The Mudrarakshasa (मुद्राराक्षस,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ''Mudrārākṣasa'', ) is a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

-language play by

Vishakhadatta Vishakhadatta ( sa, विशाखदत्त) was an Indian Sanskrit poet and playwright. Although Vishakhadatta furnishes the names of his father and grandfather as ''Maharaja'' Bhaskaradatta and ''Maharaja'' Vateshvaradatta in his political ...

that narrates the ascent of the king

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an empi ...

( BCE) to power in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The play is an example of creative writing, but not entirely fictional. It is dated variously from the late 4th century to the 8th century CE.

Characters

, one of the protagonists *

Chanakya Chanakya (Sanskrit: चाणक्य; IAST: ', ; 375–283 BCE) was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭilya o ...

, one of the protagonists *

Rakshasa Rakshasas ( sa, राक्षस, IAST: : Pali: ''rakkhaso'') lit. 'preservers' are a race of usually malevolent demigods prominently featured in Hindu mythology. According to the Brahmanda Purana, the rakshasas were created by Brahma whe ...

, the main antagonist *Malayketu, the son of Parvataka and one of the henchmen * Parvatak, a greedy king who firstly supported Chandragupta but later changed his preference to Dhana Nanda * Vaidhorak *

Durdhara Durdhara was the Queen of Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the 4th-century BCE Maurya Empire of ancient India, according to the 12th century CE Jain text ''Parishishtaparvan'' by Hemachandra. She is stated by this text to be the mother of the ...

, wife of Chandragupta Maurya *Bhadraketu *Chandandasa *Jeevsidhhi

Adaptations

There is a Tamil version based on the Sanskrit play and Keshavlal Dhruv translated the original into

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

as ''Mel ni Mudrika'' (1889). There is a Kannada version of the play ''Mudramanjusha'' written by Kempunarayana. The later episodes of the TV series ''

'' were based mostly on the ''Mudrarakshasa''. ;Feature film A film in Sanskrit was made in 2006 by Dr Manish Mokshagundam, using the same plot as the play but in a modern setting.Film promo
/ref>

Editions

* *
Second edition 1893Fifth edition 1915
Sixth edition 1918, reprinted 1976 and by Motilal Banarsidass, 2000. * * * * * . Reprint 2004,
First edition 1900
* * * *
Review
* (In

Telugu script Telugu script ( te, తెలుగు లిపి, Telugu lipi), an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write the Telugu language, a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well a ...

, with Telugu introduction and commentary
Another version
* . Originally published as part of ''Three Sanskrit plays'' (1981, Penguin Classics).

References

Citations

Sources

* {{Commons category, Mudrarakshasa Sanskrit plays Ancient Indian culture Works about the Maurya Empire Plays set in the 4th century BC Plays set in India Cultural depictions of kings Cultural depictions of Indian men Indian plays adapted into films Buddhist plays Ancient indian Dramas