History of Sanskrit Literature -10 (BY ARTHUR A. MACDONELL

History of Sanskrit Literature

(BY

ARTHUR A. MACDONELL, M. A., Ph.D.

BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT)

Besides the epigraphic evidence of the Gupta period,

we have two important literary prose inscriptions of considerable

length, one from Girnar and the other from

Nasik, both belonging to the second century A.D. They

show that even then there existed a prose Kavya style

which, in general character and in many details, resembled

that of the classical tales and romances. For

they not only employ long and frequent compounds, but

also the ornaments of alliteration and various kinds of

simile and metaphor. Their use of poetical figures is,

however, much less frequent and elaborate, occasionally

not going beyond the simplicity of the popular epic.

They are altogether less artificial than the prose parts

of Harishena's Kavya, and a fortiori than the works of

Dandin, Subandhu, and Bana. From the Girnar inscription

it appears that its author must have been acquainted

with a theory of poetics, that metrical Kavyas

conforming to the rules of the Vidarbha style were composed

in his day, and that poetry of this kind was cultivated

at the courts of princes then as in later times. It

cannot be supposed that Kavya literature was a new inven322

SANSKRIT LITERATURE

tion of the second century ;

it must, on the contrary, have

passed through a lengthened development before that

time. Thus epigraphy not merely confirms the evidence

of the Mahabhdshya that artificial court poetry originated

before the commencement of our era, but shows that

that poetry continued to be cultivated throughout the

succeeding centuries.

These results of the researches of the late Professor

Biihler and of Mr. Fleet render untenable Professor Max

Miiller's well-known theory of the renaissance of Sanskrit

literature in the sixth century, which was set forth by

that scholar with his usual brilliance in India, what can

it Teach us? and which held the field for several years.

Professor Max Miiller's preliminary assertion that the

Indians, in consequence of the incursions of the (^akas

(Scythians) and other foreigners, ceased from literary

activity during the first two centuries A.D., is refuted by

the evidence of the last two inscriptions mentioned above.

Any such interruption of intellectual life during that

period is, even apart from epigraphical testimony, rendered

highly improbable by other considerations. The

Scythians, in the first place, permanently subjugated

only about one-fifth of India ; for their dominion, which

does not appear to have extended farther east than

Mathura (Muttra), was limited to the Panjab, Sindh,

Gujarat, Rajputana, and the Central Indian Agency.

The conquerors, moreover, rapidly became Hinduised.

Most of them already had Indian names in the second

generation. One of them, Ushabhadata (the Sanskrit

Rishabhadatta), described his exploits in an inscription

composed in a mixture of Sanskrit and Prakrit.

Kanishka himself (78 A.D.), as well as his successors,

was a patron of Buddhism ; and national Indian archiTHE

RENAISSANCE THEORY 323

tecture and sculpture attained a high development at

Mathura under these rulers. When the invaders thus

rapidly acquired the civilisation of the comparatively

small portion of India they conquered, there is no

reason to assume the suppression of literary activity in

that part of the country, much less in India as a whole.

The main thesis of Professor Max Miiller is, that in

the middle of the sixth century A.D. the reign of a King

Vikramaditya of Ujjain, with whom tradition connected

the names of Kalidasa and other distinguished authors,

was the golden age of Indian court poetry. This

renaissance theory is based on Fergusson's ingenious

chronological hypothesis that a supposed King Vikrama

of Ujjain, having expelled the Scythians from India,

in commemoration of his victory founded the Vikrama

era in 544 A.D., dating its commencement back 600

years to 57 B.C. The epigraphical researches Of Mr.

Fleet have destroyed Fergusson's hypothesis. From

these researches it results that the Vikrama era of 57 B.C.,

far from having been founded in 544 A.D., had already

been in use for more than a century previously under

the name of the Malava era (which came to be called

the Vikrama era about 800 A.D.). It further appears

that no ^akas (Scythians) could have been driven out

of Western India in the middle of the sixth century,

because that country had already been conquered by

the Guptas more than a hundred years before. Lastly,

it turns out that, though other foreign conquerors, the

Hunas, were actually expelled from Western India in

the first half of the sixth century, they were driven out,

not by a Vikramaditya, but by a king named Yaeodharman

Vishnuvardhana.

Thus the great King Vikramaditya vanishes from

324 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

the historical ground of the sixth century into the

realm of myth. With Vikramaditya an often-quoted

but ill-authenticated verse occurring in a work of the

sixteenth century associates Dhanvantari, Kshapanaka,

Amarasimha, Varahamihira, and Vararuchi as among

the " nine gems

"

of his court. With the disappearance

of Vikrama from the sixth century A.D. this verse has

lost all chronological validity with reference to the

date of the authors it enumerates ;

it is even inadmissible

to conclude from such legendary testimony

that they were contemporaries. Even though one of

them, Varahamihira, actually does belong to the sixth

century, each of them can now only be placed in

the sixth century separately and by other arguments.

Apart from the mythical Vikramaditya, there is now

no reason to suppose that court poetry attained a

special development in that century, for Harishena's

paneygyric, and some other epigraphic poems of the

Gupta period, show that it flourished greatly at least

two hundred years earlier.

None of the other arguments by which it has

been attempted to place Kalidasa separately in the

sixth century have any cogency. One of the chief

of these is derived from the explanation given by

the fourteenth - century commentator, Mallinatha, of

the word digndga,

"

world-elephant," occurring in the

14th stanza of Kalidasa's Meghaduta. He sees in it

a punning allusion to Dignaga, a hated rival of the

poet. This explanation, to begin with, is extremely

dubious in itself. Then it is uncertain whether Mallinatha

means the Buddhist teacher Dignaga. Thirdly,

little weight can be attached to the Buddhistic tradition

that Dignaga was a pupil of Vasubandhu, for this

DATE OF KALIDASA 325

statement is not found till the sixteenth century.

Fourthly, the assertion that Vasubandhu belongs to

the sixth century depends chiefly on the Vikramaditya

theory, and is opposed to Chinese evidence, which indicates

that works of Vasubandhu were translated in

A.D. 404. Thus every link in the chain of this argument

is very weak.

The other main argument is that Kalidasa must have

lived after Aryabhata (A.D. 499), because he shows a

knowledge of the scientific astronomy borrowed from

the Greeks. But it has been shown by Dr. Thibaut

that an Indian astronomical treatise, undoubtedly

written under Greek influence, the Romaka Siddhdnta,

is older than Aryabhata, and cannot be placed later

than A.D. 400. It may be added that a passage of

Kalidasa's Raghuvamga (xiv. 40) has been erroneously

adduced in support of the astronomical argument, as

implying that eclipses of the moon are due to the

shadow of the earth : it really refers only to the spots

in the moon as caused, in accordance with the doctrine

of the Puranas, by a reflection of the earth.

Thus there is, in the present state of our knowledge,

good reason to suppose that Kalidasa lived not in the

sixth, but in the beginning of the fifth century A.D.

The question of his age, however, is not likely to be

definitely solved till the language, the style, and the

poetical technique of each of his works have been

minutely investigated, in comparison with datable epigraphic

documents, as well as with the rules given by

the oldest Sanskrit treatises on poetics.

As the popular epic poetry of the Mahdbhdrata

was the chief source of the Puranas, so the Rdmdyani

the earliest artificial epic, was succeeded, though after

326 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

a long interval of time, by a number of Kavyas ranging

from the fifth to the twelfth century. While in the

old epic poetry form is subordinated to matter, it is of

primary importance in the Kavyas, the matter becoming

more and more merely a means for the display of

tricks of style. The later the author of a Kavya is, the

more he seeks to win the admiration of his audience

by the cleverness of his conceits and the ingenuity of

his diction, appealing always to the head rather than

the heart. Even the very best of the Kavyas were composed

in more strict conformity, with fixed rules than

the poetry of any other country. For not only is the

language dominated by the grammatical rules of Panini,

but the style is regulated by the elaborate laws about

various forms of alliteration and figures of speech laid

down in the treatises on poetics.

The two most important Kavyas are Kalidasa's Raghuvamqa

and Kumdra - sambhavay both distinguished by

independence of treatment as well as considerable

poetical beauty. They have several stanzas in common,

many others which offer but slight variations, and

a large number of passages which, though differing in

expression, are strikingly analogous in thought. In

both poems, too, the same metre is employed to describe

the same situation. In both poems each canto

is, as a rule, composed in one metre, but changes with

the beginning of the new canto. The prevailing metres

are the classical form of the anushtubh and the upajdti,

a development of the Vedic trishtubh.

^c The Raghuvam$a, or " Race of Raghu," which consists

of nineteen cantos, describes the life of Rama together

with an account of his forefathers and successors. The

first nine cantos deal with his nearest four ancestors,

THE RAGHUVAMgA 327

beginning with Dillpa and his son Raghu. The story

of Rama occupies the next six (x.-xv.), and agrees pretty

closely with that in the Ramdyana of Valmlki, whom

Kalidasa here (xv. 41) speaks of as "the first poet."

The following two cantos are concerned with the

three nearest descendants of Rama, while the last two

run through the remainder of twenty-four kings who

reigned in Ayodhya as his descendants, ending rather

abruptly with the death of the voluptuous King Agnivarna.

The names of these successors of Rama agree

closely with those in the list given in the Vishnu-purana.

The narrative in the Raghuvamca moves with some

rapidity, not being too much impeded by long descriptions.

It abounds with apt and striking similes

and contains much genuine poetry, while the style,

for a Kavya, is simple, though many passages are undoubtedly

too artificial for the European taste. The

following stanza, sung by a bard whose duty it is to

waken the king in the morning (v. 75), may serve as a

specimen

Theflowers to thee presented droop andfade,

The lamps have lost the wreath ofrays they shed,

Thy sweet-voicedparrot, in his cage confined,

Repeats the call we sound to waken thee.

