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राविधेयाः of the Venisamhara. Both the contexts are concerned with setting forth the made of procedure in the performance of the duty of a spy. This parallel from the Bala Ramayana would appear to lend support to our reading and interpretation of the corresponding lines in the Venisamhara. I do not deny the possibility of both the authors having derived the idea independently from a common source.
Neither the dramatic quality nor the poetic quality of the Venisamhara is of a high order, but this does not mean that the play does not deserve the great popularity it enjoys. The altercation scene of the Third Act is a Masterpiece of dialogue; but at the same time we have a most undramatic trait in the tedious account of Sundaraka in Act IV. The play exhibits also a pretty good variety of character sketches and the contrast between Bhima's noble and lofty manner of humouring Draupadi in Act I, and Duryodhana's sensual and frivolous dalliance with Bhanumati in Act II, is very striking. The chief women of the play, Draupadi and Bhanumati are represented as ideal wives, phantoms of delight to their husbands and yet creatures
"not too bright or good
For human nature's daily food;
For transient sorrows simple wiles
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles."
The nature of the contrast between Karna and Ashvatthaman has been indicated in the notes. Dhritarashtra's cowardly fears for his son and ignoble meekness under defeat coupled with readiness to advise the employment of treacherous means against the enemy serve as a foil to Yudhisthira's half-diffident trust in his brother's valour, and readiness to put an end to his existence rather than live behind his brothers in disgrace. Charvaka is the villain of the play who practises his villainy not on his own account, but in the interest of his employer Duryodhana.
Our poet's style while generally characterised by a certain force and vigour is often vitiated especially in prose passages, by long and sometimes ill-formed compounds, clumsy sentences, and redundant phrases. His poetry has not much of lyric beauty.
