MRICHCHAKATIKAM

A DRAMA PAR EXCELLENCE

Courtesy: Vemaraju Narasimha Rao

MRICHCHAKATIKAM, a Sanskrit Play of king Sudraka, is an

outstanding play on any count. It not only portrays on a wide canvas the
lives and customs or a highly organised society about two thousand
years ago in minute detail, but also excels in characterisation bordering
on the real and comparable to any of the outstanding dramas of either the
East or the West, including Shakespeare’s to which it dates back by
atleast a thousand years. It is dated Circa 3rd to 8th century AD, whereas
Kalidasa’s period is said to be 5th century AD. White the common
people speak the Prakrit, the elite characters speak Sanskrit. Sudraka is
said to have adapted the earlier play “Churudattam” of Bhasa into a
dexterously woven play, which has drawn the attention and appreciation
of noted critics like Prof. Kieth, Dr. Bradley and others. The characters
in the play are considered by them as “Citizens of the World”. One will
find such live men in any country, in any time and in any clime. The
characters can be easily identified even with present day living men
amongst us. And there lies the greatness of the play.

The setting is Ujjain, a city by even modern standards, a well

planned town by the side of the river, with broad roads, public parks and
multistoried buildings lining the roads. The streets are crowded with
covered bullock carts, with the higher strata of society each having its
own cart, much the same way as we have automobiles today. Often there
are traffic hold-ups which are required to be cleared with a special effort,
before the traffic resumes. After dusk, unsocial elements and pleasure
seekers take over and there are street brawls, and gamblers’ fist-lights
and attempts to kidnap women and even murders when they do not
agree. There is a well organiscd vigilance organization and one for
administration of justice. The king has the final say in all matters and the
people are by and large obedient.
 There is a flourishing community of prostitutes and an array of
gambling dens. Many a young girl, born in the whore houses, yearn for a
lawful marriage and the status of a housewife. As the girls born to the
prostitutes are treated no better than slaves, they can either purchase
their freedom by a price to be paid to the master or mother; or with the
express permission of the king, when they are allowed to wear the
bridal viel. In Mrichchakatikam Vasantasena pines for marriage with her
lover and ultimately the king gives her permission to do so, whereas for
her maid, Madanika, she readily gives freedom to go with Sarvilaka and
marry him.

There are of course brazen attempts at misuse of power by those in

the service of State and those related to the king resulting in injustice
and miscarriage of justice. The king gets bad name for the
misdemeanours of these people and as in this case, it may also lead to a
change of the king himself!

Then there is the elaborate description of the whore-house,

Vasantasena lives in a mansion house, with 8 enclosures, each of which
houses carts, elephants and other domestic animals, the men and
working tools. There is even a separate enclosure for customers to drink
and play dice and other games and another exclusively to those who are
born and bred up on the house and whose duty is solely to maintain
order in the house. It is only after the eighth enclosure that Vasantasena
grants an audience to Maitreya in her private garden, Of course, there is
a separate enclosure for the Madam of the House-Vasantasena’s mother,
who is made fun of by Maitreya. This is quite comparable to any of the
modern casinos or drinking and cabaret joints! Or the expansive build-
ings of a prince or a zamindar!

The plot has three clear strands elaborately and intricately

interwoven with each other-One, the love story of Vasantasena and
Charudatta, whom she meets in a carnival and seeks his protection from
some unruly elements; Two, the solicitation of Sakara, the King’s
brother-in-law and also a state official for Vasantasena, who spurns his
advances and is ultimately strangled by him; and lastly, the
circumstances leading to Aryaka, a cowherd youth, who is predicted to
be the future king, and is imprisoned by the present king, Palaka. He
finally manages to kill the latter and become the king himself.

