Chapter 1Characters

VUTHSA UDAIAN, King of Cowsamby. YOUGUNDHARˆAYAN, his Minister, until recently Regent of Cowsamby. ROOMUNWATH, Captain of his armies. ALURCA VASUNTHA H young men of Vuthsa’s age, his friends and com- panions. PARENACA, the King’s door-keeper. CHUNDA MAHASEGN, King of Avunthy. GOPˆALACA VICURNA H his sons. R´EBHA, Governor of Ujjayiny, the capital of Avunthy. A CAPTAIN of Avunthy. UNGˆARICˆA, Queen of Avunthy. VˆASAVADUTTˆA, daughter of Chunda Mahasegn and Ungarica. UMBˆA, her handmaiden. MUNJOOLICˆA, the servile name of Bundhumathie, the captive Princess of Sourashtra, serving Vasavadutta. A KIRˆATHA WOMAN.

The action of the romance takes place a century after the war of the Mahabharata; the capital has been changed to Cowsamby; the empire has been temporarily broken and the kingdoms of India are overshadowed by three powers, Magadha in the East ruled by Pradyotha, Avunthy in the West ruled by Chunda Mahasegn who has subdued also the Southern kings, and Cowsamby in the Centre where Yougundharayan strives by arms and policy to maintain the house of Parikshith against the dominating power of Avunthy. Recently since the young Vuthsa has been invested with the regal power and appeared at [ ], Chunda Mahasegn, till then invincible, has suffered rude but not decisive reverses. For the moment there is an armed peace between the two empires. The fable is taken from Somadeva’s Kathasaritsagara (the Ocean of the Rivers of Many Tales) and was always a favourite subject of Indian romance and drama; but some of the circum- stances, a great many of the incidents and a few of the names have been altered or omitted and others introduced in their place. Vuthsa, the name of the nation in the tale, is in the play used as a personal name of the King Udaian.