SACONTALÁ;
OR, T H
E F A T A L R I N G:
AN INDIAN
DRAMA.
By
CÁLIDÁS.
=======
TRANSLATED
FROM THE
ORIGINAL
SANSCRIT AND PRACRIT.
by Sir
William Jones (1789)
[online
version prepared by
Sir William Jones's uniquely influential,
delightful, and historically important translation has long been of interest to
students in many fields. The translation was first published in
Ref: For more information regarding this book.
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/shakuntala_jones/
CONTENTS:
ACT
TWO: SCENE --- A PLAIN, with royal pavilions on the skirt of the forest.
ACT
THREE: SCENE --- The HERMITAGE in a Grove.
ACT
FOUR: SCENE --- A LAWN before the Cottage.
ACT
FIVE: SCENE --- The PALACE.
ACT
SEVEN: SCENE --- Dushmanta with Mátali in the car of Indra, supposed to be
above the clouds.
In one of the letters which bear the title of
EDIFYING, though most of them swarm with ridiculous errours, and all must be
consulted with extreme diffidence, I met, some years, ago, with the following
passage : " In the north of India there are many books, called Nátac,
which, as the Bráhmens assert, contain a large portion of ancient history
without any mixture of fable ; " and having an eager desire to know the
real state of this empire before the conquest of it by the Savages of the North,
I was very solicitous, on my arrival in Bengal, to procure access to those
books, either by the help of translations, if they had been translated, or by
learning the language in which they were originally composed, and which I had
yet a stronger inducement to learn from its connection with the administration
of justice to the Hindûs ; but when I was able to converse with the Bráhmens,
they assured me that the Nátacs were not histories, and abounded with fables ;
that they were [366] extremely popular works, and consisted of conversations in
prose and verse, held before ancient Rájás in their publick assemblies, on an
infinite variety of subjects, and in various dialects of India : this
definition gave me no very distinct idea ; but I concluded that they were dialogues
on moral or literary topicks ; whilst other Europeans, whom I consulted, had
understood from the natives that they were discourses on dancing, musick, or
poetry. At length a very sensible
Bráhmen, named Rádhácánt, who had long been attentive to English manners,
removed all my doubts, and gave me no less delight than surprise, by telling me
that our nation had compositions of the same sort, which were publickly
represented at Calcutta in the cold season, and bore the name, as he had been
informed, of plays. Resolving at my
leisure to read the best of them, I asked which of their Nátacs was most
universally esteemed ; and he answered without hesitation, Sacontalá,
supporting his opinion, as usual among the Pandits, by a couplet to this effect
: " The ring of Sacontalá, in which the fourth act, and four stanzas of
that act, are eminently brilliant, displays all the rich exuberances of
Calidása's genius. " I soon procured a correct copy of it ; and, assisted
by my teacher Rámalóchan, began with translating it verbally into Latin, which
bears so great a resemblance [367] to Sanscrit, that it is more convenient than
any modern language for a scrupulous interlineary version : I then turned it
word for word into English, and afterwards, without adding or suppressing any
material sentence, disengaged from the stiffness of a foreign idiom, and
prepared the faithful translation of the Indian drama, which I now present to
the publick as a most pleasing and authentick picture of old Hindû manners, and
one of the greatest curiosities that the literature of Asia has yet brought to
light.
