Out knowledge of the development of Sanskrit literature in the early centuries A.D. is based
on writings from the Gupta period. However, tradition associates the work of Ashvaghosha and out-standing writer and play
Wright, one of the founders of Buddhist Sanskrit literature and a
major philosopher- with the reign of Kanishak (the early second century
AD). Many of his works remain unknown, but fragments of the following
poems in Sanskrit have been preserved: Buddhacharita ("A life of the
Buddha") Saundarananda (Sundari and Nanda) and the drama
shariputraprakarana. (A drama dealing with Shariputra's Conversion to
Buddhism). In ancient India these works of Ashvaghosha had enjoyed wide
popularity and the Chinese pilgrim I-tsing who visited India in the
seventh century wrote that the "poem" so gladdened the heart of the
reader that he never tired of repeating it over and over again.
Although the Buddhacharita and the Shariputraprakarana treated only Buddhist themes and
propagated the teaching of the Buddha they possessed artistic
qualities. Ashvaghosha adheres to the epic tradition and his characters
lives are filled with drama and rich emotional experience.
In his plays Ashvaghosha lays the foundation of ancient Indian drama
which was to come into its own in the works of such writers as Bhasa,
Kalidasa and Shudraka. Thirteen plays are attribute to Bhasa but it is
as yet difficult to establish which of these early were written by this
remarkable dramatist. Bahsa also made use of the epic tradition,
although his plays were constructed strictly according to the laws of
classical drama. Some modern scholars maintain, and with ample
justification, that a number of the plays attributed to Bhasa are the
most ancient moderls of Indian tragedy. This was, there is not doubt a
bold innovation on the part of Bhasa who thus defined established
artistic canon. This trend in ancient Indian drama was developed by the
Shudraka, author of the play Mrichhakatiak (The title Clay Cart), which
tells of the ardent love of an impoverished merchant for a courtsan.
Possibly the greatest in ancient Indian literature is the work of
Kalidasa, (late fourth-early fifth century), poet and dramatist, whose
wrirtings represent an illustrious page in the history of world culture.
Translations of Kalidasa's works penetrated to the West at the end of
the eighteenth century and were well received.
There is good reason to believe that Kalidasa was native of Mandasor
in Malwa. It is, therefore, argued that he was brought up in close touch
with the court of Ujjain, an active center of commercial and economic
activity in western India. Kalidasa's early descriptive poems, the
Ritussamhara and the Meghaduta probably belong to the reign of
Chandragupta-II, and his dramas to that of Kumaragupta.
It appears that Kalidasa was a prolific writer but as year scholars
have only discovered three plays : Shankuntala, Malavikagnimitra,
Vikramorvashi (Urvashi won by Valour), the poem Meghadutta (the Cloud
Messenger) and two epic poems : the Kumarasambhava (the Birth of Kumara)
and Raghuvansha (Raghu's Line)
The core of all Kalidasa writings is man and his emotions, his wordly
concerns, his joys and sorrows, His work represents a significant step
forward in comparison with the writings of Ashavaghosha who depicted in
idealized image of the Buddha and his faithfull disciples. Many of
Kalidasa's heroes are kings: the poet not only extolled their exploits,
but he also condemned their ignoble deeds. Some of Kalidasa's works bear
witness to the growth of the epic poem, the so-called mahakavya. Both
in his plays and poems Nature and Man's emotions are distinguished by
their lyric quality and humanism. Without swerving from earlier
traditions Kalidasa stood out as an innovator in many respects.
Also, the very fact that tragic themes do not figure with the
exception of Mrichcha Katika by Shudrak shows that the higher strata of
society primarily sought entertainment.
In ancient India considerable advances were also made by the theator.
In the Gupta age special treatises concerning dramatic art started to
appear, which provided detailed expositions of the aims of the theratre
and theatrical
entertainments, the various genres used in thetheatre etc.
When ancient Indian plays first made their way to Europe, many
scholars wrote that the Indian theatre owed its roots to ancient Greece.
However it has since emerged beyond
doubt that the theatre in India came into being quite independently.
More over Indian the atrical tradition goes further back than that of
ancient Greece and is much richer as far as theory is concerned.
In the Gupta age the earliest of the Puranas were compiled. These
collections of legends about gods, kings and heroes that embody the
mythological and cosmological ideas of ancient Indians were compiled
over a very long period and subjected to far-reaching editing and
modification.
Some of the Dharmashastras such as the Laws of Yajnavalkya (third
century AD) or the laws of Narada (fourth and fifth centuries AD) also
date from the early centuries AD. Worthy of note among the landmarks of
Sankrit literature is the Panchatan to (third and fourth centuries AD) a
collection of tales and pafables which is very popular both in India
and beyond its borders. In the early Middle Ages translations of this
work appeared in Pehlevi, Syriac and Arabic. In the Middle East the
collection was known as all the influence of the Panchatantra on both
Eastern and Western literature was considerable.
It was also in the Gupta period that the first works of literature
from Southern India written in Tamil appeard. One of the most famous
these early works in Tamil was the Kural a collection of parables. The
compilation of which is traditional ascribed to a representative of the
farmers' caste, Triuvalluvar.The Kumar was undoubtedly based on material
derived from folklore and already in ancient times won enormous
popularity. In the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. Collections of
Lyrical poems in Tamil also appeared. The literature of other south
Indian appear later in the early Middle Ages.
In the end it may be noted that both Sanskrit poetry and prose were
greatly encouraged through royal patronage. However it was literature of
the elites since Sanskrit was known only to them but not to the people.
The Sanskrit plays of this period show that the characters of high
social status speak Sanskrit: whereas those of lower status and women
speak Prakrit. This particular feature throws light on the status of
Sanskrit and Prakrit in society.
