Mcchakatika

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Mcchakatika
The Little Clay Cart
An oleographic print depicting the female protagonist Vasantasen, a rich courtesan.
Written by draka
Characters Chrudatta
Vasantasen
Maitreya
Samsthnaka
ryaka
Sarvilaka
Madanik
Original language Sanskrit
Genre Sanskrit drama
Setting Ancient city of Ujjayini
Fifth century BC
Mcchakaika (The Little Clay Cart) (Sanskrit: ; also spelled Mrcchakatika, Mricchakatika, or
Mrichchhakatika), is a ten-act Sanskrit drama attributed to draka (Sanskrit: ), an ancient playwright generally
thought to have lived sometime between the second century BC and the fifth century AD whom the prologue
identifies as a Kshatriya king and a devotee of Siva who lived for 100 years. The play is set in the ancient city of
Ujjayini during the reign of the King Plaka, near the end of the Pradyota dynasty that made up the first quarter of
the fifth century BC. The central story is that of noble but impoverished young Brahmin, Chrudatta (Sanskrit:
), who falls in love with a wealthy courtesan or nagarvadhu, Vasantasen (Sanskrit: ). Despite their
mutual affection, however, the couple's lives and love are threatened when a vulgar courtier, Samsthnaka, begins to
aggressively pursue of Vasantasen.
Rife with romance, comedy, intrigue and a political subplot detailing the overthrow of the city's despotic ruler by a
shepherd, the play is notable among extant Sanskrit drama for its focus on a fictional scenario rather than on a
classical tale or legend. Mcchakaika also departs from traditions enumerated in the Natya Shastra that specify that
dramas should focus on the lives of the nobility and instead incorporates a large number of middle and lower-caste
characters who speak a wide range of Prakrit dialects. The story is thought to be derived from an earlier work called
Chrudatta in Poverty by the playwright Bhsa, though that work survives only in fragments.
Of all the Sanskrit dramas, Mcchakaika remains one of the most widely celebrated and oft-performed in the West,
in part because its plot structure more closely resembles that of Western classics than other Hindu plays. The work
played a significant role in generating interest in Indian theatre among European audiences following several
successful nineteenth century translations and stage productions, most notably Grard de Nerval and Joseph Mry's
highly romanticized French adaptation titled Le Chariot d'enfant that premiered in Paris in 1850, as well as a
Mcchakatika
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critically acclaimed "anarchist" interpretation by Victor Barrucand called Le Chariot de terre cuite that was
produced by the Thtre de l'uvre in 1895.
Plot Summary
Chrudatta is a generous man from the Brahman caste who, through his charitable contributions to unlucky friends
and the general public welfare, has severely impoverished himself and his family. Though deserted by most of his
friends and embarrassed by deteriorating living conditions, he has maintained his reputation in Ujjayini as an honest
and upright man with a rare gift of wisdom and many important men continue to seek his counsel.
Though happily married and the recent father of a young son, Rohasena, Chrudatta is enamored of Vasantasen, a
courtesan of great wealth and reputation. After a chance encounter at the temple of Kma, she has found that she
loves him in return, though, the matter is complicated when Vasantasen finds herself pursued by Samsthnaka, a
half-mad brother-in-law of King Plaka, and his retinue. When the men threaten violence, Vasantasen flees, seeking
safety with Chrudatta. Their love blossoms following the clandestine meeting, and the courtesan entrusts her new
lover with a casket of jewelry in an attempt to ensure a future meeting.
Her plan is thwarted, however, when a thief, Sarvilaka, enters Chrudattas home and steals the jewels in an elaborate
scheme to buy the freedom of his lover, Madanik, who is Vasantasens slave and confidant. The courtesan
recognizes the jewelry, but she accepts the payment anyway and frees Madanik to marry. She then attempts to
contact Chrudatta and inform him of the situation, but before she can make contact he panics and sends
Vasantasen a rare pearl necklace that had belonged to his wife, a gift in great excess of the value of the stolen
jewelry. In recognition of this, Chrudatta's friend, Maitreya, cautions the Brahmin against further association,
fearing that Vasantasen is, at worst, scheming to take from Chrudatta the few possessions he still has and, at best, a
good-intentioned bastion of bad luck and disaster.
Refusing to take this advice, Chrudatta makes Vasantasen his mistress and she eventually meets his young son.
During the encounter, the boy is distressed because he has recently enjoyed playing with a friend's toy cart of solid
gold and no longer wants his own clay cart that his nurse has made for him. Taking pity on him in his sadness,
Vasantasen fills his little clay cart with her own jewelry, heaping his humble toy with a mound of gold before
departing to meet Chrudatta in a park outside the city for a days outing. There she enters a fine carriage, but soon
discovers that she is in a gharry belonging to Samsthnaka, who remains enraged by her previous affront and is
madly jealous of the love and favor she shows to Chrudatta. Unable to persuade his henchmen to kill her,
Samsthnaka sends his retinue away and proceeds to strangle Vasantasen and hide her body beneath a pile of
leaves. Still seeking vengeance, he promptly accuses Chrudatta of the crime.
