3. Camatkara (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays)

An Appreciation Deriving its title from that of the first of the series of nine Sanskrit plays by the well-known Sanskrit playwright Dr. Krishna Lal, the Camatkara has a rich fare to offer to a reader. The plays are generally small in size in keeping with the modern trend. People now-a-days have little time for longer plays with a number of Acts and Scenes with performances stretching to a couple of hours. They prefer, as pointed out by the playwright in the Preface to his work, short plays with performance not going beyond forty five minutes or an hour the most. The vast reservoir of Sanskrit literature was open to the playwright to draw his themes upon. However, he has restricted himself to it in the case of only two of his plays, the Adhyatma and the Pratikara which base themselves on the story of Naciketas in the Kathopanisad and of Astavakra in the Mahabharata. For the rest he draws on his own imagination with the result the audience or the reader gets something really modern, modern not in the sense that a modern writer has presented it, but also modern in character and spirit, even though the medium is old, he finding his own reflection in it, his social milieu mirrored into it. Since a combination of the old and the new is necessary in an ancient country like India, the playwright was tempted to include something of the old too in his work. This also must have been thought necessary to avoid a total break with the past. In two Scenes the first play Camatkarah, which, as has been pointed out above has provided the title to the collection, deals

Camatkara (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays).... 57 with the story of a lady heart specialist who acting on the advice of her nurse has no option but to run away from the scene. For full ten days the doctor has no patient; the nurse catches hold of a lady suffering from a respiratory problem whom she finds curiously looking at the name plate of the doctor. Her not falling into the trap and going to another doctor, the lady heart specialist, Nalini, changes, on the advice of her nurse, her name plate from that of Women's heart specialist to specialist in Women's love diseases. The same lady who had been curiously been looking at the name plate is brought in almost forcibly by the nurse and is administered medicine without making her pay the fee. The nurse proves too clever for her. She administers her wrong medicine, a strong laxative with the result that the same lady turns up again and is made to pay Rs 20.00, Rs. 10.00 for each of the two visits through her nose. In the same way another girl passing by the clinic is talked into it almost forcibly by the nurse and is made to admit her love affair, the raison d'etra of her sleeplessness, by the doctor. She is given the medicine for three days in one single dose everyday. On discovering the mistake, the nurse feeling apprehensive of the girl losing her life suggests that she and the doctor better run away to save their life to which the helpless docter agrees. The curtain draws at this bringing the play to an end. The second play, the Durasandesa, deals with a telegram received by a couple in the dead of the night. The wife who has signed to go through it lest it should contain an unpleasant news. She expresses her apprehension to her husband about his father who had not been keeping well for some time past. May be, he is no more and the telegram carries the news of his death. This infuriates the husband who says that it could be his father as well. A quarrel ensues between the two. As the wife gets ready to leave the house, there enters an old man who goes through the telegram and tells the couple that it contains the news of the arrival on a certain date of the brothers of Ramesa and Suresa. The couple is pacified and prepares to go to sleep with the old man having lost it with its (the couple's) quarrel. The play comes to an end at this.

The third play, the Ramalilaprahasanam, deals in its four Scenes with the search of a character who could play Ravana in the Ramalila. The requirement is that he should have a long beard. After a search a person called Ramasarana is found who being a staunch devotee of Rama is chary of accepting the role but is forced into it by the Ramalila organizers. The Ravana dialogues in which he is to slight Rama and the role requiring of him to kidnap Sita prove too much for him. He is stricken with guilt consciousness. One night when he is asleep and is begging forgiveness of his Istadeva Sri Rama, his wife decides to take away the guilt consciousness from him. She cuts the right side of his beard. While she is through it, he rolls to the left with the result that the left side of the beard remains uncut. Next day when the fellow goes to Ramalila stage for rehearsal, all set for acting his role, his half-cut beard is noticed and he is thrown out of the place, confused and confounded, he being blissfully ignorant of the loss of one side of his beard. He had the full beard when he had gone to bed. He had half of it when he was up. How could it have happened in sleep? He is ashamed to show his beardless face to his wife. With the disconcerted Ramasarana and the distraught Ramalila organizers with all their plans in ruins, the Prahasana comes to an end. The fourth play, the Pratikara, deals in its three scenes with a Mahabharata story interspersed with appropriate quotations from the same of avenging by Astavakra of the insult to his father Kahoda by Vandin by defeating him in a scholarly disquisition (Sastrartha) in the court of King Janaka, the insult being the defeat inflicted earlier by Vandin on Kahoda in a similar disquisition. As per the information given to Astavakra by his maternal grandfather, Kahoda after defeat was thrown into a river, the information proved incorrect later when Astavakra threatened to pay Vandin in the same coin. As per Vandin's revelation Kahoda and many other Pandits defeated by the former were not thrown in a river but were sent to an island called Jalamagna where a sacrifice by Vandin's father Varuna was in progress. Vandin further tells Astavakra that he has sent a messenger and CC-0. Prof. Satya Usa SA

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays).... 59 his father, who the latter thinks is rotting in an accessible jail, should be back along with all other Pandits the same day. The father is back and is informed of the victory of his son Astavakra over Vandin who is put in chains. The father secures his release. Vandin falls at his feet bringing the play to a close. The Sastrartha between Astavakra and Vandin in the play is carried on with the stanzas of the Mahabharata. The beginning of the play is traced to Astavakra in tears approaching his mother Sujata feeling cut to quick at the remark of Svetaketu that he has no father which he cannot understand, he having looked upon Uddalaka so far as his father which he denies telling him instead that he is his maternal grandfather. He also tells of the Vandin episode and what his father had to meet at the hands of his rival (Vandin) making the young Astavakra vow revenge. The fifth play, the Adhyatma, has for its theme the story of Naciketas, as mentioned in the beginning of this critique, from the Kathopanisad. A sage Vajasravasa is distributing cows to Brahmins after a sacrifice. His son Naciketas finding them old and barren wanting that for deriving the full fruit of the sacrifice his father should give away some useful possession of his, asks him as to whom he would be giving him (Naciketas). The father not responding to him, he repeats the question thrice. The incensed father tells him that he is giving him to Yama. Off goes Naciketas to Acarya Yama who happens to be away from the place then. The three nights the young one stays at his place with no food. Yama returning and being informed of his presence without food offers him three boons as penitence. One of the boons Naciketas asks for is the return of his father to good mood. The second is the explanation of the sacred fire both of which Yama grants at once adding to the second one the naming of it after him (Naciketas). The third one as to whether one continues to exist after death or not. Yama tries to evade and sidetrack by offering Naciketas a number of allurements to make him desist from persisting with it which have no effect on him. He persisting With it, Yama proceeds to explain it. It is the body which perishes . Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

