Bhavabhuti – The Great Dramatist in Sanskrit

Essay on Bhavabhuti

Bhavabhuti was a famous Sanskrit poet and scholar during the 8 th century. He was born in Padmapura, present located in the village of VIdarbha in Gondia district, on Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra border. His father name was Nilakantha and mother Jatukarni. At first he was named Srikantha Nilakantha, later famous as Bhavabhuti. He received the education under the guidelance of Paramhans Dnyananidhi. He composed the play ‘Kalpi’, which gives us about the historical events and importance culture of the people during 8 th century. The poet spent his educational days at ‘Padmapawaya’, where his guru Dnyananidhi lived. The historians believe that he worked as the court poet of King Yashovarman of Kannauj.

Bhavabhuti Books

bhavabhuti

Bhavabhuti as the Brahman of Vidarbha, easily got the post in the court of Yashovarman of Kannauj as a chief poet. There his literary life thrived with the plays of Mahaviracharita, Malatimadhava and Uttararamacharita. The first book Mahaviracharita means the story of a great hero. In the book he narrated about the main incidents in the life of Lord Rama of defeat of Ravana and the coronation of Rama. The second book Malatimadhava is based on the love story between two important characters of Malati and Madhava. In the book narrated the lifestyle of the people and culture during his period. The human sacrifice and Tantric practice made the readers attach to the story deeply.

There are many films also shoot in various languages in India on the basis of Malatimadhava. The last play is Uttararamacharita, which narrates about the story of Lord Rama after the death of Ravana. His coronation to the throne of Ayodhya and banishment of Sita was deeply narrated with lamented heart.

Bhavabhuti compare to Shakespeare

The Dramatist  was very success to built the characterization of the characters, continuing suspense and unimaginable climax. His figures of speech and metaphors made him to compare his writing skills to Mahakavi Kalidas. The present scholars compare the poet to Shakespeare, but Bhavabhuti lived in 7th century and Shakespeare lived in 16th century. So Shakespeare’s writing skills are comparable to this old Dramatist.