A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1195

c5.1195

MRICHCHHAKATĪ. ‘The toy-cart.’ A drama in ten acts by King Sūdraka, supposed to be the oldest Sanskrit drama extant, and to have been written in the first or second century A.D. The country over which Sūdraka reigned is not known. This play, says Wilson, its translator, “is a curious and interesting picture of national manners . . . free from all exterior influence or adulteration. It is a portrait purely Indian. It represents a state of society sufficiently advanced in civilisation to be luxurious and corrupt, and is certainly very far from offering a flattering similitude, although not without some attractive features.” Williams observes, “The dexterity with which the plot is arranged, the ingenuity with which the incidents are connected, the skill with which the characters are delineated and contrasted, the boldness and felicity of the diction, are scarcely unworthy of our own great dramatists.” There are translations in French and several editions of the text.