Mattavilasa Prahasana (the Sport of Drunkards) was written by the versatile Pallava ruler and scholar Mahendravikramavarman or Mahendravarman I, a contemporary of Harsha.
Set in the Pallava capital of Kanchipuram, this little farce treats of a drunken Shaivite ascetic named Kapali or Satysoma, who loses the skull which he uses as begging bowl and accuses a Buddhist monk Nagasena of stealing it. After a drawn -out argument involving satirical dialogue, in which other dissolute mendicants of various persuasions and both sexes are involved, it is found that the skull has been stolen by a dog. Replete with Rabelaisian humour, this short one-act play in Sanskrit throws a flood of light on the life of the 7th century India.
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