The Mudrārākshasa (मुद्राराक्षस,
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...
: ''Mudrārākṣasa'', ) is a
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
-language play by
Vishakhadatta
Vishakhadatta ( was an Indian Sanskrit poet and playwright. Although Vishakhadatta furnishes the names of his father and grandfather as ''Maharaja'' Bhaskaradatta and ''Maharaja'' Vateshvaradatta in his political drama '' Mudrārākṣasa'', we ...
that narrates the ascent of the Emperor
( BCE) to power in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The play is an example of
creative writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...
, 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 (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...
, one of the protagonists
*
Rakshasa
Rākshasa (, , ; ; "preservers") are a race of usually malevolent beings prominently featured in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Folk Islam. They reside on Earth but possess supernatural powers, which they usually use for evil acts such as ...
, the main antagonist
*Malayketu, the son of Parvataka and one of the henchmen
*Parvataka, a greedy king who firstly supported Chandragupta but later changed his preference to Dhana Nanda
*Vairodhak
*
Durdhara, wife of Chandragupta Maurya
*Bhadraketu
*Chandandasa
*Jeevsidhhi
Adaptations
There is a Tamil version based on the Sanskrit play and
Keshavlal Dhruv translated the original into
Gujarati as ''Mel ni Mudrika'' (1889). There is a Kannada version of the play ''Mudramanjusha'' written by Kempunarayana.
The later episodes of the TV series ''
Chanakya
Chanakya (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...
'' 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.
Editions
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Second edition 1893Fifth edition 1915
Sixth edition 1918, reprinted 1976 and by Motilal Banarsidass, 2000.
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* . Reprint 2004,
First edition 1900
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Review
* (In Telugu script
Telugu script (), an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write the Telugu language, a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well as several other neighbouring states. It is one ...
, 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 Chandragupta Maurya
Plays set in the 4th century BC
Plays set in India
Cultural depictions of kings
Cultural depictions of Indian people
Indian plays adapted into films
Buddhist plays
Ancient Indian dramas
Works about Chanakya