अभिज्ञानशकुन्तला नाटकस्य पञ्च रङ्गावृत्तयः - Abhijnana Shakuntala Natakasya Pancha Ragavrittaya

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Preface The work that you have in your hands, dear reader, is an outcome of monumental endeavour combined with an extra-ordinary scholarship and has been produced after a constant labour of many years executed with great perseverance and patience. The author had to wade through the text of many thousand pages (i.e. folia) of hundreds of Manuscripts of this immortal work of Kalidasa available in more than a dozen scripts to come to the conclusions which he has assiduously and carefully put together in this work which now logically and convincingly narrates the long and eventful journey of the present text through many regions of India - from top (Kashmir) to bottom (Kerala) and back to its heartland. One may agree, or occasionally even disagree with the views and the statements of the author or the conclusions drawn by him, however cannot help but wonder the tremendous labour that he has invested in interpreting with sharp logic each Act, each scene, each situation, each dialogue, each sentence and even each word and each expression of each version!

As mentioned, there are almost innumerable number of Mrs. of Shakuntala scattered all over India in private and institutional collections, and some good ones are also preserved in the libraries of - the West. Scanning a large number of these MSs of all varieties, all genres and of all scripts, the author comes to the conclusion that the significant text varieties that we have today are most probably outcomes of two main recessions, the Kashmirian or the Sharada recession and the other Non-Sharada or some of Mid-Indian recession, a combination and contamination of the two, with reductions and new additions (i.e. interpolations) give rise to five clear-cut and almost independent versions of the text: the Kashmirian, the Maithili, the Bengali, the South-Indian and the most widely circulated - although perhaps standing at the farthest one from the original -the Devanagari version. Examining bit for bit the readings of these many texts, he springs a great surprise to us - which may even well be a shock to most of the lovers of this unique dramatic work, that has travelled not only to every nook and corner of this land but all through the world in its translations-, that None of these five versions faithfully and exactly represent the 'Original' of our greatest poet and dramatist! All of these are simply 'Stage-scripts' (rangavrttaya) of the original play prepared by the stage-directors (Sutradharas) of different cultural or linguistic regions, sporadically and slightly moderating the text here and there, reducing or omitting certain sub-scenes or dialogues which they considered redundant or which they thought did not suit the cultural milieu, the ethical views, or the social practices of the region in which the play was to be staged, but sometimes also enriching it with fresh dialogues or one or two fresh and newly composed verses in order to let the scene look more logical or to be more effective on the stage!

With his penetrating skill, which our Patanjali would term as 'mahati suksmeksika', the author has examined and logically analyzed each scene with all its actions and all its dialogues giving his remarks on their appropriateriess or otherwise, adducing full and detailed justification for his comments and remarks which absolves the author-to a great extent at least- of the charge of a purely subjective assessment of a reading or a scene as per his personal choice, predilections, or an ingrained bias.

The author divides these five versions of the Shakuntala primarily into two text-groups, a larger one which comprises in itself the present Kashmirian, Maithili and Bengali versions, and a smaller text- group which is a slightly abridged and compact form of the original and out of which have emerged the other two - the South-Indian and the Devanagari versions. According to the author, of all this version the Kashmirian is predictably the oldest, its next successor is the Maithili version which branches off inters Bengali over the time. When the text more or less in the form in which the Kashmirian text might have been at that time, reaches South India, its supposedly superfluous elements are trimmed off with a vive to make it easily presentable in a compact form on the stage and partly also to adapt itself to the culture and social milieu of that region. However the Sutradhara who did it, was well aware of the existence other (Maithili Bengali) versions as well and incorporated from them too certain elements which has considered important or relevant to the situations. With such changes it assumed the form of a stand and text and was commented upon by Katayavema in the 14th century. But its real popularity in the lower Vindhya region came into being actually with the commentary of Raghava Bhatta (of Maharashtra Karnataka region) and once it was made available in Nagari script by Bombay publishers, it not only gained wide circulation but also acquired the status of a sort of standard text being prescribed for reading in the universities. This Devanagari version, so to say, is basically, or by and large, the South India version slightly moderated from time to time by different editors who tried to prepare a "critical" or "new" edition of the text.

The best advantage of the. Work is not, that it contains valuable comments and critiques on all the versions of the text by such a mature, experienced and consummate scholar as Prof. Vasant Kuma Bhatt, one who has devoted a large part of his life studying the text, but also the parallel availability all the five versions of the Shakuntala at one place- which are rare to find these days in our libraries - along with copious notes and parallel passages below. This provides an easy opportunity to an enlightened reader to check the variations and changes that a particular passage has undergone in relation to the versions - what has it in excess, in what is it deficient, and in what way it differs from the other: which will help him form his own opinion about the original nature of the text and its history. But lard not the least, I wish to say that the most precious gift that the author has given to us in the form of this book are not these many versions, but his own version of the text, that is supposedly the original, the which he has tried to penetrate pushing aside all the weeds and wild grass that has grown around. This sort of methodology opens up a new possibility towards editing such over-popular texts to which every erudite scholar-lover was tempted to contribute something of his own in order to stand in line with the great poet, although at the cost of the original.

The impetus of this work by Prof. Bhatt, I am sure, is going to last long. It is certainly going the incite a careful reader to critically examine the views of Prof... Bhatt, which will not only evoke an enlighten him (the reader) about the 'patha-parampara' of the Shakuntala but also help him from his own views about the text, its original form and nature. I believe that a best work is not the one which utter the last word on an issue but generates discussion and provokes the reader to evolve his own views, ma be also counter to the views of the author, or to improve upon it. I can very well foresee that a volley c works is going to come out in the form of critical articles or independent works, discussing the origins character of this text. Some may even be tempted to bring out fresh editions and fresh scholarly studied of this immortal creation of the greatest of our poet-dramatist' fulfilling his ardent desire expressed in the Bharata-vakyam of this very work (probably the last verse that he wrote towards the end of his life, cf. mama'pi ca ksanavam nflalohira nnnarhhavam) namelv: Sarasvati .sruta-mahatam Mahiyatam.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages