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V4santi goes on and makes horrible suggestions as to the fate which has probably overtaken Sita after her exile in the forest. Rama shudders and weeps aloud. Sita can witness her lord’s sufferings no longer, and exclaims to Tamasa, “alas! he weeps aloud.” But Tamas4 answers, : Tis better thus : To give our sorrows way. Sufferers should speak Their griefs, the bursting heart that overflows _ In words obtains relief. Weison. * No student of Sanscrit who has read these last two lines in the origi- nal has ever forgotten their matchless beauty, rythm and tenderness, CHAP, XI] DRAMA. 423 We almost think we are perusing a paraphrase of Shakespeare’s matchless lines in Macheth, Give sorrow words ; the grief that does not speak, Whispers the o’er fraught heart and makes it break, : And yet the bard of Vidarbha lived eight centuries before the bard of Avon! The cruel lesson is administered to Rama until! ‘he . faints. Sit, herself invisible, touches his forehead, and at that loving touch Rama revives, exclaiming, “Joy, ‘joy Vasant, wilt thou share my joy?” and declares that he had felt the touch of Sita’s hand— I could not be deceived, Too well I know the touch of that dear hand The marriage rite first placed in ntine ; even now Cool as the snow drift to my fevered palm, And soft as jasmine buds, I grasp it. Wilson, But Sita gets away. She and Tamasa must depart, but she can scarcely tear herself away. ‘ Oh, let me fook, A little moment longer, on a form I never, never, may behold again ! Wilson. And before leaving she exclaims I bow me to the feet of my dear lord, ane source of every blessing.. Wilson, Yes, the poor, banished, injured Sita bows to the feet of her dear lord,—that lord who had heedlessly, feebly, cruelly sent her to the forest, —alone, helpless, on the eve of her confinement! Female sclf-abnegation can 424 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. go no further ; undying love has never been more for- cibly represented ; human imagination has never pic- tured a nobler, purer, saintlier character than that of the gentle, ever-loving, all-forgiving Sita. Once again, in another place the poet gives vent to his indignation at Rama’s feeble conduct. The ancient king Janaka, revered as much for his prowess as for his holy life, his pious sacrifices and his wedic lore, grows indignant when he remembers his daughter’s sufferings. The warm blood tingles in his old’ veins when he ponders on RAma’s conduct, and he bursts out in rage— Shame on the thankless race that wronged thy fame, And Rama’s haste to listen to their calumnies, The cruel blow that has overwhelmed my child Arouses all my soul, and tempts my wrath To deal with arms, or direr imprecations, Destruction on my Sita’s persecutors. Wilson. The story of Rama’s Asvamedha sacrifice is well known. The horse is Iet loose, and Rama’s son dares to detain it, and thus unwillingly provokes hostilities with Rama’s forces. The meeting of Lava and Chandraketu is well described. Both are young heroes, full of ardour for battle, but displaying chivalrous courtesy and respect towards each other. Chandraketu descends from his car,—why ? oe To pay my homage to this valiant youth, _ And do a soldier’s duty. To assail At such advantage one who fights on foot The god of arms forbids, Wilson, CHAP. XL] DRAMA, 425 And this was written before chivalry was developed in Europe. ‘The sage Valmiki arranges a happy reconciliation with which the play is to. conclude ; but the poet must have another hit at Rama before he lays down his pen. A theatrical performance is to take place before Rama, and the subject is Rama’s desertion of his wife! Sita on the stage calls for help when deserted, and in her distress and agony throws herself in the Ganges. RAma can bear it no longer and starts up exclaiming, Dear love, forbear! I fly to thy assistanee. . fd ; Wilson. His brother Lakshmana reminds him : Does my lord remember, what he views is but a fiction? — Réma. Alas! that such a partion should have been the giftof Rama to his tender bride, the dear companion of his forest dwelling. Wilson. The reader is herein reminded of the stage in Hamlet, which was contrived to convict Hamlet's uncle of his guilt. The play ends happily, Rama re- ceives back SitA and his boys Lava and Kusa, and the _ people of Ayodhya are penitent, and eens “in prootiate: homage to the Queen.” _ When we have spoken of Kalidasa ore of Bhava- "phati, we have spoken ofall that is best in the Sanscrit dramatic literature. Several hundreds of plays must have been composed and enacted in what we have. called the Augustan Era of Sanscrit literature, but the works of genius only survive, polished imitation 426 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. and lifeless pieces do not stand the test of time. Some of