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List Of Sanskrit Plays In English Translation
Of around 155 extant Sanskrit plays, at least 46 distinct plays by at least 24 authors have been translated into English. William Jones published the first English translation of any Sanskrit play ('' Shakuntala'') in 1789. About 3 decades later, Horace Hayman Wilson published the first major English survey of Sanskrit drama, including 6 full translations (''Mṛcchakatika'', ''Vikramōrvaśīyam'', ''Uttararamacarita'', ''Malatimadhava'', ''Mudrarakshasa'', and ''Ratnavali''). These 7 plays — plus ''Nagananda'', '' Mālavikāgnimitram'', and '' Svapnavasavadattam'' (the text of which was not discovered until almost a century after Wilson's volumes) — remain the most-translated plays. The period of Sanskrit dramas in India begins roughly with the composition of the '' Natya Shastra'' (c. 200 BCE – 200 CE) — though this treatise evidences a mature theatrical practice already in existence. Literarily, the period dwindles around the composition of the Natya Shatra's influe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Jones (philologist)
Sir William Jones (28 September 1746 – 27 April 1794) was a British philologist, a puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, and a scholar of ancient India. He is particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among European and Indo-Aryan languages, which later came to be known as the Indo-European languages. Jones is also credited for establishing the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784. Early life William Jones was born in London; his father William Jones (1675–1749) was a mathematician from Anglesey in Wales, noted for introducing the use of the symbol π. The young William Jones was a linguistic prodigy, who in addition to his native languages English and Welsh, learned Greek, Latin, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew and the basics of Chinese writing at an early age. By the end of his life he knew eight languages with critical thoroughness, was fluent in a further eight, with a dictionary at hand, and had a fair c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rajashekhara (Sanskrit Poet)
Rajashekhara (; ) was a Sanskrit poet, dramatist and critic. He was the court poet of the Gurjara Pratiharas. Rajashekhara wrote the ''Kāvyamīmāṃsā'' between 880 and 920 CE. The work is essentially a practical guide for poets that explains the elements and composition of a good poem. He is most noted for the ''Kārpūramañjarī'', a play written in Maharashtri Prakrit. Rajashekhara wrote the play to please his wife, Avantisundarī, a woman of taste and accomplishment. Rajashekhara is perhaps the only ancient Indian poet to acknowledge a woman for her contributions to his literary career. Life In his ''Bālarāmāyaṇa'' and ''Kāvyamimāṃsā'', Rajashekhara referred himself by his family name ''Yāyāvara'' or ''Yāyāvarīya''. In ''Bālarāmāyaṇa'', he mentioned that his great grandfather Akalajalada belonged to Maharashtra. In the same work, he described his father Durduka as a ''Mahamantrin'' (minister) without providing any details. He mentioned in his works ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bāṇabhaṭṭa
Bāṇabhaṭṭa ( sa, बाणभट्ट) was a 7th-century Sanskrit prose writer and poet of India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'' in the court of the emperor Harsha, who reigned c. 606–647 CE in north India, first from Sthanvishvara (Thanesar), and later Kannauj. Bāna's principal works include a biography of Harsha, the ''Harshacharita'' (Deeds of Harsha), and one of the world's earliest novels, '' Kadambari''. Bāṇa died before finishing the novel and it was completed by his son Bhūṣaṇabhaṭṭa. Both these works are noted texts of Sanskrit literature. The other works attributed to him are the ''Caṇḍikāśataka'' and a drama, the ''Pārvatīpariṇaya''. Banabhatta gets an applause as "banochhistam jagatsarvam" meaning Bana has described everything in this world and nothing is left. Life A detailed account regarding his ancestry and early life can be reconstructed from the introductory verses attached to the ''Kadambari'' and the first two ''ucchāvasas'' of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
August Hjalmar Edgren
