The “Little Clay Cart” is, for Sanskrit theatre, atypically romantic, funny, and thrilling. This most human of Sanskrit plays is Shakespearian in its skilful drawing of characters and in the plot’s direct clarity. One of the earliest Sanskrit dramas, “Little Clay Cart” was created in South India, perhaps in the seventh century CE. Set in the city of Ujjain, so secular and universal is the story that it can be situated in any society, and it has, including in Bollywood film and by the BBC. Charu•datta, a bankrupt married merchant, is extramaritally involved with a wealthy courtesan, Vasánta•sena. The king’s vile brother-in-law, unable to win Vasánta•sena’s love, strangles her, and accuses Charu•datta. The court decides the case hastily, condemning Charu•datta to death. Fortunately, our heroine rises from the dead to save her beloved, and all applaud their love. At this climax, the regime changes, and the rebel-turned-king makes Charu•datta lord of an adjacent city.

The Little Clay Cart (Clay Sanskrit Library)

Literature & Fiction

Shudraka

Classics

Clay Sanskrit

The aristocrat who wrote this vigorous political play eschewed sentimentality in favor of realistic characterization and forceful action. It is 316 BCE, one year after Chandra·gupta Maurya, aided by his subtle minister Chánakya, has seized the kingdom of Mágadha from the last king of the Nanda dynasty. Rákshasa, Nanda’s incorruptible minister, flees abroad and plots his vengeance, while Chánakya seeks to win him over to honor Chandra·gupta Maurya as his new king.The aristocrat who wrote this vigorous political play eschewed sentimentality in favor of realistic characterization and forceful action. It is 316 BCE, one year after Chandra·gupta Maurya, aided by his subtle minister Chanákya, has seized the kingdom of Mágadha from the last king of the Nanda dynasty. Rákshasa, Nanda's incorruptible minister, flees abroad and plots his vengeance, while Chanákya seeks to win him over to honor Chandra·gupta Maurya as his new king.Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC FoundationFor more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org

Rakshasa's Ring (Clay Sanskrit Library)

Vishakhadatta

Dramas & Plays

Nanda has it all: youth, money, good looks and a kittenish wife who fulfills his sexual and emotional needs. He also has the Buddha, a dispassionate man of immense insight and self-containment, for an older brother. When Nanda is made a reluctant recruit to the Buddha's order of monks, he is forced to confront his all-too-human enslavement to his erotic and romantic desires. Dating from the second century CE, Ashva·ghosha’s Handsome Nanda portrays its hero’s spiritual makeover with compassion, psychological profundity, and great poetic skill. Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation For more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org

Handsome Nanda (Clay Sanskrit Library, 39)

Ashvaghosha

Genre Fiction

“Bhishma,” the sixth book of the eighteen-book epic The Maha•bhárata, narrates the first ten days of the great war between the Káuravas and the Pándavas. This first volume covers four days from the beginning of the great battle and includes the famous “Bhágavad•gita (“The Song of the Lord”), presented here within its original epic context. In this “bible” of Indian civilization the charioteer Krishna empowers his disciple Árjuna to resolve his personal dilemma: whether to follow his righteous duty as a warrior and slay his opponent relatives in the just battle, or to abstain from fighting and renounce the warrior code to which he is born.

Mahabharata Book Six (Volume 1): Bhishma (Clay Sanskrit Library, 30)

Vyāsa

This second half of Bhishma describes the events from the beginning of the fifth day till the end of the tenth of the great battle between the K&#225uravas and the P&#225ndavas. Despite grandfather Bhishma’s appeal to conclude peace with the P&#225ndavas, Dury&#243dhana continues the bloody battle. The key strategist is general Bhishma, commander of the K&#225urava forces. Even though he is compelled to fight on the side of the K&#225uravas, Bhishma’s sympathies are with the P&#225ndavas. After the ninth day of war, when Bhishma has wreaked havoc with their troops, the P&#225ndavas realise that they will be unable to win as long as invincible Bhishma is alive. Bhishma willingly reveals to them how he can be destroyed. Strictly observing the warrior code, he will never fight with Shikh&#225ndin, because he was originally born a woman. Bhishma advises the P&#225ndava brothers that &#193rjuna should strike him from behind Shikh&#225ndin’s back, and they follow the grandfather’s advice.

