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{{Short description|Indian playwright in Sanskrit}}
{{redirect|Bhasa|the word for "language"|Bhāṣā|other uses|Bhasa (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
'''Bhāsa''' is one of the earliest [[Theatre in India|Indian playwrights]] in Sanskrit, predating [[Kālidāsa|Kālidasa]]. Estimates of his floruit range from the 4th century BCE<ref name="MLV"/> to the 4th century CE;<ref name="Goodwin1998"/> the thirteen plays attributed to him are commonly dated closer to the first or second century CE.<ref name="Stoneman"/>

Bhasa's plays had been lost for centuries until the manuscripts were rediscovered in 1910 by the Indian scholar [[T. Ganapati Sastri|Ganapati Shastri]].<ref name="CSU">{{Cite web|author=|url=https://www.sanskrit.nic.in/about_sanskrit.php#bhasa|title=About Sanskrit|publisher=Central Sanskrit University, Government of India}}</ref> Bhāsa had previously only been known from mentions in other works, such as the [[Rajashekhara (Sanskrit poet)|Rajashekhara]]'s ''Kāvya-mimāmsā'', which attributes the play ''[[Swapnavāsavadattam]]'' to him.

In the introduction to his first play ''Mālavikāgnimitram'', [[Kālidāsa]] wrote:
"Shall we neglect the works of such illustrious authors as Bhāsa, Saūmilla, and Kaviputra? Can the audience feel any respect for the work of a modern poet, a Kālidāsa?"<ref>C. R. Devadhar (1966) "Mālavikāgnimitram of Kālidāsa", p.3</ref>

==Date==

Bhāsa's date of birth is uncertain: he likely lived after [[Aśvaghoṣa]] (1st-2nd century CE) as a verse in his ''Pratijna-yaugandharayana'' is probably from Aśvaghoṣa's ''Buddha-charita''. He definitely lived before [[Kālidāsa]] (4th-5th century CE), who knew of his fame as an established poet.<ref name="Keith1992">{{citation |last=Keith |first=Arthur Berriedale |title=The Sanskrit Drama in Its Origin, Development, Theory & Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfqRhylNBpwC&pg=PA93 |year=1992 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0977-2 |pages=93–95}}</ref> Bhāsa's language is closer to Kālidāsa than it is to Aśvaghoṣa.<ref name="WinternitzWinternitz1985">{{citation |last1=Winternitz |first1=Maurice |last2=Winternitz |first2=Moriz |title=History of Indian Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ql0BmInD1c4C&pg=PA204 |year=1985 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0056-4 |pages=204–205}}</ref><ref name="Keith1992"/>

Indian scholar M.L. Varadpande dates him as early as 4th century BCE.<ref name="MLV">{{cite book|last1=Varadpande|first1=M. L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyxOHOCVcVkC|title=History of Indian Theatre|last2=Varadpande|first2=Manohar Laxman|date=1987|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-221-5|language=en |page=90 |quote=The earliest known Indian playwright Bhasa (c. 400 BC) wrote about 13 plays. }}</ref> According to British scholar Richard Stoneman, Bhasa may have belonged to the late [[Maurya Empire|Maurya]] period at the earliest, and was already known by the 1st century BCE. Stoneman notes that the thirteen plays attributed to Bhasa are generally dated closer to the 1st or 2nd century CE.<ref name="Stoneman">{{Cite book|last=Stoneman|first=Richard|url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691154039/the-greek-experience-of-india |title=The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks|date=2019|isbn=978-0-691-15403-9|pages=414|language=en}}</ref> Other scholarly estimates of Bhasa's floruit range from the late 2nd century CE<ref>{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Upinder |author-link=Upinder Singh |title=Political Violence in Ancient India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6A4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 |year=2017 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-97527-9 |access-date=2024-02-04 |page=130 |quote=Bhasa probably lived in the late second century }}</ref> to the 4th century CE.<ref name="Kroeber1944">{{citation |last=Kroeber |first=Alfred Louis |title=Configurations of Culture Growth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ROvDtaUI9xMC&pg=PA419 |year=1944 |publisher=University of California Press |page=419 |id=GGKEY:Q5N845X8FFF |quote=His date cannot be much earlier than 300, nor later than 350}}</ref><ref name="Goodwin1998">{{citation |last=Goodwin |first=Robert E. |title=The Playworld of Sanskrit Drama |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_PKcu23-xoC&pg=PR18 |year=1998 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1589-6 |page=xviii}}</ref>

Bhāsa's works do not follow all the dictates of the [[Natya Shastra]]. This has been taken as a proof of their antiquity; no post-Kālidāsa play has been found to break the rules of the Natya Shastra. Scenes from Bhāsa present signs of physical violence on the stage, as in plays like ''[[Urubhangam]]''. This is strictly frowned upon by Natya Shastra.<ref>V. Venkatachalam (1986) "Bhāsa", p.14</ref> However, these facts alone don't make chronology certain. Indu Shekhar states that, "Whatever the exact date [of Natya Shastra] may have been, it is significant that no direct reference to NS was made before the seventh century," when it became accepted as the subject of attention for many poets, writers, and theorists.<ref name="Shekhar1978">{{cite book|author=Īndū Shekhar|title=Sanskrit Drama: Its Origin and Decline|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68wUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA44|date=1 May 1978|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=44–|id=GGKEY:3TX00B7LD6T}}</ref>