The story begins with Vasantasena, the courtesan, falling in love

with Charudatta, a Brahmin by birth, and a trader by profession,
formerly very wealthy and having donated to many charities and civic
amenities, has now fallen on bad days, whom she meets in a carnival
earlier. The citizens of Ujjain admire and adore Charudatta’s noble
qualities and charitable disposition. Even Vasantasena admits often that
she is won over by his magnanimity. Charudatta shies away from
moving forward in the matter of his love for her being conscious of his
penury. Vasantasena anticipates that Charudatta may hesitate to make a
move, and decides to move in herself and she seeks him one day after
dusk. She is accosted by Sakara, the king’s brother-in-law and an official
of the State (Rashtriya) who entreats her to grant him her favours, in
return for money and good food. He makes light of her love for the
poverty-stricken Charudatta. But she repulses his moves. In darkness,
when he tries to grab her physically, she manages to enter the nearby
Charudatta’s house and is welcomed there. The disappointed and vain-
glorious Sakara warns Charudatta that unless he surrenders Vasantasena
to him, he will have to face his enmity till death, and leaves the place.

They renew their love for each other. He entreats her to stay on.
She decides that the time is not yet ripe for doing so. Instead, she leaves
her ornaments with him for safe custody, as it is not safe to have them
while returning home. This is only an excuse to come back. Charudatta
receives and hands over the ornaments to his friend and companion,
Maitreya for custody. Then Charudatta escorts Vasantasena back to her
home in the night.

Meanwhile, there is a brawl in the street when Samvahaka, who

loses 10 gold coins in a dice game, tries to run away from his creditors
who assault him. A bleeding Samvahaka enters Vasantasena’s house and
introduces himself as a former masseur of Charudatta. Vasantasena is
moved by his reference to Charudatta’ s name, and arranges to free
Samvahaka from the creditors by giving them one of her ornaments.
Samvahaka is very grateful for Vasantasena’s gesture and hopes that he
will be able to repay her kindness sometime in the future which he does
in the anti-climax scene by reviving Vasantasena and saving
Charudatta’s life.

The next day, Charudatta and his friend, attend a music concert of
his friend Rekhila and return home past midnight, after darkness sets in.
They go to sleep with the bundle of ornaments in Maitreya’s hands.

That night, under the cover of darkness, Sarvilaka, executes a

methodical and well planned theft in Charudatta’s ancient house. His
elaborate discourse on the principles and practice of digging holes in the
walls can form part of a classic text book on thievery, if there were one.
No wonder it is considered as one of the 64 arts. Sarvilaka is in need of
money to pay the price for freedom of Vasantasena’s maid, Madanika,
with a view to marrying her. He takes precautions before entering the
hole he digs in Charudatta’s wall, introduces a dummy to make certain
that all is well and then enters the room. Maitraya in a semi-conscious
sleep gives the bag of ornaments to Sarvilaka thinking that he is
returning them to Charudatta’s custody.

On waking up, they realise that the ornaments are stolen and
Charudatta admires the skill of the thief in executing an aesthetically
pleasing hole in the hall. Fearing that Vasantasena may not believe the
theft of her ornaments, Charudatta asks his friend Maitreya to give her
his wife’s pearl necklace in lieu of them and tell her that the ornaments
were lost in a game of dice by Charudatta under the mistaken impression
that they were his.

Sakara, sends to Vasantasena’s mother ten thousand gold coins

and covered cart to bring Vasantasena to him. Vasantasena angrily
returns them and sends a message to her mother not to indulge in such
acts if she wants her daughter safe. Sarvilaka reaches Vasantasena’s
house with the bag of stole ornaments and Madanika immediately
identities them as Vasantasena’s which were stolen from Charudatta’s
house. She advises him to say that the ornaments are returned by
Charudatta. Vasantasena overhears their talk and understands their love
and desire to marry. She accepts the ornaments and in return grants
freedom to Madanika and offers her a cart for her to leave. Just then
there is a loud proclamation that Aryaka, the cowherd youth, who is
predicted to be the future king is imprisoned by Palaka, the ruling king.
Sarvilaka immediately decides to leave and try for Aryaka’s release
from prison and advises the new bride to take refugee in Rekhila’s house
till he returns.

Maitreya then enters Vasantasena’s house, to give her the pearl

necklace sent by Charudatta in lieu of the stolen ornaments and reports
that her ornaments were lost in a gamble by his master. She understands
that Charudatta is hiding the theft from her as she already has them
through Sarvilaka and her love for him increases as she admits that it is
these qualities that have won her love for him. She tells Maitreya to
inform Charudatta that she will personally visit his place that evening.

