights, active before Kālidāsa. The dates scholars propose for his career vary widely, from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE, but the thirteen plays attributed to him are usually placed around the 1st or 2nd century CE.

His works were lost for centuries and only rediscovered in 1910 by the Indian scholar Ganapati Shastri. Before that, Bhāsa was known only through references in other texts—for instance, Rajashekhara’s *Kāvya-mimāmsā* credits him with the play *Swapnavāsavadattam*. Kālidāsa himself, in the introduction to his first play *Mālavikāgnimitram*, mentions Bhāsa alongside Saūmilla and Kaviputra as an illustrious author whose work should not be neglected.

The exact year of Bhāsa’s birth is unknown. He likely lived after Aśvaghoṣa (1st–2nd century CE), since a verse in Bhāsa’s *Pratijna-yaugandharayana* seems to borrow from Aśvaghoṣa’s *Buddha-charita*. He definitely preceded Kālidāsa (4th–5th century CE), who knew him as an established poet. Bhāsa’s language is closer to Kālidāsa’s than to Aśvaghoṣa’s. The Indian scholar M.L. Varadpande places him as early as the 4th century BCE, while British scholar Richard Stoneman suggests he may belong to the late Maurya period at the earliest and was already known by the 1st century BCE. Stoneman notes that the thirteen plays are generally dated to the 1st or 2nd century CE. Other estimates range from the late 2nd century CE to the 4th century CE.

Bhāsa’s plays do not always follow the rules of the *Natya Shastra*, which has been taken as a sign of their antiquity—no play after Kālidāsa has been found breaking those rules. For example, his *Urubhangam* includes scenes of physical violence on stage, something the *Natya Shastra* strictly forbids. However, this alone does not settle the chronology. Indu Shekhar notes that no direct reference to the *Natya Shastra* appears before the 7th century, when it became widely studied.

Among his plays, *Urubhanga* and *Karna-bhara* are the only known tragic Sanskrit dramas from ancient India. In *Urubhanga*, Duryodhana—usually the villain of the Mahabharata—is the hero, repenting as he lies dying with his thighs crushed, and his family relationships are shown with great pathos. The epic itself contains no such repentance. *Karna-bhara* ends with premonitions of Karna’s sad fate. Early Indian plays, guided by the *Natya Shastra*, generally avoided unhappy endings. Bhāsa’s plays are short compared to later works, and most draw on themes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Though he sides with the epic heroes, he treats their opponents with sympathy, often taking liberties with the story. In *Pratima-nataka*, Kaikeyi, who causes tragedy in the Ramayana, is shown enduring blame so that a nobler outcome is achieved.

The plays attributed to Bhāsa are grouped as follows: based on the Ramayana—*Pratimā-nāṭaka*, *Abhiṣeka-nāṭaka*, *Yajnaphalam-nāṭaka*; based on the Mahabharata—*Dūtavākya*, *Karṇabhāra*, *Dūtaghaṭotkaca*, *Ūrubhaṅga*, *Madhyama-vyāyoga*, *Pañcarātra*; based on the story of *Bṛhatkathā*—*Pratijñā-Yaugandharāyaṇa*, *Svapnavāsavadatta*, *Avimāraka*, *Cārudatta*; and another play, *Bālacarita*, about Krishna’s childhood and the slaying of Kaṃsa. His most famous works, *Pratigya Yaugandharayanam* and *Swapnavāsavadattam*, are based on legends of King Udayana, who may have been a contemporary of the Buddha. Another play, *Yajñaphalam*, is also attributed to him.

In modern times, the first revival of Bhāsa in Indian theatre was by Shanta Gandhi, a professor at the National School of Drama, who directed *Madhyamavyayoga* (1966) and *Urubhanga* in Hindi. A decade later, playwright Kavalam Narayan Panikkar and theatre director Ratan Thiyam used Manipuri dance, theatre, and the martial art Thang-Ta to stage *Karna-bhara* (1976) and later *Urubhanga*. Waman Kendre adapted *Madhyama Vyāyoga* into three languages: *O My Love* in English, *Mohe Piya* in Hindi, and *Piya Bawari* in Marathi.