Acarya Yama's teaching to Naciketas is reproduced with the Kathopanisad verses in the play. The next play, Atmaghata, is the soliloquy of a young son of an army man who having been jilted in love, wants to commit suicide. He first writes a suicide note and tears to pieces the photograph of his beloved. He then applies his mind to the various means to end his life. But finds each of them unsuitable. To hang himself with a rope from the ceiling is not possible. From where is he to get the rope and how is his hand to reach the ceiling. To choke himself with his father's neck tie also would not work. That may offend his father. The sleeping pills with which his farther helps himself occasionally are all but finished. There is a gun on the wall. That could well do the job, but he has never used it before. And where to shoot? To shoot at the head would mean instant death. He first loads the gun. Then decides to fire in the air. If it were to miss the aim, it would mean a great tragedy. The sound could be terrible. But then he as no reason to feel scared. After all, he is the son of an army man. He fires in the air and with its sound falls unconscious. The sound brings his father in. He noticing the suicide note, the photograph of the beloved in pieces and the son on the floor thinks that the latter has ended his life. He picks up the gun to end his. He kisses the forehead of his son. This makes him come to himself. The father is happy that the son is alive. Suicide? asks the father. No. It was only its rehearsal, answers the son and that is the end of the play. The next play, the Ascarya, has for its description in six scenes the theme of the marriage of a young educated middle class girl. Coming from outstation in western dress with bob hair, she wants to give a surprise to her mother who takes her a boy. The mother , as any of her like in Indian Society is worried about her marriage . The girl, Mrnalini, is modern not only in dress but also in ideas. She does not want marriage and is in favour of women's lib. Her father Dharmadasa is given to drinking. He comes to the house in the dead of the night , knocks at the door which Mrnalini in night gown opens. Taking her to be his wife, deep under the influence of liquor, he puts her in tight embrace but gets a slapuSA CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi.

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays).... 61 from her in return which opens his eyes and he swears not to touch wine again while his wife reminds him of his duty towards his two daughters Mrnalini and Citra who are of age now and are ripe for marriage. Dharmadasa with the effect of liquor gone, notices the worn out Sari of his wife and promises to bring a new one. He begs forgiveness of her for his misdemeanour. The wife goes on stressing on him the need to arrange for the marraige of the girls and the dowry required for the same. Dharmadasa is next shown with a box of sari with the words of his wife Pancali ringing in his ears. He spurns the offer of one of his friends to go to a tavern and comes back home. The next scene shows the house being redone. A prospective groom comes with his parents. He is agreeble to the marriage provided he is paid Rs. 51000.00 to enable him to prosecute his studies abroad. While Dharmadasa and Pancali plead with the parents to lower the amount, Mrnalini jumps in to say they would not be given a penny and drives them out. Firm and unflinching, she repeats her resolve not to marry. She does not want to be given over to a greedy man, who with the members of his family may later kill her. Dharmadasa agrees with her. Pancali is worried. Who would help them, she does not know. In the next scene a young man, Bhuvanesa, knocks at Dharmadasa's door. Mrnalini's friend Gitika, who had come to meet her, opens it. Gitika tells him that Dharmadasa is not yet back from his office while Pancali is away to the market. Mrnalini hearing her talking to some body comes in and finds the same young man before her who had asked for the dowry. She asks him as to why he is back. Could it be that the price is lowered, she enquires of him tauntingly. In the meantime enters Pancali with a basketful of vegetables. She brings Bhuvanesa in spite of Mrnalini's protests and asks Mrnalini to bring water and tea. Bhuvanesa expresses regret for what he had done which he ascribes to the prompting of his parents. He is impressed with the words of Mrnalini and would like to marry her there and then. With Dharmadasa also coming in just then, the Tilaka ceremony is performed as per Bhuvanesa's suggestion with almonds and a

Rupee as gifts. Everybody is surprised at the turn of events. And it is with this surprise, the ascarya, that the play titled as such comes to an end. The next play Bholanatha is the story of a man who is tired of his unmarried life and is planning to have a wife. His friend Kundana promises to find for him one, offering to arrange his meeting with her the following day. What turns out at the appointed hour is a cruel joke which Kundana plays on Bholanatha, Kundana himself appears before Bholanatha in the dress of a woman, much to the latter's chagrin. The scene changes at this. The next scene depicts Bholanatha doing exercise to feel strong at the time of marriage which is only two days away. The same old friend of his Kundana meets him and offers him a piece of advice which is that in no case should he come under the thumb of his wife. In the next scene Bholanatha is shown ruefully regretting his present state of affairs which has landed him in the most miserable condition of making tea for his wife, do all the cooking before and after his office hours with his wife sleeping comfortably. With all his freedom gone, he decides to revolt. Having made up his mind, he refuses to make tea for his wife who asks him to do so. A quarrel ensues between the two wherein the wife who threatens to leave him which leaves Bholanatha totally unmoved. After she acts withdrawal from the house, Bholanatha heaves a sigh of relief which, however, proves shortlived. When he says in his soliloquy that he would be happy, now that his wife Tarika has left, there appears Tarika from behind the door where she had concealed herself to play a ruse on him. She refuses to leave, that being her house. With Tarika looking on smilingly the play comes to an end. The last of the plays, the Apasaramahima, is the story of a clerk who has to cultivate his officer, apsara, for leave to attend the marriage of his brother-in-law which after being refused initially granted. As the clerk has the satisfaction of getting the leave, comes the news that the date of the marriage has been postponed dealing a stunning blow to the clerk who poses strongSA

