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

Introduction [lxvi
Mālyavant, whose misfortune it is to know the better and follow the
worse; and finally with Rāvaṇa, whose great qualities of mind and of
body (and they are great) are rendered futile by the adulterous passion
that dominates and ruins him. In fact, it would not be incorrect to say
that the whole play is a struggle between a noble, sincere, straightforward
policy and a crooked, underhand, unscrupulous diplomacy, ending in an
utter discomfiture of the latter.
30. Merits of the Mahāvīra-charita.—In addition to a unified plot
the play affords us some attempts at genuine characterization. The poet
has taken great pains to make Rāma an ideal of chivalry. He has no
malice against his enemies (i. 31, i. 32¹), generously recognizes their valour
(ii. 35, 36, and passim), and is considerate in his treatment of them after
their defeat (iv. 21, v. 56). At the same time he is fully confident of his
prowess (ii. 33²), and scorns to receive from his enemies any sympathy
or advantage that goes beyond the strict code of chivalry (ii. 46¹, v. 50).
He is generous and devoted to those whom he has once called his friends
(v. 58¹⁷, v. 60), and has a supreme sense of his duty as a pupil (i. 38), as
a son (iv. 42), and as a king (iv. 39). We have already spoken of the
types of character¹ that are contrasted with his. It is necessary, however,
to add that, although Bhavabhūti is conscious of the original divine nature
of Rāma (vii. 2), he has tried to show him (except in one or two places) as
entirely human and normal. The divine does not intrude itself too
prominently and so dull our sympathies, as it does in some of the successors
of our poet. The play contains some splendid poetry, and, especially in
acts iii and iv, some spirited dialogue.
31. Defects of the Mahāvīra-charita.—The main drawback of the play
is the circumstance that its characterization, however clever in some places,
is generally stiff and unconvincing; there is no such thing as character-
development, unless we choose to call the change of mood in Paraśurāma
a development. Thus, from start to finish, Rāma is always the ideal hero,
the Mahā-vīra; what we have is a revelation of the different phases of his
character, or more correctly speaking, the same phase of his character—
bravery, nobility, truthfulness, and what not—revealed under different
circumstances and in relation to different persons. So also with Sītā. We
do not find in her that fine shading of character and blending of opposing
motives, that delicate growth of passion and affection that Bhavabhūti
portrays, for instance, in the heroine of the Mālatī-Mādhava. The same
may be said of the minister Mālyavant (see also § 36), who in this respect
¹ We may also mention the attempt to differentiate the characters (acts iii and iv) of Janaka and Daśaratha, and of Śatānanda and Viśvāmitra and Vasiṣṭha.