The Mudrarakshasa (मुद्राराक्षस,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ''Mudrārākṣasa'', ) is a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

-language play by Vishakhadatta that narrates the ascent of the king

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an emp ...

( BCE) to power in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The play is an example of

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

, but not entirely fictional. It is dated variously from the late 4th century to the 8th century CE.

Characters

, one of the protagonists *

Chanakya Chanakya ( Sanskrit: चाणक्य; IAST: ', ; 375–283 BCE) was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭi ...

, one of the protagonists *

Rakshasa Rakshasas ( sa, राक्षस, IAST: : Pali: ''rakkhaso'') lit. 'preservers' are a race of usually malevolent demigods prominently featured in Hindu mythology. According to the Brahmanda Purana, the rakshasas were created by Brahma when ...

, the main antagonist *Malayketu, the son of Parvataka and one of the henchmen * Parvatak, a greedy king who firstly supported Chandragupta but later changed his preference to Dhana Nanda * Vaidhorak * Durdhara, wife of Chandragupta Maurya *Bhadraketu *Chandandasa *Jeevsidhhi

Adaptations

There is a Tamil version based on the Sanskrit play and

Keshavlal Dhruv Dewan Bahadur Keshavlal Harshadrai Dhruv (17 October 1859 – 13 March 1938), also spelt as Keshavlal Harshad Dhruva and known by his pen name Vanmali, was a research scholar, philologist, critic, editor of Middle and Old Gujarati works, ...

translated the original into

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

as ''Mel ni Mudrika'' (1889). There is a Kannada version of the play ''Mudramanjusha'' written by Kempunarayana. The later episodes of the TV series ''

'' were based mostly on the ''Mudrarakshasa''. ;Feature film A film in Sanskrit was made in 2006 by Dr Manish Mokshagundam, using the same plot as the play but in a modern setting.Film promo
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Editions

* *
Second edition 1893Fifth edition 1915
Sixth edition 1918, reprinted 1976 and by Motilal Banarsidass, 2000. * * * * * . Reprint 2004,
First edition 1900
* * * *
Review
* (In Telugu script, with Telugu introduction and commentary
Another version
* . Originally published as part of ''Three Sanskrit plays'' (1981, Penguin Classics).

References

Citations

Sources

* {{Commons category, Mudrarakshasa Sanskrit plays Ancient Indian culture Works about the Maurya Empire Plays set in the 4th century BC Plays set in India Cultural depictions of kings Cultural depictions of Indian men Indian plays adapted into films Buddhist plays Ancient indian Dramas