More than twenty commentaries on the Raghuvamca

are known. The most famous is the Samjlvani of

Mallinatha, who explains every word of the text, and

who has the great merit of endeavouring to find out

and preserve the readings of the poet himself. He knew

a number of earlier commentaries, among which he

names with approval those of Dakshinavarta and Natha.

The latter no longer exist. Among the other extant

commentaries may be mentioned the Subodhini, com-

22

328 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

posed by Dinakara Micra in 1385, and the iguhitatshin&9

by a Jain named Charitravardhana, <ff which Dinakara's

work appears to be an epitome.

The Kumara-sambhava, or the " Birth of the Wargod,"

consists, when complete, of seventeen cantos.

The first ^seven are entirely devoted to the courtship

and wedding of the god (Jiva and of ParvatI,

daughter of Himalaya, the parents of the youthful god.

This fact in itself indicates that description is the

prevailing characteristic of the poem. It abounds in

that poetical miniature painting in which lies the chief

literary strength of the Indian. Affording the poet free

scope for the indulgence of his rich and original imaginative

powers, it is conspicuous for wealth of illustration.

The following rendering of a stanza in the Viyoginl metre

(in which lines of ten and eleven syllables ending iambically

alternate) may serve as a specimen. The poet

shows how the duty of a wife following her husband in

death is exemplified even by objects in Nature poetically

conceived as spouses

After the Lord of Night the moonlight goes,

Along with the cloud the lightning is dissolved :

Wives everfollow in their husbands' path j

Even things bereft of sense obey this law.

Usually the first seven cantos only are to be found in

the printed editions, owing to the excessively erotic

character of the remaining ten. The poem concludes

with an account of the destruction of the demon Taraka,

the object for which the god of war was born.

More than twenty commentaries on the KumarasambJiava

have been preserved. Several of them are by

the same authors, notably Mallinatha, as those on the

Raghuvain$a.

LATER KAVYAS 329

The subject-matter of the later Kavyas, which is

derived from the two great epics, becomes more and

more mixed up with lyric, erotic, and didactic elements.

It is increasingly regarded as a means for the display of

elaborate conceits, till at last nothing remains but bombast

and verbal jugglery. The Bhatti-kdvya, written

in Valabhl under King (^rldharasena, probably in the

seventh century, and ascribed by various commentators

to the poet and grammarian Bhartrihari (died 651 A.D.),

deals in 22 cantos with the story of Rama, but only with

the object of illustrating the forms of Sanskrit grammar.

The Kirdtdrjiinlya describes, in eighteen cantos, the

combat, first narrated in the Mahdbhdrata, between (Jiva,

in the guise of a Kirdta or mountaineer, and Arjuna. It

cannot have been composed later than the sixth century,

as its author, Bharavi, is mentioned in an inscription of

634 A.D. The fifteenth canto of this poem contains

a number of stanzas illustrating all kinds of verbal

tricks like those described in Dandin's Kdvyddarqa. Thus

one stanza (14) contains no consonant but n (excepting

a / at the end) ;

1 while each half-line in a subsequent

one (25), if its syllables be read backwards, is identical

with the other half.2

The iqupdla-vadhay or " Death of (^icupala," describes,

in twenty cantos, how that prince, son of a king of Chedi,

and cousin of Krishna, was slain by Vishnu. Having

been composed by the poet Magha, it also goes by the

name of Mdgha-kdvya. It probably dates from the ninth,

and must undoubtedly have been composed before the

end of the tenth century. The nineteenth canto is full

1 Na nonanunno nunnono nana ndnanand nanu

Nunno 'nunno nanunneno ndnend nunnanunnanut.

2 Devdkanini kdvdde, &c.

330 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

of metrical puzzles, some of a highly complex character

(e.g. 29). It contains an example of a stanza (34) which,

if read backwards, is identical with the preceding one

read in the ordinary way. At the same time this Kavya

is, as a whole, by no means lacking in poetical beauties

and striking thoughts.

The Naishadhlya (also called Naishadha-charita), in

twenty-two cantos, deals with the story of Nala, king of

Nishada, the well-known episode of the Mahdbhdrata.

It was composed by Criharsha, who belongs to the latter

half of the twelfth century.

These six artificial epics are recognised as Mahdkdvyas,

or " Great Poems," and have all been commented

on by Mallinatha. The characteristics of this higher class

are set forth by Dandin in his Kdvyddarga, or " Mirror

of Poetry

"

(i. 14-19). Their subjects must be derived r

from epic story (itihdsd), they should be extensive, and

ought to be embellished with descriptions of cities, seas,

mountains, seasons, sunrise, weddings, battles fought by

the hero, and so forth.

An extensive Mahakavya, in fifty cantos, is the Haravijaya,

or "

Victory of (Jiva," by a Kashmirian poet named

Ratnakara, who belongs to the ninth century.

Another late epic, narrating the fortunes of the same

hero as the Naishadlfiya, is the Nalodaya, or " Rise of

Nala," which describes the restoration to power of King

Nala after he had lost his all. Though attributed to

Kalidasa, it is unmistakably the product of a much later

age. The chief aim of the author is to show off his

skill in the manipulation of the most varied and artificial

metres, as well as all the elaborate tricks of style exhibited

in the latest Kavyas. Rhyme even is introduced, and that,

too, not only at the end of, but within metrical lines.

THE LATEST KAVYAS 331

The really epic material is but scantily treated, narrative

making way for long descriptions and lyrical effusions.

Thus the second and longest of the four cantos of the

poem is purely lyrical, describing only the bliss of the

newly-wedded pair, with all kinds of irrelevant additions.

The culmination of artificiality is attained by the

Rdghava-pdndaviya, a poem composed by Kaviraja, who

perhaps flourished about A.D. 800. It celebrates simultaneously

the actions of Raghava or Rama and of the

Pandava princes. The composition is so arranged that by

the use of ambiguous words and phrases the story of

the Rdmdyana and the Mahdbhdrata is told at one and the

same time. The same words, according to the sense in

which they are understood, narrate the events of each

epic. A tour de force of this kind is doubtless unique

in the literatures of the world. Kaviraja has, however,

found imitators in India itself.

A Mahakavya which is as yet only known in MS. is

the Navasdhasdnka-charita, a poem celebrating the doings

of Navasahasanka, otherwise Sindhuraja, a king of Malava,

and composed by a poet named Padmagupta, who

lived about 1000 A.D. It consists of eighteen cantos,

containing over 1500 stanzas in nineteen different

metres. The poet refrains from the employment of

metrical tricks ; but he greatly impedes the progress of

the narrative by introducing interminable speeches and

long-winded descriptions.

We may mention, in conclusion, that there is also an

epic in Prakrit which is attributed to Kalidasa. This is

the Setu-bandhay

"

Building of the Bridge," or Rdvanavadha

y

" Death of Ravana," which relates the story of

Rama. It is supposed to have been composed by the

poet to commemorate the building of a bridge of boats

/

332 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

across the Vitasta (Jhelum) by King Pravarasena of

Kashmir.

There are a few prose romances dating from the

sixth and seventh centuries, which being classed as

Kavyas by the Sanskrit writers on poetics, may be mentioned

in this place. The abundant use of immense

compounds, which of course makes them very difficult

reading, is an essential characteristic of the style of these

works. As to their matter, they contain but little action,

consisting largely of scenes which are strung together by

a meagre thread of narrative, and are made the occasion

of lengthy descriptions full of long strings of comparisons

and often teeming with puns. In spite, however,

of their highly artificial and involved style, many really

poetical thoughts may be found embedded in what to the

European taste is an unattractive setting.

The Daga-kumdra-charita, or " Adventures of the Ten

Princes," contains stories of common life and reflects a

corrupt state of society. It is by Dandin, and probably

dates from the sixth century A.D. Vdsavadattd, by

Subandhu, relates the popular story of the heroine

Vasavadatta, princess of Ujjayini, and Udayana, king of

Vatsa. It was probably written quite at the beginning of

the seventh century. Slightly later is Bana's Kddambarf,

a poetical romance narrating the fortunes of a princess

of that name. Another work of a somewhat similar character

by the same author is the Harsha-charita, a romance

in eight chapters, in which Bana attempts to give some

account of the life of King Harshavardhana of Kanauj.

There is, however, but little narrative. Thus in twenty-five

pages of the eighth chapter there are to be found five'

long descriptions, extending on the average to two pages,

to say nothing of shorter ones. There is, for instance,

PROSE ROMANCES HARSHA-CHARITA 333

a long disquisition, covering four pages, and full of

strings of comparisons, about the miseries of servitude.

A servant,

" like a painted bow, is for ever bent in the one

act of distending a string of imaginary virtues, but there

is no force in him ; like a heap of dust-sweepings

gathered by a broom, he carries off toilet-leavings ;

like the meal offered to the Divine Mothers, he is cast

out into space even at night ; like a pumping machine,

he has left all weight behind him and bends even for

water," and so on. Soon after comes a description, covering

two pages, of the trees in a forest. This is immediately

followed by another page enumerating the various

kinds of students thronging the wood in order to avail

themselves of the teaching of a great Buddhist sage ;

they even include monkeys busily engaged in ritual

ceremonies, devout parrots expounding a Buddhist dictionary,

owls lecturing on the various births of Buddha,

and tigers who have given up eating flesh under the

calming influence of Buddhist teaching. Next comes a

page describing the sage himself. " He was clad in a

very soft red cloth, as if he were the eastern quarter of

the sky bathed in the morning sunshine, teaching the

other quarters to assume the red Buddhist attire, while

they were flushed with the pure red glow of his body like

a ruby freshly cut." Soon after comes a long account,

bristling with puns, of a disconsolate princess lying prostrate

in the wood "lost in the forest and in thought,

bent upon death and the root of a tree, fallen upon

calamity and her nurse's bosom, parted from her husband

and happiness, burned with the fierce sunshine

and the woes of widowhood, her mouth closed with

silence as well as by her hand, and held fast by her companions

as well as by grief. I saw her with her kindred

334 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

and her graces all gone, her ears and her soul left bare,

her ornaments and her aims abandoned, her bracelets

and her hopes broken, her companions and the needlelike

grass-spears clinging round her feet, her eye and her

beloved fixed within her bosom, her sighs and her hair

long, her limbs and her merits exhausted, her aged attendants

and her streaming tears falling down at her feet,"

and so forth.

