The Little Clay Cart

Little Clay Cart, by (Attributed
To) King Shudraka

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Title: The Little Clay Cart Mrcchakatika
Author: (Attributed To) King Shudraka
Translator: Arthur William Ryder
Release Date: April 10, 2007 [EBook #21020]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HARVARD ORIENTAL SERIES
WITH THE COÖPERATION OF VARIOUS SCHOLARS

BY
CHARLES ROCKWELL LANMAN
WALES PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Volume Nine

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
Published by Harvard University
1905
* * * * *

THE LITTLE CLAY CART
[MRCCHAKATIKA]

A Hindu Drama
ATTRIBUTED TO KING SHUDRAKA

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL SANSKRIT AND
PRAKRITS
INTO ENGLISH PROSE AND VERSE

BY
ARTHUR WILLIAM RYDER, PH.D.
INSTRUCTOR IN SANSKRIT IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
Published by Harvard University
1905

COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY
* * * * *

TO MY FATHER
WILLIAM HENRY RYDER
* * * * *

CONTENTS
NOTE BY THE EDITOR OF THE SERIES
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR
INTRODUCTION
THE AUTHOR AND THE PLAY

THE TRANSLATION
AN OUTLINE OF THE PLOT
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
TRANSLATION OF THE LITTLE CLAY CART
PROLOGUE
ACT I. THE GEMS ARE LEFT BEHIND
ACT II. THE SHAMPOOER WHO GAMBLED
ACT III. THE HOLE IN THE WALL
ACT IV. MADANIKA AND SHARVILAKA
ACT V. THE STORM
ACT VI. THE SWAPPING OF THE BULLOCK-CARTS
ACT VII. ARYAKA'S ESCAPE
ACT VIII. THE STRANGLING OF VASANTASENA
ACT IX. THE TRIAL
ACT X. THE END
EPILOGUE
DEPARTURES OF THE TRANSLATION FROM PARAB'S TEXT
* * * * *

NOTE BY THE EDITOR

With the battle of the Sea of Japan another turning-point in the brief
course of recorded human history has been reached. Whatever the
outcome of the negotiations for peace, one thing is sure: for better, for
worse, and whether we will or no, the West must know the East, and the
East must know the West. With that knowledge will inevitably come an
interchange of potent influences, of influences that will affect
profoundly the religion and morals, the philosophy, the literature, the
art, in short, all the elements that make up the civilizations of the two
hemispheres. It is a part of the responsibility resting upon the molders
and leaders of the thought and life of our time, and upon our
Universities in particular, to see to it that these new forces, mighty for
good or for evil, are directed aright.
The fruitfulness of those scions of Western civilization which the
Japanese have grafted upon their own stock is to-day the admiration of
the world. In our wonder, let us not forget that that stock is the growth
of centuries, and that it is rooted in a soil of racial character informed
by ethical ideals which we are wont to regard, with arrogant
self-complacency, as exclusively proper to Christianity, but which were,
in fact, inculcated twenty-four centuries ago through precept and
example by Gotama the Enlightened, or, as the Hindus called him,
Gotama the Buddha. It has often been said that India has never
influenced the development of humanity as a whole. Be that as it may, it
now seems no less probable than strange that she is yet destined to do
so, on the one hand, indirectly, through the influence of Indian
Buddhism upon Japan, and, on the other, directly, by the diffusion in
the West of a knowledge of her sacred writings, especially those of
Vedantism and Buddhism. To judge the East aright, we must know not
only what she is, but also how she has become what she is; know, in
short, some of the principal phases of her spiritual history as they are
reflected in her ancient literature, especially that of India. To interpret
to the West the thought of the East, to bring her best and noblest
achievements to bear upon our life,--that is to-day the problem of
Oriental philology.
The Harvard Oriental Series embodies an attempt to present to
Western scholars, in trustworthy texts and translations, some of the

greatest works of the Hindu literature and philosophy and religion,
together with certain instruments, such as the Vedic Concordance or
the History of the Beast-fable, for their critical study or elucidation.
Some account of the volumes completed or in progress may be found at
the end of this book. Dr. Ryder,