Dramatick poetry must have been immemorially
ancient in the Indian empire : the invention of it is commonly ascribed to
Bheret, a safe believed to have been inspired, who invented also a system of
musick which bears his name ; but this opinion of its origin is rendered very
doubtful by the universal belief, that the first Sanscrit verse ever heard by
mortals was pronounced in a burst of resentment by the great Válmic, who
flourished in the silver age of the world, and was author of an Epick Poem on
the war of his contemporary, Ráma, king of Ayódhyà ; so that no drama in verse
could have been represented before his time ; and the Indians have a wild
story, that the first regular play, on the same subject with the Rámáyan, was
composed by Hanumat or Pávan, who commanded an army of Satyrs or Mountaineers
in Ráma's expedition [368] against Lancà : they add, that he engraved it on a
smooth rock, which, being dissatisfied with his composition, he hurled into the
sea ; and that, many years after, a learned prince ordered expert divers to
take impressions of the poem on wax, by which means the drama was in great
measure restored ; and my Pandit assures me that he is in possession of it. By
whomsoever or in whatever age this species of entertainment was invented, it is
very certain, that it was carried to great perfection in its kind, when
Vicramáditya, who reigned in the first century before Christ, gave
encouragement to poets, philosologers, and mathematicians, at a time when the
Britons were as unlettered and unpolished as the army of Hanumat : nine men of
genius, commonly called the nine gems, attended his court, and were splendidly
supported by his bounty ; and Cálidás is unanimously allowed to have been the
brightest of them. ---A modern epigram was lately repeated to me, which does so
much honour to the author of Sacontalá, that I cannot forbear exhibiting a
literal version of it : " Poetry
was the sportful daughter of Válmic, and, having educated by Vyása, she chose
Cálidás for her bridegroom after the manner of Viderbha : she was the mother of
Amara, Sundar, Sanc'ha, Dhanic ; but now, old and decrepit, her beauty faded,
and her unadorned [369] feet slipping as she walks, in whose cottage does she
disdain to take shelter? "
All the other works of our illustrious poet,
the Shakespeare of India, that have yet come to my knowledge, are a second
play, in five acts, entitled Urvasí ; an heroic poem, or rather a series of
poems in one book, on the Children of the Sun ; another, with perfect unity of
action, on the Birth of Cumára, god of war ; two or three love tales in verse ;
and an excellent little work on Sanscrit
Metre, precisely in the manner of Terentianus ; but he is believed by some to have
revised the works of Válmic and Vyása, and to have corrected the perfect
editions of them which are now current : this at least is admitted by all, that
he stands next in reputation to those venerable bards ; and we must regret,
that he has left only two dramatick poems, especially as the stories in his
Raghuvansa would have supplied him with a number of excellent subjects. ---Some
of his contemporaries, and other Hindû poets even to our own times, have
composed so many tragedies, comedies, farces, and musical pieces, that the
Indian theatre would fill as many volumes as that of any nation in ancient or
modern Europe : all the Pandits assert that their plays are innumerable ; and,
on my first inquiries concerning them, I had notice of more than thirty, which
they consider as the flower [370] of their Nátacs, among which the Malignant
Child, the Rape of Ushá, the Taming of Durvásas, the Seizure of the Lock,
Málati and Mádhava, with five or six dramas on the adventures of their
incarnate gods, are the most admired after those of Cálidás. They are all in verse, where the dialogue is
elevated ; and in prose, where it is familiar : the men of rank and learning
are represented speaking pure Sanskrit, and the women Prácrit, which is little
more than the language of the Brámens melted down by a delicate articulation to
the softness of Italian ; while the low persons of the drama speak the vulgar
dialects of the several provinces which they are supposed to inhabit.
The play of Sacontalá must have been very
popular when it was first represented ; for the Indian empire was then in full
vigour, and the national vanity must have been highly flattered by the
magnificent introduction of those kings and heroes in whom the Hindûs gloried ;
the scenery must have been splendid and beautiful ; and there is good reason to
believe, that the court at Avanti was equal in brilliancy during the reign of
Vicramáditya, to that of any monarch in any age or country. ---Dushmanta, the
hero of the piece, appears in the chronological tables of the Brámens among the
Children of the Moon, and in the twenty-first generation [371] after the flood
; so that, if we can at all rely on the chronology of the Hindûs, he was nearly
contemporary with Obed, or Jeffe ; and Puru, his most celebrated ancestor, was
the fifth in descent from Budha, or Mercury, who married, they say, a daughter
of the pious kind, whom Vishnu preserved in an ark from the universal deluge :
his eldest son Bheret was the illustrious progenitor of Curu, from whom Pándu
was lineally descended, and in whose family the Indian Apollo became incarnate
; whence the poem, next in fame to the Rámáyan, is called Mahábhárat.
