prakaraṇa

A prakarana is a type of Sanskrit drama that features fictional situations from ordinary life. Unlike plays based on epic material, prakarana dramas are the invention of the author, though they may draw from narrative literature.12

In Sanskrit theatre, characters of different social standings spoke different languages. While educated male characters used Sanskrit, women and less educated characters spoke various forms of Prakrit, which are Middle Indo-Aryan languages related to Sanskrit. This linguistic convention allowed playwrights to reflect different social strata within their plays. A notable example of a prakarana play is Mṛcchakaṭikā (The Little Clay Cart), which depicts the lives of an impoverished merchant and a courtesan.23