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays).... 63 to stand it by proposing to his wife to go to a cinema show. Before the clerk is able to put across his request for leave to his boss he had made many unsuccessful attempts in that direction, he being too much overawed by the office who would always hand him in some work or the other before he could express his request. When the clerk picks up the heart to talk to boss and pleads with him citing the condition of his wife, the officer climbs down and the clerk gets what he wants. All his exercise, however, comes to naught when the date for the marriage is changed. The upset poor clerk makes a foolish suggestion of going to a cinema show and enjoying in the moment of his poignant realization that Destiny had made a fool of him. Critical Appreciation The collection of the plays the playwright has titled as Camatkara. It is not only because the first play in it carries this title, as avers the playwright in the Preface, but also perhaps because every play has a camatkara, a strange happening, which cannot but interest the reader or the spectator. Except the two, the Adhyatma and the Pratikara, which are based on the ancient texts and have rather serious themes with little of scope for originality for the playwright, all others have light themes with a social backdrop. One of them actually is a Prahasana, a Farce, while a few others though not carrying this appellation very nearly approximate to it in spirit. Some which do not too have in them a good sprinkling of humour to sustain the interest of the reader or the spectator throughout. Of the two with old themes the Adhyatma and the Pratikara, it is in the former that the playwright has introduced a significant innovation. He has made Yama to turn from the god of death that he is to an acarya of the name. Apart from the consideration of the anomoly of a mortal going to the god of death and having a discussion with him face to face, the playwright was inspired to go in for the change by the cue provided by the Kathopanisad itself to whose theme the play owes itself, in calling Yama an acarya Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

devairatrapi vicikitsitam kila tvam ca mrtyo yanna suvijneyamattha | Once Yama is accepted as acarya: naci . -atha caturthi divaso'tragatasya me na ca acaryapravaro yamah praptah, he would have to be shown looking like him: tatah pravisati yamo dirghakesa acaryavesah, enters then Yama in the dress of an acarya with flowing hair. Yama offering the young sage-lad fruits to eat is also the innovation of the playwright. In the Pratikara the entire episode of Kahoda having been sent to Jalamagna island where the sacrifice of Vandin's father is in progress his coming back along with other defeated Pandits who too had been sent there like him, his pardon of Vandin, his meeting his son are all the handiwork of the creative imagination of the resourceful playwright. The Atmaghata is a keen psychological study of a young man who wants to commit suicide but is very much a coward at heart. Every time he gets hold of something which could end his life, he puts it away on one pretext or the other. Some other things which he thinks could do so, he does not come across. Ultimately what he tries is a fire in the air. He gets up hale and hearty in the end much to the amusement of everybody. The Ramalilaprahasana is a satire on the way the Ramalilas are organized in India these days. Some character has to be fitted into a role, suited to him or not, he willing to accept it or not, making the whole thing very ridiculous. The Ascaryam succeeds in highlighting the fact that educated young men are now coming forward in Hindu society to marry without asking for dowry. Even though they may waver for a while at their parent's prompting, they pick up sufficient heart later, on second thought, to repudiate the accursed custom and just concentrate on the girl and not what she brings in. The Bholanatha is a picture of a tragic man who is fed up leading a bachelor's life and thinks that marriage will bring him all happiness. He is in for terrible disappointment. The wife that he gets means for him extra work. His tragedy gets more acute when his attempt to get rid of her ends in a fiasco, she sticking on to the house which she claims to be hers. The theme has a

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays)... 65 motto for all wife-hunters in that they may have to beware of as of them as may make slaves of them while vegetating on their sweat and toil. Life is not all sunshine for them. It may instead catch them on wrong foot. Apasaramahima is a penetrating psychological study of a clerk who is so afraid of his boss as to wait day after day to put across his request to him for sanction of leave. He is the picture of a typical clerk in an Indian office who has no guts to face his boss. Circumstances cheat him in the end reducing him to a laughing stock. Caught up between his scare of his nagging wife and the all-important boss, he presents a pathetic sight. The change in the date of the marriage means for him cultivating the officer all over again. That is what being an officer is, the Apasarmahima, the greatness of an officer. The work is a satire on the all-important bosses in the office with all their whimsicalities and their spineless juniors who lack the courage to even speak to them face to face, to put across even their genuine request which is granted only on the basis that without it the clerk may commit more mistakes in typing. Apart from the themes, the most noteworthy point about the plays is their vocabulary. Dealing with modern themes it was but natural for the playwright to have been called upon to deal with the modern objects, the objects not existing earlier or existing in a different form. With the inter-action with the West, the Indian society in the cities and towns, has undergone a perceptible change adopting in good measure the western way of life. If this is to be described in Sanskrit as it is, does not have words for them. These will either have to be adopted from the Western languages, in the case of Indian English because of its contact with it for historical. reasons or will have to be coined. The playwright has done both. About the words adopted, the loan words, he follows a threefold system, one, he uses them as such assigning them arbitrary gender to fit them into Sanskrit system, two, he Sanskritizes them approximating them to Sanskrit sounds and in more cases than one to even senses and three, he puts them in Sanskrit in the form of their loan translation. The examples of

