महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

pictures, and then dismissed them as quickly as they appeared. The result
would have been a panoramic procession and not a play with a unified
plot.
It is likely that the earliest dramatizations of the Rāma-story were
of this kind. The first step in the evolution of these 'epic plays' or
'chronicle plays', as we might call them, was perhaps the division of the
story as a whole into minor episodes of inherent dramatic unity, and the
employment of one of these units as the material for a play. This step
may well have been taken by Bhāsa, who comes at least a century or two
before Kālidāsa. Two of Bhāsa's plays—'The Coronation of Rāma' or
Abhisheka-nāṭaka and 'The Image' or Pratimā—are based upon books iv-vi
of the Rāmāyaṇa. We should expect a third Rāma-play by Bhāsa covering
books i-iii, if not also a fourth covering book vii. At any rate Bhāsa
treated the Mahā-Bhārata story in this fashion, dividing it into a number
of separate episodes, each forming the subject of a single play.
In most of these earlier plays, however, there was presumably no
attempt made to show that the incidents were inevitable. They followed
in a definite sequence, because the epic narrated them in that sequence.
28. Bhavabhūti's departure from the Rāmāyaṇa.—Now consider what
Bhavabhūti does in order to bring about the desired unity of plot and
adequate motivation. When Janaka proclaims his daughter Sītā's svayaṁ-
vara, then Rāvaṇa, king of the demons, offers himself as a candidate for
her hand. He does not indeed come personally, as suitors were expected to
do: he is too proud for that. He sends a messenger who was to ask
or rather demand Sītā in marriage. His suit is not only refused, but, even
in the presence of his messenger, the girl is betrothed to Rāma—a mere
mortal. This was an insult to Rāvaṇa's valour and prowess, and he is
further incensed and mortified to learn that Rāma had killed Tāṭakā and
Subāhu, and a number of other demons. Rāvaṇa is naturally burning for
revenge (act i).
However, Mālyavant, Rāvaṇa's trusted minister and adviser, tries to
pacify him, and promises to secure his ends by gentler means: by diplomacy.
The minister accordingly meets Paraśurāma and instigates him against
Rāma (act ii, interlude). Unexpectedly, Paraśurāma is himself vanquished
(act iii). This was a great blow to Mālyavant's scheme; the old diplomat
does not, however, despair. He sends Rāvaṇa's sister, Śūrpaṇakhā, with
instructions that she was to assume the form of the nurse Mantharā and,
before Rāma returned to Ayodhyā from his marriage, give him the
message (as if coming from his step-mother Kaikeyī) to withdraw into
exile for fourteen years. By this plan Mālyavant hoped to draw Rāma