August Hjalmar Edgren (October 18, 1840 – December 9, 1903) was a Swedish-American linguist, professor, and author. Background August Hjalmar Edgren was born in Östanås, Älvsbacka parish in Värmland, Sweden. He was the son of Axel Edgren (1813–1864) and Mathilda Berger (1817–1878). He was educated in Karlstad and Stockholm. He was a graduate of the University of Uppsala and the royal military school of Sweden. Edgren passed the officer's exam in Stockholm in 1860, and subsequently served during the American Civil War in the Union Army, where he entered the 99th New York Regiment as 2d lieutenant in January 1862. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant, and in August 1863 he was assigned to the engineer corps. He resigned towards the end of 1863, went back to Sweden and took commission in the Värmland Regiment, in which he served from February 1864 until August 1870, having been adjutant from July 1869. In the beginning of the 1870s Edgren returned to the United States, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sourindra Mohun Tagore
Raja Sourindra Mohun Tagore or Sourindro Mohun Tagore CIE (1840, Pathuriaghata - 5 June 1914, Calcutta) was a Bengali musicologist who came from an upper-class family from Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent; that also later produced Rabindranath Tagore. He studied both Indian and western music theory and published extensively on the topics. He founded the Bengal Music School and Bengal Academy of Music. A staunch supporter of the British Empire and its agencies in India, he was commissioned to set Indian translations of ''God Save the Queen'' to Indian tunes. Biography Sourindro was the son of Hara Kumar Tagore and a younger brother of Jotindro Mohun Tagore belonging to the Pathuriaghata branch of the Tagore family. His family owned extensive lands including the battleground of Plassey and the pilgrimage site Ganga Sagar. He studied at the European-model Hindu College in Calcutta and took an interest in music, both Indian and western. He published a book on music at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa
Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa Mṛgarājalakśman, also known as Nishānārāyana, was a Sanskrit scholar and writer who belonged to the ''Pancharatra'' Rarhi branch of ''Sandilya'' family of Brahmins. He lived before 800 A.D. for he is cited by Vāmana (iv.3.28) in about 800 A.D. and by Ānandavardhana who refers to him more than once. He is believed to have been summoned from Kanyakubja (Kannauj) to Bengal by King Ādisūra, who ruled before the Pala dynasty came to power in the middle of the eighth century, and who in 671 A.D. was a contemporary of Ādityasena, son of Madhavagupta, who ruled Kanyakubja. Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa, who is believed to have converted to Buddhism, was a disciple of Dharmakirti with whom he co-authored ''Rupavatara''. Dandin in his ''Avantisundarikatha'' refers to Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa as author of three books but who is more widely known as the author of ''Venisamhara'' that dramatizes in six Acts some incidents from the Mahabharata. The construction of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Henry Tawney
Charles Henry Tawney (1837–1922) was an English educator and scholar, primarily known for his translations of Sanskrit classics into English. He was fluent in German, Latin, and Greek; and in India also acquired Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, and Persian. Biography Tawney was the son of Rev. Richard Tawney, and educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge; where he was a Cambridge Apostle and worked as a Fellow and Tutor for 4 years, until he moved to India for health reasons. He married Constance Catharine Fox in 1867 and had a large family. One of his children, born 30 November 1880 in Calcutta, was Richard Henry or R. H. Tawney. From 1865 to his retirement in 1892 he held various educational offices, most significantly Principal of Presidency College for much of the period of 1875-1892. His translation of ''Kathasaritsagara'' was printed by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in a small series called Bibliotheca Indica between 1880 and 1884. One of the professors of Presi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahaviracharita
''Mahaviracharita'' ("Exploits of a Great Hero") is a play by the 8th-century Sanskrit playwright Bhavabhuti based on the early life of Rama, the hero of the ''Ramayana'' and venerated as a Hindu deity. It is the first play of Bhavabhuti,Mirashi p.111 thus lacking in character and style compared to his two known later works: '' Malatimadhava'' and '' Uttararamacharita''. Though currently composed of seven acts, the whole present text may not have been composed by Bhavabhuti. Structure and plot The play is composed of seven acts. Most modern scholars agree that Bhavabhuti has written the play from the beginning only to the 46th verse of Act V. According to one theory, the rest of the play is lost to time. Another theory suggests that Bhavabuti left the play incomplete after the 46th verse of Act V. However, two different extensions replace the lost material to make up seven acts. The North Indian version is composed by a poet Vinayaka and the South Indian version is attributed to Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monier Monier-Williams
