Bhatta Narayana is the author of the heroic Sanskrit drama Venisamhara (braiding the hair). Bhattanarayana lived in the 8th century CE in Bengal and was one of the five brahmins from Kanyakubja to have been invited by the Bengal king Adisura to settle in his kingdom. Venisamhara is a popular drama considered as a model play, and is based on the popular Hindu epic the Mahabharata. Rhetoricians like Vamana, Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta and writers on dramatic techniques like Dhananjaya praise this drama as a storehouse for citing illustrations on the application of the canons of dramaturgy.
Composed in six acts, the work dramatizes the incidents of
Yudhishthira losing Draupadi in the game of dice; Duhshasana insulting Draupadi
in the presence of elders and attempting to disrobe her, through without
success; and the Pandava hero Bhima swearing to braid Draupadi’s hair (veni)
with his own hands with Duryodhana’s blood. The vira-rasa (heroic statement),
mixed with fury and violence, is delineated in this drama. The entire
Mahabharata war is succinctly dramatized in this work, culminating in Bhima
fulfilling his pledge. The author’s erudition in all the systems of Hindu
philosophy and his acquaintance with the enormous mass of the Puranic lore are
evident in the drama.
The mention of Draupadi swearing that she would not tie her
hair loosened by Duhshasana while dragging her to the royal assembly from her
apartment is not found in most of the recensions of the Mahabharata. This
became a popular legend only after this drama.
The drama basically deals with the final war that takes
place during the narrative in the Mahabharata and incidents like the game of
dice are recalled only in conversations.
Rhetoricians say that there should be suspense till the last
act so that the play holds the interest of the spectators. Accordingly, the
dramatist introduces a character called Charvaka in the last act and he informs
Yudhishthira that Duryodhana is coming with Bhima’s blood in his hands. Unable
to bear this news, Yudhishthira decides to immolate himself. But on seeing
Bhima he mistakes him to be Duryodhana and is about to let off an arrow against
him. Sahadeva brings Charvaka to the scene (who confesses to his falsehood) and
Yudhishthira understands the machinations of Duryodhana. In various works on
poetics, the author is cited as a model in the use of alamkara (rhetoric) for
conveying Vira-rasa in Vaidarbhi style.
The dramatist makes Bhima appear on the stage in all fury, immediately after the introduction without any sage direction, which in turn prepares a perfect context for later delineation of vira rasa. The author is also noted for kaku – the communication of a sentence intonation.