all of them are taken up here under one by one. Examples of one: The word current in most Indian languages for tea the playwright uses as such avoiding its contrived Sanskrit equivalents like usnajala, usnapeya, kasayapana, etc., employed by some of his contemporaries and gives it the neuter gender, e.g.: 1. aham kincidabhojyam cayam vanayami 1 2. patale cayam sthapayati ' 3. ubhe cayam pibatah khadyam ca khadatah- 3 4. cayam pitva ' 5. jate cayam sadhaya ' 6. jalamaniyatam cayamapi 7. cayam pitam va na va ' 8. niscitameva cayam sadhaniyam 9. cayam maya sadhitam 10. dehi prathamam cayam " 11. na diyate cayam " 12. na cayamisyate 12 17 In the context of tea it may be interesting to note as to how he expresses the idea of pouring it into cups. For cup he has the old Sanskrit word. For pouring he forms a word from √c in causative; mrnalini cayam casakesvadharayati 3. cayam casaka adharayati . The other foreign words used in the works are pant : petikamudghatya paintam niskasyae, 14 aham tu paintameva dharayami tvam tam satim gharaya ; 15 coat: kotadikamapaniya "; suit and boot: parihitasutabutaparighana, 7 glass: gilasadvayam sitalam dugdham pitam ; the name of a sort of a Punjabi pancake; bhaturah he uses as such: maya tu canakaih sardham bhathuratrayam ... khaditva ; rasagulla, the word for a Bengali sweet he, however, Sanskritizes in the form of rasagolaka, more probably out of the consideration that the same had been attempted earlier and he finding no harm in adopting the same in his work: maya tu kevalam canakaih sardham bhathuratrayam panca rasagolakani ca khaditva 20 ... The Hindi word jhola he uses as such in the neuter gender with the addition of kah tasya skandhe jholakam 21 Examples of the Two tripadi for Hindi timpai, stool, patalasya vamatah tripadi, 22 tripadyamupavista margadattadrstih 23 vistarabandha " for Hindi bistarabandra, holdall and apasara fon officer. CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Birection,

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays)... . 67 The playwright titles one of his works as 375 using the word there quite often, svaphena for sabuna, soap; sugandhisvaphenena snatavyam ", kalamaghana " for kalamadana, pen-holder, puspadhana " for phuladana, flower vase. The category of non-Sanskrit words being Sanskritized may also include such words as are current in vernaculars and as suggest from their form their Sanskrit origin but as are not a current coin in Sanskrit. Such words are mali for garderner: pravrddhayam latayam mali tadasrayavisaye cintito bhavatyeva " and sthalaka for plate : ekasmin sthalake dhaturagam tandulani vatadani canayani 30 Examples of Three ' urassravayantra for stethescope: da . nalini kanthe urassravayantramaronnyopavista ", urassravanalika for ear-plungs of the stethescope: urassravanalike karnabhyam niskasya, 32 karnayorurassravanalike arpayitva proncha for towel: asandiprsthe ca proncha, 34 prondena mukham pranchantim ", durasandesa for telegram: kascit durusandesavahaka 36, vidyuddipa for electric light: vidyuddipa samyoti ' (puts on, sayauti lit. connects the light): nalastra for gun: bhittyam lambamanam nalastram ", akase nalastra m calayati 39 utthaya durapatitam nalastram guhvati 10 naktamsuka for night gown: mrnalini dirgham naktamsukam dharayantim "; patavastra for in all probability amgocha, the typical Indian towel : skandhe lambitapatavastra 12; ganavesa for uniform: ekah parihitaganavesah presyastvaritam kaksa pravisati ; nasti for file: suvistrte patale kascana panjika nastayah 4 kascanadhikaryupa- visto nastikargadan savadhanam pasyati | 15 ayavyayapatraka for budget : esu divasesvayavyayakapatraprastutikaranartha bhuyah karyam ", sobhavastu for decoration piece : anyanisobhava stuni itastatah sthapitani ", kanthabandha drsyate ; nidravatika for sleeping pill: sa sresthi nidravatikabhaksayitva suptva ca na punarutthitah 1 ; nimnamadhyamavarga for lower middle class: nimnamadhyamavargiyasya samanyagrhasya kaksah 150 Occasionally the playwright notes the internal variations in objects and as in the parent language has the qualifying words in the loan translation to indicate them. Thus for calender he has the word tithisucakah apaniyatametat tithisucakam " ? But if it is table calender, he puts in the word patala (table) before it: patalatithisucakam ". For table cloth he has the word patalamsukah patalamsukam malinameva, 53 patalamsukam ca strnarti ". If the same were to be printed, he calls it putrankitah gaccha tasmin kakse brhatsamudgake sthapitamubhayamapi putrankitamanaya .55

In an isolated case he varies between using a loan word as such and using its loan translation. He uses the word glass for tumbler as such in gilasadvayam sitalam dugdhapitam 56 at one place and uses its loan translation of jalapatra at another: tatah pravisati citra phalake (trepatre ) jalapatrani (gilasa ) aniya| 57 Similarly, he uses the word vastrapetika at one place: mrnalini parsva eva vastrapetikam vistarabandham caniya sthapayati 58 and vastraghana at another: iti jhatiti vastradhane vastradikam nidhaya | 59 The above system he adopts not in the case of the loan translations only. He stretches it to some of the already familiar words in Sanskrit like e, for instance. He has words for all of its three types, the wall clock, the time piece and the wrist watch obtained, as in English with the prefixture of Sanskrit words for wall, bhitti, table, patala and wrist manibandha . The wall clock he calls bhittighatikah bhittighatikayam dasavadanavela 60, the time piece patalaghatikah patalaghatikam drstva " and the wrist watch manibandhaghatikah bhuvaneso manibandhaghatikam pasyati 62 For setting the time he uses yujh ghatikayam samayah, samyak, yojaniyah 63 For the hour he uses the already popular vadanavelah trivadanavela 64, three O'clock, navavadanavela 65, nine O'clock, sardhaikadasavadanavela 66 11.30. ekavadana- vela, 67 one o'clock. Occasionally, the word vela is omitted: ekadasavadane te agamisyanti . 68 For reasons best known to them, some of the earlier Sanskritists had used a particular form of a vernacular word which they had given it which was not necessarily Sanskrit but was a just pale attempt at it, e.g., kargada for kagaja paper. The playwright perfers to use that in his work: nava kargadapatikamasyah pattikaya upari yojayati, 69 kargadakhandam grhitva 70 nastikargadan savadhanam pasyati . 1 golika for Hindi goli, bullet, is still another earlier word used in modern Sanskrit. The playwright goes in for this too: kutra va golika praharami . 72 Of other words which are not fake attempts at Sanskritization are words in common use in modern Sanskrit, not so in older one, like, namapattika for name plate: maya bhavatya namapattika drsta 73, kandika for basket: sasakakabdikahasta 74 and The old Sanskrit word for breakfast is kalpavarta ', the source of Hindi word kaleva, chayacitra for photograph: chayacitramapakrsya 75, karapata for handkerchief: karapatena mukhamupanahau ca pronchati . 76 Some of the Sanskrit words the playwright uses in a shade different from the original one. 4 he uses in the sense of a box, in the present instance, of that of a Card Board which was