Mahabharata Book Six (Volume 2): Bhisma (Clay Sanskrit Library, 53)

Religion & Spirituality

The great war of the Maha bharata is over. Or is it? This is a single extended family wracked in conflict. Both sides succumbed to treachery. Ashva tthaman, the young leader of the three survivors on the losing side, is incensed at his father’s murder. He returns after dark to the now sleeping encampment. The sacrifice of the unsuspecting champions, the "Dead of Night," ensues. The five sons of Pandu have escaped. After a final confrontation, a missile crisis, Ashva tthaman concedes defeat but redirects his missile into the wombs of the victors’ women. They miscarry, and cannot hope for more children. Now the survivors, victors and vanquished, must struggle to comprehend their loss. "The Women" of both sides are confronted by their men’s mangled corpses in a masterpiece of horror and pathos. But their potent curses must be curbed to usher in a new era. Maha bharata Books Ten and Eleven give voice to the vanquished, to the psychology of loss and the conflicting desires for understanding and revenge.

Mahabharata, Books 10-11: Dead of Night / The Women (The Clay Sanskrit Library)

Poetry

The Clay Sanskrit Library, co-published by NYU Press and the JJC Foundation, has been created to introduce classical Sanskrit literature to a wide international readership. This literature combines great beauty, enormous variety and more than three thousand years of continuous history and development.

The Complete Clay Sanskrit Library: 56-volume Set (Clay Sanskrit Library, 3)

Clay Sanskrit Library

Epic: Maha·bhárata The Maha·bhárata tells the tale of the epic battle between the Pándavas and the Káuravas for the thrown. It begins with the famous game of dice between the Pándavas and the Káuravas, which sets the scene for the war that will lie at the center of the Maha·bhárata epic. But even after the war is ostensibly over when the heroic but flawed king of the Káuravas is dishonorably defeated in battle by his arch enemy, the extended family is still wracked in conflict leaving survivors, victors and vanquished struggling to comprehend their loss. Perhaps the most enigmatic philosophical text from ancient India, the final book in the set, “The Book of Liberation” is presented as the teachings of Bhishma as he lies dying on the battlefield in the aftermath of war. Included in this set: Maha·bhárata Book II: The Great Hall Translated by Paul Wilmot. 588 pages / 978-0-8147-9406-7 Maha·bhárata Book III: The Forest Volume 4 Translated by William Johnson. 374 pages / 978-0-8147-4278-5 Maha·bhárata Book IV: Viráta Translated by Kathleen Garbutt. 516 pages / 978-0-8147-3183-3 Maha·bhárata Book V: Preparations for War Volume 1 Translated by Kathleen Garbutt. Foreword by Gurcharan Das. 720 pages / 978-0-8147-3191-8 Maha·bhárata Book V: Preparations for War Volume 2 Translated by Kathleen Garbutt. 760 pages / 978-0-8147-3202-1 Maha·bhárata Book VI: Bhishma Translated by Alex Cherniak. Foreword by Ranajit Guha. Volume 1 (Including the “Bhagavad Gita” in Context) 615 pages / 978-0-8147-1696-0 Maha·bhárata Book VI: Bhishma Volume 2 Translated by Alex Cherniak. 550 pages / 978-0-8147-1705-9 Maha·bhárata Book VII: Drona Volume 1 Translated by Vaughan Pilikian. 473 pages / 978-0-8147-6723-8 Maha·bhárata Book VII: Drona Volume 2 Translated by Vaughan Pilikian. 470 pages / 978-0-8147-6776-4 Maha·bhárata Book VIII: Karna Volume 1 Translated by Adam Bowles 604 pages / 978-0-8147-9981-9 Maha·bhárata Book VIII: Karna Volume 2 Translated by Adam Bowles. 684 pages / 978-0-8147-9995-6 Maha·bhárata Book IX: Shalya Volume 1 Translated by Justin Meiland. 371 pages / 978-0-8147-5706-2 Maha·bhárata Book IX: Shalya Volume 2 Translated by Justin Meiland. 470 pages / 978-0-8147-5737-6 Maha·bhárata Books X &amp; XI: “Dead of the Night” and “The Women” Translated by Kate Crosby. 350 pages / 978-0-8147-1727-1 Maha·bhárata Book XII: Peace (Part 2: The Book of Liberation) Volume 3 Translated by Alex Wynne. 540 pages / 978-0-8147-9453-1

