Krishna Misra Yati was a famous playwright of Sanskrit theatre. This well-known Sanskrit theatre writer is best known for his allegorical Prabodha candrodaya i.e. `Rise of the Moon of Enlightenment`. According to the prologue, it was written and performed as part of the festivities celebrating the victory of Kirtivarman in 1049-1100 over the armies of Karnadeva, around 1065. Thus the date is known with certainty. Krishna Misra was an ascetic and follower of Adi Sankaracharya, the great exponent of Advaita Vedanta. This great Sanskrit Theatre Personality based his play on the love story of Puranjana and Puranjani in the Bhagavata Purana, which dramatizes the supreme truth of Advaita schools of Vedanta and ridicules the tenets of other schools of philosophy. The evil king Error appears as ruler of Varanasi surrounded by his faithful adherents, the Faults and Vices, while Dharma and the noble king Reason accompanied by all Virtues have been banished. A prophecy states that reason will revert to revelation and the fruit of the union will be true knowledge, which will destroy the reign of Error. The struggle for this union and consummation, followed by the final triumph of good, forms the plot. The allegory offers remarkable theatrical possibilities. Thus this prominent Sanskrit theatre personality, Krishna Misra Yati introduced a new trend in medieval Sanskrit drama, and infused an air of freshness in Sanskrit theatre.

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