Description

About the Book

The Uttararamacharita occupies a very high place in Sanskrit dramatic literature, and it is accepted by common consent as a masterpiece of the author. It deals with the history of Rama’s later life, beginning with his coronation, the abandonment of Sita, and their final reunion. Bhavabhuti says he has only given a dramatic form to the Ramayana-katha of Valmiki. It is true that the main characters and events in this play are drawn from the Ramayana, but the changes in characters and happenings Bhavabhuti has made, including the happy end, cannot all be ascribed to the demands of the dramatic form. Bhavabhuti’s Uttararamacarita is essentially a drama of pathos, and his indirect boast that the one sentiment of pathos is depicted by him in many colours and varied phases is not at all unmerited.

About the Author

Bhavabhuti, an emient dramatist, was born in a Brahmin family and patronised by Yashovarman, a king of Kannauj (725-752 A.D.). He was an unusually self-aware artist and his plays are full of echoes of one another, and it seems certain that sometimes these are intended to awaken echoes in his audience’s mind.