As to the machinery of the drama, it is taken
from the system of mythology, which prevails to this day, and which it would
require a large volume to explain ; but we cannot help remarking, that the
deities introduced in the Fatal Ring are clearly allegorical personages.
Maríchi, the first production of Brahmá, or the Creative Power, signifies
light, that subtil fluid which was created before its reservoir, the sun, as
water was created before the sea ; Casyapa, the offspring of Maríchi, seems to
be a personification of infinite space, comprehending innumerable worlds ; and
his children by Aditi, or his active power (unless Aditi mean the primeval day,
and Diti, his other wife, the night), are Indra, or the visible [372]
firmament, and the twelve Adityas, or suns, presiding over as many months.
On the characters and conduct of the play I shall
offer no criticism ; because I am convinced that the tastes of men differ as
much as their sentiments and passions, and that, in feeling the beauties of
art, as in smelling flowers, tasting fruits, viewing prospects, and hearing
melody, every individual must be guided by his own sensations and the
incommunicable associations of his own ideas.
This only I may add, that if Sacontalá should ever be acted in India,
where alone it could be acted with perfect knowledge of Indian dresses,
manners, and scenery, the piece might easily be reduced to five acts of a
moderate length, by throwing the third act into the second, and the sixth into
the fifth ; for it must be confessed that the whole of Dushmanta's conversation
with his buffoon, and great part of his courtship in the hermitage, might be
omitted without any injury to the drama.
It is my anxious wish that others may take the
pains to learn Sanscrit, and may be persuaded to translate the workd of Cálidás
: I shall hardly again employ my leisure in a task so foreign to my
professional (which are, in truth, my favourite) studies ; and have no
intention of translating any other book from any language, [373] except the Law
Tract of Menu, and the new Digest of Indian and Arabian laws ; but, to show,
that the Bráhmens, at least, do not think polite literature incompatible with
jurisprudence, I cannot avoid mentioning, that the venerable compiler of the
Hindû Digest, who is now in his eighty-sixth year, has the whole play of
Sacontalá by heart ; as he proved when I last conversed with him, to my entire
conviction. Lest, however, I should
hereafter seem to have changed a resolution which I mean to keep inviolate, I
think it proper to say, that I have already translated four or five other
books, and among them the Hitópadésa, which I undertook, merely as an exercise
in learning Sanscrit, three years before I knew that Mr. Wilkins, without whose
aid I should never have learnt it, had any thought of giving the same work to
the publick.
Dushmanta, Emperor of
Sacontalá, the Heroine of the
Piece.
Anusuyá, Damsel attendant on
her.
Priyamvadá, Damsel attendant on
her.
Mádhavya, the Emperor's
Buffoon.
Gautamí, an old female Hermit.
Sarngarava, a Bráhmen.
Saradwata, a Bráhmen.
Canna, Foster-father of
Sacontalá.
Cumbhílaca, a Fisherman.
Misracésí, a Nymph.
Mátali, Charioteer of Indra.
A little Boy.
Casyapa, Deity, Parent of
Indra.
Aditi, Deity, Parent of
Indra.
Officers of
State and Police, Bráhmens, Damsels, Hermits, Pupils, Chamberlains, Warders of
the Palace, Messengers, and Attendants.
Dushmanta, in a car, pursuing an antelope, with a bow and quiver, attended by his Charioteer.
Char. [Looking at the antelope, and then at the king.] When I cast my eye on that black antelope, and on thee, O king, with thy braced bow, I see before me, as it were, the God Mahésa chasing a hart, with his bow, named pináca, braced in his left hand.
