Sakoontala

Sakoontala

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sakoontala or The Lost Ring, by
Kalidasa This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
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Title: Sakoontala or The Lost Ring An Indian Drama
Author: Kalidasa
Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12169]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SAKOONTALA OR THE LOST RING ***

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[S']AKOONTALÁ
OR THE LOST RING

AN INDIAN DRAMA

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE AND VERSE FROM THE
SANSKRIT OF KÁLIDÁSA
BY

SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS, K.C.I.E. M.A., D.C.L., LL.D.,
PH.D. BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT, HON. FELLOW OF
UNIVERSITY AND LATE FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE,
OXFORD

PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION.
The fact that the following translation (first published in 1855) of
India's most celebrated drama has gone through seven editions, might
reasonably have absolved me from the duty of revising it.
Three years ago, however, I heard that Sir John Lubbock had thought
'[S']akoontalá' worthy of a place among the hundred best books of the
world, and had adopted my version of the original. I therefore
undertook to go through every line and once again compare the
translation with the Sanskrit, in the hope that I might be able to give a
few finishing touches to a performance which, although it had been
before the public for about forty years, was certainly not perfect. The
act of revision was a labour of love, and I can honestly say that I did
my best to make my representation of Kálidása's immortal work as true
and trustworthy as possible.
Another edition is now called for, but after a severely critical
examination of every word, I have only detected a few minor
unimportant points--and those only in the Introduction and Notes--in
which any alteration appeared to be desirable. Indeed it is probable that
the possessors of previous editions will scarcely perceive that any
alterations have been made anywhere.
Occasionally in the process of comparison a misgiving has troubled me,
and I have felt inclined to accuse myself of having taken, in some cases,
too great liberties with the Sanskrit original. But in the end I have
acquiesced in my first and still abiding conviction that a literal
translation (such as that which I have given in the notes of my edition
of the Sanskrit text) might have commended itself to Oriental students,
but would not have given a true idea of the beauty of India's most
cherished drama to general readers, whose minds are cast in a European
mould, and who require a translator to clothe Oriental ideas, as far as
practicable, in a dress conformable to European canons of taste.
And most assuredly such a translation would never have adapted itself
to actual representation on a modern stage as readily as it now appears

that my free version has done. It has gratified me exceedingly to find
that youthful English-speaking Indians--cultured young men educated
at the Universities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay--have acted the
[S']akoontalá, in the very words of my translation with the greatest
success before appreciative audiences in various parts of India.
And lest any one in this country should be sceptical as to the possibility
of interesting a modern audience in a play written possibly as early as
the third or fourth century of our era (see p. xvi), I here append an
extract from a letter received by me in 1893 from Mr. V. Padmanabha
Aiyar, B.A., resident at Karamanai, Trivandrum, Travancore.
'SIVEN COIL STREET, TRIVANDRUM,
_'May 1, 1893_.
'The members of the "Karamanai Young Men's Mutual Improvement
Society" acted your translation of "[S']akoontalá" on the 3rd and 5th of
September last year, in the Government Museum Theatre, Trivandrum.
'It was acted in two parts. On the first day Acts I to IV were acted, and
on the second the remaining three Acts.
'All our chief native officials and many Europeans and their ladies
honoured the occasion with their presence. We acted it a second time at
the special request of H.H. the Second Prince of Travancore, in the
Palace of His Highness' mother, the Junior Ránee.
'The public were kind enough to pronounce it a success. In many cases
the applause given was not so much for the acting as for the beauty of
your translation. The Hindús have a great liking for this play, and not
one of the enlightened Hindú community will fail to acknowledge your
translation to be a very perfect one. Our object in acting Hindú plays is
to bring home to the Hindús the good