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Bhavabhūti (Devanagari: भवभूति) was an 8th-century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered the equal of the works of Kalidasa. He is known as "Poet of Karun Rasa" for his work named as Uttararamacarita.

Bhavabhuti was born in Padmapura, tah. Aamgaon, at Gondia district,in Maharashtra. He was born in a Deshastha Brahmin family of scholars.^[1]^[2] He is described as a scion of the Yāyāvara family, bearing the surname Udumbara. His Kāśyapa brahmin ancestors adhered to the Black Yajurveda and kept the five sacred fire.^[3]

His real name was Srikantha Nilakantha, and he was the son of Nilakantha and Jatukarni. He received his education at 'Padmapawaya', a place some 42 km South-West of Gwalior. Dayananidhi Paramahansa is known to be his guru. He composed his historical plays at 'Kalpi', a place on banks of river Yamuna.

He is believed to have been the court poet of king Yashovarman of Kannauj. Kalhana, the 12th-century historian, places him in the entourage of the king, who was defeated by Lalitaditya Muktapida, king of Kashmir, in 736 AD.

Malatimadhava

The play is set in the city of Padmavati. The king desires that his minister's daughter Malati marry a youth called Nandana. Malati is in love with Madhava ever since she saw him and drew his portrait. Madhava reciprocates, and draws a portrait of her in turn. Malati suspects her father's motives in falling in with the King's plans for her. A side plot involves the lovers' friends Makaranda and Madayantika. The latter is attacked by a tiger, and Makaranda rescues her, getting wounded in the process. After numerous travails, all ends well, with the two couples uniting. According to the renowned Sanskritist Daniel H.H. Ingalls, the Malatimadhava is a work that combines love and horror with a felicity never again equaled in Sanskrit literature.^[4]

Indebtedness to Kautilya and Arthashastra

According to Dasharatha Sharma, the dramatists Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti utilized the Arthashastra of Kautilya while composing their famous works. Kalidasa is indebted to Kautilya's Arthashastra for material in the Raghuvamsa.^[5] Similarly, Bhavabhuti utilizes words and ideas from the Arthashastra in the Malatimadhava and the Mahaviracharita. There is indeed a striking resemblance between the methods advocated by Ravana's minister, Malayavana and the policies suggested by Kautilya in the Arthashastra.^[6]

Bhavabhuti's Native place

On the basis of Bhavbhuti's literature, it is said that he was born at Padmapura Village in Amgaon Tahsil of Gondia District of Maharashtra.

In this present era, local people around Padampura are trying to keep memories of Bhavbhuti's ancient existence alive with them. Late shri Laxmanrao Mankar Guruji named his education society as "Bhavbhuti Education Society" in 1950. Yashodabai Rahile founded "Bhavbhuti Mandal" (community) in 1996.

Historian & Principal Mr O. C. Patle has published a book "Bhavbhuti ab geeton mein" (Bhavbhuti, now in his songs), he also has published some audio CDs and cassettes to keep the legend's memories alive.

"Bhavbhuti Rang Mandir" has also been constructed at Gondia City in the Honour of Poet Bhavbhuti .

State's local TV channel, Sahyadri and E TV Marathi telecasts some documentaries on the life of this great poet. People and some non-profit groups have erected a few statues in the region where the poet was there once .

Literary works

Mahaviracharita (The story of the highly courageous one), depicting the early life of Rama
Malatimadhava, a play based on the romance of Malati and Madhava
Uttararamacarita (The story of Rama's later life), depicts Rama's coronation, the abandonment of Sita, and their reunion

References

^ Pandey 2007, p. 19.
^ Kosambi, D.D. Combined Methods in Indology (PDF). p. 192.
^ Bhavabhūti's Mālatīmādhava: With the Commentary of Jagaddhara (in Sanskrit). Motilal Banarsidass Publ. 1997. ISBN 978-81-208-1306-9.
^ Vidyakara; Daniel H.H. Ingalls, An Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry, Harvard Oriental Series Volume 44, p. 75
^ Indian Historical Quarterly Vol XXV, part 2
^ 'Bhavabhuti's Indebtedness to Kautilya' Journal of the Ganganath Jha Research Institute Vol VIII, part 3, May 1951

Pandey, Ravi Narayan (2007), Encyclopaedia of Indian literature, vol. 1, Anmol Publications, ISBN 978-81-261-3118-1

External links

Malati and Madhava, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson
The Uttara Rama Charita of Bhavabhuti. With Sanskrit commentary by Pandit Bhatji Shastri Ghate of Nagpur and a close English translation by Vinayak Sadashiv Patvardhan. The Nyaya Sudha Press, Nagpur 1895 [1]
Rama's later history or Uttara-Ram-Charita of Bhavabhuti. Critically edited with notes and an English transltation by Shripad Krishna Belvalkar. Harvard University Press 1915 [2]