iv four issues during 1966 to 1978. The Rashtriya Sanskrit Samsthan and its Vidyapeetha family have during the last 2 / decades, grown in size in many ways. The general students and specialists therefore look forward to the revival of the publication Malayamaruta in the near future. My assisting Prof. Raghavan in the production of P.M. by the Samskrita Ranga in 1966 provided me an opportunity to study the text of P.M. The inclusion of my English translation of P.M. in the present publication gave me a second occasion after 30 years to study the text closely, enjoy its subtleties and evaluate it critically. I would now like to give some extra information about the dramatic and literary aspects in P.M. that would add to its uniqueness amongst the Prahasanas. Firstly about the satirical elements in the play. H.M. as seen from P.M. is quite original and a past-master in satire. Of course he has in this context satirised the preferences of the brahmin pandits from the different parts of India, Maharashtra, Andhra, Bengal, etc. for cdibles and drinks prohibited in the Smrtis and Dharma Sastras as they enrich only tamo and rajo gunas. As shown by Drs. Raghavan and Artola, the names of the characters in the play indicate their addiction for the prohibited edibles. It is noteworthy in this connection that within the span of a short Prahasana of 13 verses and connecting dialogues, the author has introduced a variety of foodstuffs peculiar to the different regions of India. This includes oasic materials used in cooking like cocoanut and tamarind specially associated with the South Indians; root vegetables like small and big onions, garlic, mostly used by the southerners; red edible roots and mushrooms; soups like boiled fluid dish (Kvathika), especially the sour gruel made from the fermentation of boiled rice (aranala), and a special soup favoured by the people in Karnataka and Maharashtra, as prepared by putting the ready-made powder of a mixture of fried rice, pulses and fenugreek in curds (when it would be some sort of the present day 'raitha'), or in fresh tamarind juice. This could be easily prepared at the arrival of some unannounced guests. Occasionally this is part of the menu in our house and we call it 'mendiyittu; or 'vendiyittu' because mendiam/vendiyam or fenugreek is a chief ingredient in it. Besides these eatables and soups H.M. has introduced also a favourite sweet of the people in Karnataka called. 'poli' or 'purnapoli'. This is prepared from a pastry filled with a mixture of cocoanut gratings and boiled jaggery fluid called 'purna' or 'purana' and cooking it on a pan like dosa. At the end of the play the Bengali brahmins' favourite of fish comes to prominence. What a variety! H.M. had a keen sense of humour and knew how to satirise cleverly. As already noted by Drs. Raghavan and Artola, H.M. was a brahmin from the eastern Gauda country, who came originally from the most ating eastern part of Rajasthan. He may have known fairly well the habits, directly or indirectly of spurious brahmins all over India. Consciously or unconsciously H.M. has effected an integration of some regions of India by creating kinship among the characters created by him. The hero is Lingoji Bhatta, a passionate old man, obviously a northerner. His nuptials with his second wife, the youthful Cinca, is the main theme of P.M. Her very name Cinca (tamarind) and her description as "one whose limbs are smeared with turmeric", reveal her to be a southerner. Lingoji's first wife is Purnapolika, a sweet
