harbors and manifests it. Pure knowledge does not destroy, but rather manifests ignorance. Hence, in Krishna·mishra’s play, ignorance and knowledge are cousins, as are the Kauravas and the Pandavas of the great epic. The infinite pure Self chooses to be ensnared by illusion, and then does not strive to free itself. Those who act to free the Self are characters who are themselves the kin of illusion. In fine, they are all bound together, and our initial dichotomous, opposition thinking fails.
What a wonderful portrayal of the inner history of the spirit.
J.N. Mohanty
Philadelphia
12 September, 2008
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INTRODUCTION
T hroughout the long history of the Sanskrit literary tradition, few texts have enjoyed a success comparable to that of “The Rise of Wisdom Moon” (Prabodhacandrodaya), the sole extant work of the otherwise unknown playwright Krishna·mishra·yati, or Krishna·mishra “the ascetic” (yati). Composed during the mid eleventh century in north-central India, it came to be translated numerous times over the centuries into both Indian and foreign languages, and was the subject of as many as a dozen Sanskrit commentaries. What is more, “The Rise of Wisdom Moon” is generally credited with having given birth to a distinctive genre of Sanskrit drama, that of the allegorical play. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Krishna·mishra’s creation has earned high praise indeed.
“The Rise of Wisdom Moon” entered the Western canon of Sanskrit studies early in the nineteenth century: an English translation by J. Taylor appeared in Bombay in 1812 and has been intermittently reprinted ever since; and in 1845 an edition of the Sanskrit text, prepared by Hermann Brockhaus, was published in Leipzig, Germany. By the end of that century, Krishna·mishra’s work was available in German (1820, 1842, 1846), Russian (1847), Dutch (1869) and French (1899) versions in addition to Taylor’s pioneering effort.1 We will examine aspects of the historical background for the early success of “The Rise of Wisdom Moon” in the West later in this introduction. At the outset, however, it will be useful to be familiar with the story told in the play itself.
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Plot Summary
As the scene opens, following the required benedictions, the Stage-manager relates that he has received an order from Gopala, a lord allied with king Kirti·varman. Gopala, thanks to his valiant conduct in battle, has succeeded in restoring Kirti·varman to the throne after the latter had suffered defeat at the hands of his rival Karna, the ruler of the kingdom of Chedi. Following a period of boisterous celebration, Gopala feels that the time has come to extol the virtue of spiritual peace, and so commands that “The Rise of Wisdom Moon,” a work composed by his own guru Krishna·mishra, be performed before the king. The Stage-manager, speaking to his actress wife of Gopala’s heroism, recites a verse comparing the downfall of Karna and reinstallation of Kirti·varman to spiritual intuition’s overcoming of ignorance, and the birth of wisdom that thereby ensues. The frame of the allegory is thus introduced, together with its protagonists Intuition, Magnus Nescience, and Wisdom Moon.
At the recitation of this verse a commotion is heard backstage: Kama, or Lord Lust in our translation, is indignant that his master Magnus Nescience should be disparaged by a mere actor, and he airs his complaint to his wife, Lady Passion. She, however, senses that Intuition and his party may be more formidable than her husband believes and raises a delicate question: is it true, as she has heard, that Lust—and by implication Magnus Nescience with his entire faction—in fact share common origins with their hated enemies, Intuition and his allies? Lust confirms her suspi- cions in revealing that Nescience and Intuition are pater- _______
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nal half-siblings, having been born to one or another of the two wives of Thought, and that the latter, in turn, was the unique son of the Supreme Lord’s marriage with Maya, the cosmic illusion underlying all creation. Intuition and Magnus Nescience, therefore, are now the chiefs of two rival, but consanguine, clans.
Lust also reveals to Passion a terrifying secret: he has heard a prophecy that a spell-wielding demoness, Scientia, will arise to put an end to both branches of the family at once. Her birth, like that of her brother Wisdom Moon, will follow from Intuition’s marriage to Lady Upanishad. As Lust loudly condemns those who would thus seek to destroy their own clan, a new commotion is heard. But this time it is Intuition reacting in his turn to Lust’s deprecations of him.
Intuition now discusses the family’s fate with his wife, Lady Intelligence, seeking to explain just how it is that the Supreme Lord—the highest principle that is the true and eternal Self, or Brahman—came to be entangled in the snares of Illusion, who has lulled the Lord into a profound, fitful sleep. When Intelligence inquires as to what might be done to rouse him so that he may be awakened once again, Intuition is embarrassed. Fearing his wife’s reaction, he hesitates to reveal that she will have to accept Upanishad as her co-wife. Intelligence, however, assures him that she is not one given to jealousy. As the first act concludes, they plot together to bring about Intuition’s union with Upanishad so that Wisdom Moon may be born.
The setting shifts to Varanasi, where the second act begins. The holy city, a place promising liberation on this ____
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earth, is now in the clutches of one of Magnus Nescience’s main henchmen, Hypocrite, who has adopted the guise of a pious brahmin. A boastful stranger arrives, seeking to find lodging in Hypocrite’s household, but the two merely annoy one another before realizing that they are in fact close relations; for the stranger is Egoismo, the “I-maker,” who is the source of our conviction that we are discrete selves, separate from both the true and absolute self, as well as from one another. Hypocrite is none other than his grandson, the child of Lady Craving and Lord Greed. Their entire branch of the family, it emerges, has been ordered to Varanasi by Magnus Nescience, who soon arrives on stage with much fanfare. It is not long before he is joined by Hedonist, the representative of worldliness and materialism, and here embodying the deepest folly into which philosophical thinking can fall.
Although Hedonist reports the victory of Nescience’s forces in the world at large, he has also learned of a possible source of danger to their faction: there is a powerful female adept, Hail Vishnu, now active, who poses a threat that can- not be ignored. Nescience orders her elimination, but then discovers that he faces an additional problem. A messenger from Orissa, where the great temple of Jagan·natha is in the hands of Nescience’s minions, brings the unwelcome news that the ladies Peace and Faith are serving as go-betweens to arrange Intuition’s marriage with Upanishad. Moreover, Lex, Dharma in Sanskrit, personifying the laws, duties and regulations of the world, was until recently allied with Lust, but now seems to have befriended Dispassion and is therefore changing camps. Nescience, furious at this defection, ________
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