रत्नावली नाटिका (सम्राट हर्षवर्धन - शास्त्रीय नाटिका रत्न सम्पूर्ण ४ अङ्क सान्वय सटीक)

302 रत्नावली
for without this Vásavadattá could not have known definitely
the attitude of the King towards the heroine, though she had
got indirect proof of it. The King mistook real Vásavadattá
for Ságariká, as the former came to the secret place of appoint-
ment being informed by Kánchanamálá about the plot of the
Vidushaka and Susangatá. When Vásavadattá approached
the King, he addressed her by the name Ságariká at which she
flew into anger at the insincerity of the King and went away.
But in the mean time real Ságariká, in the guise of Vásava-
dattá trying to commit suicide out of self-reproach due to her
secret love being known to others, was found by the Vidu-
shaká and brought to the King with the impression that real
Vásavadattá was committing suicide out of mortification. The
King came to know her to be Sagarika in the dress of the
Queen (for whom he was waiting there), only when she said—
मुंच मुंच मं भद्दा, पराहीणी क्खु अअं जणो etc. When the King was
busily engaged in expressing his love for Ságariká, Vásavadattá
returned there simply with the view of pacifying the King who
had been rather cruelly treated by her and found him there in
a compromising position with Ságariká: and then she ordered
the Vidushaka and Ságariká to be taken as captives. Thus
the disguise episode borders almost on a 'Tragedy of errors',
which happily for all ends in a comedy. The ingenious
manipulation of this episode of disguise has enhan-
ced the excellence of the main plot which terminates in Act
IV with the union of the hero and the heroine, which ulti-
mately appears to be congenial to all including even the
rival Queen Vásavadattá. If this episode had not been in-
troduced, the love between the King and the heroine would
have remained secret and the wished-for union would have
been done haphazardly. Thus the episode of disguise has
contributed largely towards the development of the main plot