Bhasa as a Prakrit Poet

Summary

In 'Bhāsa as a Prakrit Poet', the author explores an elegant stanza cited in the Sanskrit poetics treatise Kavya-prakasa. The stanza expresses the idea that the poetic imagination reveals a realm richer than mundane reality and that the goddess Sarasvati prefers to dwell in the ‘face-lotus’ of poets rather than the ordinary lotus seat of Brahma. While the Kavya-prakasa does not attribute the stanza, the author discovers, in a manuscript copy of Sayanacarya’s commentary Alankara-sudhanidhi, that the verse is credited to Bhāsa, the celebrated Sanskrit dramatist. The article translates the stanza into Sanskrit and Prakrit and analyses its imagery. It argues that the meter and style are consistent with Prakrit poetry of Bhāsa’s era and suggests that Bhāsa composed independent Prakrit verses in addition to his plays. The author reflects on Bhāsa’s renown for Sanskrit dramas like Svapnavasavadatta and Pratijna Yaugandharayana, noting that his command of Prakrit is evident in the dialogues of his plays. The discovery of this standalone verse indicates that Bhāsa’s literary repertoire may have been broader than previously known. The article concludes by urging scholars to search for more Prakrit verses attributed to classical Sanskrit authors to better understand the multilingual milieu of ancient Indian literature.