CHAPTER XII

LYRIC POETRY

(Circa 400-1100 A.D.)

Sanskrit lyrical poetry has not produced many works

of any considerable length. But among these are included

two of the most perfect creations of Kalidasa, a

writer distinguished no less in this field than as an epic

and a dramatic author. His lyrical talent is, indeed, also

sufficiently prominent in his plays.

Kalidasa's Meghadiita, or " Cloud Messenger/' is a

lyrical gem which won the admiration of Goethe. It

consists of 115 stanzas composed in the Manddkrdnta

metre of four lines of seventeen syllables. The theme

is a message which an exile sends by a cloud to his

wife dwelling far away. The idea is applied by Schiller

in his Maria Stuarty where the captive Queen of Scots

calls on the clouds as they fly southwards to greet the

land of her youth (act hi. sc. 1). The exile is a Yaksha

or attendant of Kubera, the god of wealth, who for

neglect of his duty has been banished to the groves on

the slopes of Ramagiri in Central India. Emaciated

and melancholy, he sees, at the approach of the rainy

season, a dark cloud moving northwards. The sight fills

his heart with yearning, and impels him to address to the

cloud a request to convey a message of hope to his wife

in the remote Himalaya. In the first half of the poem the

Yaksha describes with much power and beauty the various

scenes the cloud must traverse on its northward course :

335

336 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Mount Amrakuta, on whose peak it will rest after

quenching with showers the forest fires ; the Narmada,

winding at the foot of the Vindhya hills ; the town of

Vidica (Bhilsa), and the stream of the VetravatI (Betwah) ;

the city of UjjayinI (Ujjain) in the land of Avanti ; the

sacred region of Kurukshetra ; the Ganges and the

mountains from which she sprang, white with snowfields,

till Alaka on Mount Kailasa is finally reached.

In the second half of the poem the Yaksha first describes

the beauties of this city and his own dwelling

there. Going on to paint in glowing colours the charms of

his wife, her surroundings, and her occupations, he imagines

her tossing on her couch, sleepless and emaciated,

through the watches of the night. Then, when her eye

rests on the window, the cloud shall proclaim to her with

thunder-sound her husband's message, that he is still

alive and ever longs to behold her :

In creepers I discern thyform, in eyes ofstartled hinds thy glances,

And in the moon thy lovelyface, in peacocks' plumes thy shining

tresses;

The sportivefrown upon thy brow inflowing waters' tiny ripples:

But never in one place combined can I, alas / behold thy likeness.

But courage, he says ; our sorrow will end at last we

shall be re-united

And then we will our hearts' desire, grown more intense by

separation,

Enjoy in nights all glorioles and bright, with full-orbed autmnn

moonlight.

Then begging the cloud, after delivering his message,

to return with reassuring news, the exile finally dismisses

him with the hope that he may never, even for a moment,

be divided from his lightning spouse.

THE RITUSAMHARA 337

Besides the expression of emotion, the descriptive

element is very prominent in this fine poem. This is

still more true of Kalidasa's Ritusamhdra, or "Cycle of

the Seasons." That little work, which consists of

153 stanzas in six cantos, and is composed in various

metres, is a highly poetical description of the six

seasons into which classical Sanskrit poets usually

divide the Indian year. With glowing descriptions

of the beauties of Nature, in which erotic scenes

are interspersed, the poet adroitly interweaves the

expression of human emotions. Perhaps no other work

of Kalidasa's manifests so strikingly the poet's deep

sympathy with Nature, his keen powers of observation,

and his skill in depicting an Indian landscape in vivid

colours.

The poem opens with an account of summer. If the

glow of the sun is then too great during the day, the

moonlit nights are all the more delightful to lovers. The

moon, beholding the face of beauteous maidens, is beside

itself with jealousy ; then, too, it is that the heart of the

wanderer is burnt by the fire of separation. Next follows

a brilliant description of the effects of the heat : the thirst

or lethargy it produces in serpent, lion, elephant, buffalo,

boar, gazelle, peacock, crane, frogs, and fishes ; the

devastation caused by the forest fire which devours trees

and shrubs, and drives before it crowds of terror-stricken

beasts.

The close heat is succeeded by the rains, which are

announced by the approach of the dark heavy clouds

with their banner of lightning and drum of thunder.

Slowly they move accompanied by chdtaka birds, fabled

to live exclusively on raindrops, till at length they discharge

their water. The wild streams, like wanton girls,

338 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

grasp in a trice the tottering trees upon their banks, as

they rush onwards to the sea. The earth becomes

covered with young blades of grass, and the forests clothe

themselves with golden buds

The mountainsfill the soul with yearning thoughts of love,

When rain-charged clouds bend down to kiss the towering rocks,

When all around upon their slopes the streams gush down,

And throngs ofpeacocks that begin to dance are seen.

Next comes the autumn, beauteous as a newly-wedded

bride, with face of full-blown lotuses, with robe of sugarcane

and ripening rice, with the cry of flamingoes representing

the tinkling of her anklets. The graceful creepers

vie with the arms of lovely women, and the jasmine,

showing through the crimson acoka blossoms, rivals the

dazzling teeth and red lips of smiling maidens.

Winter follows, when the rice ripens, while the lotus

fades and the fields in the morning are covered with

rime

Then the Priyangu creeper, reaching ripeness,

Buffeted constantly by chilling breezes,

Grows, O Beloved, everpale andpaler,

Like lonely ?naiden fro?n her loverparted.

This is the time dear to lovers, whose joys the poet

describes in glowing colours.

In the cold season a fire and the mild rays of the

sun are pleasant. The night does not attract lovers

now, for the moonbeams are cold and the light of the

stars is pale.

The poet dwells longest on the delights of spring, the

last of the six seasons. It is then that maidens, with

karnikara flowers on their ears, with red aqoka blossoms

and sprays of jasmine in their locks, go to meet their

lovers. Then the hum of intoxicated bees is heard, and

GHATA-KARPARA CHAURA-PANCHAgiKA 339

the note of the Indian cuckoo ; then the blossoms of the

mango-tree are seen : these are the sharp arrows wherewith

the god of the flowery bow enflames the hearts of

maidens to love.

A lyric poem of a very artificial character, and consisting

of only twenty-two stanzas, is the Ghata-karpara,

or "

Potsherd," called after the author's name, which is

worked into the last verse. The date of the poet is

unknown. He is mentioned as one of the " nine gems

"

at the court of the mythical Vikramaditya in the verse

already mentioned.

The Chaura-panchdqikd, or "Fifty Stanzas of the Thief,"

is a lyrical poem which contains many beauties. Its

author was the Kashmirian Bilhana, who belongs to the

later half of the eleventh century. According to the

romantic tradition, this poet secretly enjoyed the love of

a princess, and wThen found out was condemned to death.

He thereupon composed fifty stanzas, each beginning

with the words " Even now I remember," in which he

describes with glowing enthusiasm the joys of love he

had experienced. Their effect on the king was so great

that he forgave the poet and bestowed on him the hand

of his daughter.

The main bulk of the lyrical creations of mediaeval

India are not connected poems of considerable length,

but consist of that miniature painting which, as with a few

strokes, depicts an amatory situation or sentiment in

a single stanza of four lines. These lyrics are in many

respects cognate to the sententious poetry which the

Indians cultivated with such eminent success. Bearing

evidence of great wealth of observation and depth

of feeling, they are often drawn by a master-hand.

Many of them are in matter and form gems of perfect

34o SANSKRIT LITERATURE

beauty. Some of their charm is, however, lost in translation

owing to the impossibility of reproducing the

elaborate metres employed in the original. Several

Sanskrit poets composed collections of these miniature

lyrics.

The most eminent of these authors is Bhartrihari,

grammarian, philosopher, and poet in one. Only the

literary training of India could make such a combination

possible, and even there it has hardly a parallel.

Bhartrihari lived in the first half of the seventh century.

The Chinese traveller I Tsing, who spent more than

twenty years in India at the end of that century, records

that, having turned Buddhist monk, the poet

again became a layman, and fluctuated altogether seven

times between the monastery and the world. Bhartrihari

blamed himself for, but could not overcome, his inconstancy.

He wrote three centuries of detached stanzas.

Of the first and last, which are sententious in character,

there will be occasion to say something later. Only

the second, entitled (^ringdra-qataka, or "Century of

Love," deals with erotic sentiment. Here Bhartrihari, in

graceful and meditative verse, shows himself to be well

acquainted both with the charms of women and with

the arts by which they captivate the hearts of men.

Who, he asks in one of these miniature poems, is not

filled with yearning thoughts of love in spring, when

the air swoons with the scent of the mango blossom

and is filled with the hum of bees intoxicated with

honey? In another he avers that none can resist the

charms of lotus-eyed maidens, not even learned men,

whose utterances about renouncing love are mere idle

words. The poet himself laments that, when his beloved

is away, the brightness goes out of his life

BHARTRIHARFS "CENTURY OF LOVE" 341

Beside the lamp, theflaming hearth,

In light of sun or moon and stars,

Without my dear one's lustrous eyes

This world is wholly dark to me.

At the same time he warns the unwary against reflecting

over-much on female beauty

Let not thy thoughts, O Wanderer,

Roam in thatforest, woman'sform :

For there a robber ever lurks,

Ready to strike the God ofLove.

