The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1908-12-18
The Indian Shakespeare"
The Hindu Poet ssIidasa Is Introduced To
The English Reader Through A Translation
OF His 0reana "SusunlaIa

nv @"yis" hSeeei iMVlyN lIdlSlcllU
OF HIS 0reana "Susunlaa
The translation of the Hind
drama, "Sakuntala." blythe Doe
kalldasa, has made something Of
stir in London. triumph fol
popular coSmopolitanism. saws
the Athenaum- According u
the Academy. this most classic
OF Hindu dramas has universe
features enough to make il
appeal to those who can overcome
the strangeness of the atmos-
phere- the names, the customs
and the mythology. The names
and mythology are not stranger
than those of the Celtic revival
while the present interest in
things Hindu should give il
lift halidasa has not of course
escaped the title of the Indian
Shakespeare. 1t was predestined.
and you only sigh gently when
you see 1t awaiting you on the
tItle-page OF this volume
Equally, of course, beyond the
fact that he is the dramatist oil
India, he has no likeness 10
Shapespeare. There is very i
little action: and compared even
with those plays of Shakespeare
to which it comes nearest
Sakuntala' is manifestly inferior
as regards NATURALIZATION of
character. The Tempest reeks
with character. comparatively
A Midsummer Nights Dream
with Bottom and his company
cut out, would be closest to its
poetic generalization of types
Yet IN is poetic dramatic con
ventlon it shows singular affinity !
to the Elizabethan drama as t
does the Sanskrit drama in Ii
general.
1t Is simple story. King
Dushyanta, hunting in the forest /,
meets a girl brel up in com. t
munity of hermits, the adopted
daughter of'whose head. Gamma
she Is. But she was really the
offspring of king and a divine
nymph. They fall in love. and
ne promises TO return for her in {
three days, But Sakuntala /
absorbed in thought of him 4
neglects man Of tremendous 2
plety who claims hospitality: and :
the saint promptly curses her 81
her husband shall forget her as -
IL she had never met him. He y
Is prevailed upon to mitigate the +
curse by adding that the king a.
shall regain his memory at sight Vi
Of her ring. The curse works =
Dushyanta does not return for =
Ter; and when she sets out to Is
LAIN her position as his wife. he ar
lenles her. The ring has S ipped p
rom her finger when she was u
and she goes out weep- co
ng; to be caught up by her be
mother and carried to the noun "a
am OF the god Casyapa. The ~
ing Is found In a fish. and at an
light of it Dushyanta regairs ca
rs memory and is inconsolabIe. pa
'ut the god Indra demands his 'I
I'd against a demon-race. Re- col
1rnIng victorious from the al cd pal
| lndra, the heavenly car drops Ia
i'm at Casyapa's, mounta; n. n
here he finds SakuntaIa and -
ne boy TO whom she has given
.rth- All ends happily. with
ne benediction of the divine
asyaDa and his wife. Nothing
,uld be less dramatic from
ir standpoint. The charm lies
the love-scenes, and the idyllic
ctures of simple forest-life
nong innocent girls. The
AZURE of it penetrates all
rangness of alien life, and
'es straight to the general
art. 1t is a Hindu Perdita
,oed by Hindu Romeo.
alldasa makes real even
theology marvel. He has
hal, an imagery Of abounding
ICY, though without the
lginative depth Of the greatest
stern imagery With such
alltles, even IN a defective
b of English prose, Kalidasa
impress the reader: while the
Iuisite simplicity Of the idyl.
fine naturaIism of every -