Among the known dramatic composition of ancient India, the Mrichchhakatika occupies a very high and distinguished position. It is a creation of outstanding brilliance. The Mrichchhatika is a drama in ten Acts based on the story of the love of Charudatta, a prominent but poor inhabitant of Ujjayini, and Vasantasena, an exquisitely beautiful but pure-minded courtesan of the city. By virtue of its high dramatic charm and its great literary excellence it has endeared itself to generations of spectators and readers; the play has been adapted in many Indian vernaculars, and in that modern form still continues to draw admiring crowds. The editor makes this book as comprehensive and useful as possible. To the commentary of Prithvidhara, which is somewhat abrupt and meager in places, he has made considerable additions where he felt them to be necessary for the elucidation of the text. The relation of this play to: Bhasa's Charudatta has been fully discussed in the Introduction. The Prakrit passages, which prove a hindrance to the student, have been printed below the text, and along with the' text, only the Sanskrit renderings are given above; the utility of this contrivance has been established in actual use.

This book considers the popular cinema of North India (Bollywood) and how it recasts literary classics. It addresses the socio-political implications of popular reinterpretations of elite culture, exploring gender issues and the perceived sexism of popular films and how that plays out when literature is reworked into film.

A Critical Analysis of Bhima Bhoi and the Mahima Cult is a rare compendium of insightful essays by eminent Indian scholars on the Mahima Cult, its genesis, and its growth. The volume focuses on Bhima Bhoi, the poet-philosopher and the prime interlocutor of the Renegade Faith, who started a revolt from below to champion human rights. To critically appreciate the Saint-poet Bhima Bhoi and the Mahima Cult (Dharma of Glory), the history of the 19th-century Indian sociocultural system, especially that of Odisha and its adjoining states, needs to be reconstructed. Since there is no surviving oral and written text authored by the founder of the cult, Mahima Swami, it is only the unlettered genius Bhima Bhoi, who produced innumerable prayers, hymns, and poetic recitals of profound philosophical import, which made him the legend, the poet-archivist, and historiographer of the Mahima Cult. Bhima was simultaneously the poet of the soul and the soil, who used theology and social experience to provide a supportive sub-structure to a transcendent, ecstatic vision. This volume asserts that Mahima Dharma is an autochthonous reform movement and a regional variation of the Indian Bhakti tradition and mystical poetry.

The Present Volume Deals With The First Nine Hundred Years Of The Medieval Period Of Indian Literary History.A History Of Indian Literature Is An Account Of The Literary Activities Of The Indian People Carried Through In Many Languages And Under Different Social Conditions. It Is The Story Of A Multilingual Literature, A Plurality Of Linguistic Expressions And Cultural Experience And Also Of The Remarkable Unity Underlying Them.

Collection of essays.