That evening it has been unusually dark because of a depression

and untimely rain. She braves the rain and darkness and reaches his
house fully drenched. She enquires about how the ‘gambler’ is doing. He
receives her endearingly and she returns the necklace and also produces
the ornaments said to have been lost by him and Charudatta understands
that she is aware of the theft. They laugh it over and spend the night
together happily.

Charudatta asks the driver of his cart, Vardhamanaka, to be ready

to take her home if she wants to go. He also leaves instructions with
Maitreya, his friend, to inform the driver to bring Vasantasena in the
morning to the public park, where he is waiting, on the outskirts of the
city. Vasantasena rises rather late, and mingles with the household to
make friends. Charudatta’s son, Rohaka, cries at being unable to play
with the golden cart of his neighbours and the maid Radanika gets him a
clay cart, which he refuses to play with. Radanika introduces
Vasantasena to him as his mother. He protests immediately that it cannot
be so as his mother does not wear any ornaments. Vasantasena removes
her ornaments and places them in the clay cart and asks him to have a
golden cart made to play with.

Vardhamanaka arrives with the cart, but Vasantasena says she

needs a little time to get washed and be ready. This suits Vardhamanaka
well, as he forgets the carpet to be spread in the cart for fetching which
he goes back. When Vasantasena gets ready and made up, she finds the
carriage of Sakara parked near the side entrance. Its driver, Cheta,
finding that the road is blocked by vehicles from all directions, gives a
helping hand to clear the traffic and by the time he returns, Vasantasena
gets in and closes the door. Cheta finds the going a little heavy for an
empty vehicle he has brought, but satisfies himself that due to his exer-
tion he is finding a little drag, but moves on taking the vehicle to the
place where Sakara is waiting in another corner of the park.

Meanwhile, Vardhamanaka returns with his cart. Aryaka, who

escapes from the prison, with one chain still dangling on his leg, gets in
and closes the door. Vardhamanaka mistakes the jingling sound to be
Vasantasena’s ankle bells and drives on.

There is an announcement that Aryaka, the cowherd youth, who

is to be the king escaped from the prison, and all the concerned have
been alerted to be watchful. Vardhamanaka’s cart is accosted by two of
the vigilance guards, Chandanaka and Veeraka, who are told that
Vasantasena in the cart is going to meet Charudatta in the park. Though
they have respect for both these figures, they insist on seeing inside the
cart for a physical check. Chandanaka peeps in first, and Aryaka
immediately seeks his protection, which Chandanaka gives readily, for
he has sympathies with the king to be. When Veeraka insists on his
inspection before the cart is allowed to proceed. Chandanaka fearing that
Aryaka’s plan will be spoiled if that happens, decides to provoke
Veeraka into a quarrel (karnata kalaha prayogam karome) and decides
to employ the Karnata quarrel remedy. He abuses Veeraka by the name
of his barber’s caste and asks him how dare he disbelieve his word and
try to peep in Veeraka, enraged, abuses Chandanaka in return by his
caste (Chandala). Chanadanaka pulls down Veeraka who is trying to
peep in and kicks him. Veeraka furious at this outrage leaves the spot
swearing to report the matter to the court of justice. Chandanaka then
tells Aryaka in the cart addressing him as Vasantasena to inform anyone
who stops the cart that it has already been inspected by Chandanaka and
Veeraka and gives his sword in token thereof, which also is intended to
be useful for his protection. The cart then reaches Charudatta, who on
finding Aryaka inside, instead of Vasantasena, promptly gets him
unchained and entreats him to go in the same cart to safety and
remember him when he does become a king. A grateful Aryaka is driven
to safety.