The Clay Sanskrit Library: Mahabharata: 15-volume Set (Clay Sanskrit Library, 60)

Essays & Correspondence

The Ramáyana epic centers around Rama, the crown prince of the city of Ayódhya, providing a profound meditation on the paradox of the hero as both human and divine. After rescuing a sage from persecution by demons. Rama attends a tournament in the neighboring city of Míthila where he wins the prize and the hand of Sita, the princess of Míthila. But a court intrigue involving one of the king’s junior wives and a maidservant forces Rama into a fourteen-year banishment to the jungle with his wife, Sita, and his loyal brother Lákshmana. When Sita is abducted by the demon king Rávana, Rama goes to the monkey capital of Kishkíndha to seek help in finding her. It is there that he meets Hánuman, the greatest of the monkey heroes. In exchange for the assistance of the monkey troops in discovering where Sita is held captive, Rama has to help Sugríva win the monkey throne over his brother, Valin. In the final book of the set, Hánuman leaps across the ocean to the island citadel of Lanka, where he scours the city for the abducted Princess Sita. But when Hánuman reveals himself to the princess and offers to carry her back to Rama, she nevertheless insists that Rama must come himself to avenge the abduction. Included in this set: Ramáyana Book I: Boyhood By Valmíki. Translated by Robert Goldman. 424 pages / 978-0-8147-3163-5 Ramáyana Book II: Ayódhya By Valmíki. Translated by Sheldon I. Pollock. 652 pages / 978-0-8147-6716-0 Ramáyana Book III: The Forest By Valmíki. Translated by Sheldon I. Pollock. 436 pages / 978-0-8147-6722-1 Ramáyana Book IV: Kishkíndha By Valmíki. Translated by Rosalind Lefeber. 415 pages / 978-0-8147-5207-4 Ramáyana Book V: Súndara By Valmíki. Translated by Robert Goldman and Sally Sutherland Goldman. 538 pages / 978-0-8147-3178-9

The Clay Sanskrit Library: Ramayana: 5-volume Set (Clay Sanskrit Library, 5)

Religion A diverse set, the religion set includes works from the biographical narratives of Buddha and stories of his past rebirths, to the lyrical account of love affair between gods, to a play that satirized religions to make a laughingstock of their followers and their tenets. Included in this set: The Epitome of Queen Lilávati By Jina·ratna. Edited and translated by Richard Fynes. Volume 1 543 pages / 978-0-8147-2741-6 The Epitome of Queen Lilávati Volume 2 By Jina·ratna. Edited and translated by Richard Fynes. 650 pages / 978-0-8147-2742-3 Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives Volume 1 By Arya·shura. Translated by Justin Meiland. 550 pages / 978-0-8147-9581-1 Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives Volume 2 By Arya·shura. Translated by Justin Meiland. 543 pages / 978-0-8147-9583-5 Gita·govínda: Love Songs of Radha and Krishna By Jaya·deva. Translated by Lee Siegel. 200 pages / 978-0-8147-4078-1 Handsome Nanda By Ashva·ghosha. Translated by Linda Covill. 392 pages / 978-0-8147-1683-0 Heavenly Exploits: Buddhist Biographies from the Dívyavadána Edited and translated by Joel Tatelman. 444 pages / 978-0-8147-8288-0 “How the Nagas Were Pleased” &amp; “The Shattered Thighs” By Harsha and Bhasa. Translated by Andrew Skilton. 350 pages / 978-0-8147-4066-8 Life of the Buddha By Ashva·ghosha. Translated by Patrick Olivelle 561 pages / 978-0-8147-6216-5 Much Ado about Religion By Bhatta Jayánta. Edited and translated by Csaba Dezsö. 320 pages / 978-0-8147-1979-4

The Clay Sanskrit Library: Religion: 10-volume Set (Clay Sanskrit Library, 47)

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