Dushm. The fleet animal has given us a long chase. Oh! there he runs, with his neck bent gracefully, looking back, from time to time, at the car which follows him. Now, through fear of a descending shaft, he contracts his forehand, and extends his flexible haunches; and now, through fatigue, he pauses to nibble the grass in his path with his mouth half opened. See how he springs and bounds with long steps, lightly skimming the ground, and rising high in the air! And now so rapid is his flight, that he is scarce discernible!
Char. The ground was uneven, and the horses were checked in their course. He has taken advantage of our delay. It is level now, and we may easily overtake him.
Dushm. Loosen the reins.
Char. As the king commands. ---[He drives the car first at full speed, and then gently.]--- He could not escape. The horses were not even touched by the clouds of dust which they raised; they tossed their manes, erected their ears, and rather glided than galloped over the smooth plain.
Dushm. They soon outran the swift antelope. ---Objects which, from their distance, appeared minute, presently became larger: what was really divided, seemed united, as we passed; and what was in truth bent, seemed straight. So swift was the motion of the wheels, that nothing, for many moments, was either distant or near. [He fixes an arrow in his bowstring.]
[Behind the scenes.] He must not be slain. This antelope, O king, has an asylum in our forest: he must not be slain.
Char. [Listening and Looking.] Just as the animal presents a fair mark for your arrow, two hermits are advancing to interrupt your aim
Dushm. Then stop the car.
Char. The king is obeyed. [He draws in the reins.]
Enter a Hermit and his Pupil.
Herm. [Raising his hands.] Slay not, O mighty sovereign, slay not a poor fawn, who has found a place of refuge. No, surely, no; he must not be hurt. An arrow in the delicate body of a deer would be like fire in a bale of cotton. Compared with thy keen shafts, how weak must be the tender hide of a young antelope! Replace quickly, oh! replace the arrow which thou hast aimed. The weapons of you kings and warriors are destined for the relief of the oppressed, not for the destruction of the guiltless.
Dushm. [Saluting them.] It is replaced. [He places the arrow in his quiver.]
Herm. [With joy] Worthy is that act of thee, most illustrious of monarchs; worthy, indeed, of a prince descended from Puru. Mayst thou have a son adorned with virtues, a sovereign of the world!
Pupil. [Elevating both his hands.] Oh! by all means, may thy son be adorned with every virtue, a sovereign of the world!
Dushm. [Bowing to them.] My head bears with reverence the order of a Bráhmen.
Herm. Great king, we came hither to collect wood for a solemn sacrifice; and this forest, and the banks of the Malini, affords an asylum to the wild animals protected by Sacontalá, whom our holy preceptor Canna has received as a sacred deposit. If you have no other avocation, enter yon grove, and let the rites of hospitality be duly performed. Having seen with your own eyes the virtuous behaviour of those whose only wealth is their piety, but whose worldly cares are now at an end, you will then exclaim, "How many good subjects are defended by this arm, which the bowstring has made callous!"
Dushm. Is the master of your family at home?
Herm. Our preceptor is gone to Sómatírt'ha, in hopes of deprecating some calamity, with which destiny threatens the irreproachable Sacontalá; and he has charged her, in his absence, to receive all guests with due honour.
Dushm. Holy man, I will attend her; and she, having observed my devotion, will report it favourably to the venerable sage.
Both. Be it so; and we depart on our own business.
[The Hermit and his Pupil go out.]
Dushm. Drive on the car. By visiting the abode of holiness, we shall purify our souls.
Char. As the king (may his life be long!) commands. [He drives on.]
Dushm. [Looking on all sides.] That we are near the dwelling–place of pious hermits, would clearly have appeared, even if it had not been told.
Char. By what marks?
Dushm. Do you not observe them? See under yon trees the hallowed grains which have been scattered on the ground, while the tender female parrots were feeding their unfledged young in their pendent nests. Mark in other places the shining pieces of polished s