6. Mudrārākṣasa in Kuntaka’s treatment

Mudrārākṣasa of Viśākhadatta is a seven act drama written in sixth century C.E. It is based on the political intrigues of Cāṇakya, minister of Candragupta to win over Rākṣasa, the minister of Nandas to his side. Unlike in most of the Sanskrit dramas, the erotic sentiment and humour have no role in this particular play. There is no female character in this play except the significant presence of Candanadāsa’s wife. The playwright brilliantly handled the development of the plot following the canons of Nāṭyaśāstra. Viśākhadatta brilliantly depicts the political problems, actions and counteraction etc. Contextual and compositional figurativeness is used by Kuntaka to evaluate this play.

1. Compositional figurativeness

Kuntaka cites the name of this drama for one of the varieties of compositional figurativeness. Kuntaka opines that straight forward title never contribute any charm to a composition. The names of a title itself also possess an important role in an overall beauty of a composition. For substantiating it, he cites the name of the works like Mudrārākṣasa, Abhijñānaśākuntala etc. Rākṣasa was a former minister of Nandas, by whose annihilation Cāṇakya had secured the throne for his king Candragupta. Rākṣasa was a firm and devoted minister, who kept his loyalty towards his master. The cunning Cāṇakya would like to win over Rākṣasa to his side. Cāṇakya accomplished his wish through a signet ring of Rākṣasa coming in to his possession. Once Nipuṇaka, a spy of Cāṇakya wanders as an ascetic and reaches the house of Candanadāsa, where the family of Rākṣasa was staying. From there Nipuṇaka happened to pick up a ring of Rākṣasa and bestow it to Cāṇakya. This incident is the pivot on which the story hangs. It is easy to assess the story of a composition which have straight forward title like Hayagrīvavadha, Rāmacarita etc. But the essences of the names like Mudrārākṣasa, Abhijñānaśākuntala etc. came to realize while going through the entire text. While reading the text, the brilliance of the choice of the title will fascinate the readers.

Kuntaka also points out through his variety of compositional figurativeness that the ability of great poets in depicting a new political strategy in their work using their sharp intelligence will delight the readers. He cites Mudrārākṣasa and Tāpasavatsarāja as examples to it. In Mudrārākṣasa the political machinations used by both Rākṣasa and Cāṇakya are highly appreciable. In Tāpasavatsarāja poet uses an innovative technique like the fake death of Vāsavadattā for the ultimate triumph of Udayana. In both works, a fresh form of political strategy applied by the poets is really significant. Kuntaka very critically brings out this aspect in his evaluations.

2. Contextual figurativeness

Kuntaka takes a small episode from Mudrārākṣasa for discussing one of the varieties of contextual figurativeness. Through this variety, Kuntaka depicts how such a small incident like an unknown man’s suicide attempt leads this drama in to its fulfillment by the brilliance of poet Viśākhadatta. Though knowing all the diplomacy, Rākṣasa also believes the person sent by Cāṇakya and decides to go to rescue the life of Candanadāsa offering his own body. In the sixth canto an unknown man pretends as he is going to commit suicide in front of Rākṣasa according to the play of Cāṇakya. From that unknown man Rākṣasa came to know the reason of his suicide is due to his passion towards his friend named Viṣṇudāsa, who gone out of the city deciding to sacrifice himself in to the fire. Viṣṇudāsa decided to do so because his friend Candanadāsa will be executed for sheltering the family of Rākṣasa. Though both Cāṇakya and Rākṣasa were great diplomatists, still Rākṣasa believes the deeds of that unknown man sent by Cāṇakya. Through this Viśākhadatta makes clear that ultimate triumph fall in a single hand in a fight. Thus Cāṇakya win his plan by the possession of Rākṣasa with his side