English Language, Literature and Creative Writing Blog

  Characters have certain functions and roles to play. Sanskrit drama delineates the characters and their roles in combination with the use of various rasas. Sanskrit drama has many stock characters and the audience who were familiar with its structure could easily figure out the function of these characters. Abhijnana Shakuntalam contains the staples of Sanskritic drama with the nayanka/ hero and his entourage, nayaki / heroine and her companions, Vidusaka (jester) and court officials etc. The play is a beautiful mixture of the rasa of love (srngara) and heroism (vira) and we can see how they play out in the actions and dialogues of the characters.   Sutradhar As the name suggests, the Sutradhar is someone who holds the thread of the story. He is the one who introduces the play to the audience and in essence can be considered the narrator or if we stretch the similarity a bit even the director of the play and Chandra Rajan has translated the Sutradhar as Director. His ...

  Prophecies and Curses Throughout the play, supernatural beings like gods and nymphs ( mythological spirits of Nature imagined as a beautiful maiden inhabiting rivers, woods, or other locations. ) , powerful utterances like sages’ prophecies and curses, and even bodily omens experienced by the main characters are ever-present. In fact, none of the main events would take place if it weren’t for such supernatural interventions into human events. Such interventions appear to work outside the limits of human plans and intentions, suggesting that, in the play, they’re meant to signal to audiences the inscrutability—and inevitability— of divine plans. Prophecy frames the entire play—specifically, the prophecy that Dusyanta will father a world emperor. When Dusyanta refrains from shooting the deer belonging to the hermitage, one of the forest-dwelling ascetics voices the prophetic wish, “Great Lord of the Lunar Dynasty, / May you have a son / With all your virtues, ...

  The Hermitage and the Court The Hermitage and the Court are two diametrically opposed spaces in the play. The Hermitage is a secluded space devoted to holy pursuits by the ascetics. They choose to live away from society and its problems. The people there live a simple life and are closer to their natural surroundings, living in harmony with nature as they are dependent on it for their survival. Furthermore, they are under the protection of the king and call upon him for assistance during their rituals. The holy grooves of the Hermitage are safe spaces, where even the king must not hunt animals. Shakuntala, Priyamvada, Anasuya, Kanva, Gautami etc all belong to this world.     The Court is the worldly world, a society with strict rules and regulations, functioning under social codes that dictate the code of court etiquette to people. Corruption and abuse of power is a part of this world as seen in the fisherman episode. The Palace itself is filled with intrigues and...

  The Theme of Love   Abhijnana Shakuntalam is a heroic drama of a romantic nature. The rasa invoked here is srngara or love and according to the Sanskritic dramatic order, love poetry consists of love in union and love in separation. In the play, Kalidasa first creates a temporary union of the protagonists, King Duhsanta, the hero or nayaka and Shakuntala, the heroine or nayaki, as the play presents the story of   the flourishing (beginning to grow or increase rapidly) and completion of their love (ACTI,II, III). It is then followed by separation caused by the loss of memory and the token ring due to the curse (ACT IV, V,&VI).The play ends with there- union of not only Shakuntala and Duhsanta but also of their son Bharata (ACT VI). We notice how these different stages of love occur in different places in the play. The initial courting and marriage takes place in the forest of the Hermitage, where the King has come to hunt. It’s a world that is an intrinsic part ...

    Act VI   The Prelude informs us about a fisherman who has been found with the lost royal ring (originally given to Shakuntala). The guards/soldiers/law enforcers blame him for stealing the ring, but he claims to have found it in the stomach of a fish he caught. The fisherman’s innocence is proven once Duhsanta sees the ring, and rewards the man for finding it. Duhsanta then remembers Shakuntala, their marriage, and his promise to bring her to his palace. He is ashamed of his behaviour and cannot figure out why his memory lapsed at that particular moment. He is distraught about how he refused to accept Shakuntala and the cruel ways in which he doubted her. His sorrow at having lost his beloved is so severe that he orders the cancellation of the celebration of the Spring Festival. Duhsanta tries to recreate his first encounter with Shakuntala by painting it and conversing with the painting. Madhavya laments how the king has become so hopeless that he has lost all acti...