In another stanza the Indian Cupid appears as a

fisherman, who, casting on the ocean of this world a

hook called woman, quickly catches men as fishes eager

for the bait of ruddy lips, and bakes them in the fire of

love.

Strange are the contradictions in which the poet

finds himself involved by loving a maiden

Remembered she but causes pain;

At sight ofher my madness grows;

When touched, she makes my senses reel :

How, pray, can such an one be loved?

So towards the end of the Century the poet's heart

begins to turn from the allurements of love. "Cease,

maiden," he exclaims,

" to cast thy glances on me : thy

trouble is in vain. I am an altered man ; youth has

gone by and my thoughts are bent on the forest ; my

infatuation is over, and the whole world I now account

but as a wisp of straw." Thus Bhartrihari prepares

the way for his third collection, the "Century of

Renunciation."

A short but charming treasury of detached erotic

verses is the Qringdra-tilakay which tradition attributes

342 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

to Kalidasa. In its twenty-three stanzas occur some

highly imaginative analogies, worked out with much

originality. In one of them, for instance, the poet asks

how it comes that a maiden, whose features and limbs

resemble various tender flowers, should have a heart

of stone. In another he compares his mistress to a

hunter

This maiden like a huntsman is;

Her brow is like the bow he bends;

Her sidelong glances are his darts;

My heart's the antelope she slays.

The most important lyrical work of this kind is the

Amaru-cataka, or u Hundred stanzas of Amaru." The

author is a master in the art of painting lovers in all

their moods, bliss and dejection, anger and devotion.

He is especially skilful in depicting the various stages

of estrangement and reconciliation. It is remarkable

how, with a subject so limited, in situations and emotions

so similar, the poet succeeds in arresting the

attention with surprising turns of thought, and with

subtle touches which are ever new. The love which

Amaru as well as other Indian lyrists portrays is not

of the romantic and ideal, but rather of the sensuous

type. Nevertheless his work often shows delicacy of feeling

and refinement of thought. Such, for instance, is

the case when he describes a wife watching in the

gloaming for the return of her absent husband.

Many lyrical gems are to be found preserved in the

Sanskrit treatises on poetics. One such is a stanza on

the red acoka. In this the poet asks the tree to say

whither his mistress has gone ; it need not shake its

head in the wind, as if to say it did not know ; for how

NATURE IN SANSKRIT LYRICS 343

could it be flowering so brilliantly had it not been

touched by the foot of his beloved ?

1

In all this lyrical poetry the plant and animal world

plays an important part and is treated with much charm.

Of flowers, the lotus is the most conspicuous. One of

these stanzas, for example, describes the day-lotuses as

closing their calyx-eyes in the evening, because unwilling

to see the sun, their spouse and benefactor, sink down

bereft of his rays. Another describes with pathetic

beauty the dream of a bee : "The night will pass, the

fair dawn will come, the sun will rise, the lotuses will

laugh ;

"

while a bee thus mused within the calyx, an

elephant, alas ! tore up the lotus plant.

Various birds to which poetical myths are attached

are frequently introduced as furnishing analogies to

human life and love. The chdtakay which would rather

die of thirst than drink aught but the raindrops from

the cloud, affords an illustration of pride. The chakora,

supposed to imbibe the rays of the moon, affords a parallel

to the lover who with his eyes drinks in the beams

of his beloved's face. The chakravaka, which, fabled to

be condemned to nocturnal separation from his mate,

calls to her with plaintive cry during the watches of the

night, serves as an emblem of conjugal fidelity.

In all this lyric poetry the bright eyes and beauty

of Indian girls find a setting in scenes brilliant with

blossoming trees, fragrant with flowers, gay with the

plumage and vocal with the song of birds, diversified

with lotus ponds steeped in tropical sunshine and with

large-eyed gazelles reclining in the shade. Some of its

gems are well worthy of having inspired the genius of

1

Referring to the poetical belief that the aqolca only blossoms when

struck by the loot of a beautiful girl.

23

344 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Heine to produce such lyrics as Die Lotosblume and

AufFliigeln des Gesanges.

A considerable amount of lyrical poetry of the same

type has also been produced in Prakrit, especially in

the extensive anthology entitled Saptacataka, or " Seven

Centuries," of the poet Hala, who probably lived before

A.D. iooo. It contains many beauties, and is altogether

a rich treasury of popular Indian lyrical poetry. It must

suffice here to refer to but one of the stanzas contained

in this collection. In this little poem the moon is described

as a white swan sailing on the pure nocturnal

lake of the heavens, studded with starry lotuses.

^The transitional stage between pure lyric and pure

drama is represented by the Gltagovinda, or " Cowherd

in Song," a lyrical drama, which, though dating from

the twelfth century, is the earliest literary specimen of

a primitive type of play that still survives in Bengal,

and must have preceded the regular dramas. The

poem contains no dialogue in the proper sense, for

its three characters only engage in a kind of lyrical

monologue, of which one of the other two is supposed

to be an auditor, sometimes even no one at all.

The subject of the poem is the love of Krishna for

the beautiful cowherdess Radha, the estrangement of

the lovers, and their final reconciliation. It is taken

from that episode of Krishna's life in which he himself

was a herdsman (go-vinda), living on the banks of the

Yamuna, and enjoying to the full the love of the cowherdesses.

The only three characters of the poem are

Krishna, Radha, and a confidante of the latter.

Its author, Jayadeva, was probably a native of Bengal,

having been a contemporary of a Bengal king

named Lakshmanasena. It is probable that he took

THE GITAGOVINDA 345

as his model popular plays representing incidents from

the life of Krishna, as the modern ydtrds in Bengal still

do. The latter festival plays even now consist chiefly

of lyrical stanzas, partly recited and partly sung, the

dialogue being but scanty, and to a considerable extent

left to improvisation. On such a basis Jayadeva created

his highly artificial poem. The great perfection of form

he has here attained, by combining grace of diction

with ease in handling the most difficult metres, has not

failed to win the admiration of all who are capable of

reading the original Sanskrit. Making abundant use

of alliteration and the most complex rhymes occurring,

as in the Nalodaya, not only at the end, but in the

middle of metrical lines,

1 the poet has adapted the most

varied and melodious measures to the expression of

exuberant erotic emotions, with a skill which could not

be surpassed. It seems impossible to reproduce Jayadeva's

verse adequately in an English garb. The German

poet Riickert, has, however, come as near to the highly

artificial beauty of the original, both in form and matter,

as is feasible in any translation.

It is somewhat strange that a poem which describes

the transports of sensual love with all the exuberance

of an Oriental fancy should, in the present instance,

and not for the first time, have received an allegorical

explanation in a mystical religious sense. According

to Indian interpreters, the separation of Krishna and

Radha, their seeking for each other, and their final reconciliation

represent the relation of the supreme deity

to the human soul. This may possibly have been the

intention of Jayadeva, though only as a leading idea,

not to be followed out in detail.

1

E.g. amala-kamala-dala-lochana bhava-mochana.

CHAPTER XIII

THE DRAMA

{Circa 400-1000 A.D.)

To the European mind the history of the Indian drama

cannot but be a source of abundant interest ; for here

we have an important branch of literature which has

had a full and varied national development, quite independent

of Western influence, and which throws much

light on Hindu social customs during the five or six

centuries preceding the Muhammadan conquest.

The earliest forms of dramatic literature in India

are represented by those hymns of the Rigveda which

contain dialogues, such as those of Sarama and the

Panis, Yama and Yarn!, Pururavas and UrvacI, the latter,

indeed, being the foundation of a regular play composed

much more than a thousand years later by the greatest

dramatist of India. The origin of the acted drama is,

however, wrapt in obscurity. Nevertheless, the evidence

of tradition and of language suffice to direct us with

considerable probability to its source.

The words for actor (natd) and play {ndtakd) are

derived from the verb nat, the Prakrit or vernacular

form of the Sanskrit nrit, "to dance." The name is

familiar to English ears in the form of nautch, the

Indian dancing of the present day. The latter, indeed,

probably represents the beginnings of the Indian drama.

It must at first have consisted only of rude pantomime,

346

ORIGIN OF THE DRAMA 347

in which the dancing movements of the body were

accompanied by mute mimicking gestures of hand and

face. Songs, doubtless, also early formed an ingredient

in such performances. Thus Bharata, the name of the

mythical inventor of the drama, which in Sanskrit also

means "actor," in several of the vernaculars signifies

"singer," as in the Gujarat! Bharot. The addition of

dialogue was the last step in the development, which

was thus much the same in India and in Greece. This

primitive stage is represented by the Bengal ydtrds and

the Gltagovinda. These form the transition to the fullydeveloped

Sanskrit play in which lyrics and dialogue

are blended.

The earliest references to the acted drama are to be

found in the Mahabhdshyay which mentions representations

of the Kamsavadhdy the "

Slaying of Kamsa," and the

Balibandhdj or "Binding of Bali," episodes in the history

of Krishna. Indian tradition describes Bharata as having

caused to be acted before the gods a play representing

the svayamvara of Lakshml, wife of Vishnu. Tradition

further makes Krishna and his cowherdesses the startingpoint

of the samglta, a representation consisting of a

mixture of song, music, and dancing. The Gltagovinda

is concerned with Krishna, and the modern ydtrds generally

represent scenes from the life of that deity. From

all this it seems likely that the Indian drama was developed

in connection with the cult of Vishnu-Krishna, and

that the earliest acted representations were therefore,

like the mysteries of the Christian Middle Ages, a kind of

religious plays, in which scenes from the legend of the

god were enacted mainly with the aid of song and

dance, supplemented with prose dialogue improvised by

the performers.

348 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

The drama has had a rich and varied development

in India, as is shown not only by the numerous plays

that have been preserved, but by the native treatises on

poetics which contain elaborate rules for the construction

and style of plays. Thus the Sdhitya-darpaiia, or

" Mirror of Rhetoric," divides Sanskrit dramas into two

main classes, a higher (rupaka) and a lower (uparupaka),

and distinguishes no fewer than ten species of the former

and eighteen of the latter.

