Shuka Saptati

Although it took us over a year to finally procure a copy and read Haksar's translation of the Sanskrit Shuka Saptati, it was an enjoyable experience. A frame story consisting of several interlinked short tales connected to the subject of marital infidelity, a parrot convinces a married woman to not cheat her on merchant husband traveling abroad. As you can probably guess, story collections like these were translated into Persian and probably influenced some of the story cycles of the Middle East, too. These amusing tales of cheating wives, clever individuals and the occasional animal fable are not equal in comedy or wit, but very enlightening on an interesting past in which women seem to have had more sexual liberties than today. 

Madhav & Kama: A Love Story from Ancient India

A.N.D. Haksar's translation of the short tale Madhav & Kama: A Love Story from Ancient India is an interesting read for those interested in prose (or mostly prose) writings from the Sanskrit language. While differing from the literary standards of Dandin or works like Kadambari for its simplistic plot structure and avoidance of the excessively descriptive passages, the author of the original manuscript must have been aware of the earlier romance narratives in Sanskrit literature. Madhavanala Kamakandala Katha, unfortunately, lacks the excitement or engaging stories of Dandin. Here, a brahmin and a courtesan fall in love, consummate their relationship, are separated after a king banishes Madhav, and reunited after King Vikramaditya defeats Kama Sena. With the exception of being more sensual and erotic than, say, ancient Greek romances, this tale reads like a weaker, less developed version of a romance, akin to Ephesian Tale. Because it is a story from several centuries ago, divinities and miraculous events happen, such as the resurrection of the two lovers. It also extolls the importance of caste and merit, for both are necessary for the ideal individual. Again, hardly a surprise. We will have to revisit this text after reading more Sanskrit texts.

Tales of the Ten Princes

Reading so much prose fiction from the ancient Greek world and the Roman Empire has pushed me to the east, to enjoy fiction from India and other parts of Asia. While it is not a novel, Dandin's Tales of the Ten Princes uses the frame story of Rajahavana reuniting with his fellow allies as they plan to defeat the king who unseated Rajahamsa, his father. As each prince (descendants of other kings or royal ministers to Rajavahana's father) reunites with Rajavahana, they regale him (and the reader) with their various exploits, ruses, adventures, battles, and supernatural encounters across the Indian subcontinent. 

Not surprisingly, like the various inset tales in Apuleius's The Golden Ass other works of fiction from the Greco-Roman world, many of Dandin's tales here revolve around magic, banditry, trickery, love at first sight, forest tribes, court intrigue, courtesans, proper conduct (or lackthereof), and merchants (there are allusions to Chinese silk, and even Greek sailors and merchants) with access to great wealth and exotic goods. Moreover, Kama, the Indian Eros or Cupid, is constantly invoked and present in the text, much as in the Greek romances. Indeed, various references to Hindu sacred texts, Jains, Buddhists, ascetics, and the pantheon of gods makes it clear that a proper understanding of this text requires a deep immersion into Indian history, epics, and religion. Similarly, one requires such a background to understand many of the allusions in the Greek romances, but the Western reader will already possess some of the requisite background knowledge.

Since most of the princes engage in various forms of immoral conduct or trickery, including sleeping with a married woman in one case, to gain their kingdom, the narrative seems to gain much of its humor and traction from the contradiction between proper ethics and the reality of lived experience. These characters are far less noble than the lovers of Greek romances, but one cannot help but admire and enjoy their misdeeds and adventures. Unfortunately, some of the tales repeat the same types of ruses and the convoluted stories within stories within another story structure can lead to confusion. Perhaps fewer princes and more attention on Rajavahana would have created a more compelling central thread, as in the case of Lucius in The Golden Ass. Nontheless, it is an engaging work that takes the reader on a journey across the various social classes, castes, kingdoms, and beliefs of India in the 7th century, and perhaps an Eastern variant of the picaresque tales of Western fiction.