Camatkara (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays)... 69 unknown before: tata pravisati satimanjusahasto dharmadasah 77, pravaraka bad sheet cadarah ubhe api gahitva pravarakam strnitah 78, phalaka in that of a tray: tatah pravisati citra phalake jalapatrani aniya 79, samputa in that of packet: sudhirastasya prsthatah sthitva samputamudghatayati . 80 Hindi has presently in it equivalents of some of the English words coined from Sanskrit. The playwright shows his predilection for their use too. Accounts Officer he calls darf, 81 refreshments jalapana 82, letter box patrapetika 83, novel upanyasa 84 and cinema show calacitra | 85 In an isolated instance the playwright uses a word which can be formed from a Sanskrit root but is not in use in literature. An instance in point is saha in the sense of patience : etavadapi saho nasti . 36 Carrying the semantical change a little further he uses some of the Sanskrit words in their extended meaning to make them serve as equivalent; of foreign words in their own sense. An example par excellence of this in Amukha, a technical term of Sanskrit drama meaning Prologue being used in the sense of Foreword whose literal translation it could be. The playwright is not alone here. He is in good company, many of the writers preceding him like G.B. Palsule, having used it. Of other such words is the English word sister which in the context of hospital or clinic means a nurse. This meaning the playwright draws from Sanskrit bhaginikah bhaginike bhaginike tvaritamtra vamanaya, sruva 87, a kind of ladle used for pouring oblation into the fire in use in the Vedic period, the playwright uses in the sense of tongue spoon as in the quotation above and in the other one of bhaginika (sruvamaniya ) ayam sruvah " as also just a spoon as in: sruvaisca sarkaram dattva''lodayati 89. His motivation in the latter case is not clear, the well-known 4 being already handy in that sense. The tongue spoon being a new thing, the use of the obsolete Vedic word for it could have some justification. 0 88 7 is an ingenious coinage of the playwright for a bottle, the coinage inspired probably by the similarity between the two, the small well, the original sense of the word and the newly intended one of that of a bottle in that both have depth : kincitkalanantaram kupyam ausadham grhitva nispanta 90 mahila nalinyai kupim dadati ¨ 4 R is very much in use these days in the sense of business. In the same sense the playwright uses it in: na janati bhavati vyaparam 2

In an isolated case he varies between using a loan word as such and using its loan translation. He uses the word glass for tumbler as such in gilasadvayam sitalam dugdhapitam 56 at one place and uses its loan translation of jalapatra at another : tatah pravisati citra phalake (trepatre ) jalapatrani (gilasa ) aniya| 57 Similarly, he uses the word vastrapetika at one place: mrnalini parsva eva vastrapetikam vistarabandham caniya sthapayati 8 and vastraghana at another : iti jhatiti vastraghane vastradikam nidhaya | 59 The above system he adopts not in the case of the loan translations only. He stretches it to some of the already familiar words in Sanskrit like ce, for instance. He has words for all of its three types, the wall clock, the time piece and the wrist watch obtained, as in English with the prefixture of Sanskrit words for wall, bhitti, table, patala and wrist manibandha . The wall clock he calls bhittighatikah bhittighatikayam dasavadanavela 60, the time piece patalaghatikah patalaghatikam drstva " and the wrist watch manibandhaghatikah bhuvaneso manibandhaghatikam pasyati 62 For setting the time he uses √yujh ghatikayam samayah, samyak, yojaniyah 63 For the hour he uses the already popular vadanavelah trivadanavela 64, three O'clock, navavadanavela 65, nine O'clock, sardhaikadasavadanavela 66 11.30. ekavadana- vela, 67 one o'clock. Occasionally, the word vela is omitted: ekadasavadane te agamisyanti . 68 61 For reasons best known to them, some of the earlier Sanskritists had used a particular form of a vernacular word which they had given it which was not necessarily Sanskrit but was a just pale attempt at it, e.g., kargada for kagaja paper. The playwright perfers to use that in his work: nava kargadapatikamasyah pattikaya upari yojayati, 69 kargadakhandam grhitva 70 nastikargadan savadhanam pasyati . " golika for Hindi goli, bullet, is still another earlier word used in modern Sanskrit. The playwright goes in for this too : kutra va golika praharami . 72 Of other words which are not fake attempts at Sanskritization are words in common use in modern Sanskrit, not so in older one, like, namapattika for name plate: maya bhavatya namapattika drsta 73, kandika for basket: sasakakabdikahasta 74 and The old Sanskrit word for breakfast is kalyavarta, the source of Hindi word kaleva, chayacitra for photograph: chayacitramapakrsya '', karapata for handkerchief: karapatena mukhamupanahau ca pronchati . 76 Some of the Sanskrit words the playwright uses in a shade different from the original one. The uses in the sense of a box, in the present instance, of that of board,which CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi.card board which was A a

