Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadatta: With the commentary of Dhundiraja

Thye Mudrarakshasa, unlike the majority of sanskrit plays, is purely a political drama. It has for its theme, besides elevation of Chandragupta to the throne of Magadha, wining over of Rakashsa, the hostile minister of the Nanda dynasty to the side of Chandragupta and adoption of measures to strenghen the rule by Chankaya, the renowned politician of his times. In the words of H.H.Wilson; It is a historical or political drama, and represents a curious staste of public morals, in wich fraud and assassination are the simple means by which inconvenient obligations are open enemies removed. It is not howere , that such acts are not held in themselves as crimies, orthat their perpetrators, if instigated by vugar vice or ferocity, are not condemned as culprits; it is only when the commission of the crime proposes a poliotical end that it is represented as venial, and is compatible with an amiable. it includes the commentary of Dhundiaja, English translation, critical and explanatory notes, Introduction and verious readings .

Review:

It is a historical or political drama, and represents a curious state of public morals, in which fraud and assassination are the simple means by which inconvenient obligations are acquitted, and troublesome friends or open enemies removed. - H.H. Wilsom