Event — IIAS Lunch Lecture

Connecting Ancient to Modern. Ghanaśyāma’s Ānandasundarī, a Prakrit play of a 18th century Marathi poet

Among the 18th century Indian text, the Ghanaśyāma’s Ānandasundarī is one of the most interesting, for many reasons. In this presentation, Melinda Fodor will speak about the saṭṭaka tradition and will also include some glimpses from this play.

Lecture by Dr Melinda Zulejka Fodor, Gonda fellow at IIAS from UMR 7528 ‘Mondes iranien et indien’, Paris, France.

Lunch will be provided. Registration is required.

Among the 18th century Indian text, the Ghanaśyāma’s Ānandasundarī is one of the most interesting, for many reasons.

The specificity of the saṭṭaka genre is that it is written entirely in one and the same Prakrit language, while in a classical Indian drama, according to the rules of dramaturgy, Sanskrit and other Prakrit dialects are attributed to different characters in order to indicate their social status. This unusual language choice was the invention of Rājaśekhara (a well-known poet who lived in the 9th-10th centuries in the North of India), based on a literary theory according to which Prakrit, consisting of sweet sounding letters, is the most appropriate language to express the subject-matter of a saṭṭaka: love. By this language choice, Rājaśekhara gave a literary value to this genre, contributing thus to its revival and creating, purposely or not, its tradition. His play, the Karpūramañjarī, became the absolute standard of the saṭṭaka genre, and so, the only classical drama in Prakrit. Ghanaśyāma’s Ānandasundarī is the latest play that came down to us from this tradition.

It was believed by scholars of the last century that poets gradually stopped producing classical plays after the 10th century and the traditional Indian theatre slowly fell into decay. Ghanaśyāma’s Ānandasundarī is a fine example that the tradition of classical drama was still cultivated and appreciated in premodern India.

Prakrit was, alongside with Sanskrit, one of the literary languages form the Christian era on. While Sanskrit remained a broadly learned language of the literati until the British colonization, and new vernacular languages were ranked among literary languages, the number of knowers of Prakrit was significantly reduced. Therefore, Prakrit knowledge in medieval and pre-modern periods was a sign of outstanding scholarship. Ghanaśyāma’s Ānandasundarī shows that the author (and also the scribes of the manuscripts) had a remarkable grammatical and lexical knowledge of this language.

Ghanaśyāma lived in the 18th century Thanjavur, in a period when rare words, terms of multiple meanings, puns and the so called ‘twisted’ expressions, putting the audience’s literary and linguistic skills to the test, was in vogue. In his Ānandasundarī, the author handles literary expressions of this tendency with ease and show-cases a considerable learning in classical Indian literature, imitating the style of prominent poets, such as Subandhu, Daṇḍin, Bāṇa and Viśākhadatta.

Most Prakrit texts are often accompanied by a Sanskrit translation, the so called ‘shadow’. The quality of these texts depends on their author’s knowledge in Prakrit language, and it evinces chiefly when the original text includes less known vernacular loanwords difficult to translate. The Sanskrit translation and commentary of the Ānandasundarī, written by a certain Bhaṭṭanātha, is by far one of the best. On many occasions he quotes rules and examples from Prakrit grammarians, Sanskrit lexicographers, theoreticians of dramaturgy and poetics, and poets.

Melinda Fodor is a Gonda Fellow at IIAS, where she is preparing a critical edition with annotated translation of Ghanaśyāma’s Ānandasundarī, including an introduction and a glossary of rare words. In this presentation, she will speak about the saṭṭaka tradition and will also include some glimpses from this play.

 

 

Registration (required)

Please register via the webform provided below if you would like to attend this lecture (by Monday 4 June 12:00  if you would like IIAS to provide lunch).

About IIAS Lunch Lectures

Every month, one of the IIAS affiliated fellows will give an informal presentation about his/her work-in-progress for colleagues and others interested. Lunch lectures are sometimes also organised for visiting scholars.

IIAS organises these lectures to provide the research community with an opportunity to freely discuss ongoing research and exchange thoughts and ideas. Anyone with an interest in the subject matter at hand is welcome to attend and join the discussion.