ARTOLA - PALANDUMANDANA unable to speak at the present time. The only manuscripts are located in the private library of the Maharaja of Jaipur. Some day it may be possible to obtain copies of them, and then a study may be undertaken on the entire theatre of Harijivana Miśra. That study may reveal that Harijivana Misra is the last of the good Sanskrit dramatists, that he continued in his own way the time-honoured. tradition of the classical Sanskrit theatre, and finally that he does not deserve the oblivion into which he has fallen. PALANDUMANDANA The Palandumandana-prahasana derives its name from one of the characters, a brahman who loves onions. Most of the characters have names which indicate their preferences for different types of foods, so that this comedy-farce immediately reveals itself as a satire on the eating habits of brahmans from different regions of India. The action, and there is much of it, takes place in the home of Lingoji Bhatta on the occasion of the celebrations of the garbhädhäna of his second wife Cinca. After a prastavana in which the sutradhära announces the prahasana and urges the nati to prepare for the arrival of the guests, the comedy begins with the entrance of Prajapatideva who foretells of the arrival of Palandumandana and the others. Lingoji Bhatta's sister Kvathikä asks about the health of his daughter. Raktamulikā, and her mother Purnapolika indicates that she is in love with her cousin Grijanädri, the son of Kvathika and Tryambaka Bhaṭṭa. They assure her that he also is in love with Raktamulikā, but any thought of their marriage would disappoint Lasuna Panta, an old man who expects to marry her. Just as they are discussing this, Lasuna Panta enters and what follows immediately is a deligtfully funny discussion of the marriage of Raktamulika. The women are only interested in his wealth and in the fact that, with his love for lasuna (garlic), he has not long to live. In this, one of the truly humorous scenes of the play, much discussion is made about ARTOLA - PALĀNDUMANDANA dowries and money settlements and finally poor old Lasuna Panta has a gastro-intestinal attack. A variety of medicines is suggested; most of them are herbs and vegetable roots which have no place in a religious ceremony. Each character produces effortlessly his favourite edible and the whole room becomes cluttered up with articles which belong to a kitchen. In free flowing poetical stanzas each of the guests defends the foodstuff which is sure to revive Lasuna Panta. At last the old man is restored at about the time of the arrival of the Bengali brahmans, Bhattacarya and his pupils. As Bhaṭṭācārya enters the house, he closes his nostrils for he cannot tolerate the smell of onions. The South Indian brahmans, led by Palandumandana, say that they cannot stand the smell of rotten fish, the kind that Bengalis eat. Bhaṭṭācārya assures them that fish is not prohibited in the sastras, but they shout in unison that that refers to the other yugas, not to the kaliyuga. They immediately engage in a heated argument, disagreeing violently with each other. Jagadisa, one of the South Indians, slips out of the house and calls the police. By stratagem he convinces the police that Bhaṭṭācārya is in the wrong. The police enter the house and accuse Bhaṭṭācārya and his pupils of having defiled a religious ceremony when they see strewn about the room all kinds of harsh-smelling vegetables. They arrest the Bengalis and take them away. The South Indians shake hands with each other and congratulate Jagadisa who did such a clever turn by summoning the police. The garbhādhana has to be postponed, according to Lingoji Bhatta because of all the confusion. The comedy ends with the departure of the guests. 13. The Palandumandana is the last truly comic play which Harijivana Miśra produced. In it are found some of the characteristics of his earlier comedies, especially that of antithesis. A serious religious ceremony, the garbhadhana, is turned into a brawl, just as in the Prasangika what began as a discussion of court pandits becomes, with the entrance of the monkey, a kind of lewd
