{"id":45,"date":"2013-07-13T01:25:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=45"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:25:32","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:25:32","slug":"32-vikram-and-the-n-harmony-of-virtues-3-vol-03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03\/32-vikram-and-the-n-harmony-of-virtues-3-vol-03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03","title":{"rendered":"-32_Vikram and The N-harmony of virtues-3.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n
\nVikram and the Nymph<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n"<\/font>V<\/font>IKRAM <\/font>
\n<\/b>and the Nymph" is the second,
\nin order of time, of Kalidasa’s three extant dramas. The steady development of
\nthe poet’s genius is easy to read even for a superficial observer. The Malavica and the King<\/i>
\nis a gracious and delicate trifle, full of the sweet and dainty characterisation
\nwhich Kalidasa loves, almost too curiously admirable in the perfection of its
\nstructure and dramatic art but with only a few touches of that
\nnobility of manner which raises his tender and sensuous poetry
\nand makes it divine. In the Urvasie<\/i> he is preening his wings for a
\nmightier flight; the dramatic art is not so flawless, but the characters are far deeper and nobler, the poetry stronger and more
\noriginal and the admirable lyrical sweetness of the first and
\nfourth acts as well as the exaltation of love and the passion of
\nbeauty which throb through the whole play, lift it into a far rarer
\ncreative atmosphere. It is a worthy predecessor of the Shacountala<\/i>, that most nobly tender, loveliest and most faultless of all
\nromantic plays. Other indications of this development may be
\nobserved. The conventional elements of an Indian romantic
\ncomedy, the humours of the Brahmin buffoon and the jealousy
\nof the established wife for the new inamorata<\/i> occupy the whole
\npicture in the Malavica<\/i>, though they are touched with exquisite
\nskill and transfigured into elements of a gracious and smiling
\nbeauty; in the Urvasie<\/i> the space given to them is far more limited
\nand their connection with the main action far less vital; and they
\nare less skilfully handled; finally in the Shacountala<\/i> we have only
\nvestiges of them, \u2014 a perfunctory recognition of their claims to
\nbe admitted rather than a willing use of them as good dramatic
\nmaterial. The prologues of the three plays point to a similar
\nconclusion. Introducing the Malavica<\/i> Kalidasa comes forward
\nas a new and unrecognised poet challenging the fame of the great
\ndramatic classics and apprehensive of severe criticism for his
\naudacity, which he anticipates by a defiant challenge. When the Urvasie<\/i> is first represented, his position as a dramatist is more<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 261<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nassured; only the slightest apology is given for displacing the
\nclassics in favour of a new play and the indulgence of the
\naudience is requested not for the poet but for the actors. The
\nprologue of the Shacountala<\/i> on the other hand breathes of the
\ndignified and confident silence of the acknowledged Master. No
\napology is needed; none is volunteered.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe prologue of this play contains an apparent allusion to
\nthe great Vikramaditya, Kalidasa’s patron, and tradition seems
\nto hint, if it does not assert, connection of a kind between the
\nplot of the drama and, perhaps, some episode in the King’s life.
\nAt any rate the name of the drama is an obvious compliment to
\nthat great ruler and conqueror and one or two double entendres
\nin the play which I have not thought it worthwhile to transfer
\ninto English are, it is clear, strokes of delicate flattery pointed
\nto the same quarter. The majority of European scholars identify
\nthis Vikram with Harsha of Ujjayin, the Grand Monarque<\/i> of
\nclassical India; indigenous scholarship mostly dissents from this
\nview, and an imaginative mind may well prefer to associate our
\ngreatest classical poet with the earlier and more heroic, if also
\nmore shadowy, Vikram, who united the Malavas and founded
\nthe power of that great nation, the most gifted and artistic of the earlier
\nHindu peoples. There are not sufficient data to fix Kalidasa’s epoch; he was certainly not later than the 6th century after
\nChrist, certainly not earlier than the 1st century before; but a
\nchronological margin of seven hundred years is too wide to encourage dogmatism.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe legend which forms the subject of the plot is one of the
\nolder Indian myths; it may have been a sun myth dear to the
\nheart of the late Prof. Max M\u00fcller; or it may have meant something very different. The literary critic is only concerned with the
\nchanges and developments it has undergone in the hands of Kalidasa; that these are all in the direction of emotional sweetness
\nand artistic beauty, may easily be seen by comparing with the
\ndrama a translation of the original story as it appears in the…<\/font><\/p>\n

\n(Incomplete<\/i>)<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 262<\/font><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vikram and the Nymph   "VIKRAM and the Nymph" is the second, in order of time, of Kalidasa’s three extant dramas. The steady development of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03","wpcat-4-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}