Who is the knower ?------'MRICHAKATIKAM'.

[Guest guest]

Respected Subbu-ji!

 

As our beloved member Mani is 'out' touring  south india and he is not

here personally to witness (sakshi)the Drama and the melodrama that is

going on in this group, on this thread,  at this prsent time , may i

step in with Nair-ji kind permission.  to relate to this august

audience the story of *Mrichakatikam*?

 

Subbuji writes:

 

>(I would beg the learned members here to say something about the

Mrichchakatikam. I just understand the meaning of the word: it is a

compound word consisting of two words: mRit and shakatikaa.  Mud

(earthen) and cart.

 

<<snip>>>>snip<<<

Maybe Madam Dhyanasaraswati or Sri Sundarji will provide us a link to

> a treat of that literary work.  )

 

Subbuji, you are pretty close - Mricchakatika can be translated to

mean "The Toy Clay Cart." This play was written by King Sudraka

between  between the 4th and 5th Century. It is tale of love and

romance between a poor brahmin  Charudutta and a courtesan named

Vasantasena .

 

The main character of the play is a Brahmin named 'Charudutta' and

Charudutta's son ROHASENA  used to play with this toy clay cart. Being

poor, the child had no other toys to play with.

 

Interestingly , Charudutta was once a very wealthy bussinessman who

fell into bad times. But Charudutta was known for all sattwic

qualities and was respected by one and all in the society - the

society we are talking about is the Kingdom of Ujjaini which was known

for corruption in those days. The king himself was a weak ruler and

his ovebearing brother was literally the real ruler !

 

The heroine of the play is   Vasantasena, the Dancing girl ( euphemism

for a prostitute)who falls in love with Charudutta , the poor brahmin.

Charudatta respects Vasantasen as a 'person' regardless of her

profession and this is the quality of 'sattwa' guna which Vasantsena

finds most endearing.  

 

The brother -in-law of the king Samasthank lusts after the beautiful

Vasantasena and attempts to kill her. Charudutta is wrongly accused of

murder and sentenced to die . But , a robber turner buddhist monk,

Aryak, comes to Charudutta's rescue and saves him . Aryak was a robber

who once robbed Vasantasena's jewels but Vsaantasena forgives him and

the robber becomes a bhikku.

 

Finally, there is a rebellion and the King is overthrown and peace

prevails .

 

It is all about political  Intrigues, corruption, love , romance in 

Ujjaini, the India of those days . Is it any different now, subbuji?

 

on another note , the very word 'Mrichakatikam' has a lot of

significance ! This toy cart is made of 'mud' and the poor brahmin's

boy who was used to playing with all kinds of expensive toys has to

now settle down for this mud toy cart !

 

Life is a journey - what difference does it make whether we are

travelling in a Bullock cart or a jet plane ? AS LONG AS THE

CHARIOTERR Sri KRISHNA BHAGWAN (PARTHASARATHY) , THE ROAD AHEAD IS

SMOOTH AND KINKY! 

 

if you want to read the entire story , pl go to

 

http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/HTML.php?recordID=0571 - 530k

 

orhttp://www.oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/HTML.php?recordID=0571

 

Subbuji,, this story has been filmed as a movie by none other than

Girish Karnad, the famous actor-director from Karnataka! it is

called 'utsav' -the film version does not have the ppurity and beauty

of the original play , i am told

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "dhyanasaraswati"

<dhyanasaraswati> wrote:

>

> Respected Subbu-ji!

>

>

Respected Madam and Sri Sundar ji,

 

I thank you for the links and the narrative. I read the outline of the

plot on the link provided.  

 

Pranams,

subbu