Description of Prakaraṇa

Prakaraṇa is the other type of Rūpakas where the poet plans the entire plot of the play and creates out of his imagination its hero and other characters as well^[1]. The originality of the plot is the main feature of a Prakaraṇa which alone distinguishes it from the Nāṭaka group.

The Prakaraṇa deals with an account of a brāhmaṇa, a minister or a Vaiśhya. The hero of this type of shows (Rūpaka) would generally be of Dhīraśānta or of Dhīrodātta character. But centain limitations should be followed at the time of Composition of such type. The hero of the play is to be depicted with human reservations as an ordinary individual and a middling character as opposed to the semi-divine one like Duṣyanta or Purūravās. No divine character is to be introduced in a Prakaraṇa. The low characters like slaves, dancing girls and their paramours, gamblers and game stars could be used with advantage. The heroine may be a married lady, i.e. wife of the hero, or may be a courtesan. But such a blending of two types of heroines in a Prakaraṇa finds less importance with Bharata^[2].

The Kāvyenduprakāśa, on the other hand divides Prakaraṇain three types, namely, Simple (śuddha), Artificial (Dhūrta), and Mixed (Miśra) according to the type of the heroine it contains. When the heroine of the play is a wedded lady it is of the Śuddha type. with a courtesan as the heroine it belongs to the dhurta class; and with two heroines, the wife and a courtesan, it is of the Miśhra^[3]. Viśvanātha holds that the motive of the dramatic action should be, no doubt, Dharma, Artha and Kāma, but that should be essentially decadent (Sapaya)^[4]. The additional limitation imposed by Viśvanātha has no support in the Nātyaśāstra. And in the practice of the playwrights too, what Viśvanātha holds could be true only in case of the Mṛeehakatika, but does not find application to the MāltīMādhava, not to the Mallikā-Maruta. Viśvanātha continues to say that in a Prakaraṇa the hero should be only of Dhīra-praśānta type, and the erotic alone could be the ruling sentiment.