the master pieces of Shakespeare will be read even after Shakespeare’s language becomes a dead language, but Marlowe or even Ben Jonson will scarcely be re- ‘membered twelve centuries after the date of Elizabeth. The total number of Hindu plays which exist, or which are alluded to by writers on the Drama, is estimated by H. H. Wilson to be not much more than sixty. Most of these, however, are of a comparatively recent date, and very few are of any merit, or are generally known or read. The only pieces (besides those spoken of above) which are generally known and read at the present day are the Mrichchhakati, the Mudré Rékshasa and the Veni Sanhdra.. A word -or two about them will suffice. The Mrichchhakati is ascribed to a king Sudraka, and the time of its composition is unknown. Internal vevidence leads us, however, to think that it must be referred to the brilliant literary period which com- menced with the sixth century A. D. Its style is not ‘widely different from the style of composition of the other plays of this period, and like many of them it has its scene at Ujjayinit. The Pauranik trinity—Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva—is ‘recognized { Act VI ), Buddhists have already become objects of aversion though persecution has not yet commenced (Act VII), and the Code of Manu is thé recognized law for the adminis- tration of justice, (Act IX). For the rest the CHAP, XI] DRAMA. 427 Mrichchhakati deals not with princes and princesses, but with men and women in the ordinary, walks of life; it gives us an insight into the town life of the olden days with its system of justice and police, its -gambling and other vices; and it is a fairly correct picture of the people and their manners. We shall have to allude to the play frequently when we come to the subject of the manners and civilization of this Period. The Mudra Rakshasa is a more recent play, and the author is Visikha Datta. The closing speech of the drama would seem to shew that the Musalmans were already masters of India when this play was composed. ‘Its chief interest fies in the fact that it refers to the political revolution by which Chanakya raised Chan- dragupta on the throne of the Magadhas about 320 #3, C. The contrast between the character of Chanakya avho is scheming, vindictive, violent, and inexorable, ‘and that of Rakshasa who is generous, straightforward, noble, and faithful, is finely drawn. The play of Vent Sanhéra is attributed to Bhatta Narayana who is said to have been one: of the Brahmans who came on Adisur’s invitation from Kanouj to Bengal. Many Brahmans in Bengal still claim descent from the author of this piece. The subject is taken from the Mahabhdrata. Draupadi “when lost by Yudhisthira at dice was dragged in the public assembly by Duhsdsana by her Vent or braided 428 PAURANIK PERIOD. [Book vy. hair, and she resolved that her hair would remain dishevelled until that insult was revenged. The insult was revenged when Bhima killed Duryodhana, and Draupadi’s hair: was bound up again. There are passages which are vigorous, but on the whole the play is harsh in style and rude in execution, and it belongs obviously to a period not very long before the Mahommedan conquest of India. CHAPTER XII. POETRY, THE name of K4lid4sa stands foremost in poetry as in drama. . There is a series of Mahdkduyay or short epics in Sanscrit belonging to the period of which we are now speaking, and the two best of them are KAlida- sa’s. One is called Raghuvansa or the race of Raghu, ‘and the other is the Kuméra Sambhava or the birth of Kumara, the war god. _ The first isa long account of the royal race of Ayo-~ dhya, beginning with the founder of the dynasty and ending with the last kings of Rama’s race. The subject is oné more suited for history than for poetry, but the genius of thé poet enlivens the whole story. Scenes ‘from the life of king after king.are painted with all the. skill of a great master ; the descriptions are always rich and spirited and often rise to true poetry ; and the reader remains from the first to the last under the spell _of Kalid4sa’s rich and superb fancy, and fiis inimitable sweetness of versification. One of the happiest and most remarkable passages in the whole work is that i in which Rama, after winning . back Sita from Ceylon, travels through the air in a celes- 430 _ PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK Vv. tial car all the way to Ayodhya. All India with her rivers and forests and mountans and the blue waters of the ocean lie below, and Rama points out the different places to his gentle and loving consort. Apart from the beauty of the passage, it is interesting as giving us some notion of the Geography of India as known to the literary men of Ujjayini in the 6th century A. D. In our opinion K4liddsa takes a bolder flight in his Kumara Sambhava.