उत्तररामचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी व्याख्या)

x INTRODUCTION
(3) He is unrivalled in the treatment of tender human
feelings.²⁹ He is very happy in his description of child life.³⁰
The Uttararamacharita contains many verses that reach the
high water mark of tenderness and pathos.³¹
(4) Bhavabhuti had a great command over language
and was a master of style and expression. He often
composes verses where the sound is an echo to the sense.³²
(5) In his descriptions of Nature and human feelings,
Bhavabhuti is entirely free from conventions. The attitude
of other Sanskrit poets (not excluding even Kalidasa) is
generally conventional. They concern themselves chiefly
with the cooing of the cuckoo, the mango blossom, the ex-
citing influence of moonlight, the Asoka and Bakula trees
&c. But Bhavabhuti hardly refers to the note of the cuckoo
and the other conventions of Sanskrit poets. He treats us
with descriptions of the awful forests, the mellow peaks of
mountains, the panoramic views from the tops of mountains,
the wild onrush of cascades down the slopes of hills. These
and a hundred other particulars of natural scenery which he
had himself seen, he is never tired of describing.
We shall now turn to some of the shortcomings of
Bhavabhuti's works.
(1) He is inferior in the skilful development of the
plot and in the arrangement of incidents (except in the
Uttararamacharita). In two of his dramas he was handicap-
ped, it must be admitted by his choice of a plot from the
national epic. But even in the Malatimadhava he has
introduced scenes that do not fit in with the harmonious
development of the plot.
(2) He throws the unities of time and place to the
winds and betrays a want of the sense of proportion. In
the Uttararamacharita, between the first and second Acts an
interval of about twelve years elapses, while the remaining
Acts follow in quick succession.
29 Mark the verdict of Sanskrit critics 'कारुण्यं भवभूतिरेव
तनुते'
30 Mark the verse अनिभिन्न० Act IV. 4
31 e. g. उत्तर० III. 25, 26, 27, 38, I. 43, 46, 49
32 Note Uttararamacharita I. 40, IV. 29, V. 26
33 Vide Dr. Bhandarkar's preface to the Malatimadhava