How the Nagas Were Pleased by Harsha & the Shattered Thighs by Bhasa Contributor(s): Skilton, Andrew (Translator) |
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ISBN: 0814740669 ISBN-13: 9780814740668 Publisher: Clay Sanskrit OUR PRICE: $22.80 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2009 Annotation: "The books line up on my shelf like bright Bodhisattvas ready to take tough questions or keep quiet company. They stake out a vast territory, with works from two millennia in multiple genres: aphorism, lyric, epic, theater, and romance." --Willis G. Regier, "The Chronicle Review" "No effort has been spared to make these little volumes as attractive as possible to readers: the paper is of high quality, the typesetting immaculate. The founders of the series are John and Jennifer Clay, and Sanskritists can only thank them for an initiative intended to make the classics of an ancient Indian language accessible to a modern international audience." "The Clay Sanskrit Library represents one of the most admirable publishing projects now afoot. . . . Anyone who loves the look and feel and heft of books will delight in these elegant little volumes." "Published in the geek-chic format." "Very few collections of Sanskrit deep enough for research are housed anywhere in North America. Now, twenty-five hundred years after the death of Shakyamuni Buddha, the ambitious Clay Sanskrit Library may remedy this state of affairs." Now an ambitious new publishing project, the Clay Sanskrit Library brings together leading Sanskrit translators and scholars of Indology from around the world to celebrate in translating the beauty and range of classical Sanskrit literature. . . . Published as smart green hardbacks that are small enough to fit into a jeans pocket, the volumes are meant to satisfy both the scholar and the lay reader. Each volume has a transliteration of the original Sanskrit text onthe left-hand page and an English translation on the right, as also a helpful introduction and notes. Alongside definitive translations of the great Indian epics -- 30 or so volumes will be devoted to the Maha-bharat itself -- Clay Sanskrit Library makes available to the English-speaking reader many other delights: The earthy verse of Bhartri-hari, the pungent satire of Jayanta Bhatta and the roving narratives of Dandin, among others. All these writers belong properly not just to Indian literature, but to world literature. The Clay Sanskrit Library has recently set out to change the scene by making available well-translated dual-language (English and Sanskrit) editions of popular Sanskritic texts for the public. Two tragic plays that break the rules: both show the hero dying on stage, a scenario forbidden in Sanskrit dramaturgy. King Harshas play, composed in the seventh century, re-examines the Buddhist tale of a magician prince who makes the ultimate sacrifice to save a hostage snake ("naga"). The Shattered Thighs, attributed to Bhasa, the illustrious predecessor to ancient Kalidasa, transforms a crucial episode of the Mahabhrata war. As he dies from a foul blow to the legs delivered in his duel with Bhima, Durydhanas character is inverted, depicted as a noble and gracious exemplar amidst the wreckage of the fearsome battle scene. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Ancient, Classical & Medieval |
Dewey: 891.220 |
LCCN: 2008023122 |
Series: Clay Sanskrit Library |
Physical Information: 1" H x 4.3" W x 6.5" (0.70 lbs) 380 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Two tragic plays that break the rules: both show the hero dying on stage, a scenario forbidden in Sanskrit dramaturgy. King Harsha's play, composed in the seventh century, re-examines the Buddhist tale of a magician prince who makes the ultimate sacrifice to save a hostage snake (naga). The Shattered Thighs, attributed to Bhasa, the illustrious predecessor to ancient Kali-dasa, transforms a crucial episode of the Maha-bh rata war. As he dies from a foul blow to the legs delivered in his duel with Bhima, Dury dhana's character is inverted, depicted as a noble and gracious exemplar amidst the wreckage of the fearsome battle scene. |