Bhasa

The rediscovery of the 13 plays of Bhasa Mahakavi and their publication in Thiruvananthapuram in 1912 by Mahamahopadhyaya T. Ganapatisastri was as important an event in the recovery of India's cultural and literary history as was the deciphering of the Ashokan edicts in the 19th century in the recovery of India's political history. Bhasa was known from allusions by other poets and fragments stretching from the time of Kalidasa all the way to the 12th century. Inexplicably, he vanished from India's collective memory since then. At the same time, the reverence in which he was held is amply evident from the regularity of references to him and the unanimity of critics and rasikas on the superb quality of his work. The recovered Bhasa has now taken his rightful place in the stage and is presented again and again not only in Sanskrit but in most modern Indian languages too. It is an eloquent demonstration of his enduring power to move an audience, his undiminished relevance and, most important of all, the stunning stage worthiness of his works, the quality that raises him far above every other ancient dramatist of India known to us.