262 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [{July, 1913. 
‘* Mahabrahmana’’ is used in good sense,! as we have it in the 
ancient literature,? and not in the bad sense, that of the 
‘funeral priest’ as we find it used in the Maha-Bharata. Like- 
wise we get Aryaputra’ and Ayyaputto in the sense of Kum- 
ara, ‘Prince,’ as in the Siddapur inscription of Asoka. Again, 
in describing the proud family of Udayana, the house of the 
Bharatas, Bhasa identifies it ni the Bharatas of the Veda,’ 
an identification forgotten when the Puranas were written and 
oe ee to light and emphasized by ‘European scholars of 
tr days. Yakshini occurs as a female evil spirit as in the 
easly Buddhist literature.’ In telling a story the sentence 
commences with ‘‘There was King Brahmadatta® of Kdm- 
ptlya’’ "in the familiar style of the J fa taka. 
(V) Out of the twelve plays of Bhasa yet discovered, nine 
pieces dramatise epic stories like those which were staged 
when the Mahi-Bhashya was written. His Pavicha-Ratra (‘‘ the 
Five Nights’ 5% has for its theme the exile of the Pandavas at 
the Virata capital, the war between them and the Kauravas 
in the Virata territory, and Duryodhana’s promise, made before 
that war to Drona, to give half the kingdom to the Pandavas, 
if Drona discovered them i _ five nights —a version unknown to 
our present Maha-Bharata 
above considerations force upon us the conclusion 
that the works of Bhasa are ancient in the classical Sanskrit 
literature and that as dramas idea are the oldest yet discov- 
| §. Vasava., P, 42. 
: Cf. Brit déhad-Aranyaka Ap, u, t 
ba 
3 §. Vasava., pp. 69. he’s mbassador of Pradyota addresses 
the son-in-law of hi is master Udayana as caryRe 
+ Veda Bkahaneemmardyerpro shto P blew Varokak Prati.-Y aug., 
6 es 
6 sak caleale aii based on the date of the Puranas shows that 
Brahmadatts Sey Bonk 250 years before the Buddha. 
asava., p -55. 
Me 8 There is pe pce hiatee which we do not find in the 
Maha-Bharata. Arjuna s son Abhimanyu fights on the side of Duryo 
t sone r. 
ker res on the Maha-Bharata are: the Diita- — based 
n some incident after the death of eiuhiacninad (2) the Madhyama- 
ree which seems to have Bhima-sena as its hero Fre: Hidimva ; 
e Kar 
a n : 
Thigh ” (of Duryo-dhana), S. Vasava, ; ok iii (The information 
perry Pare from the introduction to the Regma V devoaitale a by Mr. Gan 
Vhen 
we cee be in pos on of another version of =e story a the 
