What do you think?
Rate this book
The Sacontala: Or the Fatal Ring
Excerpt from The Sacontala: Or the Fatal Ring
In one of the letters which bear the title of edifying, though most, of them swarm with ridiculous errors, and nil must be consulted with extreme diffidence, I met, some years ago, with the following passage: "In the north of India there are many books, called Natac, which, as the Brahinens assert, contain a large portion of ancient history without any mixture of fable;" and having an eager desire to know the real state of this empire before the conquest of it by the Savages of the North, I was very solicitous, on my arrival in Bengal, to procure access to those books, either by the help of translations, if they had been translated, or by learning the language in which they were originally composed, and which I had yet a stronger inducement to learn from its connection with the administration of justice to the Hindus; but when I was able to converse with the Brahmens, they assured me that the Natacs were not histories, and abounded with fables; that they were extremely popular works, and consisted of conversations in prose and verse, held before ancient Rajas in (heir public assemblies, on an infinite variety of subjects, and in various dialects of India: this definition gave me no very distinct, idea; but I concluded that they were dialogues on moral or literan topics; whilst other Europeans, whom I consulted, had under stood from the natives that they were discourses on dnncing, music, or poetry.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
In one of the letters which bear the title of edifying, though most, of them swarm with ridiculous errors, and nil must be consulted with extreme diffidence, I met, some years ago, with the following passage: "In the north of India there are many books, called Natac, which, as the Brahinens assert, contain a large portion of ancient history without any mixture of fable;" and having an eager desire to know the real state of this empire before the conquest of it by the Savages of the North, I was very solicitous, on my arrival in Bengal, to procure access to those books, either by the help of translations, if they had been translated, or by learning the language in which they were originally composed, and which I had yet a stronger inducement to learn from its connection with the administration of justice to the Hindus; but when I was able to converse with the Brahmens, they assured me that the Natacs were not histories, and abounded with fables; that they were extremely popular works, and consisted of conversations in prose and verse, held before ancient Rajas in (heir public assemblies, on an infinite variety of subjects, and in various dialects of India: this definition gave me no very distinct, idea; but I concluded that they were dialogues on moral or literan topics; whilst other Europeans, whom I consulted, had under stood from the natives that they were discourses on dnncing, music, or poetry.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
156 pages, Paperback
First published August 4, 2015
18 people want to read
About the author
William Jones
236 books15 followersSir William Jones was an English philologist and scholar of ancient India, particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among Indo-European languages. He was also the founder of the Asiatic Society.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 11, 2020
What an extraordinary play. I was fascinated by William Jones's translation. I have no idea how accurate it is, or how much Jones warps the play to fit the mindset of his time and place, but however much he shaped it, the sheer originality and brilliance of Kalidāsa's art shines through. For a reader trained in European drama, this is both a strange and a familiar play. Kalidāsa is somewhere between the austere unities of the Grecian playwrights and the vigorous adventurism of the English and Spanish.
Displaying 1 of 1 review