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.
Page 137 of: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
137 (of 564)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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117
plays; but his suggestion that the anthologists ascribed
verses to Bh膩sa as they felt the spirit of his poetry
in them seems to be far-fetched.' Dr. Thomas, as
already stated, considers four stanzas (viz. Nos. 1, 6, 10
and 12 in our list) as coming from Bh膩sa; he further finds
that four stanzas in the collection are "of a tenor which
would not admit of a place in any of the Trivandrum
plays". We have expressed our views on the point.
We cannot close our investigation without quoting
in extenso from the critical appreciation of these stanzas,
admirably expressed by Dr. Sarup: "These stanzas display
keen observation, vivid imagination, great power of
description, a remarkable intellectual quality and a
refreshing originality. Their substance and their style,
their matter and their manner, stamp them with a rare
mark of beauty. These lyrics are the impassioned
expressions of the poet's inmost soul. They breathe the
genuine accents of poetry. They are chiselled pieces of
marble. They are exquisite little pictures".*
1 Festgabe Jacobi, pp. 114-125, at p. 125.
"It is of course, 'commonsense
to assume", with Dr. Keith, "that the ascriptions are correct". (HSL, Preface,
p. xvi).
2 JRAS, 1928, p. 883. 3 HR, 50, p. 117.
