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

Introduction [lxxxii]
It is clear that a poet who could fathom so deeply the inmost recesses
of the human heart and produce a result which, from beginning to end, is
so perfectly artistic because it is so perfectly natural, was a dramatist of no
mean order. Similar genuinely human touches are found on almost every
page of the drama.
42. Recognition-scene in the sixth act of the Uttara-Rāma-charita.—
So far the poet has given us a brilliant opening and a real psychological
climax, but the climax of situations is yet to come. In the latter part of the
play the great act of course is the sixth, and the poet has been preparing us
for it ever since the interlude to act ii. There we hear of the horse-sacrifice
for the first time; Rāma confirms the news in iii. 46¹², and towards the end
of act iv we actually see the horse. Similarly at the end of act iii Rāma is
just starting in his pushpaka car to return to Ayodhyā, and we naturally
expect him to see what was happening in Vālmīki's penance-grove on the
banks of the Ganges, seeing that it lay just on the way from the south.
Thus Rāma's appearance on the scene exactly when he does appear (vi. 6⁴)
is adequately explained. Finally, that Lava should see and capture the
horse and that a battle should ensue was also quite inevitable.
The recognition itself is very artistically conceived and carried out
except that here and there a point is rather over-laboured¹—at least so it
seems to us, however it may have seemed to Bhavabhūti's audience. The
various steps in the process are summarized in our Notes to vi. 27¹,
and here we may call attention particularly to the very natural way in
which Lava is led to talk of his twin-brother (iv. 22¹⁵⁻⁴¹ and again vi. 15⁴ff.).
Notice also how, in regard to the similarity of looks between the father and
the sons, which is one of the links in the argument, the poet has tried to
gain dramatic probability for the fact by letting at least three other persons
besides Rāma himself be impressed by it. The whole recognition scene is
worthy to be put on a par with the analogous scene in Kālidāsa's Śākuntala
(act vii); in some respects it would seem that Bhavabhūti has made a
distinct advance over the latter. A sort of suspense is also created by
making the recognition not complete until the very end of the last act.
**43. Other merits of the Uttara-Rāma-charita.—**If we compare the
interludes in the Uttara-Rāma-charita with those in the Mahāvīra-charita
or in the Mālatī-Mādhava, we notice another great advance which the
poet has made: he has now recognized the full dramatic value of the
interlude. We have no longer some person or persons brought on the stage
expressly to give us information (cp. interludes to M. M. ii and vii), nor
¹ I have in mind Rāma's long soliloquy in movement against soliloquies is, however,
act vi, particularly vi. 27¹-vi. 28⁴. The distinctly modern.