Of these, _Sakuntala_ is that which has always justly enjoyed the
greatest fame and popularity. The unqualified praise bestowed upon it
by Goethe sufficiently guarantees its poetic merit. There are two
recensions of the text in India, the Bengali and the Devanagari, the
latter being generally considered older and purer. _Sakuntala_ was
first translated into English by Sir William Jones (Calcutta, 1789),
who used the Bengali recension. It was soon after translated into
German by G. Forster (1791; new ed. Leipzig, 1879). An edition of the
Sanskrit original, with French translation, was published by A. L.
Chezy at Paris in 1830. This formed the basis of a translation by B.
Hirzel (Zurich, 1830); later trans. by L. Fritze (Chemnitz, 1876).
Other editions of the Bengali recension were published by Prema
Chandra (Calcutta, 1860) for the use of European students and by R.
Pischel (2nd ed., Kiel, 1886). The Devanagari recension was first
edited by O. Bohtlingk (Bonn, 1842), with a German translation. On
this were based the successive German translations of E. Meier
(Tubingen, 1851) and E. Lobedanz (8th ed., Leipzig, 1892). The same
recension has been edited by Dr C. Burkhard with a Sanskrit-Latin
vocabulary and short Prakrit grammar (Breslau, 1872), and by Professor
Monier Williams (Oxford, 2nd ed. 1876), who also translated the drama
(5th ed., 1887). There is another translation by P. N. Patankar
(Poona, 1888- ). There are also a South Indian and a Cashmir
recension.
The _Vikramorvasi_, or _Urvasi won by Valour_, abounds with fine
lyrical passages, and is of all Indian dramas second only to
_Sakuntala_ in poetic beauty. It was edited by R. Lenz (Berlin, 1833)
and translated into German by C. G. A. Hofer (Berlin, 1837), by B.
Hirzel (1838), by E. Lobedanz (Leipzig, 1861) and F. Bollensen
(Petersburg, 1845). There is also an English edition by Monier
Williams, a metrical and prose version by Professor H. H. Wilson, and
a literal prose translation by Professor E. B. Cowell (1851). The
latest editions are by S. P. Pandit (Bombay, 1879) and K. B. Paranjpe
(ibid. 1898).
The third play, entitled _Malavikagnimitra_, has considerable poetical
and dramatic merit, but is confessedly inferior to the other two. It
possesses the advantage, however, that its hero Agnimitra and its
heroine Malavika are more ordinary and human characters than those of
the other plays. It is edited by O. F. Tullberg (Bonn, 1840), by
Shankar P. Pandit, with English notes (1869), and S. S. Ayyar (Poona,
1896); translated into German by A. Weber (1856), and into English by
C. H. Tawney (2nd ed., Calcutta, 1898).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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