Mudrarakshasa

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The Mudrarakshasa (lit. "The Signet of the Minister") is an historical Indian drama of the 4th century CE written by Vishakhadatta, which narrates the ascent of the king Chandragupta Maurya to power in Northern India.

The plot is more or less as follows: Chanakya, minister of the king Nanda (Dhana Nanda), allies himself with Chandragupta in the latter's plans for usurpation and is forced out by the king. Chanakya's pact with king Parvata from the Northwest ensures his victory over Nanda.

Parvata and Chandragupta divide up the old possessions of Nanda. Next, Parvata dies poisoned by a youth and his son Malayaketu succeeds him. Malayaketu, together with the last minister of Nanda, demands the inheritance of all the old territories of the Nanda.

The drama begins when Malayaketu and his allies (the kings of Persia, Sind and Kashmir) are poised to attack Pataliputra (present day Patna), the capital of Chandragupta.

The outcome arrives when Chanakya, by the use of guile, manages to attract the last minister of Nanda to the Maurya side, thus undoing the coalition of Malayaketu.

The historical authenticity of the Mudrarakshasa is somewhat supported by the description of this period of history in Classical Hellenistic sources: the violent rule of the Nanda, the usurpation of Chandragupta, the formation of the Maurya Empire, and the various battles with the kingdoms of the Northwest resulting from the conquests of Alexander the Great.

The version of Mudrarakshasa by Ananta Pandita with an anonymous prose narrative, was first published by Anup Sanskrit Library (Bikaner) in 1945, a critical introduction was provided by Dasharatha Sharma.

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film

a film in sanskrit was made in 2006 by Dr.manish k mokshagundam, the film has used the same play but the setting is modern

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Last updated on Tuesday March 04, 2008 at 08:48:39 PST (GMT -0800)
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