Essay name: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
Author: A. D. Pusalker
This book studies Bhasa, the author of thirteen plays ascribed found in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. These works largely adhere to the rules of traditional Indian theatrics known as Natya-Shastra.
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him to be a well-read man. According to V膩tsy膩yana,
marriage with prostitutes was valid for one year only."
Theft and robbery were ancient evils being found
mentioned even in the Rgveda. As compared with other
ancient nations, thefts were rather scarce, uncommon, and
few and far between in India. The epics also tell about
the absence of theft. We have already referred to
the highwaymen and robbers in the Buddhist age.
Megasthenes has complimented the Indians on account of
very rare occurrence of thefts. It was a matter of great
wonder to the Greek ambassador that in the vast army of
Candragupta consisting of four lacs of persons there were
practically no thefts; and those that occurred pertained
not to valuables but to small articles not exceeding two
hundred drachmas in value.鲁
The particulars supplied about a thief in the
Mrcchakatika which, though belonging to a later age, no
doubt incorporates ancient traditions, lead us to infer that
in olden times thievery was practised as an art. Skanda
or Kum膩ra K膩rtikeya was the patron deity of thieves and
hence they were also called Skandaputras. Skanda,
though the godfather of thieves, was worshipped for the
recovery of stolen property. There were other deities
such as Kanaka艣akti, Bhaskaranandin and Yog膩c膩rya
(who is said to have been taught by Skanda) whose
blessings a thief invoked before proceeding to his work.
There were different treatises, schools and teachers of the
subject. Kanaka艣akti is said to have mentioned four
different ways of making holes in walls according as the
material used was baked bricks, unbaked bricks, mud
or wood; various shapes of holes were prescribed as suited
the particular occasion. The student, it appears, passed
through some period of apprenticeship after receiving full
instructions from his teacher. The teacher presented his
favourite pupils with specially useful articles such as a
magical ointment (yogarocana) capable of rendering
invisible and invincible the person applying it. The thief
proceeded on his mission with all the equipments and
paraphernalia of his trade including housebreaking
implements, a measuring tape (in the absence of which the
1 Ohakladar, Social Life, p. 203. 2 Indika, pp. 31-32; Vaidya, Epic
India, p. 143. 3 Mrcchakatika, Act III.
