(i) Erotics in Kilidasa's Epic Poems (ii) Erotics in KAlidisa's Lyric Poems (iii) Erotics in Kalidasa's Dramas (iv) Woman & Sexuality (v) Erotica in Sanskrit Literature (vi) Erotics in English Literature with special reference to Shakespeare
In the first three sections is presented the novel and first ever study of the Ndyo.kandydaguiidlaiikdras (Heroic sittv&a pious, Graces of Heroines and Heroes), Kamadadds (carnal conditions), Mmajavyasanas (sensual vices) and Premavildsas (stages of love) done in English with reference to Kalidisa.
These are: 8.Siitimla Guvas: Sobha, Vaasa, Madhurya, Gambhirya, Sthairya, Lalita, Audarya and Tejas; 20Ndy&dhulkdras : Bhava, Hava, Hell, Bobha, Kanti, Dipti, Midhinya, Pragalbhya, Audarya, Dhairya, Lila, Vasa, Vicchitti, Vibhrama, Kilakificita, Mottayita, Kullamita, Bibboka, Lalita and Vihrta; 17.Ndyakilafikdram 10.Kdmadaids Caksupriti, ManabsatIga, Saiikalpa, NidrAccheda, Tanuta, Visayavyivrtti, Lappranaga, Unmada, Marcella and Marapa; 10.K4majavyasanas: Mrgaya, Aksa, DivAsvapna, Parivada, Striyab, Mada, Taurystrika and Vrthatyi; 6.Premavildsas: Prema, Mina, Prapaya, Sneha, Riga and Anuriga. The sections IV & V present different aspects of sexuality and erotics in the works of Sanskrit Literature.
The last section VI presents a critical appraisal of different elements of eroticism in a number of works of Shakespeare, via., Julius Caesar, Venus and Adonis, Measure for Measure, Antony and Cleopatra etc., and also in his Sonnets. This volume is dedicated to the loving and everlasting memory of venerable Smt. Kamlesh Kaman Kulshreshtha, a serious connoisseur of Sanskrit, Hindi & English Literature on her 75th birth anniversary fAmrtamahotsaval.
PROF. SUSHMA KULSHRESHTHA D.Phil.; D.Litt.; F.R.A.S. (London) Ex.Visiting University Professor of Sanskrit Ranchi University, Ranchi (i)B.A. (1962) 1st class, Banaras Hindu University; M.A. Sanskrit (1964) 1st class 1st, Vikram University, Ujjain; D.Phil. (1969) Allahabad University; Diploma in Pali Language & Literature (1972) 1st position with Distinction, University of Delhi; Puratienhasicarya (1981) 1st class, Sampumanand Sanskrit University; D.Litt. (1989) Ranchi University. (ii) Teaching Sanskrit in Daulat Ram College & Univer-sity of Delhi since 4966. Guiding M.Phil. and Ph.D. Scholars since 1970. (iii)Sponsored and nominated by ICHR, ICSSR, UGC, Deptt. of Culture, Ministry of HRD & ICCR, Govt. of India, participated, presented papers and or-ganised panels in VI World Sanskrit Conference at Pennsylvania University, Philadelphia, USA in 1984, VII World Sanskrit Conference at Kern Institute, University of Leiden, the Netherlands in 1987, VIII Conference of the International Association of Bud-dhist Studies at University of California,Berkeley, USA in 1987, /00011 International Congress of Asian and North African Studies at University of Toronto, Canada in 1990, VIII World Sanskrit Conference at University of Vienna, Austria in 1990 and IX World Sanskrit Conference at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia in 1994. (iv)Participated in 101 sessions of the World Sanskrit Conference, All India Oriental Conference. Indian Philosophical Congress, Aklula BhIratiya Dartana Parilad, All India Kalidasa Samiroha, U.G.C. Semi-nars and NCERT workshops and presented papers.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
Nirgatesu va va kasya kalidasseys suktisu Priti rmdhurasadrasu manjarisvi jayate
Bana He(Shakespeare) was not of an age, but for all time: Ben Jonson
The present book has grown out of my love for two of the greatest poets of the world, Kalidasa and Shakespeare. I found in their writings manifold beauties and peculiarities of thought and diction and such gems as are found elsewhere, neither in oriental literature nor in the literature of the west. The thesis assumed form first in the shape of innumerable jotted-down memoranda from my daily perusal of kalidasa's and shakespeare's plays for more than a decade now, it accumulated from minute study of their varied niceties of imagery and gained bulk from the perusal of critical works on them.
I discovered that both kalidasa and shakespere though they optimized two widely different cultures and belonged to periods very remote from each other, had certain affinities that need to be highlighted fro the benefit of the present day reader. The years of research devoted to this work also revealed that in spite of all the differences, cultural, spiritual or intellectual, the two poets shared many a common senthetic pcept. They possessed all the component assentials of style, all the skills necessary for dramatic composition of a very high order and all the sterling qualities that go to make a superb craftsman.
Dr.Pratima Kumari is at present working as Reader and Head of the Department of English at Sri Arvind Mahila College, Patna under Magadh University, Bodh Gaya. She has contributed scores of research articles to national and international journals.As a teacher of English she commands respect and love among her students and colleagues.
Words fail me in my humble effort to express my gratitude, which borders on veneration, to Dr. R.C. Prasad, Ph. D.(Edinburgh), D. Litt.(Patna), professor and head of the Department of English, Patna University, my guide and mentor, who taught me the rudiments of higher research and disciplined my mind and style, perfecting the latter as far as possible. It is to him that I owe my knowledge of Shakespeare and Kalidasa, my insight, however scanty, into literary finesse, my acquaintance, howsoever meager, with the histories of the British and Indian theatres, and my appreciation of oriental and accidental dramatic traditions. Dr. Prasad, a fine gentleman and a widely-read scholar, has been a source of inspiration to many but not to the extent to which he has been inspiring me, now for over a decade. Needless to say, the inspiration has had many dimensions it was academic as well as deeply moral. He shaped my attitude to art in general and to literature in particular and swakended me to the universality and permanence of all great art, especially of such art as was produced by Shakespear and Kalidasa.
If I were to be asked the question 'What books of literature have moved you most ?', my immediate answer would be 'The last plays of Shakespeare in English, and Abhijnana-sakunktala and Uttararamacarita in Sanskrit.' In fact, the idea of making a comparative study of these plays of the greatest dramatists of England and India had been in my mind for quite some time before it came out in the shape of this doctoral dissertation, thanks to certain reverses from which I had to suffer as a result of what Hamlet would call
`the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
……the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes.'
I do not know if, in my excessive enthusiasm, in my un -bounded love for them, I read into these plays more than what they really contain; and if I did, it may be taken as yet another proof of what inspiration as well as consolation they are capable of offering me. But I have no doubt about this fact that it is his last plays that represent the true English Shakespeare. While the 'comic' Shakespeare is ethereal and the 'tragic' Shakespeare terrestrial, the 'tragicomic' Shakespeare is celestial, and traverses a thousand years backwards in time to shake hands with his Hindu compeers, Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti.
I wish to thank Dr. K. K. Kemkar, the then Principal, Government Degree College, Khargone, under whose super-vision this work was undertaken and completed in 1968 for the sympathy and encouragement he had consistently given me throughout, and for the trouble he had taken in going through the manuscript.
I sincerely thank Messrs Meharchand Lachhmandas Publications for having undertaken to publish this thesis, nearly a decade after it was written.
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