The characteristic features of the Indian drama which

strike the Western student are the entire absence of

tragedy, the interchange of lyrical stanzas with prose

dialogue, and the use of Sanskrit for some characters

and of Prakrit for others.

The Sanskrit drama is a mixed composition, in which

joy is mingled with sorrow, in which the jester usually

plays a prominent part, while the hero and heroine are

often in the depths of despair. But it never has a sad

ending. The emotions of terror, grief, or pity, with

which the audience are inspired, are therefore always

tranquillised by the happy termination of the story.

Nor may any deeply tragic incident take place in the

course of the play ; for death is never allowed to be

represented on the stage. Indeed nothing considered

indecorous, whether of a serious or comic character, is

allowed to be enacted in the sight or hearing of the

spectators, such as the utterance of a curse, degradation,

banishment, national calamity, biting, scratching, kissing,

eating, or sleeping.

Sanskrit plays are full of lyrical passages describing

scenes or persons presented to view, or containing reflections

suggested by the incidents that occur. They

usually consist of four-line stanzas, gakuntald contains

CHARACTER OF THE SANSKRIT DRAMA XA9

nearly two hundred such, representing something like

one half of the whole play. These lyrical passages are

composed in a great many different metres. Thus the

first thirty-four stanzas of ^akuntald exhibit no fewer

than eleven varieties of verse. It is not possible, as in

the case of the simple Vedic metres, to imitate in

English the almost infinite resources of the complicated

and entirely quantitative classical Sanskrit measures.

The spirit of the lyrical passages is, therefore, probably

best reproduced by using blank verse as the familiar

metre of our drama. The prose of the dialogue in the

plays is often very commonplace, serving only as an

introduction to the lofty sentiment of the poetry that

follows.

In accordance with their social position, the various

characters in a Sanskrit play speak different .dialects.

Sanskrit is employed only by heroes, kings, Brahmans,

and men of high rank ; Prakrit by all women and by men

of the lower orders. Distinctions are further made in

the use of Prakrit itself. Thus women of high position

employ Maharashtrl in lyrical passages, but otherwise

they, as well as children and the better class of servants,

speak Caurasenl. Magadhl is used, for instance, by

attendants in the royal palace, Avanti by rogues or

gamblers, Abhlrl by cowherds, Paicachi by charcoalburners,

and Apabhramca by the lowest and most despised

people as well as barbarians.

The Sanskrit dramatists show considerable skill in

weaving the incidents of the plot and in the portrayal

of individual character, but do not show much fertility

of invention, commonly borrowing the story of their

plays from history or epic legend. Love is the subject

of most Indian dramas. The hero, usually a king,

35 o SANSKRIT LITERATURE

already the husband of one or more wives, is smitten

at first sight with the charms of some fair maiden. The

heroine, equally susceptible, at once reciprocates his

affection, but concealing her passion, keeps her lover

in agonies of suspense. Harassed by doubts, obstacles,

and delays, both are reduced to a melancholy and

emaciated condition. The somewhat doleful effect

produced by their plight is relieved by the animated

doings of the heroine's confidantes, but especially by

the proceedings of the court -jester {vidushaka), the

constant companion of the hero. He excites ridicule

by his bodily defects no less than his clumsy interference

with the course of the hero's affairs. His attempts

at wit are, however, not of a high order. It is somewhat

strange that a character occupying the position of a

universal, butt should always be a Brahman.

While the Indian drama shows some affinities with

Greek comedy, it affords more striking points of resemblance

to the productions of the Elizabethan playwrights,

and in particular of Shakespeare. The aim of the Indian

dramatists is not to portray types of character, but

individual persons ; nor do they observe the rule of

unity of time or place. They are given to introducing

romantic and fabulous elements ; they mix prose with

verse ; they blend the comic with the serious, and introduce

puns and comic distortions of words. The

character of the vidushaka, too, is a close parallel to

the fool in Shakespeare. Common to both are also

several contrivances intended to further the action of

the drama, such as the writing of letters, the introduction

of a play within a play, the restoration of the dead

to life, and the use of intoxication on the stage as a

humorous device. Such a series of coincidences, in a

ARRANGEMENT OF SANSKRIT PLAYS 351

case where influence or borrowing is absolutely out of

the question, is an instructive instance of how similar

developments can arise independently.

Every Sanskrit play begins with a prologue or introduction,

which regularly opens with a prayer or

benediction (ndndt) invoking the national deity in favour

of the audience. Then generally follows a dialogue

between the stage-manager and one or two actors,

which refers to the play and its author, seeks to win

public favour by paying a complimentary tribute to

the critical acumen of the spectators, mentions past

events and present circumstances elucidating the plot,

and invariably ends by adroitly introducing one of the

characters of the actual play. A Sanskrit drama is

divided into scenes and acts. The former are marked

by the entrance of one character and the exit of another.

The stage is never left vacant till the end of the act, nor

does any change of locality take place till then. Before

a new act an interlude (called vishkambha or praveqakd),

consisting of a monologue or dialogue, is often introduced.

In this scene allusion is made to events supposed

to have occurred in the interval, and the audience are

prepared for what is about to take place. The whole

piece closes with a prayer for national prosperity, which

is addressed to the favourite deity and is spoken by one

of the principal characters.

The number of acts in a play varies from one to ten ;

but, while fluctuating somewhat, is determined by the

character of the drama. Thus the species called ndtikd

has four acts and the farcical prahasana only one.

The duration of the events is supposed to be identical

with the time occupied in performing them on the stage,

or, at most, a day ; and a night is assumed to elapse

352 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

between each act and that which follows. Occasionally,

however, the interval is much longer. Thus in Kalidasa's

gakuntald and Urvacl several years pass between the first

and the last act; while in Bhavabhuti's Uttara-rdmacharita

no less than twelve years elapse between the first and

the second act.

Nor is unity of place observed ; for the scene may

be transferred from one part of the earth to another, or

even to the aerial regions. Change of locality sometimes

occurs even within the same act ; as when a journey is

supposed to be performed through the air in a celestial

car. It is somewhat curious that while there are many

and minute stage directions about dress and decorations

no less than about the actions of the players, nothing is

said in this way as to change of scene. As regards the

number of characters appearing in a play, no limit of

any kind is imposed.

There were no special theatres in the Indian Middle

Ages, and plays seem to have been performed in the

concert-room (samglta-gdld) of royal palaces. A curtain

divided in the middle was a necessary part of the stage

arrangement ;

it did not, however, separate the audience

from the stage, as in the Roman theatre, but formed the

background of the stage. Behind the curtain was the

tiring-room (nepathyd), whence the actors came on the

stage. When they were intended to enter hurriedly,

they were directed to do so " with a toss of the curtain."

The stage scenery and decorations were of a very simple

order, much being left to the imagination of the spectator,

as in the Shakespearian drama. Weapons, seats, thrones,

and chariots appeared on the stage ; but it is highly improbable

that the latter were drawn by the living animals

supposed to be attached to them. Owing to the very

KALIDASA'S PLAYS 353

frequent intercourse between the inhabitants of heaven

and earth, there may have been some kind of aerial contrivance

to represent celestial chariots ; but owing to

the repeated occurrence of the stage direction "

gesticulating

"

(ndtayitva) in this connection, it is to be supposed

that the impression of motion and speed was produced

on the audience simply by the gestures of the actors.

The best productions of the Indian drama are nearly

a dozen in number, and date from a period embracing

something like four hundred years, from about the

beginning of the fifth to the end of the eighth century

a.d. These plays are the compositions of the great

dramatists Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti, or have come

down under the names of the royal patrons (^udraka

and (Jrlharsha, to whom their real authors attributed

them.

The greatest of all is Kalidasa, already known to us

as the author of several of the best Kavyas. Three of

his plays have been preserved, akuntald, Vikramorvaqi,

and Mdlavikdgnimitra. The richness of creative fancy

which he displays in these, and his skill in the expression

of tender feeling, assign him a high place among the

dramatists of the world. The harmony of the poetic

sentiment is nowhere disturbed by anything violent or

terrifying. Every passion is softened without being

enfeebled. The ardour of love never goes beyond

aesthetic bounds ;

it never maddens to wild jealousy or

hate. The torments of sorrow are toned down to a

profound and touching melancholy. It was here at

last that the Indian genius found the law of moderation

in poetry, which it hardly knew elsewhere, and thus

produced works of enduring beauty. Hence it was

that ^akuntald exercised so great a fascination on the

354 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

calm intellect of Goethe, who at the same time was

so strongly repelled by the extravagances of Hindu

mythological art.

In comparison with the Greek and the modern

drama, Nature occupies a much more important place

in Sanskrit plays. The characters are surrounded by

Nature, with which they are in constant communion.

The mango and other trees, creepers, lotuses, and palered

trumpet-flowers, gazelles, flamingoes, bright-hued

parrots, and Indian cuckoos, in the midst of which

they move, are often addressed by them and form an

essential part of their lives. Hence the influence of

Nature on the minds of lovers is much dwelt on. Prominent

everywhere in classical Sanskrit poetry, these

elements of Nature luxuriate most of all in the drama.

The finest of Kalidasa's works are, it cannot be

denied, defective as stage-plays. The very delicacy of

the sentiment, combined with a certain want of action,

renders them incapable of producing a powerful effect

on an audience. The best representatives of the

romantic drama of India are Qakuntald and Vikramorvaql.

Dealing with the love adventures of two famous

kings of ancient epic legend, they represent scenes far

removed from reality, in which heaven and earth are not

separated, and men, demigods, nymphs, and saints are

intermingled. Mdlavikdgnimitra, on the other hand,

not concerned with the heroic or divine, is a palace-andharem

drama, a story of contemporary love and intrigue.

