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Mālavikāgnimitram
The ''Mālavikāgnimitram'' (Sanskrit: मालविकाग्निमित्रम् , translation : ''Mālavikā and Agnimitra'') is a Sanskrit play by Kālidāsa. Based on some events of the reign of Pushyamitra Shunga, it is his first play. ''Mālavikāgnimitram'' tells the story of the love of Agnimitra, the Shunga Emperor at Vidisha, for the beautiful handmaiden of his chief queen. He falls in love with the picture of an exiled servant girl named Mālavikā. He must resort to the help of his jester and play a game of subterfuge merely to look at the new girl. When the queen discovers her husband's passion for this girl, she becomes infuriated and has Mālavikā imprisoned, but as fate would have it, in the end she is discovered to be of royal birth and is accepted as one of his queens. The play contains an account of the Rajasuya sacrifice performed by Pushyamitra Shunga and an elaborate exposition of a theory on music and acting. The plot The Mālavikāgnimitra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Kālidāsa
Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali (god), Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviving works consist of three plays, two epic poems and two shorter poems. Much about his life is unknown except what can be inferred from his poetry and plays. His works cannot be dated with precision, but they were most likely authored before the 5th century CE during the Gupta Empire, Gupta era. Kalidas is mentioned as one of the seven Brahma avatars in Dasam Granth, written by Guru Gobind Singh. Early life Scholars have speculated that Kālidāsa may have lived near the Himalayas, in the vicinity of Ujjain, and in Kalinga (historical region), Kalinga. This hypothesis is based on Kālidāsa's detailed description of the Himalayas in his ''Kumārasambhava, Kumārasambhavam'', the display of his love for Ujjain in ''Meghadūta'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sanskrit Drama
The term Indian classical drama refers to the tradition of dramatic literature and performance in ancient India. The roots of drama in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to the Rigveda (1200-1500 BCE), which contains a number of hymns in the form of dialogues, or even scenes, as well as hymns that make use of other literary forms such as animal fables However, Indian drama begins its classical stage in the Classical India, classical period with the composition of the Natya Shastra, Nātyaśāstra (''lit. The Science of Drama''). Indian classical drama is regarded as the highest achievement of Sanskrit literature.Brandon (1981, xvii). The Buddhist playwright, poet and philosopher Asvaghosa, who composed the ''Buddhacarita'', is considered to have been one of the first Sanskrit dramatists along with Bhāsa, who likely lived in the 2nd century BCE, and is famous for writing two of the only surviving tragedies in Sanskrit drama. Despite its name, a classical Sanskrit drama u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Agnimitra
Agnimitra (; ) was the second Shunga emperor who reigned over what is now northern and central India. He succeeded his father, the emperor Pushyamitra, in 149 BCE. The Vayu Purana and the Brahmanda Purana have assigned 8 years as the length of his reign.Lahiri, Bela (1974). ''Indigenous States of Northern India (Circa 200 B.C. to 320 A.D.)'' Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.47–50 Ancestry and early life According to Kālidāsa in the '' Mālavikāgnimitra'' (Act IV, Verse 14), Agnimitra belonged to a Brahmin Baimbika family; the Puranas also mention him as a ''Shunga''. The Mālavikāgnimitra, (Act V, Verse 20) informs us that he was the ''Goptri'' (viceroy) at Vidisha during his father's reign. The play ''Mālavikāgnimitra'' gives us the names of three of his queen-consorts: Dharini (the mother of the fourth Shunga emperor, Vasumitra), Iravati, and Malavika (a princess of Vidarbha). Military campaigns Conquest of Vidarbha According to the ''Mālavikāgnimitr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Shunga Empire
The Shunga Empire (IAST: ') was a ruling entity centred around Magadha and controlled most of the northern Indian subcontinent from around 187 to 75 BCE. The dynasty was established by Pushyamitra, after taking the throne of Magadha from the Mauryas. The Shunga empire's capital was Pataliputra, but later emperors such as Bhagabhadra also held court at Besnagar (modern Vidisha) in eastern Malwa. This dynasty is also responsible for successfully fighting and resisting the Greeks in Shunga–Greek War. Pushyamitra ruled for 36 years and was succeeded by his son Agnimitra. There were ten Shunga rulers. However, after the death of Agnimitra, the second king of the dynasty, the empire rapidly disintegrated:K.A. Nilkantha Shastri (1970)''A Comprehensive History of India: Volume 2'' p.108: "Soon after Agnimitra there was no 'Sunga empire'." inscriptions and coins indicate that much of northern and central India consisted of small kingdoms and city-states that were independent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Charles Henry Tawney
Charles Henry Tawney (26 December 1837 – 29 July 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 four 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 Tawney. From 1865 to his retirement in 1892 he held various educational offices, most significantly Principal of Presidency College Calcutta, for much of the period of 1875 to 1892. His translation of ''Kathasaritsagara'' was printed by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in a small series called Bibliotheca Indica between 1880 and 1884. On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sanskrit Literature
Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some mixed and non-standard forms of Sanskrit. Literature in the older language begins during the Vedic period with the composition of the Ṛg·veda between about 1500 and 1000 BCE, followed by other Vedic works right up to the time of the grammarian Pāṇini around 6th or 4th century BCE (after which Classical Sanskrit texts gradually became the norm). Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the extensive liturgical works of the Vedic religion, while Classical Sanskrit is the language of many of the prominent texts associated with the major Indian religions, especially Hinduism and the Hindu texts, but also Buddhism, and Jainism. Some Sanskrit Buddhist texts are also composed in a version of Sanskrit often called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
JJC Foundation
The Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of books published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Each work features the text in its original language (transliterated Sanskrit) on the left-hand page, with its English language, English translation on the right. The series was inspired by the Loeb Classical Library, and its volumes are bound in teal cloth. History The Clay Sanskrit Library (CSL) is the product of the JJC Foundation, a charitable foundation established by John P. and Jennifer Clay, along with New York University Press. John Peter Clay was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1934. He won a scholarship to attend St Paul's School, London in 1947. In 1951, he was offered a full scholarship by the The Queen's College, Oxford, Queen’s College, Oxford, where he achieved a First-class degree in Sanskrit, Old Persian and Avestan. He was later appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Queen's College. On leaving Oxford, Clay joined Vickers da Costa, a stockbroking firm base ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
