Though the limits of space available have precluded any full investigation of the style of the dramatists, I have not followed Professor Lévi in leaving this aspect out of consideration. The translations given of the passages cited are intended merely to convey the main sense; I have therefore left without discussion difficulties of interpretation and allusion, and have resorted to prose. Verse translations from Sanskrit sometimes attain very real merit, but normally only in a way which has little affinity with Sanskrit poetry. H. H. Wilson’s versions of Sanskrit dramas in his Theatre of the Hindus for this reason, and also because the prose of the dramas is turned into verse, thus fail, despite their many intrinsic merits, to convey any precise idea of the effect of a Sanskrit drama. I am indebted to my wife for much assistance and criticism. A. BERRIEDALE KEITH. Edinburgh University, April, 1923. CONTENTS PART I. THE ORIGIN OF THE SANSKRIT DRAMA PAGE I. Dramatic Elements in Vedic Literature. 1. The Indian Tradition of the Origin of the Drama 12 2. The Dialogues of the Veda 13 3. Dramatic Elements in Vedic Ritual 23 II. Post-Vedic Literature and the Origin of the Drama. 1. The Epics 28 2. The Grammarians 31 3. Religion and the Drama 36 4. Theories of the Secular Origin of the Drama 49 5. Greek Influence on the Sanskrit Drama 57 6. The Çakas and the Sanskrit Drama 69 7. The Evidence of the Prākrits 72 8. The Literary Antecedents of the Drama 75 PART II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SANSKRIT DRAMA III. Açvaghoṣa and the Buddhist Drama. 1. The Çāriputraprakaraṇa 80 2. The Allegorical and the Hetaera Dramas 83 3. The Language of the Dramas 85 4. The Metres 89 IV. Bhāsa. 1. The Authenticity of Bhāsa’s Dramas 91 2. The Date of Bhāsa’s Dramas 93 3. The Dramas and their Sources 95 4. Bhāsa’s Art and Technique 105 5. Bhāsa’s Style 114 6. The Language of the Plays 120 7. The Metres of the Dramas 123