The Little Clay Cart | Page 2

passing by for the present the more
momentous themes of religion and philosophy, has in this volume
attempted to show what the Indian genius, in its strength and in its
weakness, could do in the field of literature pure and simple. The
timeliness of the Series as a whole is an eloquent tribute to the
discernment of my loved and unforgotten pupil and friend, Henry
Clarke Warren. In him were united not only the will and the ability to
establish such a publication as this, but also the learning and insight
which enabled him to forecast in a general way its possibilities of
usefulness. He knew that the East had many a lesson to teach the West;
but whether the lesson be repose of spirit or hygiene of the soldier in
the field, whether it be the divine immanence or simplicity of life or the
overcoming of evil with good, he knew that the first lesson to be taught
us was the teachable habit of mind.
C. R. L.
June, 1905

PREFACE
The text chosen as the basis of this translation is that given in the
edition of Parab,[1] and I have chosen it for the following reasons.
Parab's edition is the most recent, and its editor is a most admirable
Sanskrit scholar, who, it seems to me, has in several places understood
the real meaning of the text better than his predecessors. This edition
contains the comment of Prthvidhara; it is far freer from misprints than
many texts printed in India, and, in respect to arrangement and
typography, it is clear and convenient. Besides, it is easily obtainable
and very cheap. This last consideration may prove to be of importance,
if the present translation should be found helpful in the class-room. For
the sake of cataloguers, I note that the proper transliteration of the

Sanskrit names of this title according to the rules laid down by the
American Library Association in its Journal for 1885, is as follows:
Mrcchakatika; Çudraka; Prthvidhara; Kaçinatha Panduranga Paraba;
Nirnaya-Sagara.
The verse-numeration of each act follows the edition of Parab;
fortunately, it is almost identical with the numeration in the editions of
Godabole and Jivananda. For the convenience of those who may desire
to consult this book in connection with Stenzler's edition, I have added
references at the top of the page to that edition as well as to the edition
of Parab. In these references, the letter P. stands for Parab, the letter S.
for Stenzler.
There are a few passages in which I have deviated from Parab's text. A
list of such passages is given on page 177. From this list I have omitted
a few minor matters, such as slight misprints and what seem to me to
be errors in the chaya; these matters, and the passages of unusual
interest or difficulty, I shall treat in a series of notes on the play, which
I hope soon to publish in the Journal of the American Oriental Society.
It is hardly necessary to give reasons for the omission of the passage
inserted by Nilakantha in the tenth act (Parab. 288.3-292.9). This
passage is explicitly declared by tradition to be an interpolation by
another hand, and it is clearly shown to be such by internal evidence. It
will be noticed that the omission of this passage causes a break in the
verse-numeration of the tenth act, where the verse-number 54 is
followed by the number 58.
Of the books which have been useful to me in the present work, I desire
to mention especially the editions of Stenzler, Godabole, Jivananda
Vidyasagara, and Parab; the commentaries of Prthvidhara, Lalladiksita,
and Jivananda; further, the translations of Wilson, Regnaud, and
Böhtlingk.
A number of friends were kind enough to read my manuscript, and each
contributed something. I wish to mention especially my friend and
pupil, Mr. Walter E. Clark, of Harvard University, whose careful
reading of both text and translation was fruitful of many good
suggestions.

But by far my greatest personal indebtedness is to Professor Lanman,
whose generous interest in my work has never flagged from the day
when I began the study of Sanskrit under his guidance. He has
criticized this translation with the utmost rigor; indeed, the pages are
few which have not witnessed some improvement from his hand. It is
to him also that I owe the accuracy and beauty which characterize the
printed book: nothing has been hard enough to weary him, nothing
small enough to escape him. And more than all else, I am grateful to
him for the opportunity of publishing in the Harvard Oriental Series;
for this series is that enterprise which, since the death of Professor
Whitney, most honorably upholds in this country the standards of
accurate scholarship set by the greatest of American Sanskritists.
ARTHUR W. RYDER