Tuesday, November 3, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Classical Sanskrit Literature
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Texts
A History of Sanskrit Literature — Arthur A. MacdonellArthur A. Macdonell’s 1900 history of Sanskrit literature for the Literatures of the World series, from the Rigveda, the later Vedas, the Brāhmaṇas and the Sūtras through the epics, court poetry, lyric, drama, fairy tales and fables and the philosophical systems, to the meeting of Sanskrit literature and the West, with an appendix on the technical literature, bibliographical notes and an index.Black Marigolds — E. Powys MathersE. Powys Mathers's 1919 free-verse rendering of the Caurapañcāśikā, an eleventh-century Kashmiri love poem of fifty stanzas attributed to Bilhana, each beginning “Even now.”Hindoo Tales; or, the Adventures of Ten Princes — P. W. JacobP. W. Jacob’s free English translation (London, 1873) of the Sanskrit prose romance the Dasakumaracharitam, in which Prince Râjavâhana of Magadha and his companions each tell their adventures, condensed and in places shortened by the translator, with his close literal versions of three passages and a list of the proper names.Kalidasa — Shakuntala and Other Works — Arthur W. RyderKalidasa's complete drama Shakuntala in Arthur W. Ryder's 1914 translation, with Ryder's critical essays and translated selections from Kalidasa's other plays and poems.Tales from the Hindu Dramatists — R. N. DuttaR. N. Dutta’s 1912 Calcutta schoolbook of prose retellings of the stories of twenty-eight Sanskrit plays, from Kalidasa’s Sakuntala, Vikramorvasi and Malavikagnimitra through Bhavabhuti’s plays, the Mudrarakshasa and the Ratnavali, revised by J. S. Zemin, with an appendix on the Sanskrit drama and its authors.The Birth of the War-God — Ralph T. H. GriffithRalph T. H. Griffith’s English verse translation of the seven surviving cantos of Kálidása’s Sanskrit poem Kumára Sambhava, the story of how the gods, oppressed by the demon Tárak, seek a son of Śiva to lead their armies, through the death of Love, Rati’s lament, Umá’s penance and her marriage to Śiva, in the second edition of 1879 with the translator’s preface, pronunciation note and notes.The Kādambarī of Bāṇa — C. M. RiddingC. M. Ridding’s 1896 English translation, with occasional omissions, of the Kādambarī, the seventh-century Sanskrit prose romance of Bāṇa, court writer of King Harsha, with the translator’s full abstract of the continuation by Bāṇa’s son Bhūshaṇabhaṭṭa, introduction, notes, an appendix of descriptive passages given in fuller translation, a table of omissions and two indexes.The Little Clay Cart — Arthur W. RyderArthur W. Ryder's 1905 Harvard Oriental Series translation of the Mṛcchakaṭika, the ten-act Sanskrit comedy of the poor Brahman Chārudatta and the courtezan Vasantasenā attributed to King Shūdraka, in English prose and rhymed verse, with Ryder's introduction, plot outline and notes.The Sanskrit Drama in its Origin, Development, Theory and Practice — A. Berriedale KeithA. Berriedale Keith’s 1924 study of the classical Indian theatre: the origin of the drama in Vedic and post-Vedic literature, the dramatists from Açvaghoṣa and Bhāsa through Kālidāsa, Harṣa and Bhavabhūti to the decline, the Indian theory of the dramatic art, and the theatre, its actors and its audience.