Devi-Chandraguptam (IAST: Devīcandraguptam) or Devi-Chandragupta is an Indian Sanskrit-language political drama attributed to Vishakhadeva, who is generally identified with Vishakhadatta. The complete text of the play is now lost, but its portions survive in form of quotations in the later works. The plot also survives in form of a Persian language story, which appears to be an adaptation of the play, and is included in the 11th century text Majmal-ut-Tawarikh.
In the play, king Ramagupta decides to surrender his queen Dhruvadevi ("Devi") to a Shaka enemy when besieged. Ramagupta's younger brother Chandragupta enters the enemy camp disguised as the queen, and kills the enemy ruler. The rest of the story is not clear from the surviving passages, but based on other historical evidence, it appears that in the last part of the play, Chandragupta dethrones Ramagupta and marries Dhruvadevi.
The historicity of the play's narrative is disputed: some modern historians theorize that it is based on historical events, as several later sources refer to the events mentioned in the play. Other scholars argue that there these later sources may be based on the play itself, and no independent evidence corroborates its historicity.
Authorship
The play is attributed to Vishakhadeva, whom modern scholars generally identify with Vishakhadatta, the author of the Sanskrit play Mudra-rakshasa. His period is not certain but he probably flourished in or after the 6th century CE. Some scholars such as A. S. Altekar, K. P. Jayaswal and Sten Konow theorized that Vishakhadatta was a contemporary of Chandragupta II, and lived in the late 4th century to the early 5th century. But this view has been challenged by other scholars, including Moriz Winternitz and R. C. Majumdar.
Plot
Based on the surviving fragments, the play appears to have opened in the Gupta military camp. King Ramagupta has been defeated by an unnamed Shaka ruler, and his camp has been besieged by the enemy. The enemy has offered him peace if he surrenders his queen Dhruvadevi, and Ramagupta has reluctantly agreed to these terms after pressure from his ministers.
In Act I, Ramagupta's younger brother Chandragupta tries to find an alternative to these dishonourable terms. He thinks of raising a vetala (a mythical vampire-like creature), presumably to magically use it against the enemy. While he discusses this topic with the jester (vidushaka) Atreya, a maid arrives with the queen's robe. The maid is taking the robe to Madhavasena, a courtesan and a common friend of Chandragupta and the queen (presumably as a parting gift from the queen, before she is sent to the enemy camp). The maid asks Chandragupta where Madhavasena is, and goes away to find her. Chandragupta gets the idea of going to the enemy camp disguised as the queen, and killing the Shaka ruler. He goes off the stage to disguise himself as a woman. Later, as Chandragupta is about to depart for the enemy camp, Atreya is concerned about him going alone among the enemies. Chandragupta declares that a single lion forces many deer to run away: a hero doesn't care about being outnumbered.
In Act II, Ramagupta tries to dissuade Chandragupta from going to the enemy camp, stating that he would rather lose the queen than his brother. The king says, "Abide by my words, I dare not abandon you for my love for you is too strong. I have decided to give away the queen like a straw." The queen, who overhears the conversation from a distance, thinks that her husband is talking to another woman, and misunderstands the conversation to believe that her husband is abandoning her for another woman. She becomes angry with the king, which apparently forebodes evil for the king, although the exact sequel is not clear from the surviving fragments.
In Act III, it is reported that Chandragupta has killed the Shaka king. In either Act III or Act IV (not clear from the surviving extracts), he observes Dhruvadevi's feelings: she no longer loves the king Ramagupta, and is "full of shame, anger, despair, fear and discontent".
In Act IV, Chandragupta and Madhavasena share an intimate moment. He tells her that his heart is already "bound by her qualities", and asks her to bind him "with her arms, necklace and girdle". Perhaps, in the preceding scene (which is not part of the surviving fragments), she warns him that he is in danger of being literally bound, presumably as a result of a plot against him or on the orders of his brother Ramagupta.
In Act V, the last act from which any quotations survive, Chandragupta is in some kind of danger. To protect himself, he feigns madness on his way to the court (apparently that of king Ramagupta). He tries to conceal the development of his love for someone (not clear who), and is slightly afraid of his rival (again, not clear who). This scene is accompanied by two Prakrit-language songs in the Arya metre. The first song describes the moonrise, portraying Chandragupta as the moon ("Chandra" in Sanskrit) who has destroyed the darkness.
It is not clear from the surviving fragments who Chandragupta's rival in the last act is. But modern scholars theorize that the rival is his brother Ramagupta, and the person he tries to conceal his love for is Dhruva-devi. The rest of the plot may be reconstructed as follows: Ramagupta's public image suffers as a result of his decision to surrender his wife to an enemy, while Chandragupta is regarded as a hero by the subjects. Ramagupta grows jealous of his brother, and tries to persecute him. Chandragupta feigns madness to escape his brother's enmity, but ultimately kills him, becomes the new king, and marries Dhruva-devi (see Historicity below).
Fragments
The original text of the play is now lost, but its extracts survive as quotations in the later works. Thirteen passages from the play have been quoted in four different works on dramaturgy. Some sources also refer to it without quoting passages from it.