The plot of ^akuntald is derived from the first book

of the Mahdbhdrata. The hero is Dushyanta, a celebrated

king of ancient days, the heroine, ^akuntala, the daughter

of a celestial nymph, Menaka, and of the sage Vicvamitra ;

while their son, Bharata, became the founder of a famous

^AKUNTALA 355

race. The piece consists of seven acts, and belongs to the

class of drama by native writers on poetics styled ndtaka,

or " the play." In this the plot must be taken from mythology

or history, the characters must be heroic or

divine ; it should be written in elaborate style, and full

of noble sentiments, with five acts at least, and not more

than ten.

After the prelude, in which an actress sings a charming

lyric on the beauties of summer-time, King Dushyanta

appears pursuing a gazelle in the sacred grove of the sage

Kanva. Here he catches sight of (Jakuntala, who, accompanied

by her two maiden friends, is engaged in watering

her favourite trees. Struck by her beauty, he exclaims

Her lip is ruddy as an opening 1

Her graceful arms resemble te7tder shoots :

Attractive as the bloom upon the tree,

The glow ofyouth is spread on all her limbs.

Seizing an opportunity of addressing her, he soon feels

that it is impossible for him to return to his capital

My limbs moveforward, while my heartflies back,

Like silken standard borne against the breeze.

In the second act the comic element is introduced with

the jester Mathavya, who is as much disgusted with. his

master's love-lorn condition as with his fondness for the

chase. In the third act, the love-sick (Jakuntala is discovered

lying on a bed of flowers in an arbour. The

king overhears her conversation with her two friends,

shows himself, and offers to wed the heroine. An interlude

explains how a choleric ascetic, named Durvasa,

enraged at not being greeted by (Jakuntala with due

courtesy, owing to her pre-occupied state, had pro356

SANSKRIT LITERATURE

nounced a curse which should cause her to be entirely

forgotten by her lover, who could recognise her only by

means of a ring.

The king having meanwhile married (Jakuntala and

returned home, the sage Kanva has resolved to send her

to her husband. The way in which (^akuntala takes

leave of the sacred grove in which she has been brought

up, of her flowers, her gazelles, and her friends, is charmingly

described in the fourth act. This is the act which

contains the most obvious beauties ; for here the poet

displays to the full the richness of his fancy, his abundant

sympathy with Nature, and a profound knowledge of the

human heart.

A young Brahman pupil thus describes the dawning

of the day on which (^akuntala is to leave the forest

hermitage

On yonder side the moon, the Lord ofPlants,

Sinks down behind the western mountain's crest;

On this, the sun preceded by the dawn

Appears : the setting and the rise at once

Ofthese two orbs the symbols are of man's

Ownfluctuatingfortunes in the world.

Then he continues

The moon has gone; the lilies on the lake,

t Whose beauty lingers in the memory,

No more delight my gaze : they droop andfade;

Deep is their sorrowfor their absent lord.

The aged hermit of the grove thus expresses his

feelings at the approaching loss of Cakuntala

My heart is touched with sadness at the " thought

(^akuntala must go to-day" ; my throat

Is choked withflow oftears repressed; my si<rht

Is dimmed with pensiveness; but if the grief

^AKUNTALA 357

Ofan oldforest hermit is so great,

How keen must be the pang afatherfeels

Whenfreshly partedfrom a cherished child /

Then calling on the trees to give her a kindly farewell,

he exclaims

The trees, the kins?nen of herforest home,

Now to Cakuntala give leave to go :

They with the Kokilds melodious cry

Their answer make.

Thereupon the following good wishes are uttered by

voices in the air

Thyjourney be auspicious; may the breeze,

Gentle a?id soothing, fan thy cheek; may lakes

AII bright with lily cups delight thine eye;

The sunbeams' heat be cooled by shady trees;

The dust beneath thy feet the pollen be

Oflotuses.

The fifth act, in which (Jakuntala appears before her

husband, is deeply moving. The king fails to recognise

her, and, though treating her not unkindly, refuses to

acknowledge her as his wife. As a last resource, Cakuntala

bethinks herself of the ring given her by her husband,

but on discovering that it is lost, abandons hope. She is

then borne off to heaven by celestial agency.

In the following interlude we see a fisherman dragged

along by constables for having in his possession the royal

signet-ring, which he professes to have found inside a fish.

The king, however, causes him to be set free, rewarding

him handsomely for his find. Recollection of his former

love now returns to Dushyanta. While he is indulging

in sorrow at his repudiation of Cakuntala, Matali, India's

charioteer, appears on the scene to ask the king's aid in

vanquishing the demons.

358 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

In the last act Dushyanta is seen driving in Indra's

car to Hemakuta, the mountain of the Gandharvas.

Here he sees a young boy playing with a lion cub.

Taking his hand, without knowing him to be his own

son, he exclaims

If ?iow the touch of but a stranger's child

Thus sends a thrill ofjoy through all my limbs,

What tra?isports must he waken in the soul

Ofthat blest father from whose loins he sprang!

Soon after he finds and recognises (Jakuntala, with

whom he is at length happily reunited.

Kalidasa's play has come down to us in two main

recensions. The so-called Devanagarl one, shorter and

more concise, is probably the older and better. The

more diffuse Bengal recension became known first

through the translation of Sir William Jones.

Vikramorvaci, or " UrvacI won by Valour," is a play

in five acts, belonging to the class called Trotaka, which

is described as representing events partly terrestrial and

partly celestial, and as consisting of five, seven, eight, or

nine acts. Its plot is briefly as follows. King Pururavas,

hearing from nymphs that their companion, UrvacI,

has been carried off by demons, goes to the rescue and

brings her back on his car. He is enraptured by the

beauty of the nymph, no less than she is captivated by

her deliverer. UrvacI being summoned before the

throne of Indra, the lovers are soon obliged to part.

In the second act UrvacI appears for a short time to

the king as he disconsolately wanders in the garden. A

letter, in which she had written a confession of her love,

is discovered by the queen, who refuses to be pacified.

In the third act we learn that UrvacI had been

acting before Indra in a play representing the betrothal

VIKRAMORVAgl 359

of Lakshml, and had, when asked on whom her heart

was set, named Pururavas instead of Purushottama (i.e.

Vishnu). She is consequently cursed by her teacher,

Bharata, but is forgiven by Indra, who allows her to

be united with Pururavas till the latter sees his offspring.

The fourth act is peculiar in being almost entirely

lyrical. The lovers are wandering near Kailasa, the

divine mountain, when UrvacI, in a fit of jealousy, enters

the grove of Kumara, god of war, which is forbidden to all

females. In consequence of Bharata's curse, she is instantly

transformed into a creeper. The king, beside

himself with grief at her loss, seeks her everywhere.

He apostrophises various insects, birds, beasts, and even

a mountain peak, to tell him where she is. At last he

thinks he sees her in the mountain stream :

The rippling wave is like herfrown; the row

Of tossing birds her girdle ; streaks offoam

, Herflutteringgarment as she speeds along j

The current, her devious and stumbliiig gait :

*

' Tis she turned in her wrath into a stream.

Finally, under the influence of a magic stone, which has

come into his possession, he clasps a creeper, which is

transformed into UrvacI in his arms.

Between the fourth and fifth acts several years elapse.

Then Pururavas, by accident, discovers his son Ayus,

whom UrvacI had secretly borne, and had caused to be

brought up in a hermitage. UrvacI must therefore return

to heaven. Indra, however, in return for Pururavas'

services against the demons, makes a new concession,

and allows the nymph to remain with the king for good.

There are two recensions of this play also, one of

them belonging to Southern India.

The doubts long entertained, on the ground of its

24

360 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

inferiority and different character, astowhether Malavikdgnimitray

or " Malavika and Agnimitra," is really the

work of Kalidasa, who is mentioned in the prologue as

the author, are hardly justified. The piece has been

shown by Weber to agree pretty closely in thought and

diction with the two other plays of the poet ; and though

certainly not equal to' the latter in poetic merit, it possesses

many beauties. The subject is not heroic or

divine, the plot being derived from the ordinary palace

life of Indian princes, and thus supplying a peculiarly

good picture of the social conditions of the times. The

hero is a historical king of the dynasty of the (Jungas,

who reigned at Vidica (Bhilsa) in the second century B.C.

The play describes the loves of this king Agnimitra and

of Malavika, one of the attendants of the queen, who

jealously keeps her out of the king's sight on account of

her great beauty. The various endeavours of the king

to see and converse with Malavika give rise to numerous

little intrigues. In the course of these Agnimitra nowhere

appears as a despot, but acts with much delicate consideration

for the feelings of his spouses. It finally turns out

that Malavika is by birth a princess, who had only come

to be an attendant at Agnimitra's court through having

fallen into the hands of robbers. There being now no

objection to her union with the king, all ends happily.

While Kalidasa stands highest in poetical refinement,

in tenderness, and depth of feeling, the author of the

Mricchakatikd, or "Clay Cart," is pre-eminent among

Indian playwrights for the distinctively dramatic qualities

of vigour, life, and action, no less than sharpness of

characterisation, being thus allied in genius to Shakespeare.

This play is also marked by originality and good

sense. Attributed to a king named (Judraka, who is

MRICCHAKATIKA RATNAVALI 361

panegyrised in the prologue, it is probably the work

of a poet patronised by him, perhaps Dandin, as Professor

Pischel thinks. In any case, it not improbably

belongs to the sixth century. It is divided into ten acts,

and belongs to the dramatic class called prakarana. The

name has little to do with the play, being derived from

an unimportant episode of the sixth act. The scene is

laid in UjjayinI and its neighbourhood. The number of

characters appearing on the stage is very considerable.

