While the other works of Kali·dasa are populated by supernatural beings and larger-than-life people, “Málavika and Agni·mitra” derives its plot from history and features thoroughly mortal ch…
Three exhausted warriors return to their camp, stunned to find it overrun by their enemies. Their fellow soldiers all lie dead. The sound of their enemies, the five sons of Pandu and their allies t…
Volume Two of ‘Drona’ begins in the aftermath of tragedy. As evening falls, Árjuna journeys wearily back to camp and is greeted by the ashen faces of his brothers. Before they speak, he guesse…
“The Rise of Wisdom Moon” (Prabodhacandrodaya) was composed during the mid-eleventh century by Krishna·mishra, an otherwise unknown poet in the service of the Chandella dynasty, whose cultural…
No Sanskrit poet is more interesting, original, or greater than Bana. His prose poem “Princess Kadámbari” is his supreme achievement. His patron, King Harsha, ruled much of northern India from…
In this second volume of the “Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives,” Arya·shura applies his elegant literary skill toward composing fourteen further stories that depict the Buddha’s quest fo…
“The Quartet of Causeries” date to the Gupta era, the time of Kali·dasa, but nothing certain is known about their four authors. Though stylistically divergent, they share a common plot: the he…
How Úrvashi was Won (Vikramorvaśīya) is one of the three surviving plays by Kali·dasa (fifth century CE), universally acknowledged as the supreme poet in classical Sanskrit; like the other two …
This second half of ‘Bhishma’ describes the events from the beginning of the fifth day till the end of the tenth of the great battle between the Káuravas and the Pándavas. Despite grandfat…
This volume offers a selection from the vast literature of prayers, devotional lyrics, and introspective meditations composed in Sanskrit in South India over the last thousand years. Three poets of…
To the dry bones of grammar Bhatti gave juicy flesh in his poem, telling the greatest Indian story in clear elegant Sanskrit. Composed in the seventh century CE, in South India, “Bhatti’s Poem:…
The “Little Clay Cart” is, for Sanskrit drama, atypically romantic, funny, and thrilling, replete with love, humor, courage, and intrigues. As Wilson put it, the ten-act play is “in many resp…
“The Book of Liberation” is perhaps the most enigmatic philosophical text from ancient India. Although presented as the teachings of Bhishma as he lays dying on the battlefield, after the epic …
By Bhānudatta Translated by Sheldon I. Pollock Purchase Download Excerpts View Rasikaranjani Manuscript View Udaipur Miniatures Bhanu is probably the most famous Sanskrit poet that no…
The “Gita·govínda” of Jaya·deva is a lyrical account of the illicit springtime love affair of Krishna and Radha, a god and goddess manifesting on earth as a cowherd and milkmaid for the sake…
Two plays that break the rules: both show the hero dying on stage, a scenario forbidden in Sanskrit dramaturgy. From widely different ideological and social backgrounds, each evokes intense emotion…
‘Bhishma,’ the sixth book of the eighteen-book epic “Maha·bhárata,” narrates the first ten days of the great war between the Káuravas and the Pándavas. This first volume covers four …
The fame of this story will exist eternally, for as long as the mountains stand and the rivers flow, Janárdana. When brahmins are gathered together, they will tell the tale of the great war of the…
The Book of “Karna” of India’s great epic the Maha·bhárata tells the events that occurred during the mighty hero Karna’s two days as general of the Káurava army. The second volume of the…
At the beginning of “Preparations For War,” the Pándavas have just completed their thirteen year exile, most recently having lived in disguise and in humiliating service in Viráta’s city. T…