Significance
of the prologue in Abhijnanasakuntalam
The classical Sanskrit dramas
customarily commenced with ‘nandi’ (benedictory stanza) and followed by the
prologue wherein the stage manager or director (sutradhara) with his wife or
assistant introduces the actors and also informs the audience of the play. The
‘preliminaries’ (purva-ranga) consist of a series of religious ceremonies with
prayers and offerings of flowers to the deities, performed with specific
gestures and sequences of movements to the accompaniment of music. It serves a
dual purpose—framing drama in a religious setting and providing the audience
with some entertainment. The association with Siva provides the quality of
prayer to what is basically secular drama, as evidenced by the benediction.The
invocations in the plays and the epic are made to the unitive godhead, Siva-
Sakti: in Sakuntala and Malavikagnimitram to Siva’s eightfold form perceptible
to human consciousness are praised.
Since it is assumed that classical
Sanskrit drama was influenced by Greek drama, especially due to the annexation
of Alexander the great, Sanskrit drama adopted different features exiting in
the ancient Greek plays. The play Abhijnanasakuntalamopens with a
benediction to the gods and after the benediction the director and actress are
enter the stage. The director introduces the name of the play as Abhijnanasakuntalam
and asks to treat the audience with a song about the season summer. She
sings so well that the director is spellbound and forgets why he is on the
stage until she reminds the purpose of their appearance. The prologue ends with
the director mentioning about failing of memory and relates it to the hunting
Dushyanta. Further, the plays of Kalidsa were probably written under the
patronage of King Vikramaditya and performed during social ceremonies and
festivals before an audience consisting of learned royal personages and
courtiers. As a consequence of which Kalidasa takes the opportunity of the play
to praise an august audience through the prologue: “we have here before us, an
august audience that is highly educated and most discerning.”
The director speaks of something to
delight the audience’s ears. That the actress immediately proposes to sing about
one of the seasons is striking. The director then increases the perplexity of
the situation by proposing the current season, summer, and emphasizing on the
factors which make the current season enjoyable: “for at the moment- Days draw
to a close in quiet beauty; plunging in cool waters is delightful; sleep drops
softly in thick-shaded haunts; woodland breezes blow fresh and fragrant having
consorted with Patali flowers.” The season versus moment interplay suggests the
relationship between ornament and form. When the actress sings about a season,
she insists on the momentary occurrences, when the Sirisa
blossoms are swayed lightly by the sweet breeze and kissed by the murmuring
haunt of bees. The play between season, moment, and delight, raises the
further question as to why the song of the season would cause the director to
momentarily forget his greater project. The moment of this summer season
actually connects the prologue to the play as Dushyanta appears chasing an
antelope in the summer noon.
Thusthe prologue in Abhijnanasakuntalam isso
integrated into the play, that one may call it the first of eight acts, rather
than only a mere prelude.
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