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 Krsna, 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 Vajranabha, Prabhavati's father. Based on
an extensive episode of the Harivansa (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.