5. The Principal Sentiment of the Hanumannāṭaka

It appears very much clear from the discussion on the delineation of different kinds of poetic sentiments in the Hanumannāṭaka (Hanumannāṭaka) that both the Vīra and the Karuṇa Vipralaṃbha Śṛṅgāra find importance in this work. So the determination of the principal sentiment requires a separate discussion.

In the Nāṭaka type of dramatic composition the principal sentiment should be either erotic (śṛṅgāra) or heroic (Vīra).^[1] The other sentiments help the principal one.^[2]

There are found some heroic activities for which Vīra is also sometimes called its (Hanumannāṭaka) principal sentiment. In the verse dambholi kumbhakarṇa …^[3] there is a description of the fight between Jāmbavān and Kumbhakarṇa. Here both Jāmbavān and Kumbhakarṇa are Alambanas and their efforts are Uddīpanas. Here movements of the arms, hands and feet etc. are Anubhāvas. There are many instances of Vīrarasa in the Hanumannāṭaka Though the heroic sentiment is found in the Hanumannāṭaka, yetthe drama comes to its end with sadness. So there is found Karuṇarasa. According to dramatic rule Karuṇa cannot be the principal sentiment.^[4] As in the last Act of the Hanumannāṭaka, the heroine Sītā is separated by her husband hearing other’s remark. According to Viśvanātha Kavirāja, whenever, the hero and the heroine, though possessing love for each other cannot get united, it is a case of Vipralaṃbha Śṛṅgāra. In the Hanumannāṭaka, Śrī Dāmodara Miśra depicts the love affair of Rāma and Sītā very beautifully. Rāma loves Sītā very and Sītā too possesses the same towards Rama. The Śṛṅgārarasa is mainly found in the 2^nd Act of the Hanumannāṭaka After marriage, they were busy in their love sports.^[5] Rāma kisses Sītā embracing her.^[6] In all these verses there is found Śṛṅgāra. In this episode there is a hint of Rāma’s near future exile. There is found the love in separation i.e. Vipralaṃbha, in the description of the pangs of separation of Rāma from Sītā.

The sentiment aroused towards the end of a drama is in most cases, regarded as the principal sentiment which is termed as the Prabandharasa by Ānandavardhana. It is the lasting emotion or sentiment experienced by connoisseur. In such consideration Vipralaṃbha Śṛṅgāra mixed with Karuṇa should be treated as the principal sentiment of the Hanumannāṭaka There is also found the description of Kāruṇya (pathetic condition). When in the forest Sītā was kidnapped by Rāvaṇa then Rāma feels very unhappy and very much worrying for her.^[7] And also in the last Act when Sītā was sent for exile by Rāma with Lakṣmaṇa, Lakṣmaṇa became very unhappy and lamented immensely.^[8] With this the last Act of the drama comes to its end.

In view of above, the Karuṇavipralaṃbhaśṛṅgāra mingled with Vīra may be recognized as the principal sentiment of the work.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

eka eva bhavedangī sṛṅgāro vīra eva vā Sāhityadarpaṇa,VI.10

[2]:

aṅgamanye rasāḥ sarve kāryo nirvahne’dbhutaḥ ibid., VI.10

[3]:

dambholi kumbhakarṇaṃ girimiva tarasā pātayañjānubandhaṃ kaṇṭhaṃ gāḍaṃ viracya svabhujagurumadaṃ jāmbavānuraveṣaḥ/
nirmuktau tāvabhūtāmabhavadatha marutpuṣpavṛṣṭistadaṅge gulphāghātena roṣādrajanicaravarastannirasyopatasthau// Hanumannāṭaka, XI.34

[4]:

rāmo dāśarathirdivākarakule tasyāṅganā jānakī nītā sā daśakandhareṇa vanato laṅkālayaṃ chadmanā/
rāmeṇā’pi kapīndrasaṅgamavaśādambhonidhiṃ līlayā baddhvā parvatamālayā ripuvadhādānīya nirvāsītā// ibid., XIV. 90

[5]:

anyonyaṃ bāhupāśagrahaṇarasabharāsīlinostatra yūno rbhuyobhūyaḥ prabhūtābhimataphalabhujornandatorjāta eṣaḥ saṅsāro garbhasāro nava iva madhuralāpinoḥ kāminormāṃ gāḍaṃ cāliṅgya gāḍaṃ svapihi nahi nahīti cyuto bāhuvandhaḥ/ ibid.,II.12

[6]:

gāḍaṃ gāḍaṃ kamalamukulaṃ puṇḍarīkākṣavakṣaḥ pīṭhaṃ kāṭhinyamapi kucayorjānakī mānakīrṇā/
pūrṇā kāmaiḥ śithilamanilasyāgamāyācakāra nītaṃ spītaṃ sadayahṛdayaṃ svāmināliṅgya matvā// ibid., II.11

[7]:

sīteti hā janakavaṃśajavaijayanti hā madvilocanacakoranavendulekhe/
itthaṃ sphutaṃ bahu vilapya vilapya rāmastāmeva parṇavasatiṃ paritaścacāra// ibid., V.8

[8]:

vane vimoktuṃ janakasya kanyāṃ śrotuṃ ca tasyāḥ paridevitāni/
sukhena laṅkāsamare hataṃ māmajīvayanmārutirāttavairaḥ// ibid., XIV.91