265 



KKIT LAXr.r.VOK AXD LITERATURE. 



SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 



216 



llhartribari, while the two other books contain didactic poetry. The 

 work 1 <cribed to the brother of King Vikramaditya, who 



lived in the 1st century, B.C. ; and we have the high authority of 

 1'rof. La.-"*n (' Ind. Alt.,' ii. 803,1161), for the probability of this 

 assertion being correct. (First edited at Seranipore, with the 

 Hit. [odeaa/ 1804; and at Berlin, 1833, by Bohlen.) Among the 

 poems properly called descriptive, by far the best is the ' Meghaduta,' 

 certainly a genuine work of Kalidasa, which in a style of the utmost 

 elegance and simplicity, describes the course of a cloud over a part of 

 India, the residence of the god of riches and of the wife of a demigod 

 who had been banished to earth [CALIDASA, in BIOG. Div.j : the poem 

 is put in the mouth of the demigod himself. The value of this poem 

 as a work of art lies chiefly in this, that every single external pheno- 

 menon receives a spiritual meaning, and all nature seems to be 

 i'd with life. It is very different in the later poems of this class, 

 which are properly only rhetorical centos and collections of all the 

 current expressions and comparisons of previous poets. A work of 

 this kind on the seasons a subject indeed -which is frequently intro- 

 duced in the epic poems, the ' Ritusanhara ' has been improperly 

 ascribed to Kalidasa. (Printed at Calcutta in 1792, and at Leipzig in 

 A similar one on amatory common-places, ' Chaurapanchasika ' 

 (in Bohlen's ' Bhartriliaris '), is bombastic and spiritless. This branch 

 of literature must have been very rich, and many of the older works 

 have undoubtedly been lost. Most of those that are extant, including 

 the ' Meghaduta,' ' Kitusamhdra, ' Gltagovinda,' 'Nalodaya,' ' Bhartrihari,' 

 ' Amarusataka,' are contained in Hccberlin's ' Sanskrit Anthology,' Calc., 

 1847. 



The Drama. According to the tradition of the Hindus, the Indian 

 drama had its origin in very ancient times, the rules concerning it 

 having been communicated by Brahma himself to the hermit Bharata 

 (which means the supporter, bard, actor). Though we are unable to 

 trace it historically, as we know it only in its perfected form, still we 

 may perhaps not be far wrong if we fix about the end of the 4th or 

 the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. as the most probable time when 

 it received its first development. An examination of the technical 

 term* employed in the Hindu drama favours the supposition that, in 

 it* first stage, it confuted in dances, accompanied by gestures and songs, 

 in which some historical event was celebrated ; that then the persons 

 themselves who were the subject* of those songs were represented by the 

 singers; and that, lastly , the regular dialogue took the place of the dancing 

 and singing. (Laaaen,' Ind. Alt,' ii. 50:2-5; Weber, ' Ind. Lit,' 184, if.) 



Such performances are still retained in their original form at the 

 festivals of Rama and Krishna. The characters of the pieces come 

 forward one after another, and sing a song accompanied with gesture. 

 It is obvious that a considerable time must have elapsed before so 

 simple a beginning could have grown into a regular dialogue and a 

 complicated action, in which mythological and domestic, and even 

 historical, materials are interwoven into the representation. But the 

 Indian drama, even in its highest state, is still in a low condition. 

 Among the Greeks and the moderns individual action and the collision 

 i il powers form the moving forces of the drama ; but that of 

 India is rather a series of events and situations which are exhibited in 

 succession to the spectator. The distinction between tragedy and 

 comedy is unknown, and the Indian drama most nearly resembles the 

 modern opera. The Indian dramatists have not yet arrived at the 

 ^illation of character ; the heroes and heroines resemble one 

 another more or less in all their dramas ; and the species rather than 

 the individual is everywhere represented. There are also standing 

 characters, such as the rila, who is the ffraciotu of the Spanish stage, 

 and the riilAthal-a, who is the clown of the old English. This latter 

 personage is always the necessary attendant of the principal hero, 

 whom he parodies, and whose ideal wishes he contrasts with his own 

 practical views, and these contrasts are often very strongly coloured. 

 The strict rules of the Greek drama are unknown to that of India, and 

 even in many external particulars it is comparatively unfettered, as, 

 for instance, in the number of acts, of which there may be as many as 

 ten. In the form there are two peculiarities which especially require 

 notice : first, the interchange of dialects in the dialogue, which is in 

 general skilfully ami delicately managed, and gives us a high idea of 

 the social cultivation of the Indians in those remote times (it has 

 already been observed that the heroes speak Sanskrit, but that the 

 women and inferior characters speak various dialects of Prakrit) ; and, 

 second, the interchange of prose and verse. The dialogue is entirely in 

 prose, but is interspersed with verses in the lyric metres, always of the 

 descriptive character before mentioned, which sometimes exhibit a 

 feeling or a situation, and sometimes describe something which cannot 

 be actually represented on the stage, as the rapid travelling of a vehicle. 

 As to the scenic representation, our information is limited. It may be 

 inferred from their rhetorical books that great care was bestowed on 

 the declamation and the costume, but the stage-management and the 

 decorations appear to have been vi-ry rude. Still the dramatic lite- 

 rature of India is beyond .ill doubt much richer than we are yet aware 

 of. The names of about 60 pieces are known to us, of which 13 

 have been edited, and we arc indebted to Professor Wilson for longer 

 orsh- Theatre, of the Hindim,' 2nd edit., 



. I Fortunately, the piece* which have been edited are 

 tit to enable u to tike a rapid view of all the eras and divisions 

 their literature. 