Sir Monier Monier-Williams (; né Williams; 12 November 1819 – 11 April 1899) was a British scholar who was the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit at University of Oxford, Oxford University, England. He studied, documented and taught Languages of Asia, Asian languages, especially Sanskrit, Persian language, Persian and Hindustani language, Hindustani. Early life Monier Williams was born in Mombai, Bombay, the son of Colonel Monier Williams, Surveyor general, surveyor-general in the Bombay presidency. His surname was "Williams" until 1887, when he added his given name to his surname to create the hyphenated "Monier-Williams". In 1822, he was sent to England to be educated at private schools at Hove, Chelsea and Finchley. He was educated at King's College School, Balliol College, Oxford (1838–40), the East India Company College (1840–41) and University College, Oxford (1841–44). He took a fourth-class honours degree in Literae Humaniores in 1844. He married Julia Granth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Byles Cowell
Edward Byles Cowell, (23 January 1826 – 9 February 1903) was a noted translator of Persian poetry and the first professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge University. Cowell was born in Ipswich, the son of Charles Cowell and Marianne Byles. Elizabeth "Beth" Cowell, the painter, was his sister. He became interested in Oriental languages at the age of fifteen, when he found a copy of Sir William Jones's works (including his ''Persian Grammar'') in the public library. Self-taught, he began translating and publishing Hafez within the year. On the death of his father in 1842 he took over the family business. He married in 1845, and in 1850 entered Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied and catalogued Persian manuscripts for the Bodleian Library. From 1856 to 1867 he lived in Calcutta as professor of English history at Presidency College. He was also as principal of Sanskrit College from 1858 to 1864. In this year he discovered a manuscript of Omar Khayyám's quatrains in the Asiatic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harsha
Harshavardhana ( IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajyavardhana, a king of Thanesar, present-day Haryana. At the height of Harsha's power, his territory covered much of north and northwestern India, with the Narmada River as its southern boundary. He eventually made Kannauj (in present Uttar Pradesh state) his capital, and ruled till 647 CE.International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania by Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon La Boda p.507 Harsha was defeated by the Emperor Pulakeshin II of the Chalukya dynasty in the Battle of Narmada, when he tried to expand his empire into the southern peninsula of India. The peace and prosperity that prevailed made his court a centre of cosmopolitanism, attracting scholars, artists and religious visitors from far and wide. The Chinese tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vishakhadatta
Vishakhadatta ( sa, विशाखदत्त) was an Indian Sanskrit poet and playwright. Although Vishakhadatta furnishes the names of his father and grandfather as ''Maharaja'' Bhaskaradatta and ''Maharaja'' Vateshvaradatta in his political drama '' Mudrārākṣasa'', we know little else about him. Only two of his plays, the '' Mudrārākṣasa'' and the ''Devichandraguptam'' are known to us. His period is not certain but he probably flourished in or after the 6th century CE. Some scholars such as A. S. Altekar, K. P. Jayaswal and Sten Konow theorized that Vishakhadatta was a contemporary of Chandragupta II, and lived in late 4th century to early 5th century. But this view has been challenged by other scholars, including Moriz Winternitz and R. C. Majumdar. Mudrarakshasa '' Mudrārākṣasa'' ("Rákshasa's Ring") is Vishakhadatta’s only surviving play, although there exist fragments of another work ascribed to him. Vishakhadatta has stressed upon historical facts in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
