Divergent Voices of Bhāsa: On Vaiṣṇavism and its Principles in the Thirteen Dramas

Abstract

Dramas of Bhāsa marks a special genre in the history of world theatre with their antiquity and narrative style.  Identity of the great dramatist is still in vague like many other ancient poets in Sanskrit. The philosophical stance Bhāsa presents before us need special attention in studying the development of ancient philosophical systems and religion. Vaiṣṇavism presented in the dramas of Bhāsa has become the source for reconstructing the history of Vaiṣṇavism.  One can notice two different categories of dramas- one which contains Vaiṣṇava content, and another extols unimportant or villain characters of the Epics such as Duryodhana, Karṇa etc.  This paper seeks it attention in answering the problems regarding the philosophical perspective of dramatist when all the thirteen dramas are concerned.