In Kalidasa the dramatic art attained its highest point of perfection. From this accomplished poet we have three well-constructed plays, abounding in stanzas of exquisite tender ness and fine descriptive passages: the two well-known mytho pastoral dramas, gakuntalci in seven and Vikramorvaii in five acts, and a piece of court intrigue, distinctly inferior to the other two, entitled Malavikagnimitra in five acts. The plot of the last named is as follows : King Agnimitra, who has two wives, falls in love with Malavika, maid to the first queen. His wives en deavour to frustrate their affection for each other, but in the end Malavika, turns out to be a princess by birth, and is accepted by the queens as their sister.
ri-Harshadeva--identical with the king (iladitya) Harshavardhana of Kanyakubja (Kanauj) mentioned above, who ruled in the first half of the 7th century—has three plays attributed to him ; they are probably only dedicated to him by poets patronized by him. This at least commentators state to have been the case as regards the Ratniivali, the authorship of which they assign to Bana. Indeed, had they been the king's own productions, one might have expected the Chinese pilgrims (espe cially I-tsing, who saw one of the plays performed) to mention the fact. The Ratnavali, "the pearl necklace," is a graceful comedy of domestic manners, with well-drawn characters. Rat navali, a Ceylon princess, is sent by her father to the court of King Udayana of Vatsa to become his second wife. She suffers shipwreck, but is rescued and received into Udayana's palace under the name of Sagarika, as one of Queen Vasavadatta's at tendants. The king falls in love with her, and the queen tries to keep them apart, but, on learning the maiden's origin, she be comes reconciled, and recognizes her as a "sister." Very similar in construction, but inferior, is the Priyadariika, in four acts, having for its plot another amour of the same king. The scene of the third play, the Ndgananda, or "joy, of the serpents" (in five acts), on the other hand, is laid in semi-divine regions. In spite of its shortcomings of construction the Ndgananda is a play of considerable merit, the characters being drawn with a sure hand, and the humour is by no means despicable.
a Brahman of Vidarbha, passed his literary life chiefly at the court of Yagovarman of Kanauj (c. A.D. 700).
Bhavabhuti was the author of three plays, two of which, the Mahaviraaarita ("life of the great hero") and the U ttara riimacharita with very little action ("later life of Rama"), in seven acts each, form together a dramatized version of the story of the Riimayana. The third, the Miilatimeidhava, is a domestic drama in ten acts, representing the fortunes of Madhava and Malati, the son and daughter of two ministers of neighbouring kings, who from childhood have been destined for each other, but, by the resolution of the maiden's royal master to marry her to an old and ugly favourite of his, are for a while threatened with permanent separation. The action of the play is full of life, and abounds in stirring, though sometimes improbable, incidents. The poet is considered by native critics to be not only not inferior to Kalidasa, but even to have surpassed him in his U ttararama charita.
Bhatta Narayana, the author of the V enisamhara ("the binding up of the braid of hair," based on an incident in the Mahabharata), is known to have been alive in A.D. 84o. The piece is composed in a style similar to that of Bhava bhfiti's plays, but is inferior to them in dramatic construction and poetic merit, though valued by critics for its strict adherence to the rules of the dramatic theory, and popular in India, owing to its partiality for the cult of Krishna. The Hanuman-niitaka is a dramatized version of the story of Rama, interspersed with nu merous purely descriptive poetic passages. Contrary to the gen eral practice, Sanskrit alone is employed in it. The play is attrib uted to Damodara Mira (lath cent.), but gives the impression of being the production of different hands. Bhasa is traditionally one of the great dramatists of India, a predecessor of Kalidasa, but nothing of his has survived.
The Mudreireikshasa, or "Rakshasa (the minister) with the signet," is unique in being a drama of political intrigue, partly based on historical events, the plot turning on the reconciliation of Rakshasa, the minister of the murdered king Nanda, with the hostile party, consisting of Prince Chandragupta (the Greek Sandrocottus, 315-291 B.c.), who succeeded Nanda, and his minister Chanakya. The plot is developed with considerable dramatic skill, in vigorous, if not particularly elegant, language. The play was composed by Vigakhadatta, not much later than A.D. 86o.