K.S.R. Institute
First Edition: 600 copies
Price: Rs. 70/- (Indian)
$ 5 (Foreign)
ISBN 81-85170-10-X
Printed By:
M/S. VIGNESHA PRINTERS,
Mylapore, Madras - 4.
Ph: 8555597 (P.P.)
PREFACE
The Governing Body of the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute is privileged to bring out, to mark the Valedictory function of its Golden Jubilee on 10th July 1996, a monograph of an edition with critical study and English translation of a little known unique farce, the Palandumandana (P.M.) of Harijīvana Misra, a poet scholar who lived. in Jaipur in the 17th century
The Prahasana (comedy - farce) and Bhāna (one-man show) are two minor play-forms described by Bharata in his Natyalästra under the general category of 'Dasarupaka'. All the post-Bharata dramaturgists also dealt with them. Although distinct in their technical format, the Prahasana and Bhana are rightly clubbed together by Bharata as they are both of pure entertaintment value (ranjakapradhana) and form an important medium to expose the weaknesses of society in general or contemporary to the author. Naturally, comical and satirical elements are dominant in both of them. It is noteworthy that amongst the ten (or eleven) drama-types, besides the full-fledged Nataka, only the Prahasana and Bhāņa as preferred by many poets, are represented by a large number of specimens from the early centuries to the present times.
As part of my D.Phil. thesis at the University of Oxford during 1969-71 I had an opportunity to critically study for the first time the characteristic features and presentability of the genre of Bhāņa as available in the theoretical texts from the Natyalastra (2nd century B.C. to 2nd A.D.) to the Rasarnavasudhakara of Singabhūpāla (14th century A.D.) and correlate and evaluate it with such information as gleaned from the available printed specimens. Subsequently a similar
