The Little Clay Cart. Sudraka

[9] Prakaraṇa.

[10] Dhūrtasaṁkula: Daçarūpa, iii. 38.

[11] Sāhityadarpaṇa, 428.

[12] As in Mālatī-mādhava.

[13] Daçarūpa, iii. 33.

[14] In Kālidāsa's Shakuntalā.

[15] In Bhavabhūti's Latter Acts of Rāma.

[16] See page 128.

[17] Aryaka, Darduraka, Chandanaka, Sharvilaka, and the courtier.

[18] See x. 27.

[19] See v. 46 and the following stage-direction.

[20] In Kālidāsa's play of that name.

[21] In Bhavabhūti's Latter Acts of Rāma.

[22] See viii. 43.

[23] See pages 65–66 and page 174.

[24] See viii. 38 and compare the words, "Yet love bids me prattle," on page 86.

[25] Page 87.

[26] Stanzas of the latter sort in The Little Clay Cart are vii. 2 and viii. 5.

[27] This statement requires a slight limitation; compare, for example, the footnote to page 82.

[28] But the combination th should be pronounced as in ant-hill, not as in thin or this; similarly dh as in mad-house; bh as in abhor.

[29] Except in the names Āryaka and Āhīnta, where typographical considerations have led to the omission of the macron over the initial letter; and except also in head-lines.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

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      Chārudatta, a Brahman merchant

      Rohasena, his son

      Maitreya, his friend

      Vardhamānaka, a servant in his house

      Sansthānaka, brother-in-law of King Pālaka

      Sthāvaraka, his servant

      Another Servant of Sansthānaka

      A Courtier

      Aryaka, a herdsman who becomes king

      Sharvilaka, a Brahman, in love with Madanikā

      A Shampooer, who becomes a Buddhist monk

      Māthura, a gambling-master

      Darduraka, a gambler

      Another Gambler

      Karnapūraka }

       Kumbhīlaka } servants of Vasantasenā Vīraka } Chandanaka } policemen Goha } Ahīnta } headsmen

      Bastard pages, in Vasantasenā's house

      A Judge, a Gild-warden, a Clerk, and a Beadle

      Vasantasenā, a courtezan

      Her Mother

      Madanikā, maid to Vasantasenā

      Another Maid to Vasantasenā

      The Wife of Chārudatta

      Radanikā, a maid in Chārudatta's house

SCENE

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      Ujjayinī (called also Avanti) and its Environs

THE LITTLE CLAY CART

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PROLOGUE

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Benediction upon the audience

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      His bended knees the knotted girdle holds,

       Fashioned by doubling of a serpent's folds;

       His sensive organs, so he checks his breath,

       Are numbed, till consciousness seems sunk in death;

       Within himself, with eye of truth, he sees

       The All-soul, free from all activities.

       May His, may Shiva's meditation be

       Your strong defense; on the Great Self thinks he,

       Knowing full well the world's vacuity. 1

      And again:

      May Shiva's neck shield you from every harm,

       That seems a threatening thunder-cloud, whereon,

       Bright as the lightning-flash, lies Gaurī's arm.2

      Stage-director. Enough of this tedious work, which fritters away the interest of the audience! Let me then most reverently salute the honorable gentlemen, and announce our intention to produce a drama called "The Little Clay Cart." Its author was a man

      Who vied with elephants in lordly grace;

       Whose eyes were those of the chakora bird

       That feeds on moonbeams; glorious his face