Though the Brahmin proclaims his innocence, his presence in the park along with his son's possession of
Vasantasen's jewels implicate the poverty-stricken man, and he is found guilty and condemned to death by King
Plaka. Unbeknownst to all, however, the body identified as Vasantasens was actually another woman.
Vasantasen had revived and befriended by a Buddhist monk who nursed her back to health in a nearby village.
Just as Chrudatta faces execution, Vasantasen appears and, seeing the excited crowd, intervenes in time to save
him from execution and his wife from throwing herself onto a funeral pyre. Together the three declare themselves a
family. Reaching the courts, Vasantasen tells the story of her near death and, following her testimony, Samsthnaka
is arrested and the good Prince ryaka deposes the wicked King Plaka. His first acts as the newly declared
sovereign is to restore Chrudattas fortune and give him an important position at court. Following this good will,
Chrudatta demonstrates in the final act his enduring virtue and charity, appealing to the King for pardon on behalf
of Samsthnaka who is subsequently declared free.
Mcchakatika
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Characters
Chrudatta, an impoverished young
Brahmin
Mother of Vasantasen Mthura, a gambling-master
Maitreya, a poor Brahmin,
Chrudattas friend
Karnapraka and Kumbhlaka,
Vasantasen's servants
Darduraka, a gambler, friend to Sarvilaka
Vardhamnaka, a servant in
Chrudatta's house
Bastard pages in Vasantasen's house Vraka and Chandanaka, captains of the civil
guard, friends to Sarvilaka
Radanik, a maid in Chrudatta's
house
King Plaka Goha and Ahnta, executioners
Wife of Chrudatta Samsthnaka, Brother to one of the King's
concubines
Former masseur of Chrudatta who becomes a
Buddhist monk
Rohasena, Chrudatta's son Vita, a courtier in service of Samsthnaka Judge
Vasantasen, a courtesan in love with
Chrudatta
Sthvaraka, Samsthnaka's servant Bailiff
Vita, a courtier in service of
Vasantasen
ryaka, a herdsman and prince in exile
who becomes king
Scribe
Madanik, Vasantasens maidservant
and confidant
Sarvilaka, a Brahmin and a thief, in love
with Madanik
Citizens, slaves, and attendants
Media
Play adaptions: The play was translated into English, notably by Arthur W. Ryder in 1905 as The Little Clay Cart.
(It had previously been translated as The Toy Cart by Horace Hayman Wilson in 1826.) Ryder's version was
enacted at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley in 1907, and in New York in 1924 at the Neighborhood
Playhouse, which was then an off-Broadway theatre, at the Theater de Lys in 1953, and at the Potboiler Art
Theater in Los Angeles in 1926, when it featured actors such as James A. Marcus, Symona Boniface and Gale
Gordon. The play has been adapted in several Indian languages and performed by various theatre groups and
directors, like Habib Tanvir.
Film adaptations: The first silent film of Kannada film industry, Mricchakatika (Vasantsena) (1931), starring
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Utsav, a 1984 Hindi Bollywood film by Girish Karnad was based on an
adaptation of this play.
The Indian play depicted in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, "Spectacular Spectacular", may have been based on
The Little Clay Cart.
Notes
External links
The Little Clay Cart (http:/ / www. sacred-texts. com/ hin/ lcc/ index. htm) by Shudraka, full text of translation by
Arthur William Ryder (1905).
The Mrichchakati; Or, The Toy Cart: A Drama (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=ZS4pAAAAYAAJ) by Sudraka,
full text of translation by Horace Hayman Wilson (1826)
Article Sources and Contributors
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Article Sources and Contributors
Mcchakatika Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=619320672 Contributors: Alexbrewer, Anthony Appleyard, Brhaspati, Chris the speller, Dbachmann, Ekabhishek, Grodoro,
HMSSolent, Hmains, Jagged 85, Jim1138, Khamgatam, Lairor, Mark Arsten, Mkamat, Piyush Sriva, Redtigerxyz, Ronz, Shreevatsa, SvAbhinava, TenPoundHammer, TheRingess, Verbum
Veritas, Wikibert, Zerokitsune, aCestCharabia, 23 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
File:Raja Ravi Varma, Vasanthasena (Oleographic print).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Raja_Ravi_Varma,_Vasanthasena_(Oleographic_print).jpg License:
Public Domain Contributors: Praveenp, Roland zh, aCestCharabia
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
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