श्रीमहेन्द्रविक्रमपल्लवः
श्रीमहेन्द्रविक्रमः
इति सुप्रसिद्धः पल्लवराजा संस्कृतकविरपि आसीत् ।संस्कृतसाहित्ये
हास्यरसयुक्तानि
नाटकानि विरलान्येव। “हासो
हि नाम अनौचित्यपरिहासविरहः”। तेषु
नाटकेषु महेन्द्रविक्रमपल्लवप्रणीतं “मत्तविलासप्रहसनं” नाम नाटकम् मनोरञ्जकं भवति ।
दशरूपकेषु “प्रहसनमिति”
एकाङ्कयुक्तमिदं रूपकम् । अस्मिन् रूपके कवेः
अतिप्रशंसनीया शैली वर्तते । तस्मिन्
काले विद्यमानानां धर्माणां विवरणं, अस्य
प्रहसनस्य पात्रद्वारा, परस्परवाक्कलहरूपेण
च वर्णितमनेन कविना।
“सत्यसोमन्” इति शैवमतानुयायिन् परन्तु कापालिकः, “पाशुपतः” इति
शैवमतानुयायिन् तथा च “नागसेना” इति बौद्धभिक्षुः इति एतानि मुख्यपात्राणि।
एकस्मिन् श्लोके
कपालिन् सत्यसोमन्, देवं बुद्धं, बौद्धमतस्थापिनम् ,अस्माकं
शास्त्रस्तेयरूपेण वर्णितवान्
।
वेदान्तेभ्यो गृहीतार्थान् यो महाभारतादपि ।
विप्रान् मिषतामेव कृतवान् कोषसञ्चयान् ।।
आहृत्य, इदं
प्रहसनं हास्यरसरसिकानां कृते अतिरुचिकरं भवति ।
Poet
Mahendra
Vikrama Pallava
Mahendra
Vikrama Varman, one among the outstanding rulers of Pallava dynasty was also a
Sanskrit poet and well versed in the Language.
The
great Pallava king was the author of the text ‘Matta Vilasa Prahasanam’. Among
the ten types of Rupakam in Sanskrit this text falls under the ‘Prahasanam’
type which has the hasya rasa or the sentiment of comedy in Sanskrit.
Though
the King’s authorship is attributed to two or three more texts in Sanskrit, due
to insufficient source or doubtful references, no conclusions can be arrived
at.
The
authorship of ‘Matta Vilasa Prahasanam’ is enough to earn him a unique place in
the history of Sanskrit Literature.
Books
based on comedy or Haasya in Sanskrit literature are very few in number. ‘MattaVilasa’ is a short piece with one act.
The
Characters belong to various religious sects of the time and they point to the
degeneration of the religious practices which were reduced to mockery. The
characters Satya Soma was a Kapalin or a Saiva Mendicant, Babrukalpa was a
Pasupata or a Saiva Monk and Nagasena a degenerated Buddhist monk. All of them
through their speech conveyed the religious background of the time.
The
verses like,
Where the Kapalin calls Buddha, a thief, for stealing the
doctrines from Mahabharata and Vedanta works before the vigilant eyes of
Brahmanas.
Overall, this work will definitely attract the minds of
readers by the style and the comic sense of the author.
The text, though not prescribed in any University, was
taught out of interest.Please listen to the audio lectures of the text in tamil .Link given below ..
