Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/617

* SANSKKIT LITERATURE. 551 SANSKRIT LITERATURE. ter in the ail of ])aintiiig all the moods of love, bliss and dejection, anger anil devotion. Neither he nor the other Indian lyrists treat love from the romantic or ideal point of view : it is always sensuous. But delicacy of feelinf.' and expression, and relined appreciation of those qualities which attract irresistibly, only finally to repel, lift their stanzas high above either the coarse or the eonnnonplace. It is 'minne-song,' Havored with the universal, though rather theoretical, Hindu pessimism. Even in lyrics the Hindu's deep-seated tend- ency toward speculation and reflection is evident. Not only has it been the basis of nuich tluit i.s highest and best in the religion and philoso])hy of India, but it has also assumed shape in another very important product of Hindu literature, the Gnomic, Didactic, Sententious Stanz., which may be called the Proverb. Bohtlingk has col- lected from all parts of Sanskrit literature some 8000 of these stanzas; they begin with the MahubhOrnta, and are found in almost ever' moral appended to the fable literature. Their keynote is again the vanity of human life, and the suiierlative happiness that awaits resigna- tion. The mental calm of the pious anchorite, who lives free from all desires in the solitude of the forest, is the only remedy for human unrest. But for him who remains in the world there is also a kind of salvation, namely, virtue. When a man dies and leaves all his treasures and his loved ones behind, his good works alone can accompany him on his journey into the next life. Hence the practical value of virtue almost overrides the pessimistic view of the vanity of all human action. These gnomic stanzas were frequently composed ,or gathered up into collec- tions. Bhartrihari's above-mentioned two cen- turies on wisdom and renunciation are compo- sitions of this sort. A Kashinirjan poet named Silhana is the author of the tSOnti-sataka, or Century of Tranquillity, and another collection is designated MOha-mud(/ara, or Hammer of Folly. There arc many other collections from all periods, but naturally the ethical saw is most at home in the fables of the Paucatanira (q.v.) and HitOpadcsa (q.v.). These works go back to Buddhist models, which recall the fact that the Dhammapada. a Buddhist collection of apho- risms, contains perhaps the most beautiful and profound words of wisdom in all Hindu litera- ture. It may be said that there is scarcely a conceit or adage of the proverb literature of other peoples that may not be paralleled in Hindu stanzas. The Sanskrit Drama is one of the latest, though one of the most interesting products of Sanskrit literature. With all the uncertainty of literary dates in India there is no reason for assuming for this class of works a date earlier than the fifth or sixth century of our era. Certain Vedic hymns in dialogue are all that the earliest time suggests as a possible, but very doubtful, basis of the drama. The Sanskrit name for drama is iMtuka, from the root nat, nart, "to dance.' The word therefore means literally 'ballet:' it is not doubtful that dances con- tributed something to the development of the drama. In various religious ceremonies of earlier times dancing played a part; at a later time the cult of Siva and Vishnu, and especially of Vish- nu's incarnation, the god Krishna, was accom- panied by pantomimic dances. These panto- mimes reproduced the heroic deeds of these gods and were accompanied by songs. Popular rep- resentations of this sort, the so-called Yatras, have survived to the present day in Bengal. They are not dissimilar to the mystery plays of the Christian Jliddle Ages, and their modern continu- ation, the passion plays. The god Krishna and Kadha, his love, are the nuiiii characters, but there are also friends, rivals, and enemies of Radlui. The YOtnis. a luixture of music, dancing, song, and improvised diiilogiie, while undoubtedly in some way connected with the origin of the drama, are nevertheless sep;uated bv a very wide gap from the linished proiliict of thp uutuha. as it appears in such dramas as the Haliuiilalu of Kalidasa, or the MrcchuhatilM (q.v.), or Toy Cart, of Sudraka (q.v.). It is still a moot (luestion whether 'estern (Greek) influence, particularly the New Attic comedy of Jlenandcr. as reflected in Plautus and Terence, has not in some measure contributed to the shajjing of the Hindu drama. It is known that Greek actors followed Alexander the Great through Asia, and that they celebrated his vic- tories with dramatic performances. After the death of Alexander, Greek kings continued to rule in Northwestern India. Brisk commerce was carried on between the west coast of India and Alexandria, the later centre of Greek literary and artistic life. Greek art and Greek astronomy undoubtedly exercised strong influence upon Hindu art and science. The chief points of resemblance between the Hindu drama and the Greek comedy are as follows; The Hindu drama is divided into acts (from one to ten) separated by various periods of time, from one da." to long periods: the acts proper are pre- ceded by a prologue spoken by the stage man- ager (sutradhura). The stage was a simple ros- trum not shut oft' from the auditorium by a cur- tain, but, on the contrary, the curtain was in the background of the stage, and was called i/ara- nika, that is, Greek curtain {'lonnK//). The characters of the Hindu drama resemble in some respects those of the Attic comedy. There are bayaderes and parasites, braggarts, and cun- ning servants. Especially the standard comic figure of the Hindu drama, the vidusaka, the unromantic friend of the hero, has been compared with the go-between, the srrnis ciirrens, of the Gra>co-Romaii comedy. The vidusbaka is a hunchbacked, bald dwarf of baiting gait, and is the clown of the piece. Though a Brahman by birth — with maliciously humorous intent — he does not speak Sanskrit, but a popular dialect, Prakrit (q.v.), like the women (with rare ex- ceptions) and all the inferior personages of the play. He plays the unfeeling realist, intent ujinn every form of bodily comfort, especially ii good dinner, to the hero's sentiiiient;il flowery roman- ticism. Although it is not (vossilile to ])rove that one or the other external feature of the Hindu drama may not be due to some outside influence, its inner matter is certainly altogether national and Indie. The themes are for the most ]>art those of the heroic legend in the epics, or they move in the sphere of the actually existing Hindu courts. On the whole, they are not difl'erent from those that figure in the tales and romances which are worked up in narrative form. It must not be forgotten that certain general coincidences be- tween the drama and the theatre of ditl'erent peoples are due to the common psychological