Pradyumna by Christopher R. Austin

Author:Christopher R. Austin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2019-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

The group begins to perform, and they steal the hearts of Asura spectators in Supura, a suburb outside of Vajrapura. The group performs a digest of the Rāmāyaṇa (rāmāyaṇaṃ mahākāvyam uddeśaṃ nāṭakīkṛta), including the scene of the birth of the four princes, and the Ṛśyaśṛṅga episode. The older demons, who had lived during Rāma’s reign (tatkālajīvinaḥ), declare that these actors look just like the originals! Vajranābha has already heard about this Bhadra and his amazing troupe from Śucimukhī; now the praise and excitement from Supura reach his ears and he formally invites the group into the city, where they are set up in lavish quarters. They now perform for the king himself in order to “carry out their duty of acting” (kāryārthaṃ . . . nṛtyārtham upacakramuḥ, 273; kāryārthaṃ naṭatāṃ gataḥ, 283). This involves much music and the performance of the theatrical form we saw descending to earth in 29D—the Devagāndhāra Chālikya, which is “amṛta for the hearing and brings pleasure to the mind and ears” (276–277).

Then at the end of the opening benediction (nāndī), Rukmiṇī’s son spoke perfectly a śloka appropriate for the Descent of the Gaṅgā, [reciting it] together with the right dramatic gestures and expressions (svabhinayānvitam). Then they performed the play called Rambhābhisāra by Kubera, with Śūra (Vasudeva) in the form of Rāvaṇa and Manovatī in the guise of Rambhā. Pradyumna was Nalakūbara and Sāmba his vidūṣaka. Mount Kailāsa was even magically (māyayā) depicted by those [men who are the] sons of the Yadus, as well as the curse delivered by the enraged Nalakūbara upon the evil Rāvaṇa, and the manner in which Rambhā was comforted. The heroes, the sons of the Yadus, enacted this drama (prakaraṇaṃ), the kīrti of the great-souled, all-knowing sage Nārada.20 Because of their [excellent] footwork (pādoddhāreṇa), acting (nṛtyena), and gestures and expressions (abhinayena), the hero Dānavas rewarded the Bhaimas of unlimited splendor. (284–295)

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