The Little Clay Cart. Sudraka

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       Sudraka

      The Little Clay Cart

      Mrcchakatika

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4057664112866

Table of Contents

       NOTE BY THE EDITOR

       PREFACE

       INTRODUCTION

       I. THE AUTHOR AND THE PLAY

       II. THE TRANSLATION

       III. AN OUTLINE OF THE PLOT

       DRAMATIS PERSONAE

       SCENE

       THE LITTLE CLAY CART

       PROLOGUE

       Benediction upon the audience

       END OF THE PROLOGUE

       ACT THE FIRST

       THE GEMS ARE LEFT BEHIND

       ACT THE SECOND

       THE SHAMPOOER [39] WHO GAMBLED

       ACT THE THIRD

       THE HOLE IN THE WALL

       ACT THE FOURTH

       MADANIKA AND SHARVILAKA

       ACT THE FIFTH

       THE STORM

       ACT THE SIXTH

       THE SWAPPING OF THE BULLOCK-CARTS

       ACT THE SEVENTH

       ARYAKA'S ESCAPE

       ACT THE EIGHTH

       THE STRANGLING OF VASANTASENA

       ACT THE NINTH

       THE TRIAL

       ACT THE TENTH

       THE END

       EPILOGUE

       A LIST OF PASSAGES

NOTE BY THE EDITOR

       Table of Contents

      ith the battle of the Sea of Japan another turning-point in the brief course of recorded human history has been reached. Whatever the outcome of the negotiations for peace, one thing is sure: for better, for worse, and whether we will or no, the West must know the East, and the East must know the West. With that knowledge will inevitably come an interchange of potent influences, of influences that will affect profoundly the religion and morals, the philosophy, the literature, the art, in short, all the elements that make up the civilizations of the two hemispheres. It is a part of the responsibility resting upon the molders and leaders of the thought and life of our time, and upon our Universities in particular, to see to it that these new forces, mighty for good or for evil, are directed aright.

      The fruitfulness of those scions of Western civilization which the Japanese have grafted upon their own stock is to-day the admiration of the world. In our wonder, let us not forget that that stock is the growth of centuries, and that it is rooted in a soil of racial character informed by ethical ideals which we are wont to regard, with arrogant self-complacency, as exclusively proper to Christianity, but which were, in fact, inculcated twenty-four centuries ago through precept and example by Gotama the Enlightened, or, as the Hindus called him, Gotama the Buddha. It has often been said that India has never influenced the development of humanity as a whole. Be that as it may, it now seems no less probable than strange that she is yet destined to do so, on the one hand, indirectly, through the influence of Indian Buddhism upon Japan, and, on the other, directly, by the diffusion in the West of a knowledge of her sacred writings, especially those of Vedantism and Buddhism. To judge the East aright, we must know not only what she is, but also how she has become what she is; know, in short, some of the principal phases of her spiritual history as they are reflected in her ancient literature, especially that of India. To interpret to the West the thought of the East, to bring her best and noblest achievements to bear upon our life—that is to-day the problem of Oriental philology.

      The Harvard Oriental Series embodies an attempt to present to Western scholars, in trustworthy texts and translations, some of the greatest works of the Hindu literature and philosophy and religion, together with certain instruments, such as the Vedic Concordance or the History of the Beast-fable, for their critical study or elucidation. Some account of the volumes completed or in progress may be found at the end of this book. Dr. Ryder, passing by for the present the more momentous themes of religion and philosophy, has in this volume attempted to show what the Indian genius, in its strength and in its weakness, could do in the field of literature