Midsummer Night’s Dream is, perhaps, the first drama of Shakespeare that was translated into Sanskrit. Several decades after Krishnamacharya translated Midsummer Night’s Dream into Sanskrit, Sanskrit scholars turned their attention to translating other dramas of Shakespeare. Some of them are listed below:
1. Venisa sarthavahah (Merchant of Venice) – Ananta Tripathi Śarma 1969
2. Yatha Te Rocate (As you like it) – Ananta Tripathi Sarma 1969
3. Dinarkarajakumarahemalekham (Hamlet) – Sukhamay Mukhopadhyay 1971
4. Uthika (Romeo & Juliet) – Revaprasad Dvivedi 1978
5. Candrasenah Durgadesasya Yuvarajah (Hamlet) – SD Joshi & Pt. Vighnahari Deo 1980
Excerpts from the author’s preface in the first edition of “Vasantika Swapnam”
It has been my long-cherished wish, to render into Sanskrit some of the plays of Shakespeare. But a translation in the form of a Sanskrit drama, is attended with difficulties. A Sanskrit drama, even if it should be a translation, has to conform to a string of hard and fast rules. Failing in this respect, the work, no matter however good, is sure to offend the taste of Sanskrit Pandits, and a work like mine written in the first instance to give our Pandits a taste of Western poetry will have no reason for its existence.
It is for this reason that Prof. H. H. Wilson has adopted the form of the English drama in translating Sanskrit Natakas. Following the same plan a translation of Shakespeare should have the garb of a Sanskrit drama, though it may not be possible in every case to observe the rules laid down for Sanskrit Natakas.
This work is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Midsummer-night’s Dream. The rendering is free in some places, and literal in other places, without being detrimental to the general tenor of the passages in the original. The ideas are enlarged in some places, but the enlargement is generally in keeping with the dominant feelings. There are deviations in details with view to keep up the characteristics of the Sanskrit drama. Some few passages pregnant with such ideas as could be brought home to our Pandits have been omitted, as also some passages which relate purely to Western habits and customs. I dare say men of greater capacity and learning than myself may produce a much happier and better translation of the same play.
I have selected Midsummer-night’s Dream at the outset, since it is not long and most of the ideas in it are not unfamiliar to the best of our Pandits. This play of Shakespeare has, of all his plays, the most Oriental cast about it, and I have accordingly given Sanskrit names for all the characters in the play.
I sincerely hope that this essay of mine may induce abler scholars to take up the task, and, with far better success, introduce to the literatii of the East some of the most chaste and beautiful thoughts of the West.
R Krishnamacharya,
24th February 1892
Pudukota.
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DOWNLOAD VASANTIKA SWAPNAM EBOOK
very nice book
Hello Bharateea,
is there a download link available? If so, please provide it. I am not able to see it.
Thanks a lot!
Adrian,
Thanks for pointing out this. Download link that I had added yesterday, somehow, got disabled. I have enabled the download link at the bottom of the post. Now it is working. You may download the ebook.
dear sir,
I’m very happy to see the Sanskrit translation of one of the Shakespeare’s plays Midsummer’s Nightdream by R.Krishnamacharya. I think it’s a wonderful innovation and opportunity to grasp and comprehend the western culture through translation.Thanks for posting such invaluable material for the benefit of knowledge-seekers.
Nice book.
Sir,
There are five or six plays of Shakespeare translated into Sanskrit. Of them, Vasanthikaswapna alone is available in the net. Could you help to trace out the other ones?
whaere are other works of shakesphere translated into sanskrit available for download ?/ please help.
I have not come across Sanskrit translation of any other work of Shakespeare on the internet. Out of the five titles listed in the post only the translation of Hamlet by SD Joshi and Deo is available even in print. Rest of the titles seem to be out of print. You can purchase Sanskrit translation of Hamlet from CASS, Pune University. Link to their catalogue and ordering information – http://www.unipune.ac.in/dept/fine_arts/centre_for_advanced_study_in_sanskrit/san_webfiles/publications.htm
BTW, M Venkataramanacharya’s Tales from Shakespeare (Shakespeare Nataka Kathavali) containing prose adaptation of 19 works of Shakespeare in Sanskrit is available at Digital Library of India.
http://dli.serc.iisc.ernet.in/handle/2015/485825
Has any work related to the sanskrit translations of Shakespeare’s been done? i.e the critical analysis of sanskrit translations of Hamlet and Midsummer’s Nightdream.
if not then can any one choose this topic for his Ph.D.
Ravi, I hae seen only the following two theses on Sanskrit Translations of Shakespeare.
1. The Indian Response to Hamlet, A Study of Hamlet in Sanskrit Poetics – Sangeeta Mohanty 2010 (Thesis), Department of Sanskrit, Calcutta University
2. A Study of the Poetry of Kalidasa and Shakespeare WSRT Sakuntala & Hamlet With Dinarka Rajakumara Hemalekha – Sukhamoy Mukherjee 1975 (Thesis), University of Basel, Switzerland
You may please search at http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/ for more theses dealing with Sanskrit translations of Shakepeare dramas.
pls send me this book by pdf
Please inform about the full name of the author R Krishnamacharya
As per worldcat website, his full name is Paravastu Krishnamacharya – http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/78687949
If any sanskrit modern drama , short is available..? Plz sent free link…I am student I cannot bye any book this time …so please sent free link sir..
https://archive.org/search.php?query=natakani