“Rama Beyond Price,” a dramatised remake of the Ramáyana, is one of the most challenging pieces of Sanskrit poetry to read. Because of its elegant style, learned allusions and often striking i…
After Bhishma is cut down at the end of the previous book of the Maha·bhárata, the book which bears his name, Duryódhana selects Drona as leader of his forces. Drona accepts the honour with Bhis…
The play Shakúntala was one of the first examples of Indian literature to be seen in Europe, first translated into English, and then into German. It attracted considerable attention (from Goethe, …
The ‘Great Hall’ is Book Two of the Maha·bhárata, one of India’s two national epics. This magnificent book relates some of the most seminal events of the epic, culminating in the famous gam…
The fifth and most popular book of the Ramáyana of Valmíki, “Súndara” recounts the adventures of the monkey hero Hánuman in leaping across the ocean to the island citadel of Lanka. Once the…
The king despairs of his idle sons, so he hires a learned brahmin who promises to make their lessons in statecraft unmissable. The lessons are disguised as short stories, featuring mainly animal pr…
This is the third book of the seven books of India’s most beloved and influential epic tale—the Ramáyana of Valmíki. This third book carries forward the narrative by following the exiled hero…
Kali·dasa’s fifth-century CE “Cloud Messenger” is a beautiful and pure expression of an exiled lover’s love. That first messenger poem is imitated in the twelfth century in the “Wind Mes…
The final, benedictory stanza of this political drama may refer to Emperor Chandra Gupta II (r. c.376-415 CE). Other than this clue to the date of the author, all we know about him is that he came …
“The Book of Shalya” is the ninth book of the Maha·bhárata. It portrays, in grand epic style, the last day of the great battle between the Káuravas and the Pándavas, recounting in gory deta…
After losing first his kingship and then his wife, Rama goes to the monkey capital of Kishkíndha to seek help in finding Sita, and meets Hánuman, the greatest of the monkey heroes. The brothers V…
Written over a period of nearly a thousand years, these works show three very different approaches to satire. Nila·kantha gets straight to the point: swindlers prey on stupidity. When asked …
Ámaru’s sophisticated seventh-century CE “Hundred Poems” are as much about the social aspects of courting, betrayal, feminine indignance and masculine self-pity as about sensuality. Bhartri�…
In the great city of Ayódhya, the king decides to abdicate in favor of his beloved son Rama; but just as the celebrations reach their climax, a court intrigue involving one of the king’s junior …
Rama, the crown prince of the city of Ayódhya, is a model son and warrior. He is sent by his father the king to rescue a sage from persecution by demons, but must first kill a fearsome ogress. Tha…
This greatest of court epics describes events leading up to but not including the birth of Kumára (also known as Skanda or Karttikéya), the war god destined to defeat the demon Táraka. The god…
The play satirizes various religions in Kashmir and their place in the politics of King Shánkara·varman (883-902). Jayánta’s strategy is to take a characteristic figure of the target religion …
Book Three of the great Indian epic the “Maha·bhárata,” ‘The Forest’ covers the twelve years of the Pándavas’ exile in the forest, a penalty imposed upon them by the Káuravas because …
The Dívyavadána, or “Heavenly Exploits,” is a collection of thirty-eight Buddhist biographical stories. The genre of narratives of an individual’s religiously significant deeds is as old as…
This volume contains the proceedings of a workshop on the Chinese translation of the Ekottarika-āgama, the Zengyi ahan jing (增壹阿含經), Taishō no. 125, held at Dharma Drum Buddhist College…