Shudraka

Shudraka (IAST: ) was an Indian playwright, to whom three Sanskrit plays are attributed: Mrichchhakatika (The Little Clay Cart), Vinavasavadatta, and a bhana (short one-act monologue), Padmaprabhritaka. According to the prologue of Mrichchhakatika, he was a king; according to one theory, he may have been a third century Abhira king. According to another theory, Shudraka is a mythical figure, and the authorship of plays attributed to him is uncertain. In the prologue of the play Mrichchhakatika, the stage manager states that its poet was a wise king renowned as "Shudraka". He had performed Ashvamedha ritual to prove his superiority, and immolated himself aged 110 years, after crowning his son as the new king. The prologue describes him as a distinguished wise man, who had gained knowledge of the Rigveda, the Samaveda, mathematics, the Kamashastra and the art of training elephants. Two lost works titled Shudraka-katha (IAST: Śūdraka-kathā, "the story of Shudraka") are known from other sources. A verse attributed to the 10th century poet Rajashekhara in Suktimuktavali praises two writers - Ramila and Somila - for jointly composing a novel titled Shudraka-katha. Because it is described as a novel, it was probably a work of fiction. Another Shudraka-katha, attributed to a writer called Pancha-shikha, is known from other sources. Based on information from other sources, it appears that one Shudraka-katha (probably that of Ramila and Somila) narrated how Shudraka won over a woman called Vinaya-vati, with the help of his friend Bandhu-datta. The other work (probably that of Pancha-shika) was a Prakrit-language novel that featured a heroine named Harimati and an old parrot acting as her messenger. Dandin's Avanti-Sundari provides a summary of the various narratives about Shudraka, probably based on these novels. Avanti-Sundari-Katha-Sara, a paraphrased version of Dandin's work, states that Shudraka was originally called Indrani-gupta. Although born in a Brahmin family, he became a warrior (Kshatriya) and acquired royal fortune.