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays)... 69 unknown before: tata pravisati satimanjusahasto dharmadasah 77, pravaraka bad sheet cadarah ubhe api gahitva pravarakam strnitah 78, phalaka in that of a tray: tatah pravisati citra phalake jalapatrani aniya 79, samputa in that of packet: sudhirastasya prsthatah sthitva samputamudghatayati . 80 Hindi has presently in it equivalents of some of the English words coined from Sanskrit. The playwright shows his predilection for their use too. Accounts Officer he calls art,81 refreshments jalapana 82, letter box patrapetika 3, novel upanyasa 84 and cinema show calacitra | 85 In an isolated instance the playwright uses a word which can be formed from a Sanskrit root but is not in use in literature. An instance in point is saha in the sense of patience : etavadapi saho nasti . 36 Carrying the semantical change a little further he uses some of the Sanskrit words in their extended meaning to make them serve as equivalent; of foreign words in their own sense. An example par excellence of this in Amukha, a technical term of Sanskrit drama meaning Prologue being used in the sense of Foreword whose literal translation it could be. The playwright is not alone here. He is in good company, many of the writers preceding him like G.B. Palsule, having used it. Of other such words is the English word sister which in the context of hospital or clinic means a nurse. This meaning the playwright draws from Sanskrit bhaginikah bhaginike bhaginike tvaritamtra vamanaya, sruva 87, a kind of ladle used for pouring oblation into the fire in use in the Vedic period, the playwright uses in the sense of tongue spoon as in the quotation above and in the other one of bhaginika (sruvamaniya ) ayam sruvah 88 as also just a spoon as in: sruvaisca sarkaram dattva''lodayati 9. His motivation in the latter case is not clear, the well-known being already handy in that sense. The tongue spoon being a new thing, the use of the obsolete Vedic word for it could have some justification. 7 is an ingenious coinage of the playwright for a bottle, the coinage inspired probably by the similarity between the two, the small well, the original sense of the word and the newly intended one of that of a bottle in that both have depth: kincitkalanantaram kupyam ausadham grhitva nispanta 90 mahila nalinyai kupim dadati 1 c is very much in use these days in the sense of business. In the same sense the playwright uses it in: na janati bhavati vyaparam 2

has the sense generally of an object, a substance. The playwright, however, departs from it and uses it in that of a loose form, as opposed to that of the form of a tablet: nalinih bhaginike asti kosthabandhakamosadhesu ? bhaginikah asti, tadasti dravyarupam Te means a hiding place. The playwright takes it to mean a pocket quite an extension of the original sense: iti dasarupyakani nalinyai dadati| sa ca grhitva gohe vthapayati "), gohat chayacitramapakrtya 's, tvam kim manyase yatsamama gohe sthita | In the use of exclamatory words the playwright does not confine himself to those in use in Sanskrit. He increases their number by incorporating into them two of those in Hindi 3767 and ohah nalinih oho mahati vikrti ", bala ; oho kutraha patitam 97, pa . - oho tvam na janasi kim, " oho durlalito bhavan ", vijaya (nepathye ) oho ksanamastam, 100 oha na maya jnatam simhastvamasiti . 101 The various modes of address in vogue in Hindi and other vernaculars like or 37 current among womenfolk the playwright adopts in Sanskrit: ari atra kapi nayati, nahiri tadapi kim 'sabhyam paridhanam ?102 as also are or e among the rustic folk which goes well with the speech of a drunkard: are kim sarve mrtah, 103 e bhrsam jalpasi | 104 Living in the present age it was but natural for the playwright's expression to have come under vernacular influence. Quite a few lines in the work carry on them an unmistakable reflection of their Hindi base: 1. maya'pi danasangrahartham svayamsevakavyavasthayai ca gantavyam || 05 2. uparistadadhah paryantam drstva 106 (Cp. Hindi upara se nice taka dekhakara ) 3. maharajo darsanam vitarati 107 (Cp. Hindi maharaja darsana dete haim ) 4. paramaham tava drstya drstam jivitam atmano necchami 108 (Cp. Hindi teri najara se ) 5. ebhireva vastreh sampratam calisyati 100 (Cp. Hindi inhim kapada़ोm se abhi cala degi ) 6. gha . - aham punastava pitaram manayisyami " (Cp. Hindi maim tere pita ko mana lumga ) 7. mo .- sadhu, saghu sighramidanim saksatkarayojanam kuru II (Cp. Hindi saksatkara ki yojana banao )

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays ) .... 71 8. alpavasano bholanatho dandavatprasaranotthanopavesanarupe 12 vyayame samlagna 13 (Cp. Hindi damda baithaka nikalane mem laga hai ) 9. ubhau ca hastam melayatah- 14 (Cp. Hindi donom hatha milate hai ) 10. sva avedanam dasyami IS (Cp. Hindi kala arji dumga ) 11. matah yuyam rudhivadinyah puratananaryah || 16 12. am, sanjataiva tasya apyagamanavela 117 13. ekasyamasandyam dharmadasa upavistah samacarapatraprsthani parivartayati || 18 119 14. karyakramastu asit " ( Cp. Hindi karyakrama to tha ) 15. mu . - sthaniye cikitsalaya eva 120 The language of the plays is generally correct and idiomatic and except for the vernacularisms as noticed above, has a classical ring about it. Aberrations, if at all, are only a few, an infinitesimal number in the otherwise well-written compositions. used by the playwright in the sense of song: sanaih sanaih mandatam yati gayanasvarah 121, a common enough occurrence in modern Sanskrit words, should have been gana . As it is, it can mean a singer with nyut by Pan. nyut ca (III.1.147). In kimantarayani mahodaya, 122 antar being treated as preposition by the Varttika antahsabdasyankividhinatvesupasargatvam vacyam its ra should have led to the cerebralization of the 7 of 3 by Pan. n atakupvannumvyavaye'pi (VIII.4.2), kurda being Atmanepadin kurdati in nadi te kurdati should have been kurdate . divasa normally is masculine (Cf. Kalidasa divasah parinamaramaniyah ) but can be used in neuter as well, as done by the playwright, on account of its being one of the ardhacadi s, vide Pan. ardhacarcah pumsi ca ( II 4.31 ). In ityetani trayodasatattvanyeva nivrtya manusyo brahma samadhigacchati 123 nivrtya should have been nivartya . In an isolated instance the syntax is incoherent. In bhaginika - gamyatamiya mahodaye, 124 gamyatam is used when not needed. In anyatham mavamastha jate, 125 it would do to say anyatha mavamamsthah, ava would give the sense of insult which is not intended here. Coming to style one cannot fail to make the innovative spirit of the author as one does in the case of vocabulary. He has used all the devices available to him in writing to indicate the different human moods and emotions. In this he is most original. It is not uncommon to see one feeling hesitant to express oneself and speaking haltingly or leaving the sentence incomplete. This hesitation may be born of avoiding somebody's displeasure or