It is already midday and the sun is very hot. Sakara waiting with
his the companion Vita is restless and makes fun of the Buddhist monk.
Sramanaka, who goes to the well to wash his clothes. When the cart
comes to pick him up, he finds Vasanthasena inside, as a result of the
mix up. Overjoyed he mistakes that she has come for his love, and
kneels, his head at her feet. She kicks his head in scorn and he gets
enraged. His entreaties to Vita and Cheta to kill her having failed, he
decides to kill her himself. He sends both of them away and strangles
her and when she falls down motionless, presumes her dead. Both Vita
and Cheta return later to find her killed by their master. Vita leaves in
disgust. Cheta, being his slave and the only eyewitness to the murder,
Sakara decides to bind him in his place till all is clear. He then decides
to file a complaint against Charudatta accusing him of Vasantasena’s
murder for her ornaments.

The next morning, Sakara dresses himself in the regalia of his

office and awaits the court to commence the proceedings. The court
consists of Adhikaranaka (the magistrate). Sreshti (the evaluator or
financial expert and Kayastha (the court clerk), besides a servant of the
court, Sodhanaka. The magistrate at first refuses to hear Sakara’s
complaint, as he is notorious for his litigation and his over-bearing
behaviour. Sakara threatens the magistrate that he is a state official and
also the brother-in-law of the King himself and he will have him
removed and replaced if his complaint is not taken up. The magistrate
succumbs to his pressure and takes up his case. The clerk takes down the
complaint as Sakara blabbers that Vasantasena was murdered not by him
but by Charudatta for the sake of her ornaments. He even erases with the
toe of his foot what has earlier been stated by him and written by the
clerk, and browbeats them. As Vasantasena’s murder is the matter, her
mother is called for investigation and she speaks highly of Charudatta
and that Vasantasena left for Charudatta ‘s place but has not returned.
Then Charudatta is called in and is offered a seat out of respect for him,
to which Sakara objects that he can not be offered a seat being the
accused in the murder case. Charudatta is in a fix as he cannot disclose
that Aryaka travelled in his cart and not Vasantasena, lest he may betray
Aryaka.

Veeraka, the policeman on guard duty and who is driven away

by Chandanaka enters to report that as he tried to verify Vasantasena’s
identity, going to meet Charudatta in his cart, Chandanaka beat him up
and drove him away. Veeraka is sent to the park to see if any female
corpse is still there. He promptly returns and reports that there is indeed
a half-eaten corpse of a woman lying there.

In the meantime, Maitreya, who is asked by Charudatta to return

the bundle of ornaments to Vasantasena, hears that Charudatta has been
framed, and he rushes to the court to defend him along with the bundle.
There, enraged at Sakara’s accusation against Charudatta, he tries to hit
him with his stick and in the struggle, the bundle is dropped to the
ground and the identity of Vasantasena’s ornaments is established. Then
Sakara forces the court to unseat Charudatta as a prima facie evidence is
available. In spite of the soil corner they have for his reputation,
Charudatta himself vacates the seat and sits on the ground. Sakara
reiterates his charge that Vasantasena is murdered by Charudatta for her
ornaments and in spite his denials, a verdict of guilty is passed and the
matter is reported to the king for pronouncing the sentence, with a
recommendation for excommunication as being a Brahmin, Charudatta
cannot be killed. The king, however, sentences him to be impaled to
death and also orders that it should be widely proclaimed by beat of
drum that similar fate would befall to anyone committing such an
offence in future.

The Chandalas (the executioners) take over and put a garland of

red flowers on Charudatta’s neck. The procession starts with the first of
the five mandatory proclamations of his offence and punishment, before
Charudatta is impaled. As the procession wends though the streets,
Cheta, the slave of Sakara and eyewitness to the murder, jumps to the
ground to save Charudutta from his master’s wily and evil design. But
Sakara effectively turns tables against him, saying that he is his slave
and is beaten and tied down for the theft of gold in his house. Cheta’s
words that Sakara himself killed Vasantasena have no takers, as being a
slave, he is effectively overruled by his master. Cheta begs leave of
Charudatta saying that he is powerless for doing any thing more.

Meanwhile Vasantasena is saved by the Bikshu, Sramanaka, who

is none other than Samvahaka, whom she had earlier saved from the
clutches of his creditors after he had lost in a dice game. On his return
after washing his clothes from the well, he dries his wet clothes on a
heap of dried leaves. Vasantasena moves and he squeezes some water
into her mouth from the wet cloth and is revived. She is led to the nearby
monastery where she recovers.

