Comment on the encounter between Sutradhara and Maitreya. Why did Maitreya refuse to go to his house
Sutradhara learns from his wife, Nati that they need to invite a Brahmana for the performance of all rites and rituals for the fast kept by Nati for her husband. Sutradhara comes across Maitreya and tries to persuades him to come to their house. Maitreya refuses the offer saying he is engaged at present. Sutradhara again persuades him saying that the food is savoury and tempting as well as Dakshina will also be given to him. Maitreya again refuses and gets irritated on the persistence by Sutradhara.
Maitreya refuses the invitation because of the self-dignity. Earlier He was He is a dear friend of Charudutta and feels shame when he needs to look for invitation at other’s house. He utters “Fortune you have made a pauper out of me”. When Charudutta was an affluent person, Maitreya used to devour most savoury and tasty cuisine day and night. He used to repeatedly touches touch them with his fingers and put them aside on being satisfied. Now, Charudutta is suffering from poverty and so Maitreya has to struggle with the outcome of poverty. He has no patience to deal with it. He hates to look after the invitations and gets irritated at the invitation of Sutradhara.
Comment on the encounter between Sakara and Vasantasena.
Ans: The villain of Sudraka’s Mrichchhakatika is Sakara who is the brother-in-law of king Palaka. He is portrayed as ruthless, arrogant, stupid, lascivious but timid character. His obsessive pursuit of Vasantasena makes him a repulsive creature. At the same time he contributes comedy to the play by his ignorant and erroneous reference to mythological stories.
In Act I of the play, Sakara along with his companions Vita and Cheta chases Vasantasena, heroine of the play. Sakara is a lascivious person and gives ten names to Vasantasena: “she is a fish-eater; a figurante; a flat-nosed maiden; a destroyer of families; an untamable shrew; a casket of love; a courtesan; an inhabitant of harlot’s repository; a prostitute; and a concubine.
Sakara fails to understand that love is reciprocal and to win a heart of a lady, a man needs to first respect her dignity. Sakara considers women as objects with which he can play. He is has a very low level of thinking and he fears only men. When Vasantasena calls out the names of her servants, Sakara thinks that they are men. He gets fearful at that juncture. Vita who knows completely that Sakara is a fool utters that she is calling her human servants which are women. The words of Sakara “I can kill a hundred women” shows his villainous nature. If Vasantasena gets furiated at the demand of Sakara. This rejection on the part of Vasantasena plays imposes an effect on Vita that being a courtesan, she knows her dignity. Vita is not villainous like Sakara because when he comes to know about the love between Vasantasena and Charudutta, He helps Vasantasena in escaping from the clutches of Sakara. Vasantasena comes to know the house of Charudutta and hides there in order to save her from Sakara.
Vasantasena is delighted at seeking protection at the house of Charudutta and she wraps her jasmine-scented cloak of him out of unconditional love. She also respects him by not stepping into the antahpura when Charudutta asks Mada Radaku Radanika (seeming to understand Vasantasena as Radanika) to give his cloak to his son Rohasena. Both the on getting to know that Vasantasena is in his house and she asks help from him, Charudutta provides help with full responsibility.
Critical Comment on the encounter between Sutradhara and his wife in brief. What purpose does the introduction serve in the play.
After the invocation to Lord Shiva, Sutradhara enters in the play and he has a brief trifle with his wife over absence of food. The wife teases her husband to arouse humour and indirect by all these this brief humourous conflict of them states the dramatic appeal of the play. Sutradhara, after playing music having finished musical concerts, feels exhausted. He asks his wife for food. The wife in a teasing manner says that they have every savoury and exhilarating foods such as guda, ghee, curds, rice and so on, Sutradhara is amazed and astonished that how so many varieties of food cuisine are present in a home of empty a sonless poison. The wife replies they are available in the market. She plays joke on her husband
that arouse ridicule and laughter. She also keeps a fast called Alhirupa-Pali. Sutradhara is delighted at this juncture but the wife destroys his delight by the reply of Nati. The fast is kept for a handsome husband in the next birth. Sutradhara gets furious in a humorous way on hearing that this fast was suggested to Nati by Churnavriddha. Sutradhara asks the requirements for the rites of the fasts. Nati utters a Brahman must be invited for the performance of the rites.
The brief encounter of Sutradhara and Nati serves the dramatic appeal of the play. They makes the readers acquaint with the customary marriage, customs and traditions practiced and followed by the people. Their trifle is the source of humour in the play Mrichchhakatika.