The chief among them are Charudatta, a Brahman

merchant who has lost all his property by excessive

liberality, and Vasantasena, a rich courtesan who loves

the poor but noble Charudatta, and ultimately becomes

his wife. The third act contains a humorous account of

a burglary, in which stealing is treated as a fine art. In

the fourth act there is a detailed description of the

splendours of Vasantasena's palace. Though containing

much exaggeration, it furnishes an interesting picture of

the kind of luxury that prevailed in those days. Altogether

this play abounds in comic situations, besides

containing many serious scenes, some of which even

border on the tragic.

To the first half of the seventh century belong the two

dramas attributed to the famous King (Jrlharsha or Harshadeva,

a patron of poets, whom we already know as

Harshavardhana of Thanecar and Kanauj. Ratnavaliy or

H The Pearl Necklace," reflecting the court and harem life

of the age, has many points of similarity with Kalidasa's

Mdiavikdgnimitra, by which, indeed, its plot was probably

suggested. It is the story of the loves of Udayana, king

of Vatsa, and of Sagarika, an attendant of his queen

Vasavadatta. The heroine ultimately turns out to be

Ratnavall, princess of Ceylon, who had found her way to

362 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Udayana's court after suffering shipwreck. The plot is

unconnected with mythology, but is based on an historical

or epic tradition, which recurs in a somewhat different

form in Somadeva's Kathdsaritsdgara. As concerned

with the second marriage of the king, it forms a sequel to

the popular love-story of Vasavadatta. It is impossible

to say whether the poet modified the main outlines of the

traditional story, but the character of the magician who

conjures up a vision of the gods and a conflagration, is

his invention, as well as the incidents, which are of an

entirely domestic nature. The real author was doubtless

some poet resident at (Jrlharsha's court, possibly Bana,

who also wrote a play entitled Pdrvatipaririaya.

Altogether, Ratndvall is an agreeable play, with welldrawn

characters and many poetical beauties. Of the

latter the following lines, in which the king describes the

pale light in the east heralding the rise of the moon, may

serve as a specimen :

Our minds intent upon thefestival,

We saw not that the twilightpassed away :

Behold, the east proclaims the lord of night

Still hidden by the mountain where he rises,

Even as a maiden by herpaleface shows

That in her inmost heart a lover dwells.

Another play of considerable merit attributed to

(Jnharsha is Ndgdnanda. It is a sensational piece with

a Buddhistic colouring, the hero being a Buddhist and

Buddha being praised in the introductory benediction.

For this reason its author was probably different from

that of Ratndvaliy and may have been Dhavaka,who, like

Bana, is known to have lived at the court of Crlharsha.

The dramatist Bhavabhuti was a Brahman of the

Taittirlya school of the Yajurveda and belonged, as we

BHAVABHUTFS PLAYS & learn from his prologues, to Vidarbha (now Berar) in

Southern India. He knew the city of UjjayinI well, and

probably spent at least a part of his life there. His patron

was King Yacovarman of Kanyakijbja (Kanauj), who

ruled during the first half of the eighth century.

Three plays by this poet, all abounding in poetic

beauties, have come down to us. They contrast in two

or three respects with the works of the earlier dramatists.

The absence of the character of the jester is characteristic

of them, the comic and witty element entering into them

only to a slight extent. While other Indian poets dwell

on the delicate and mild beauties of Nature, Bhavabhuti

loves to depict her grand and sublime aspects, doubtless

owing to the influence on his mind of the southern

mountains of his native land. He is, moreover, skilful

not only in drawing characters inspired by tender and

noble sentiment, but in giving effective expression to

depth and force of passion.

The best known and most popular of Bhavabhuti's

plays is Mdlati-mddhava, a prakarana in ten acts. The

scene is laid in UjjayinI, and the subject is the love-story

of MalatI, daughter of a minister of the country, and

Madhava, a young scholar studying in the city, and son

of the minister of another state. Skilfully interwoven

with this main story are the fortunes of Makaranda, a

friend of Madhava, and Madayantika, a sister of the

king's favourite. MalatI and Madhava meet and fall in

love ; but the king has determined that the heroine shall

marry his favourite, whom she detests. This plan is

frustrated by Makaranda, who, personating MalatI, goes

through the wedding ceremony with the bridegroom.

The lovers, aided in their projects by two amiable

Buddhist nuns, are finally united. The piece is a sort of

364 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Indian Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending, the part

played by the nun Kamandakl being analogous to that

of Friar Laurence in Shakespeare's drama. The contrast

produced by scenes of tender love, and the horrible

doings of the priestess of the dread goddess Durga, is

certainly effective, but perhaps too violent. The use

made of swoons, from which the recovery is, however,

very rapid, is rather too common in this play.

The ninth act contains several fine passages describing

the scenery of the Vindhya range. The following is a

translation of one of them :

This mountain with its towering rocks delights

The eye : its peaks grow dark with gatheritig clouds;

Its groves are thronged with peacocks eloquent

In joyj the trees upon its slopes are bright

With birds thatflit about their nests; the caves

Reverberate the growl of bearsj the scent

Ofincense-trees is wafted, sharp and cool,

From branches broken off by elephants.

The other two dramas of Bhavabhuti represent the

fortunes of the same national hero, Rama. The plot of

the Mahdvira-charitay or "The Fortunes of the Great

Hero," varies but slightly from the story told in the

Rdmdyana. The play, which is divided into seven acts

and is crowded with characters, concludes with the coronation

of Rama. The last act illustrates well how much

is left to the imagination of the spectator. It represents

the journey of Rama in an aerial car from Ceylon all the

way to Ayodhya (Oudh) in Northern India, the scenes

traversed being described by one of the company.

The Uttara-rdma-charitay or "The Later Fortunes of

Rama/' is a romantic piece containing many fine passages.

Owing to lack of action, however, it is rather a

MUDRA-RAKSHASA VENISAMHARA 365

dramatic poem than a play. The description of the

tender love of Rama and Slta, purified by sorrow,

exhibits more genuine pathos than appears perhaps

in any other Indian drama. The play begins with

the banishment of Slta and ends with her restoration,

after twelve years of grievous solitude, to the throne

of Ayodhya amid popular acclamations

> Her two sons,

born after her banishment and reared in the wilderness

by the sage Valmlki, without any knowledge of their

royal descent, furnish a striking parallel to the two

princes Guiderius and Arviragus who are brought up by

the hermit Belarius in Shakespeare's Cymbeline. The

scene in which their meeting with their father Rama is

described reaches a high degree of poetic merit.

Among the works of other dramatists, VigAKHADATTA's

Mudrd-rdkshasay or " Rakshasa and. the Seal," deserves

special mention because of its unique character. For,

unlike all the other dramas hitherto described, it-is a play

of political intrigue, composed, moreover, with much

dramatic talent, being full of life, action, and sustained

interest. Nothing more definite can be said as to its

date than that it was probably written not later than

about 800 a.d. The action of the piece takes place

in the time of Chandragupta, who, soon after Alexander's

invasion of India, founded a new dynasty at

Pataliputra by deposing the last king of the Nanda line.

Rakshasa, the minister of the latter, refusing to recognise

the usurper, endeavours to be avenged on him for

the ruin of his late master. The plot turns on the efforts

of the Brahman Chanakya, the minister of Chandragupta,

to win over the noble Rakshasa to his master's

cause. In this he is ultimately successful.

Bhatta NarayANA'S Venlsamhdra, or "Binding of the

366 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

braid of hair/' is a play in six acts, deriving its plot from

the Mahdbhdrata. Its action turns on the incident of

Draupadl being dragge4 by the hair of her head into the

assembly by one of the brothers of Duryodhana. Its age

is known from its author having been the grantee of a

copperplate dated 840 A.D. Though not conspicuous for

poetic merit, it has long been a great favourite in India

owing to its express partiality for the cult of Krishna.

To about 900 A.D. belongs the poet Raja^ekhara, the

distinguishing feature of whose dramas are lightness

and grace of diction. Four of his plays have survived,

and are entitled Viddha-qdlabhanjikd, Karpura-manjari,

Bdla-rdmdyanay and Prachanda-pdndava or Bdla-bhdrata.

The poet Kshemicvara, who probably lived in the

tenth century A.D. at Kanyakubja under King Mahlpala,

is the author of a play named Chandakauqika, or "The

Angry Kaucika."

In the eleventh century Damodara Mi^ra composed

the Hanuman-ndtaka, "The Play of Hanumat," also

called Mahd-ndtakay or "The Great Play." According

to tradition, he lived at the court of Bhoja, king of

Malava, who resided at Dhara (now Dhar) and UjjayinI

(Ujjain) in the early part of the eleventh century. It is a

piece of little merit, dealing with the story of Rama in

connection with his ally Hanumat, the monkey chief.

It consists of fourteen acts, lacking coherence, and producing

the impression of fragments patched together.

KRISHNA Mi^RA's Prabodha-chandrodaya, or " Rise of

the Moon of Knowledge," a play in six acts, dating from

about the end of the eleventh century, deserves special

attention as one of the most remarkable products of

Indian literature. Though an allegorical piece of theologico-

philosophical purport, in which practically only

PRABODHA-CHANDRODAYA 367

abstract notions and symbolical figures act as persons,

it is remarkable for dramatic life and vigour. It aims at

glorifying orthodox Brahmanism in the Vishnuite sense,

just as the allegorical plays of the Spanish poet Calderon

were intended to exalt the Catholic faith. The Indian

poet has succeeded in the difficult task of creating an

attractive play with abstractions like Revelation, Will,

Reason, Religion, by transforming them into living

beings of flesh and blood. The evil King Error appears

on the scene as ruler of Benares, surrounded by his

faithful adherents, the Follies and Vices, while Religion

and the noble King Reason, accompanied by all the

Virtues, have been banished. There is, however, a

prophecy that Reason will some day be re-united with

Revelation ; the fruit of the union will be True Knowledge,

which will destroy the reign of Error. The

struggle for this union and its consummation, followed

by the final triumph of the good party, forms the plot of

the piece.

