Review: Bhoja and Haravijaya of Sarvasena by Dr. V. M. Kulkarni
By Narayan M. Kansara
Summary
This review examines Dr. V. M. Kulkarni’s study of two literary works: the Sanskrit drama ‘Bhoja’, comprising ten acts, and the lost epic ‘Haravijaya’ attributed to Sarvasena. Kulkarni reconstructs the drama’s plot, noting its traditional structure with a Nandi, exposition and Bharata‑vakya conclusion, and observes that it avoids using Prakrit, making it a rare purely Sanskrit playfile:///home/oai/share/520768%20(18)%201-170_compressed.pdf#:~:text=THE%20DATE%20OF%20THE%20DEVENDRASTAVA,Prakirnaka%20works%20of%20the%20Jaina. He analyses characters and dramatic conventions and situates the play within classical Sanskrit dramaturgy. Kulkarni then collects and translates fragments of the Haravijaya preserved in later texts, providing commentary on their poetic devices and reconstructing the epic’s narrative about Śiva’s victory over demons. Kansara appreciates the painstaking collation of sources and argues that the monograph revives interest in these neglected works.
Conclusion
Kansara concludes that Kulkarni’s monograph offers valuable insights into the diversity of Sanskrit literature. By reconstructing both a drama and a lost epic from fragmentary evidence, the study highlights the fragility of textual transmission and the importance of preserving citations from lost works.