hurting some one's feelings or expressing or acting in haste. For this the playwright adopts different devices. Very often he indicates the non-completion of the sentence occasioned by any of the circumstances as mentioned above by putting dots at the end of the last word: 1. aham gatva tamanayami | savadhana 2. nalini - ayi parantu • 127 3. bhavanudghatayatu | pitrcarana rugna asan te 4. laksmanasimha - mahabhaga te 129 126 If there is more of hesitation the dots appear even in between the sentence. These may well also indicate the reflective mood of the speaker: patnih mattah tvam bibhesi 130 ramah naiva jane mahabhaga, ayam esah bhavata kvaciddrstobhavet 31 59 980 vimalah (vepamaneva ) e sa du ... ra... sande ... sa: 132 bhu . : ( sanaih sanaih ) varta khalu ...| yam ... yat ... videsam gatva kincad adhikatam ... adhyetum icchami ' 33 The playwright succeeds in bringing out the apprehensiveness of the speaker by his incoherent speech as also as in the above example (the second example) and also in the following one: ramah kimadya cintita iva laksyase ? sudhirah naiva naiva kincit tat etat ... srimanta, hyo'pi vaktukamam asam 34 With shyness gripping a person, he loses self-confidence and develops stammering. The playwright employs it most effectively in indicating it (the loss of self-confidence). The stammering he shows with dots and the repetition of the syllable: 1. bha . : (prakasam ) kim kim .... kim kim bhavatya nama ? 135 2. mahilah kah sankocah, apaniyatam avagunthanam bho . : bha bha ... bha ... bhavati svayam ... mahilah apaniyatam svairam | mo . : bha... bha... bhavatu, ahamevapanayami ' 36 Sometimes it is total surprise at the most unexpected happening that leads to stammering: ta . : (jhatiti pravisya ) katham gatavatiti ? ahamatraiva tisthami| bho . : ta... ta...ta... tarika 7137

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays )... . 73 Sometimes a person may be so scared that he may not be able to speak with confidence. The stammering in his case is indicative of that: sudhirah ( kincid viramya ) s s sriman ! 138 The deep reflection of a speaker, his continuous thought process, his struggle within himself, the playwright captures not only with dots but also sometimes with the sign of 3, reserved in Sanskrit writing for pluration or a call from a distance, even 'within the word itself : ( sasambhramamutthaya ) atmaghatam karomi ...a 3... tmagha 3 tam !139 The dots in the beginning of a sentence also express the fear psychosis: kathamaham kataratvenabhibhuto asti 40 The annoyance is sometimes indicated by the playwright by the repetition of a word: vivaho vivaha vivahah na me rocate | 141 So is the determination by the change of the form from the Active to the Middle: mr . : sruyatam punarapi vivaha naiva karisyami, na karisye | 142 The sign 3 is employed, as said above, for calling a person from afar. In addition to employing for the same as in pa0- (tarasvarena ), citre 3 citre 3 143 mrnalini 3 jalamaniyatam cayamapi 44 the playwright employs also for indicating the high pitch: 1. nepathye (dharmadasasabdah ) srnomi srnomi 3 ucyata 3m 145 2. nepathye (citrasabdah ) agamyatam amba 3 pratarasah kriyata 3m 46 3. (uccaih ) ksanam viramyatam | ayami 3. 147 The onomatopoea too the playwright employs to produce a sound as that of loud laugh which he represents by the sount 7, ha ha ! uccairhasitva ha ha ha ! 148 The exclamatory sign, !, is not necessarily employed by the playwright to express surprise or alarm but also bravado: ha, ha, ha ! atmaghatah, atmaghata evedanim eka upayah | 149

It also is employed in addressing some one : candali ! or to express scorn: tvamahamौm na drastumicchami| puscali| 150 or resentment or anger: ah ! evam vidha eva bhavanti striyah | na tasam kascidapi priya ! kutilah ! sarvah sarpyah 51 or to confirm a statement: bhartrhare saghu tvayoktamh- madhu tisthati vaci yositam hrdi halahalameva kevalam|| 52 (There is a pause after the quotation which is indicated by dots) or to express a flash of an idea: kim karomi ? kva yami ... bhavatu drstam 153 The names of the characters, if long, the playwright abbreviates with a circle indicative of abbreviation, retaining only sometimes two as in vaja . for vajasravasa, radha . for radhakrsna or sometimes only one as in gha. for dharmadasa, pra . for pancali, bho . for bholanatha, syllable / syllables of the original many. The speech of the characters he generally introduces with a colon : nalinih, bhaginikah but also occasionally with a dash: particularly when it is to accompany a stage direction in brackets: yuvakah - ( sahasa utthaya, netre pramrjya, itastato drstva ) aho vibhavari gata eva . 154 Uniformly the playwright gives in detail the stage setting before starting the play proper. Each different element of this setting is intervened by dash: sthanamh kasyacit senadhikarinah kaksah| bhittyam lambamanam nalastram - dvitra asandyah anyani sobha vastuni itastatah sthapitani - nagadante 100 lekhani ca - sainika vesah - kanthabandho'pi drsyate | 155 The stage direction is given at the change of the Scene as well and if necessary, the time is also indicated: samayah- dinasya dvitiyapraharah- 156 The playwright attempts to inject as much realism into his work as possible. The literature being a mirror to society this is as it should be. Not only does he describe the happenings as they take place in actual life with his down to earth realistic approach, he also describes them the way it takes place. An example par excellence is the introduction setting-to the play, the Durasandesah. The telegraph peon the description of the stage approaching the house of Radha Krsna Sarma calls out to him in different ways; sometimes as radhakrsnasarmamahodaya, radhakrsnasarmamahabhaga, krsnasarmamahabhaga, and sometimes as radhakrsnasarman . This is the actual

Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays).... 75 position. The repetition of the name is never the same. The idea is to reach the person intended. It is human nature not go on uttering the same name in the same way again and again. One does introduce a little variation each time one calls out to some body: nepathye durasandesavahakasya tarasvaro dvistrirva - radhakrsnasarmamahodaya ! ayi radhakrsnasarmahabhaga ! asti kascidatra sriman radhakrsnasarma ! sriradhakrsnasarman ...157 The dots preceding and following are probably indicative of the highest pitch of the speaker. Now a word about the stage presentation of the plays. The playwright gives certain indications in this connection in two places which are indicative of his high degree of originality and innovation. One of these pertains to the play Adhyatmam where the gifting of the cows by the sage Vajasravasa is described. Now the cows cannot be actually put on the sage. The playwright's suggestion here is that it is their reflection on the curtain which can do. To impact a further realistic touch he further suggests the playing of the lowing of the cows: yavanikayam yavam chayah darsanayitum sakyante, for 158 The other pertained to the play Ascaryam. A character called Dharmadasa is shown talking to himself. He is shown ruminating over what his wife had told him. The scene of the words of the wife coming to the mind, the playwright suggests can be shown by playing them from behind the curtain: smrtirupah pancalidhvanih sruyate . 159 Thoroughly versed in Sanskrit literature that the playwright is, he would carry in his mind naturally a number of lines or words from works of old which would just appear, impulsively as it were, when a similar idea needs expression. Quite a couple of old lines the playwright fits into his work which then gives the appearance of gemstudded ornament. It is nothing unusual that while writing his plays another play should be present in his mind. And this another play is the Abhijnanasakuntala of the celebrated poet Kalidasa. Out of the five lines or expression which are reproductions or reflections of lines or expressions of works of the four are interestingly from that work. The lines fact act

paramarthato'jnatva'narambhah pratikarasya 160 and tava tavanmano na jane 161 are reproductions from that work, while the lines prathamah kalpah and drstamatrasyaiva ca tavankabharoksyati 2 carry a reflection of the lines udarah kalpah 63 and ca khalu drstamatrasyatavangamarohati 164 from the same work. The line yatne 165 is a reproduction, almost as such, the difference being in the addition of 3 ft only, of an old saying art krte yadi na sidhyati ko'tra dosah Some wise sayings or idioms the playwright introduces in his work. Two of the more interesting of them are: raksaniya khalu sevakaih 166 prabhavah katham svayameva sakatim samprerya na janasi laksyam 167 The Camatkara is a string of beautiful plays of absorbing interest. The playwright wrought a camatkara, a miracle, in weaving it in a new style and setting which breathe at the same time the age-old spirit. In it the old and the new converge and produce an effect which is at once refreshing and invigorating. While browsing through the work one does not have the feeling that one in coursing through old world of the Asrama of Vajasravasa with Naciketas off to Yama engaging him in the most intense of the discussion of life after death or the young Astavakra avenging the insult to his father by defeating Vandin in Janaka's court, one feels a new world opening up before one, the world of quacks operating as doctors, the quarrels picked up on unopened telegrams, the unsuccessful suicide attempts, the dowry problem being solved with undemanding grooms and officers being assiduously cultivated and so on. The X work is an excellent addition to the evergrowing Sanskrit literature and deserves wider notice and appreciation of discerning connoisseurs. REFERENCES 1. p. 58 2. ibid. 3. ibid. 4. p. 61 5. p. 69. 6. p. 73. 7. p. 86.

8. ibid. 9. p. 87. Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays).... 10. p. 91. 11. ibid 12. p. 97. 13. p. 92. 14. p. 60. 15. p. 66. 16. p. 92. 17. p. 94. 18. p. 6. 19 ibid. 20. ibid. 21. p. 14. 22. p. 2. 23. p. 8. 24. p. 57. 25. p. 89. 26. p. 81. 27. p. 94. 28. p. 66. 29. p. 58. 30. p. 76. 31. p. 2. 32. p. 3. 33. p. 5. 34. p.2. 35. p. 60. 36. pp. 14-15. 37. p. 14. .38. p. 53. 39. p. 55. 40. ibid. 41. p. 61. 42. p. 86. 43. p. 94. 44. ibid. 45. ibid. 46. p. 65. 47. p. 66. 77

. p. 65. 49. p. 6. 50. p. 69. 51. p.57. 52. p. 58. 53. p. 56. 54. p. 66. 55. p. 65. 56. p.6. 57. p.69. 58. p.57. 59. p. 88. 60. p. 18. 61. p.57. 62. p. 70. 63. p. 67. 64. p. 57. 65. p.65. 66. p.67. 67. p.99. 68. p.65. 69. p.4. 70. p.54. 71. p. 94. 72. p. 54. 73. p. 3. 74. p. 73. 75. p. 81. 76. p. 53. 77. p.63. 78. p. 66. 79. p. 69. 80. p. 96. 81. p. 93. 82. p. 98. 83. p. 102. 84. p. 87. 85. p. 103. 86. p.97. 87. p. 3.

88. ibid. 89. p. 70. Camatkarah (A Collection of Sanskrit Plays).... 90. p. 6. 91. p.9. 92. p.7. 93. p.8. 94. p.11. 95. p.53. 96. p.30. 97. p.25. 98. p. 5. 99. p. 11. 100. p.65. 101. p.102. 102. ibid. 103. p. 87. 104. p.1. 105. p. 66. 106. p. 61. 107. ibid. 100. p.66. 109. p.22. 110. p. 32. 111. p.34. 112. p. 54. 113. p.75. 114. ibid. 115. p. 80. 116. p. 83. 117. p. 85. 118. p.93. 119. p. 59. 120. p. 58. 121. p. 67. 122. p. 68. 123. p. 69. 124. p. 1. 125. p. 5. 126. p. 10. 127. Abhijnanasakuntala, I. 3. 79

. p. 15. 129. p. 20. 130. p. 23. 131. p. 27. 132. p. 15. 133. p. 71. 134. p. 99. 135. p. 82. 136. ibid. 137. p. 88. 138. pp. 94-95. 139. p. 53. 140. p. 54. 141. p. 59. 142. p. 72. 143. pp. 65, 71. 144. p. 73. 145. p. 66. 146. p. 67. 147. p. 20. 148. p. 53. 149. ibid. 150. ibid. 151. ibid. 152. ibid. 153. ibid. 154. p. 53. 155. ibid. 156. p. 32. 157. p. 14. 158. p. 45. 159. p. 64. 160. p. 79. 161. ibid. 162. p. 71. 163. p. 80. 164. Abhijnana, II after verse 11. 165. p. 93. 166. p. 7. 167. p. 84.