The classic age of the Indian drama may be divided into three 

 periods : the first includes the time before Kalidasa, of which only one 

 piece remains, ' Mrichhakati,' ' The Toy-Cart,' by King Sudraka (who 

 probably lived about the end of the 1st century A.D.). It is easy to 

 discover that this piece belongs to the early period of art : the poet 

 has to contend with materials which he does not well know how to 

 handle. There is a certain clumsiness in the management of the acts 

 and scenes, and the excess of descriptive poetry is fatiguing, a whole 

 act, for instance, being occupied with the description of a storm. In 

 other respects it is strikingly original, and contains few of the common- 

 places which occur in the other poets ; the different dialects of the 

 Prakrit also are more closely amalgamated than in the other pieces. 

 To Europeans this drama is particularly valuable, as giving a repre- 

 sentation of Indian manners which cannot be found in any other work. 

 Though it is the only remaining piece of this period, many others must 

 have existed before Kalidftsa ; for the general theory of the dramatic 

 art was already perfected, which is obvious from his frequent allusions 

 to it. 



The second period begins with Kalidasa (about the middle of the 

 2nd century A.D.), under whom the Indian drama reached its highest 

 degree of perfection. We have two pieces by him, ' Sakuntala ' and 

 ' Vikramorvasi ' [CALIDASA, in Bioo. Div.], of which the last has been 

 denied to be his ; but, to judge from the style and spirit, it must 

 certainly be ascribed to him. Kalidasa is indeed the most perfect of 

 the Indian dramatists, for in his pieces we have the utmost elegance of 

 style, without anything over-laboured or artificial ; the development of 

 his plot is natural and well considered ; and there is always a correct 

 relation of parts. As to his poetical merit, Europeans have been 

 enabled to form a judgment from the graceful translation of his 

 ' Sakuntalft,' by Prof. M. Williams (Hertford, 1855). 



The third period begins with Bhavabhuti, at the commencement of 

 the 8th century, whose era is established by a passage in the Chronicle 

 of Cashmere' (iv. 144). Dramatic poetry had now undergone a great 

 change, the historical progress of which we are unable to describe for 

 want of the necessary evidence. Bhavabhuti was a learned poet, who 

 constructed his works entirely according to the dramatic theory of 

 previous writers. He has accordingly a very high reputation in India, 

 but he has all the faults consequent on the direction thus given to his 

 genius. With all his poetic talent, he is deficient in true dramatic 

 spirit ; his results are laboured, and there is always a display of art 

 and a want of nature. Description is with him always in excess, aud 

 the diction of single passages is not only too artificial, but also pompous, 

 and to Europeans therefore not without difficulty. There are three 

 pieces of his ; one in which a domestic subject is treated, the loves of 

 Mfilati and Madhava, and two others taken from the cycle of traditions 

 of the Kamayana, ' Mahaviracharitra,' and ' Uttararimacharitra.' The 

 last is most free from the excessive elaboration of style. 



As specimens of dramas of intrigue in the Indian style, ' Ratnftvali ' 

 and ' Mnlavikagnimitra ' are worthy of notice. The iirst was written 

 in the 12th century by some poet at the court of Sriharsha, king of 

 Cashmere; the other was long prior to Bhavabhuti, probably by 

 Kalidasa himself. The plan of these pieces is not unskilful, and the 

 language is easy and graceful ; the subject itself warning the poet to 

 avoid a highly ornamental style. Another kind of interest belongs to 

 the ' Mudrdrakghasa ' of VisAkhadatta ; the exact time to which this 

 drama belongs is unknown, but it is certainly after Bhavabhuti ; the 

 matter is historical, namely, the history of Chandragupta, the Sandro- 

 cottus of the Greeks. In the deficiency of historical information, even 

 such a tradition is important, and the piece also throws much light on 

 the politics of the Indian courts. As a drama it is not of much value ; 

 it is mostly written in prose. The ' Prabodhachandrodaya ' (" the 

 rising of the moon of reason ") is of a character quite peculiar : it is an 

 allegorical play, written by Kriahnamisra in the llth century, in which 

 purely abstract ideas, as virtues, passions, and crimes, are personified 

 and act, and by means of whom the Vedanta philosophy at last 

 celebrates her triumph. Setting aside the strangeness of such a work 

 of imagination, it must be admitted that the author has performed his 

 task with great skill. 



It was much later before the peculiar species of drama made its 

 appearance which is called fraJuiaann (comedy, or rather farce). The 

 pieces are short, and are valuable as exhibiting an entirely new kind of 

 literature. They are bitter satires, as unrestrained as those of Aristo- 

 phanes, and aimed at the deep state of degradation into which the 

 Indians had sunk, chiefly through the corruption of the Brahmins. 

 The Dhurtasaraagama ' (" the assembly of rogues ") is a playful wrangle 

 between a Brahmin and his scholars about a courtesan. The piece has 

 the merit of parodying in a happy manner the bombastic style of 

 Bhavabhuti, which is a proof that even in India there were critics who 

 were opposed to the common opinion, and who ridiculed the perverse- 

 ness of the general taste. This little piece belongs to the end of the 

 15th century. (Published in Lassen's ' Anthologia Sanscritica/ Bonn, 

 1838.) The later dramas confine themselves entirely to mythological 

 ' subjects. The greater number of the sixty pieces before mentioned 

 belong to this class. An imitation of the ' Prabodhachandrodaya ' is the 

 ' Chaitauyachaiidiodaya,' a drama in ten acts by Kavikarnapura, in 

 which tin; life and mystical reveries of the philosopher Chaitanya are 

 celebrated. It dates from the 16th century. Amongst its faults are a 

 profusion of alliterations, and a gorgeously ornate style : but, regarded 