  Act I Act 1 takes place in the forest on the foothills of the Himalayas and moves to the hermitage of the great sage Kanva, by the river Malini. The King Duhsanta appears, followed by his Charioteer, in hot pursuit of a deer, specifically a Blackbuck, which is a sacred animal. Duhsanta is stopped in his hunt by an ascetic who reminds him of his duty This deer is of the Hermitage, O King! He should not be killed…no…no…do not strike him down. How fragile the life of this deer! How cruel your sharp- pointed arrows, swift-winged! Never should they fall on his tender frame like tongues of flame on a heap of flowers. Quickly withdraw your well-aimed arrow, bound to protect the distressed, not strike the pure. (p. 173)   Furthermore, Duhsanta has entered the sacred Hermitage, where such slaughter is sacrilegious. At the ascetic surging, Duhsanta decides to go to the Hermitage of Kanva, to pay his respect as well enjoy the hospitality offered there. As they near the Hermitag...

  Every work of art and piece of literature derives its ingredients from the social surrounding where it is produced. Inevitably, Oliver Goldsmith wrote about his time and his thoughts were in compliance with the Tory point of view of his time. He was a supporter of the king and squirearchy. The Vicar of Wakefield is a literary product of a man living in eighteenth-century England, which consequently reflects some historical and biographical truths about him, as Paul Valéry suggests: “[A]uthors fabricate for themselves a character who little by little takes the place of their own authentic self”. Therefore, the vicar in Goldsmith’s novel becomes Goldsmith himself and reflects both his world view and zeitgeist (the word ‘zeitgeist’ means the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time ) of his time.     The novel mainly deals with the vicar’s family life and his struggle to support his family. The vicar h...

  Indian Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy which deals with nature of art, beauty and taste. It also emphasises on creation and appreciation of beauty. The two main terms used in aesthetics are: (i)Sensory     ( it means relating to sensation or the physical senses; transmitted or perceived by the senses ) (ii) Emotional values It is also known as Judgement of Sentiments and tastes. Aesthetics can be viewed as critical reflection on Art, Culture and Nature and it deal with works of Indian literature describing or signifying a particular Art Movement or theory. Rasa Theory The meaning of Rasa in Hindi or Sanskrit language is Ras which means juice or taste or essence of something. This aesthetic flavour is an essential element of any work of visual, literary, or performing art that can only be suggested, not described.   Primarily Rasa was used in dramas, later on it was used in poetry also. Rasa basically has more of practical imple...

  Sanskrit drama is defined by the works of dramatists such as Sudraka, Bhasa, Bhavbhuti, Harsha, and Kalidasa to name a few. They have survived through thousands of years because of their literary prowess in depicting characters, settings, plots in their own individualistic way. Almost all the great Sanskrit playwrights benefitted from royal patronage or were part of royal households or even of kings.  BHASA Bhasa (3rd- 4th CE) was a Sanskrit playwright, preceding Kalidasa, believed to have lived in the city of Ujjain. Relatively unknown to Sanskrit scholars except through references in other dramatic works, Bhasa’s works saw the light of the day in 1909 when the play Swapnavasavadatta (Vision of Vasavadatta) was discovered by Pandit Anandalvar of the Archaeological Survey of Mysore. In 1913 a total of thirteen plays were discovered in an old library in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) by T Ganapati Shastri. Bhasa drew his inspiration from epics such as the Mahabharata, ...

  Abhijnana Shakuntala is one of the most well-known plays by Kalidasa. As most of the Sanskrit dramas of his time, Kalidasa wrote in a mixture of both classical Sanskrit - spoken by the royals, courtly figures, upper caste figures and Prakrit, consisting of different types of vernaculars-spoken by the common people including women and children.   The title of the play Abhijnana Shakuntala can be translated as The Recognition of Shakuntala. The play   is an extension of an episode from the Mahabharata. Kalidasa’s prowess as an exemplary dramatist can be seen in way he has lent complexity to the characters - to Shakuntala and Duhsanta, adding innovative elements such as the curse and the ring to enhance the rasa of kama /love as well as, making Duhsanta’s character more appealing to the audience. Furthermore, the ultimate union of the hero and the heroine does not occur in the royal Palace of the King but in the heavenly hermitage of Marica and Aditi, years after the...