स्वप्नवासवदत्तम् (महाकवि भास - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी अनुवाद)

INTRODUCTION. xxi
Bhâsa as the following sloka of Râjasekhara in Sûktimuktâvali shows:—
“भासनाटकचक्रेऽपिच्छेकैः क्षिप्ते परीक्षितुम् ।
स्वप्नवासवदत्तस्य दाहकोऽभून्न पावकः ॥”
This great poet it is who is enshrined in the passage in the Prastâvana
of Mâlavikâgnimitra by Kâlidâsa, “प्रथितयशसां भाससौमिल्लकविपुत्रादीनां प्रब-
न्धानतिक्रम्य” and in the following sloka by Bhatta Bana in Harshacharita,
“सूत्रधारकृतारम्भैर्नाटकैर्बहुभूमिकैः ।
सपताकैर्यशो लेभे भासो देवकुलैरिव ॥”
These Nâtakas are thus seen to be the work of Bhâsa as the epithet
“सूत्रधारकृतारम्भैः” by which Bhatta Bâna in the above sloka qualifies
Bhâsa's Nâtakas applies to these plays, for every one of them begins
with the stage direction, “नान्द्यन्ते ततः प्रविशति सूत्रधारः”
As the manuscript of Svapnavâsavadatta, the best known of the
[Other manuscript copies discovered.] series, was moth-eaten in several places and the
manuscripts of Chârudatta and Karnabhâra were in-
complete, I tried to obtain complete manuscripts of
these plays, with a view to edit and publish them. With this end in
view, I addressed several sanskrit Scholars, European as well as Indian
Many of them replied to say that even these manuscripts, however incom-
plete, of Bhâsa's Nâtakas which had long been regarded as lost, were in
themselves a very great acquisition; but fortunately, I was able to ob-
tain a complete, though not correct, manuscript of each of the two plays
Svapna and Pratijnâyaugandharâyana. This was from my esteemed
friend, Pandit A. Anantacharya of Mysore who was kind enough
to send me a copy of his copy of the manuscript he had ob-
tained from Kerala. At the end of this manuscript copy of Svapna-
nâtaka is written, “स्वप्नवासवदत्ता समाप्ता”. This agrees with what we
supposed to be the full name of Svapnanâtaka. At the end of the
manuscript of Pratijnanâtaka is written the full name, Pratijnâyau-
gandharâyana. After this, during another tour, I obtained at Hari-
pad, a manuscript of Avimâraka from Mr. Subrahmunia Mûttatu of
Puttiyal. With the help of these manuscripts, three plays have