UPSC Prelims 2021 Q41: Bhavabhuti, Hastimalla, Kshemeshvara Explained
With reference to the history of ancient India, Bhavabhuti, Hastimalla and Kshemeshvara were famous
- Jain monks
- playwrights
- temple architects
- philosophers
Answer: (b) playwrights
Statement-wise explanation
- a: incorrect — Only one of the three, Hastimalla, came from a Jain background, and he is remembered for his Sanskrit plays, not as a monk. Bhavabhuti came from a Brahmin family of Vidarbha. Kshemeshvara wrote plays on Hindu legends such as the story of King Harishchandra. 'Jain monks' cannot cover all three names.
- b: correct — All three wrote Sanskrit plays. Bhavabhuti (c. 8th century CE) wrote Mahaviracharita, Malatimadhava and Uttararamacharita. Hastimalla, a Jain author usually placed in the 13th century, wrote Vikrantakaurava, Maithilikalyana, Anjana-Pavananjaya and Subhadraharana. Kshemeshvara (early 10th century) wrote Chandakaushika, a five-act play on the Harishchandra legend, and Naishadhananda.
- c: incorrect — None of the three is known for designing or building temples. They are known for their plays. Ancient Indian architects are rarely named in texts and are known mainly from inscriptions. The names in this question are all authors of surviving dramas.
- d: incorrect — None of them founded or led a school of philosophy. Their plays draw on epics and legends, such as Rama's later life in Uttararamacharita and Harishchandra in Chandakaushika, but they are not philosophical treatises. The label that fits all three is dramatist.
How to eliminate
Most aspirants know Bhavabhuti as the author of Uttararamacharita, often called the greatest Sanskrit dramatist after Kalidasa. That one fact settles the question: he was not a Jain monk, and he is not remembered as an architect or a philosopher. Only one option fits him, and the question says all three names share it. Without that fact the question cannot be solved by reasoning, because the other two names are obscure and the options use no absolute words. The '-malla' in Hastimalla may make 'Jain monks' tempting, but the question asks for what all three have in common. Fact to remember: Bhavabhuti is the author of Mahaviracharita, Malatimadhava and Uttararamacharita.
Know more
Classical Sanskrit drama (nataka, prakarana, natika and other forms) follows the rules set out in Bharata's Natyashastra: acts, the sutradhara (stage manager), the vidushaka (jester), the mix of Sanskrit and Prakrit speech, and the aim of producing rasa (aesthetic emotion). Ashvaghosha's Buddhist plays (1st–2nd century CE) are the earliest surviving fragments. The form peaked with Kalidasa and continued for centuries in royal courts and Jain circles.
| Playwright | Period (approx.) | Known plays |
|---|---|---|
| Bhasa | before Kalidasa | Svapnavasavadatta, Pratijnayaugandharayana |
| Kalidasa | c. 4th–5th c. CE | Abhijnanashakuntalam, Vikramorvashiyam, Malavikagnimitram |
| Shudraka | early centuries CE | Mrichchhakatika |
| Vishakhadatta | c. 5th–6th c. CE | Mudrarakshasa |
| Harsha | 7th c. CE | Ratnavali, Priyadarshika, Nagananda |
| Bhavabhuti | c. 8th c. CE | Mahaviracharita, Malatimadhava, Uttararamacharita |
| Kshemeshvara | early 10th c. CE | Chandakaushika, Naishadhananda |
| Hastimalla | c. 13th c. CE | Vikrantakaurava, Maithilikalyana, Anjana-Pavananjaya, Subhadraharana |
Points to remember:
- Bhavabhuti came from Vidarbha. Tradition places him at the court of Yashovarman of Kannauj. His Uttararamacharita, on Rama's life after the coronation, is famous for karuna rasa (pathos). Malatimadhava is a prakarana, a play with an invented plot.
- Kshemeshvara's Chandakaushika names a King Mahipala, usually identified as the Gurjara-Pratihara ruler of Kannauj.
- Hastimalla is an example of a Jain author retelling Ramayana and Mahabharata stories in Sanskrit drama.
- Sanskrit drama is still performed today as Kutiyattam in Kerala, which UNESCO recognises as Intangible Cultural Heritage.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Natyashastra: The Natyashastra sets out the rules of the Sanskrit stage, the tradition against which these three names should be tested.
- Abhijnanashakuntalam: Kalidasa's best-known work is the benchmark that later Sanskrit dramas, including Bhavabhuti's, are compared with.
- Ashvaghosha: Ashvaghosha is the earliest Sanskrit dramatist whose plays partly survive, so he marks where the tradition behind this question begins.
- Kutiyattam: Kutiyattam is the living Kerala tradition that still stages classical Sanskrit plays, linking this static question to cultural heritage topics.