Question

Mahendravarman wrote which of the following plays?
A) Dasakumara charita
B) Kiratarjuniya
C) Mattavilasa Prahasana
D) Bhagavadajjukam

Answer 1

Hint: Mahendravarman in the early seventh century, was a Pallava monarch who governed the southern portion of what is now Andhra Pradesh and the northern regions of what is now Tamil Nadu in India. He was a scholar, painter, architect, and musician, among other things.

Complete answer:
Mattavilasa Prahasana is a satire that mocks the heretical Kapalika and Pasupata Saivite sects, as well as Buddhists and Jainists.

Let us look at the given options:
A) Dasakumara charita: This option is incorrect because Dasakumara charita was written by Dandin. Dain was a Sanskrit grammarian and prose romance author from India. He is regarded as one of Asia's most well-known novelists.
B) Kiratarjuniya: This option is incorrect because Kiratarjuniya was written by Bharavi. Bharavi was a Sanskrit poet best known for his epic poem Kiratarjuniya, one of Classical Sanskrit's six mahakavyas.
C) Mattavilasa Prahasana: This is the correct answer. Mattavilasa Prahasana is a short Sanskrit play with only one act. It is one of two outstanding one-act plays written in Tamil Nadu by Pallava King Mahendravarman I in the early seventh century.
D) Bhagavadajjukam: This option is correct because Mahendravarman I wrote two plays: Mattavilasa Prahasana, a sanskrit satire, and Bhagavadajjuka, a comedy in Sanskrit.

Thus, the correct answer is Option C) Mattavilasa Prahasana and D) Bhagavadajjuka.

Note: The play takes place in Kanchipuram, the seventh-century capital of the Pallava dynasty. The play centres on Satya Soma, a Kapalika mendicant, and Devasoma, his wife, as well as the disappearance and return of their skull-bowl. An argument between an intoxicated Kapali and a Buddhist monk is depicted in the play. After a long debate, the inebriated Kapali suspects the Buddhist monk of taking his begging bowl made of a skull, but it is later discovered that it was stolen by a dog.