The Pradyumnabhyudaya of Ravivarman

The Pradyumnabhyudaya (“The Felicity of Pradyumna”) is a Sanskrit play in five acts by King Ravivarman of Kerala, who lived in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Its chief hero is the handsome and charming Pradyumna, who is a son of the Hindu god K???a, and simultaneously the rebirth of Kamadeva, the God of Love. The play recounts the romance of the young Pradyumna with a demon princess named Prabhavati, and the defeat in the battle against Vajra?abha, Prabhavati’s father. Based on an extensive episode of the Hariva?sa (perhaps 3rd century CE), the Pradyumnabhyudaya appears to have been the first brahminical work of courtly Sanskrit drama to feature Pradyumna as its hero. In this book, Christopher R. Austin offers a complete translation of the Pradyumnabhyudaya in a European language for the first time, accompanied by an introduction and annotation that provide insight into the rich mythic and poetic context of the play, as well as its historical moment of creation. The book also provides a new romanized text of the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series edition of the play originally prepared by T. Ga?apati Sastri in 1910, and includes Sastri’s original notes and annotations concerning his manuscript sources.