The Sanskrit drama

PAGE I. Dramatic Elements in Vedic Literature. 1. The Indian Tradition of the Origin of the Drama 12 2. The Dialogues of the Veda 13 3. Dramatic Elements in Vedic Ritual 23

IV. Bhāsa. 1. The Authenticity of Bhāsa’s Dramas 91 2. The Date of Bhāsa’s Dramas 93 3. The Dramas and their Sources 95 4. Bhāsa’s Art and Technique 105 5. Bhāsa’s Style 114 6....

XIII. The Theory of the Dramatic Art. 1. The Treatises on Dramatic Art 290 2. The Nature and the Types of the Drama 295 3. The Subject Matter and the Plot 296 4. The Characters...

AID. Über die Anfänge des indischen Dramas, Munich, 1914. AJP. American Journal of Philology. AP. Agni Purāṇa, ed. BI. BI. Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta. BS. Bhāsa-Studien, Leipz...

Indian tradition, preserved in the Nāṭyaçāstra, [1] the oldest of the texts of the theory of the drama, claims for the drama divine origin, and a close connexion with the sacred...

The discovery of fragments of manuscripts on palm-leaf, of great antiquity, at Turfan, has through the energy of Professor Lüders revealed to us the existence of at least three...

reports the arrival of Dāmodara, and his great feats of strength, the mocking of the elephant let loose on him, the making straight of a female dwarf, the breaking of the bow of...

The Çakuntalā [317] certainly represents the perfection of Kālidāsa’s art, and may justly be assumed to belong to his latest period of work. The prologue with his usual skill le...

office, for Kālidāsa takes care to show us Duḥṣanta as the great and good monarch. News is brought that hermits with women desire an interview, while a song is heard in which th...

sleeping, covered by a mantle to protect him from the bees, the Viṭa, Çekharaka, sees him, mistakes him for his inamorata, embraces him and fondles him. Navamālikā enters, and,...

from a temple near by, and rushes in just in time to save Mālatī whom the priest Aghoraghaṇṭa and his acolyte Kapālakuṇḍalā were about to offer in sacrifice to the goddess Cāmuṇ...

Mālatī is to wed Nandana, but by a clever stratagem Makaranda takes her place at the temple where she goes to worship before her marriage, and, while Mādhava and Mālatī flee, Ma...

Candraketu, who guards the horse for Rāma, though each admires the other. In Act VI a Vidyādhara and his wife, flying in the air, describe the battle of the youthful heroes and...

delicacy of the portrayal of her gradual but generous surrender to the proof that, though harsh, he deeply loved her. Lava again is a fine study in his pride, followed by submis...

disguise, bears him news of ill import: the scheme to murder Candragupta, as he passed under a coronation arch, has failed, Vairodhaka, uncle of Malayaketu, who stayed when his...

failure of all his ends, and the fate of his friend. A spy of Candragupta’s approaches him, and passes himself off as one seeking death, in despair for Candanadāsa’s fate, on wh...

result of Kṛṣna’s visit as an envoy to seek to settle the feud between Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas; Bhīma shows his insolent confidence in his power and his bitter anger, by declaring...

Duryodhana’s death at Bhīma’s hands. But a Cārvāka comes in, who tells a very different story; Bhīma and Arjuna are dead. Yudhiṣṭhira and Draupadī resolve on death, and the Cārv...

the sage Viçvāmitra is announced; he exchanges with the king hyperbolic compliments of the most tedious type, but proceeds to business by demanding the aid of Rāma against the R...

‘Paling the face of every beauty here, making the sky’s vault to ripple with the liquid moonlight of her loveliness, and breaking the haughty pride in the hearts of maids that r...

Pāṇini, whose date falls doubtless before 300 B.C., alludes in his grammar to the Naṭasūtras, books of rules for Naṭas, compiled by Çilālin and Kṛçāçva, and Professor Hillebrand...

king’s confession to the Vidūṣaka of his deep love, and extends to the close of Act III. The development occupies Acts IV and V, up to the point where Gautamī uncovers the face...

gazing on him whom she loves, but from whom she is jealously kept by the queen; the progression extends then to the close of the Act; the development occupies Act III, while the...

So far there is obviously force and reason in the analysis, which, if in needless elaboration, recognizes the essential need of a dramatic conflict, of obstacles to be overcome...

treatment of this form of scene as revealing matters which cannot conveniently be depicted on the stage, as well as to distinguish it from the An̄kāvatāra or continuation scene,...

The verbal manner is based on sound, as the other three are on sense. The voice only is its means of expression; women may not use it, and the men must speak Sanskrit; these act...

is a remark made for the sake of some one else, which provokes a laugh, as when the Vidūṣaka in the Mālavikāgnimitra, Act II, by his chatter makes the damsel laugh, and permits...

The Sanskrit drama of the theorists is, despite its complexity, essentially intended for performance, nor is there the slightest doubt that the early dramatists were anything bu...