ABHIJNANA SHAKUNTALAM: CHARACTER ANALYSIS (Part 1)

 

Characters have certain functions and roles to play. Sanskrit drama delineates the characters and their roles in combination with the use of various rasas. Sanskrit drama has many stock characters and the audience who were familiar with its structure could easily figure out the function of these characters. Abhijnana Shakuntalam contains the staples of Sanskritic drama with the nayanka/ hero and his entourage, nayaki / heroine and her companions, Vidusaka (jester) and court officials etc. The play is a beautiful mixture of the rasa of love (srngara) and heroism (vira) and we can see how they play out in the actions and dialogues of the characters.

 

Sutradhar

As the name suggests, the Sutradhar is someone who holds the thread of the story. He is the one who introduces the play to the audience and in essence can be considered the narrator or if we stretch the similarity a bit even the director of the play and Chandra Rajan has translated the Sutradhar as Director. His role is usually restricted to introductions- of characters and acts. He guides the audience towards the proper enjoyment of the play as well as guides the play to its proper and logical ending. His role begins as soon as the Benediction ends.

 

Director: Lady! If the preparations in the dressing room are completed, would you be pleased to attend us?...

 Director: Lady, we have here before us, an august audience that is highly educated and most discerning. This evening we wait upon it with a new play composed by Kalidasa, entitled The Recognition of Sakuntala. Will you see to it that all the actors do their very best? (p. 169)

 

At one point the Sutradhar/ Narrator/ Director is so carried away by the actress’s songthat he forgets what they had intended to do as stated above:

Director: Beautifully sung, dear lady; aha – just look around you; the audience is still, as if drawn in a picture – spellbound, caught in the web of beauty woven by your singing. Now then, what play shall we put on to honour and entertain them further?

Actress: Why, Sir, what you mentioned right at the beginning – the new play entitled The Recognition of Œakuntalâ.

Director: You do well to remind me, dear lady. Indeed, my memory failed me for an instant; because,

I was carried far, far away, lured

By your impassioned song, compelling,

 (looks towards the wings)

 even as the King, Duhsanta here,

 was, by the fleet fleeing antelope. (pp. 170-71)

Shakuntala

Shakuntala, the heroine or nayaki of the play, was born of the apsara Menaka and the sage Visvamitra and abandoned at birth. Kanva finds her in the forest, protected by birds and adopts her as his daughter. Being part human and part apsara, she inherits her mother’s other worldly beauty and grace, which is what, attracts Duhsanta in the first place. Shakuntala is portrayed as an exceptionally beautiful young woman who is loved by everyone in the hermitage, including the animals, trees, and plant life.

Dear Anasuya,it is not merely a matter of Father’s injunction; I love them like a sister. (p. 176)

 She is first shown to us watering the plants and treating them like her kin. Similarly, when she leaves the hermitage, the animals and trees show their sorrow as well.

Anasuya: Shakuntala dearest, have you noticed that there is not one sentient being in the Hermitage that is not sorrowful now at the thought of losing you. See:

The cakravaka answers not the call of his love

 hidden behind lotus - leaves:

with lotus – fibre dangling from his beak,

 he gazes only at you.                                    (p. 225-26)

Kalidasa describes Shakuntala in traditional feminine terms of beauty as being slender waisted, smooth skin, dark hair etc. Duhsanta’s words describes her as lovely flower, blooming with magical youth, with doe like eyes that radiate beauty.

In Kalidasa’s play, Shakuntala is therefore a young girl, yet to experience the challenges of the worldly world. The Shakuntala of the epic is slightly different from the one in the play. In the epic, Shakuntala arrives with her son at the court. When rejected, she fights for herself and her son, quoting the Law to counter Duhsanta’s lies and insults. She argues her case in front of Duhsanta and prepares to leave after asserting that her son will reign sovereign. 

However, a heavenly voice affirms Shakuntala’s words and the King accepts her. The play therefore departs firstly in showing Shakuntala as arriving before the birth of the son. At the face of Duhsanta’s insults, Shakuntala does indeed, like her epic counterpart, assert her truthfulness but there is no heavenly voice to validate her words and both Duhsanta and her ascetic companions reject her. The rejection is crucial in raising Shakuntala’s status as a pious woman because even after being humiliated  in front of everyone, she remains faithful to her husband and suffers with quite dignity rather than fighting further for her rights. Shakuntala, in accordance to the character of nayaki, is therefore steadfast in her love for Duhsanta. Her loyalty to her husband is what ennobles Shakuntala as an exemplary woman, the ideal pativrata stri. Thus the play offers us a Shakuntala who will be celebrated as a virtuous woman, being both a good wife and mother.