Natya-darpana
Six quotations from the play can be found in Natya-darpana, a work on dramaturgy authored by the Jain scholars Ramachandra and Gunachandra:
The first quotation features Ramagupta talking to his younger brother Chandragupta. Chandragupta is ready to go to the enemy camp disguised as the queen Dhruva-svamini, who overhears this conversation, but misunderstands it to interpret that Ramagupta is in love with another woman and is ready to abandon her. The second quotation, taken from the Act IV of the play, mentions Chandragupta's love affair with a courtesan called Madhavasena. The third quotation describes the plight of the queen Dhruvadevi (alias Dhruva-samini), when she becomes aware that her husband has decided to surrender her to the enemy. The fourth quotation is a single verse in which Chandragputa flirts with Madhavasena using vulgar language. The authors of Natya-darpana state that such vulgar language is allowed when the heroine is a courtesan. The fifth quotation, taken from the Act II, repeats some content from the first quotation. It describes that Ramagupta had agreed to surrender his queen to the Shaka king. Chandragupta wants to go to the enemy camp disguised as the queen, and kill the enemy. However, Ramagupta tells Chandragupta, "Abide by my words, I dare not abandon you for my love for you is too strong. I have decided to give away the queen like a straw." Dhruvadevi overhears this conversation, and thinks that Ramagupta is addressing another woman. The sixth quotation, taken from Act V, describes the moon ("Chandra") entering the mansion of the sky after having destroyed the darkness (that is, Chandragupta's entering the palace after having destroyed his enemies). Chandragupta, who was feigning insanity, trying to conceal his love-sickness, and slightly fearful of the enemy, exits the stage to proceed to the palace.
Bhoja's works
Three passages from the play appear in Bhoja's Shringara-Prakasha and Sarasvati-kanthabharana.
The first passage, from Shringara-Prakasha, mentions that Chandragupta, disguised as a woman, went to the enemy camp in Alipura, to kill the Shakapati (the Shaka lord). In the second passage, also from Shringara-Prakasha, the clown (vidushaka) tries to dissuade Chandragupta from going to the enemy camp, as he would be alone. Chandragputa dismisses his concern, declaring that for a brave man, being outnumbered doesn't matter. The third passage, same as the fourth quotation featured in the Natya-darpana, describes Chandragupta flirting with a lady. However, the lady's name is Vasanta-sena instead of Madhava-sena.
Majmal-ut-Tawarikh adaptation
Abul Hasan Ali's Majmal-ut-Tawarikh (1026 CE / 417 AH) is the Persian language translation of an Arabic language book. The Arabic work itself is a translation of an unspecified Sanskrit ("Hindwani") work. The text includes a story which appears to be based on the plot of Devichandraguptam. The story is about two royal brothers, Rawwal and Barkamaris: Rawwal succeeds their father as the king, and takes a princess who is attracted to Barkarmaris. When an enemy king besieges Rawwal's fort and demands him to surrender the princess, Barkarmis and his soldiers enter the enemy camp disguised as women, and kill the enemy king and nobles. Rawwal's wazir Safar instigates him against Barkamaris, forcing Barkamaris to feign insanity and become a mendicant. Later, Barkarmis kills Rawwal, takes back the princess, and becomes the king. The character Rawwal seems to be based on Ramagupta, and Barkamaris seems to be based on Chandragupta II alias Vikramaditya.
Plot
After the death of king Ayand, his son Rasal succeeded him on the throne. Sometime later, a rebel usurped the throne, and expelled Rasal from the kingdom. Rasal migrated southwards, and established his authority there. He had two sons: Rawwal, who became the king after his death, and Barkamaris, who was very handsome and wise.
A princess, who was famous for intelligence, was sought by all the Hindu kings and princes, but she was attracted only to Barkamaris. When Barkamaris brought her home, Rawwal took her and her handmaids instead. Barkamaris believed that the princess had chosen him for his wisdom, and therefore, decided that there was nothing better than pursuing wisdom. Over time, he became exceptionally wise by devoting himself to studies and interacting with the learned people.
Meanwhile, the rebel who had expelled Rasal heard about the princess, and invaded Rawwal's territory. Rawwal fled to a strong hill fortress, accompanied by his brothers and nobles, but the enemy besieged the fort. Facing a certain defeat, Rawwal decided to negotiate a peace treaty. The enemy demanded the princess as well as one girl from each of Rawwal's chiefs, stating that he would give these girls to his own officers. Rawwal's blind wazir (chief advisor) Safar advised him to surrender the women, and live to fight the enemy another day. Rawwal agreed to the suggestion, but then Barkamaris arrived, and requested to be allowed to propose an alternative.
After being informed of all the facts, Barkarmis proposed that he and sons of Rawwal's chiefs enter the enemy camp disguised as women. Each youth would carry a concealed knife and trumpet. When the enemy king retires with Barkamaris (disguised as the princess), Barkamaris would kill him and sound the trumpet: on hearing this, the other youths would similarly kill the enemy chiefs, and blow their trumpets. On hearing these trumpets, Rawwal would attack the rival camp with his army, and exterminate the enemy forces.
Rawwal agreed to the proposal, and the enemy was decisively defeated. As a result of this victory, Rawwal's power greatly increased. However, subsequently, the wazir Safar aroused the king's suspicions against Barkamaris, who feigned madness to escape the king's wrath.