A large number of Sanskrit plays have been written

since the twelfth century x down to modern times, their

plots being generally derived from the Mahabhdrata and

the Rdmdyana. Besides these, there are farces in one or

more acts, mostly of a coarse type, in which various

vices, such as hypocrisy, are satirised. These later productions

reach a much lower level of art than the works

of the early Indian dramatists,

1 It is interesting to note that two Sanskrit plays, composed in the twelfth

century, and not as yet known in manuscript form, have been partially preserved

in inscriptions found at Ajmere (see Kielhorn, in Appendix to Epigraphia

Indica, vol. v. p. 20, No. 134. Calcutta, 1899).

CHAPTER XIV

FAIRY TALES AND FABLES

{Circa 400-1100 A.D.)

The didactic and sententious note which prevails in

classical Sanskrit literature cannot fail to strike the

student. It is, however, specially pronounced in the

fairy tales and fables, where the abundant introduction

of ethical reflections and proverbial philosophy is characteristic.

The apologue with its moral is peculiarly

subject to this method of treatment.

A distinguishing feature of the Sanskrit collections

of fairy tales and fables, which are to a considerable

extent found mixed together/js the insertion of a number

of different stories within the framework of a single

narrative.) The characters of the main story in turn

relate various tales to edify one another or to prove

the correctness of their own special views. As within

the limits of a minor story a second one can be similarly

introduced and the process further repeated, the

construction of the whole work comes to resemble that

of a set of Chinese boxes. This style of narration was

borrowed from India by the neighbouring Oriental

peoples of Persia and Arabia, who employed it in composing

independent works. The most notable instance

is, of course, the Arabian Nights.

The Panchatantra, so called because it is divided

368

THE PANCHATANTRA 369

into five books, is, from the literary point of view, the

most important and interesting work in this branch of

Indian literature. It consists for the most part of

fables, which are written in prose with an admixture

of illustrative aphoristic verse. At what time this collection

first assumed definite shape, it is impossible to

say. We know, however, that it existed in the first

half of the sixth century A.D., since it was translated by

order of King Khosru Anushlrvan (531-79) into Pehlevi,

the literary language of Persia at that time. We may,

indeed, assume that it was known in the fifth century ;

for a considerable time must have elapsed before it became

so famous that a foreign king desired its translation.

If not actually a Buddhistic work, the Panchatantra

must be derived from Buddhistic sources. This follows

from the fact that a number of its fables can be traced

to Buddhistic writings, and from the internal evidence

of the book itself. Apologues and fables were current

among the Buddhists from the earliest times. They

were ascribed to Buddha, and their sanctity increased

by identifying the best character in any story with

Buddha himself in a previous birth. Hence such tales

were called Jatakas, or M Birth Stories." There is evidence

that a collection of stories under that name existed

as early as the Council of Vesall, about 380 B.C. ; and

in the fifth century A.D. they assumed the shape they

now have in the Pali Sutta-pitaka. Moreover, two

Chinese encylopasdias, the older of which was completed

in 668 A.D., contain a large number of Indian

fables translated into Chinese, and cite no fewer than

202 Buddhist works as their sources. In its present

form, however, the Panchatantra is the production of

Brahmans, who, though they transformed or omitted

370 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

such parts as betrayed animus against Brahmanism,

have nevertheless left uneffaced many traces of the Buddhistic

origin of the collection. Though now divided

into only five books, it is shown by the evidence of

the oldest translation to have at one time embraced

twelve. What its original name was we cannot say,

but it may not improbably have been called after the

two jackals, Karataka and Damanaka, who play a prominent

part in the first book ; for the title of the old

Syriac version is Kalilag and Damnag, and that of the

Arabic translation Kalllah and Dimnah,

^Originally the Panchatantra was probably intended

to be a manual for the instruction of the sons of kings

in the principles of conduct {nzti), a kind of " Mirror

of Princes." For it is introduced with the story of

King AmaraCakti of Mahilaropya, a city of the south,

who wishes to discover a scholar capable of training

his three stupid and idle sons. He at last finds a

Brahman who undertakes to teach the princes in six

months enough to make them surpass all others in

knowledge of moral science. This object he duly accomplishes

by composing the Panchatanfra and reciting

\ it to the young princes.

The framework of the first book, entitled u Separa-

\ tion of Friends," is the story of a bull and a lion, who

are introduced to one another in the forest by two

jackals and become fast friends. One of the jackals,

feeling himsetf neglected, starts an intrigue by telling

both the lion and the bull that each is plotting against

the other. As a result the bull is killed in battle with

the lion, and the jackal, as prime minister of the latter,

enjoys the fruits of his machinations. The main story

*) of the second book, which is called "Acquisition

THE PANCHATANTRA 371

of Friends," deals with the adventures of a tortoise, a

deer, a cfOW, and a mouse. It is meant to illustrate the

advantages of judicious friendships. The third book, or

" The War of the Crows and the Owls," points out the

danger of friendship concluded between those who are

old enemies. The fourth book, entitled " Loss of what

has been Acquired," illustrates, by the main story of the

monkey and the crocodile, how fools can be made by

flattery to part with their possessions. The fifth book,

entitled " Inconsiderate Action," contains a number of

stories connected with the experiences of a barber, who

came to grief through failing to take all the circumstances

of the case into consideration.

The book is pervaded by a quaint humour which

transfers, to the animal kingdom all sorts of human

action. (Thus animals devote themselves to the study

of the Vedas and to the practice of religious rites ; they

engage in disquisitions about gods, saints, and heroes ;

or exchange views regarding subtle rules of ethics ; but

suddenly their fierce animal nature breaks outN A pious |l *

cat, for instance, called upon to act as umpire in a

dispute between a sparrow and a monkey, inspires such

confidence in the litigants, by a long discourse on the

vanity of life and the supreme importance of virtue,

that they come close up in order to hear better the

words of wisdom. In an instant he seizes one of the

disputants with his claws, the other with his teeth, and

devours them both. Very humorous is the story of

the conceited musical donkey. Trespassing one moonlight

night in a cucumber field, he feels impelled to sing,

and answers the objections of his friend the jackal by a

lecture on the charms of music. He then begins to bray,

arouses the watchmen, and receives a sound drubbing.

372 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

With abundant irony and satire the most various

human vices are exposed, among others the hypocrisy

and avarice of Brahmans, the intriguing character of

courtiers, and the faithlessness of women. A vigorous

popular spirit of reaction against Brahman pretensions

here finds expression, and altogether a sound and healthy

view of life prevails, forming a refreshing contrast to

the exaggeration found in many branches of Indian

literature.

The following translation of a short fable from the

first book may serve as a specimen of the style of the

Panchatantra.

"There was in a certain forest region a herd of

monkeys. Once in the winter season, when their bodies

were shivering from contact with the cold wind, and

were buffeted with torrents of rain, they could find no

rest. So some of the monkeys, collecting gunja berries,

which are like sparks, stood round blowing in order

to obtain a fire. Now a bird named Needlebeak,

seeing this vain endeavour of theirs, exclaimed, l Ho,

you are all great fools ; these are not sparks of fire,

they are gunja berries. Why, therefore, this vain endeavour

? You will never protect yourselves against

the cold in this way. You had better look for a spot

in the forest which is sheltered from the wind, or a

cave, or a cleft in the mountains. Even now mighty

rain clouds are appearing/ Thereupon an old monkey

among them said,

l Ho, what business of yours is this ?

Be off. There is a saying

A man ofjudgment who desires

His own success should not accost

One constantly disturbed in work

Orgamblers who have lost at flay.

THE HITOPADEgA 373

And another

Whojoins in conversation with

A hunter who has chased in vain,

Or with afool who has become

Involved in ruin, co?nes to grief.

" The bird, however, without paying any attention to

him, continually said to the monkeys, ' Ho, why this

vain endeavour ?

'

So, as he did not for a moment cease

to chatter, one of the monkeys, enraged at their futile

efforts, seized him by the wings and dashed him against

a stone. And so he (de)ceased.

u Hence I say

Unbending wood cannot be bent,

A razor cannot cut a stone:

Mark this, O Needlebeak ! Try not

To lecture him who will not learn"

(k similar collection of fables is the celebrated Hitopaaeca,

or "Salutary Advice,jwhich, owing to its intrinsic

merit, is one of the best known and most popular works

of Sanskrit literature in India, and which, because of its

suitability for teaching purposes, is read by nearly all

beginners of Sanskrit in England. It is based chiefly on

the Panchatantra, in which twenty-five of its forty-three

fables are found. The first three books of the older collection

have been, in the main, drawn upon ; for there is

but one story, that of the ass in the tiger's skin, taken

from Book IV., and only three from Book V. The introduction

is similar to that of the Panchatantra, but the

father of the ignorant and vicious princes is here called

Sudarcana of Pataliputra (Patna). The Hitopadeca is

divided into four books. The framework and titles of

the first two agree with the first two of the Panchatantra,

bat in inverted order. (The third and fourth books are

374 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

called "War" and " Peace" respectively, the main story

describing the conflict and reconciliation of the Geese

and the Peacocks.

The sententious element is here much more prominent

than in the Panchatantray and the number of

verses introduced is often so great as to seriously impede

the progress of the prose narrative. These verses, however,

abound in wise maxims and fine thoughts. The

stanzas dealing with the transitoriness of human life

near the end of Book IV. have a peculiarly pensive

beauty of their own. The following two may serve as

specimens :

As on the mighty ocean's waves

Twofloating logs together come.

And, having met, for ever part :

So brieflyjoined are living things.

As streams of rivers onwardflow,

And never more return again :

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

(My humble salutations to  Brahmsree Sreeman  Arthur A. Macdonell  and also my humble greatulness to  great Devotees , Philosophic Scholars  for the collection)