The Little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika): The Construction of Gender and Emotion in Act V, “The Storm”

In Act V of The Little Clay Cart , a Sanskrit play written in India about 1600 years ago, the playwright Shudraka constructs a poetic duet between Vasantasena, the heroine, and a Vita, her male companion, as they walk to the house of her lover Charudatta in a raging storm. Their poetic descriptions of the storm portray the differences in gender and emotion between these two characters. Vasantasena’s verses create an enriched gender-specific persona through the expression of her nuanced feelings for Charudatta and of the sentiment of love in separation. The Vita, on the other hand, describes the storm in manly images of power. The storm scene indeed enhances not only the aesthetic but also the dramatic quality of the play. This is how lyrical poetry in a play can serve a dramatic purpose.