Kālidāsa was a Gupta era, Classical Sanskrit author and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviving works consist of three plays, two epic poems and two shorter poems.
Shakuntalaa (Sanskrit: Śakuntalāa, is the wife of Dushyanta and the mother of Emperor Bharata. Her story is told in the Adi Parva, the first of eighteen parts of the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata, and dramatized by many writers, the most famous adaptation being Kalidasa's play Abhijñānaśākuntala.
The term Indian classical drama refers to the tradition of dramatic literature and performance in ancient India. The roots of drama in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to the Rigveda, which contains a number of hymns in the form of dialogues, or even scenes, as well as hymns that make use of other literary forms such as animal fables However, Indian drama begins its classical stage in the 3rd-4th century BCE with the composition of the Nātyaśāstra. Indian classical drama is regarded as the highest achievement of Sanskrit literature.
Abhijnanashakuntalam, also known as Shakuntala, The Recognition of Shakuntala, The Sign of Shakuntala, and many other variants, is a Sanskrit play by the ancient Indian poet Kālidāsa, dramatizing the story of Śakuntalā told in the epic Mahābhārata and regarded as best of Kālidāsa's works. Its exact date is uncertain, but Kālidāsa is often placed in the 4th century CE.
Nagananda is a Sanskrit play attributed to emperor Harsha.
Ratnavali is a Sanskrit drama about a beautiful princess named Ratnavali, and a great king named Udayana. It is attributed to the Indian emperor Harsha (606–648). It is a Natika in four acts. One of the first textual references to the celebration of Holi, the festival of Colours have been found in this text.
Bhāsa is one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit, predating Kalidasa. His name was already well-known by the 1st century BCE and he belongs to the late-Mauryan period at the earliest, but the thirteen plays attached to his name are commonly dated closer to the first or second century CE.
Kāvya refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets flourishing between c.200 BCE and 1200 CE.
Theatre of India is one of the most ancient forms of theatre and it features a detailed textual, sculptural, and dramatic effects which emerged in mid first millennium BC. Like in the areas of music and dance, the Indian theatre is also defined by the dramatic performance based on the concept of Nritya, which is a Sanskrit word for drama but encompasses dramatic narrative, virtuosic dance, and music. Historically, Indian theatre has exerted influence beyond its borders, reaching ancient China and other countries in the Far East.
The Mudrarakshasa is a Sanskrit-language play by Vishakhadatta that narrates the ascent of the king Chandragupta Maurya to power in India. The play is an example of creative writing, but not entirely fictional. It is dated variously from the late 4th century to the 8th century CE.
Ambale Ramakrishna Krishnashastry (1890–1968) was an Indian writer, researcher and translator in the Kannada language. Krishnashastry has remained popular four decades after his death through his work Vachana Bharata, and his narration of the Hindu epic Mahabharata in the Kannada.
The Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of books published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Each work features the text in its original language on the left-hand page, with its English translation on the right. The series was inspired by the Loeb Classical Library, and its volumes are bound in teal cloth.
Nandikeshvara was a major theatrologist of ancient India. He was the author of the Abhinaya Darpanalit. 'The Mirror of Gesture'.
Vishakhadatta was an Indian Sanskrit poet and playwright. Although Vishakhadatta furnishes the names of his father and grandfather as Maharaja Bhaskaradatta and Maharaja Vateshvaradatta in his political drama Mudrārākṣasa, we know little else about him. Only two of his plays, the Mudrārākṣasa and the Devichandraguptam are known to us. His period is not certain but he probably flourished in or after the 6th century CE. Some scholars such as A. S. Altekar, K. P. Jayaswal and Sten Konow theorized that Vishakhadatta was a contemporary of Chandragupta II, and lived in late 4th century to early 5th century. But this view has been challenged by other scholars, including Moriz Winternitz and R. C. Majumdar.
Urubhanga or Urubhangam,, is a Sanskrit play written by Bhasa in the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Based on the well-known epic, the Mahābhārata, by Vyasa, Urubhanga focuses on the story of the character Duryodhana during and after his fight with Bhima. Although Urubhanga contains the same core storyline as that in the Mahābhārata, Bhasa's altering of certain aspects results in a different presentation of the story. The most extreme of these alterations is Bhasa's portrayal of Duryodhana, who, in the Mahābhārata, is viewed as a villain, but in Urubhanga is given more human qualities. Bhasa's presentation of Duryodhana's side of the tale adds certain tragic elements to the play.
Vishwanathan Venkatachalam was an eminent Sanskrit scholar. He served as the vice-chancellor of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi, India for two terms. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1989 by the Government of India for his valuable contribution to the field of Sanskrit research and education.
Shanta Kalidas Gandhi was an Indian theatre director, dancer and playwright who was closely associated with IPTA, the cultural wing of the Communist Party of India. She studied with Indira Gandhi at a residential school in the early 1930s, and remained close to the prime minister in later life. She received many government awards and sinecures under the Indira Gandhi administration, including the Padma Shri (1984) and being made chairperson of the National School of Drama (1982–84).
Dewan Bahadur Keshavlal Harshadrai Dhruv, also spelt as Keshavlal Harshad Dhruva and known by his pen name Vanmali, was a research scholar, philologist, critic, editor of Middle and Old Gujarati works, and translator of Sanskrit classic poetry and plays from India. He was a professor of Gujarati and taught at Gujarat College. He headed several literary organizations.
Udayana was a king of Vatsa in India, a contemporary of Gautama Buddha. He is a popular figure in Indian literature, for both his romantic and military stories, but though he probably existed, little is known for certain about his life or reign.
