मुद्राराक्षसम् (सटीक संस्कृत नाटक)

Mudrarakshasa (मुद्राराक्षसम्), "Rakshasa's Signet Ring", is Vishakhadatta's seven-act political drama, unusual in Sanskrit theatre for having statecraft rather than romance at its centre. After the fall of the Nandas, Chanakya sets out to win over Rakshasa, the loyal Nanda minister, as minister to Chandragupta Maurya. The plot turns on the capture of Rakshasa's seal, a staged quarrel between Chanakya and Chandragupta, a forged letter, and the breach between Rakshasa and his ally Malayaketu.

This edition carries a simple Sanskrit commentary, Hindi translation and notes by Tarinish Jha, Vyakarana-Vedantacharya, with a full introduction by Dr. Surendradev Shastri, head of Sanskrit at Town Degree College, Ballia. It was published by Ramnarayanlal Beniprasad, Allahabad; this copy is the third edition of 1983.

The introduction explains the kinds of poetry, the definition of a nataka, types of plot, and the origin and growth of Sanskrit drama, which makes the book well suited to students. It runs to about 488 pages.