==Plays of Bhāsa==
{{see|List of Sanskrit plays in English translation}}
The ''[[Urubhanga]]'' and ''[[Karnabharam|Karna-bhara]]'' are the only known [[Tragedy|tragic]] Sanskrit plays in ancient India. Though branded the villain of the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', [[Duryodhana]] is the actual hero in ''Uru-Bhanga'' shown repenting his past as he lies with his thighs crushed awaiting death. His relations with his family are shown with great pathos. The epic contains no reference to such repentance. The ''Karna-bhara'' ends with the premonitions of the sad end of [[Karna]], another epic character from ''Mahabharata''. Early plays in India, inspired by Natya Shastra, strictly considered sad endings inappropriate.<ref>K. P. A. Menon (1996) "Complete plays of Bhāsa", p.28</ref>

The plays are generally short compared to later playwrights and most of them draw on themes from the Indian epics, ''Mahabharata'' and ''[[Ramayana]]''. Though he is firmly on the side of the heroes of the epic, Bhāsa treats their opponents with great sympathy. He takes a lot of liberties with the story to achieve this. In the ''Pratima-nataka'', [[Kaikeyi]] who is responsible for the tragic events in the ''Ramayana'' is shown as enduring the calumny of all so that a far noble end is achieved.<ref>Govind Keshav Bhat(1968) "Bhāsa-studies", p.47</ref>

Following plays are attributed to Bhāsa<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahakavi |first=Bhāsa |title=Bhāsa's Bālacaritam |publisher=Munshi Ram Manoharlal |year=1959 |editor-last=Sehgal |editor-first=S. R. |location=Delhi |pages=35}}</ref>

===Plays based on ''Ramayana''===
* ''Pratimā-nāṭaka''
* ''Abhiṣeka-nāṭaka''
* ''Yajnaphalam-nāṭaka''

=== Plays based on ''Mahābhārata'' ===

* ''Dūtavākya''
* ''Karṇabhāra''
* ''Dūtaghaṭotkaca''
* ''Ūrubhaṅga''
* ''Madhyama-vyāyoga''
* ''Pañcarātra''

=== Based on story of Bṛhatkathā ===
* ''Pratijñā-Yaugandharāyaṇa''
* ''Svapnavāsavadatta''
* ''Avimāraka''
* ''Cārudatta''

=== Other plays ===

* ''Bālacarita'': On childhood of Kṛṣṇa and slaying of Kaṃsa

His most famous plays — ''[[Pratigya Yaugandharayanam]]''<ref>Ahlborn, Matthias (2006) [http://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2070 Pratijñāyaugandharāyaṇa : digitalisierte Textkonstitution, Übersetzung und Annotierung], Universität Würzburg, Dissertation (German translation)</ref> (the vow of Yaugandharayana) and ''[[Swapnavāsavadattam]]'' (Vasavadatta in the dream) — are based on the legends that had grown around the legendary [[Udayana (king)|King Udayana]], probably a contemporary of the [[Gautama Buddha]]. Another play called ''Yajñaphalam'' is also attributed to him.

==Modern revival==

The first person to revive Bhasa in modern [[Indian theatre]] was a Professor of Ancient Indian Drama at [[National School of Drama]], and theatre director, [[Shanta Gandhi]], who first directed productions of ''[[Madhyamavyayoga]]'' (1966) ("The Middle One") and ''[[Urubhanga]]'' ("The Broken Thigh") in Hindi. A decade later, his work was approached by playwright [[Kavalam Narayan Panikkar]] and theatre director, [[Ratan Thiyam]] using Manipuri dance and theatre traditions, and traditional martial art of [[Thang-Ta]], who first performed ''Karna-bhara'' ("Karna's burden") in 1976, and later ''Urubhanga''.<ref name=Da>[[#Da|Dharwadker, p. 167]]</ref><ref>[[#Da|Dharwadker, p. 105]]</ref>

[[Waman Kendre]] did an adaptation of ''Madhyama Vyāyoga'' in three different languages: ''O My Love'' in English, ''Mohe Piya'' in Hindi and ''Piya Bawari'' in Marathi.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/interviews/30-waman-kendre-interview.asp |title=Interview with Waman Kendre |access-date=25 July 2015 |publisher=Mumbai Theatre Guide}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Sanskrit literature]]
* [[Sanskrit drama]]
* ''[[Urubhanga]]''

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Thirteen Trivandrum plays ascribed to Bhāsa( 2 Vols), translated by H.C.Woolner, Lakshman Sarup, 193
* {{Citation
| author=Māni Mādhava Chākyār
| author-link=Māni Mādhava Chākyār
| title=[[Nātyakalpadruma]]
| publisher=Kerala Kalamandalam, Vallathol Nagar
| year=1975
}}
* {{cite book |last=Dharwadker |first=Aparna Bhargava |title=Theatres of independence: drama, theory, and urban performance in India since 1947 |publisher=University of Iowa Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-87745-961-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLQaz-12Eo8C&q=Shanta+Gandhi&pg=PA314 |ref=Da}}
* ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Theatre: Bhasa'', by Biswajit Sinha, Ashok Kumar Choudhury. Raj Publications, 2000. {{ISBN|81-86208-11-9}}.

== Further reading ==

*A.D. Pusalker : Bhasa – a study. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India 1968
*[[V. Venkatachalam]] : Bhasa (A monograph in the 'Indian Men of Letter Series'), Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1986; Second Edn. 1994; (pp. 16+192) (Translated into Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada and Telugu-Pub. By Sahitya Akademi)

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{{Bhāsa}}
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[[Category:Sanskrit poets]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian poets]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
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[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Koodiyattam dancers]]
[[Category:3rd-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:4th-century Indian writers]]

Bhāsa - Revision history

Musafafabrics1 at 04:26, 12 January 2026