Charudatta is made to carry on his shoulder the wooden pole on

which he is to be impaled, much like Jesus carrying the cross. As the last
and final proclamation is made at the west point, the Bishku hears about
the sentence and procession of Charudatta’s execution and hastens to the
scene with Vasantasena and saves him at the nick of time by her
physical presence. Sarvilaka brings the glad tiding that Aryaka, has
killed Palaka to become king himself. As the first act, the new king,
makes Charudatta king of Kusaavati and grants permission to
Vasantasena to wear the bridal viel and marry. Sarvilaka places himself
at the command of Charudatta. Sakara is brought before Charudatta
hands tied behind him, and shrewd and cunning as he is, he begs
Charudatta of forgiveness. While all those would like Sakara to be
executed, Charudatta gives him pardon and restores him to his office.
The justification is that if Sakara were killed there is no opportunity for
him to repent, where as if he is alive, he will have always to repent for
his misdeeds for the rest of his life.

Charudatta’s wife Dhuta is also saved in time from immolating

herself, as she does not want to hear news of Charudatta’s death. He and
Vasantasena arrive on the scene and Dhuta welcomes Vasantasena as
her sister (dishtya kusalam bhagini).

Sudraka weaves this complicated plot dexterously, clearly

chiseling out the characters into live human beings. The social
organisation of those days is clearly brought out. The procedure of
investigation and administration of justice is quite comparable to the
modern system. Complaint being admitted on a prime face case being
made out, the examination of witnesses, consideration of evidence
produced, etc., before the judgment is delivered and sentence awarded
by the King. So is the security system, which is alerted by the news of
escape of Aryaka, when every passing vehicle is stopped and searched.
The helplessness of Cheta, being a slave and many other references to
the insults and hurdles in society the slaves have had to face is clearly
brought out. The marriage or love between an upper caste Brahmin and a
courtesan is accepted as normal, as also the solicitations of prostitutes.
The firmly entrenched system of prostitution adds liveliness to the play.
Charudatta’s observation that the crimes committed by the wealthy are
easily passed on the poor is as valid today as it was then. Today we
come across many Sakaras who try to browbeat the officials and twist
the rules to their advantage only because they happen to be influenced in
society or are connected to higher-ups. The miscarriage of justice in
Charudatta’s case would not have occurred had the evidence and
witnesses been probed a little further which is prevented by Sakara’s
intimidating tactics.

There is a reference by Charudatta to the water-wheel which is

used to draw water from the well. He remarks that life’s ups and downs
are like the buckets of a water-wheel. Incidentally references such as
these show the advanced stage of civilization in those days.

Sudraka perhaps belonged to the South, considering the various

references in the play to the Goddess of
Sahyadri, the karnatakalaham employed by Chandanaka to drive away
Veeraka and the kingdom of Kusavati by the river Veni. The
employment of spoken Prakrit dialect for the common people adds
immensely to the drama’s appeal. Added to this, is Sakara’s own
inimitable style of humour. His vainglorious boasts, his villainy and
meanness, timidity behind a brave front, his unscrupulousness, his half-
baked knowledge of the classics and malapproprisms and his eccentric
behaviour-all these add to create humour.

The characters assume real life and strut before us as real men
and women do, and the prototypes can be found in any country, at any
time which add to the universal appeal of the play.

One word about the production of the play. Many of the Sanskrit
plays are designed for presentation over a number of days. Considering
the complexity of the situations and locales, there have been several
doubts about production of the play in its present lengthy form. Through
a little pruning and avoidance of repetitions on various topics, the play
can easily be condensed to about three hours’ duration and is definitely
presentable in a crisp manner. With modern techniques like the
revolving stage and effective lighting arrangements restricting locus to
certain parts of the wide stage, many scenes can created without any loss
of time in quick succession, and making the play enjoyable. Sudraka
must have had in his mind the production part of the play also when he
produced this great piece of art, which is still enjoyed by
the rasikas even after two millennia.