Two Plays of Ancient India: Shakuntala and The Little Clay Cart

Two masterpieces of ancient Indian dramatic literature will be studied intensely, one a romance and the other a (tragi)comedy, with analyses of the culture or milieu in which they had their origin. Though we will consult other sources of Indian culture, the main emphasis in the course will be on “extracting” cultural information from the plays themselves. Thematically speaking, the students will see how both plays explore love in all its aspects, from the purely carnal to almost spiritual, from conjugal love to love among friends, and bonds between parents and children. The two plays also complement each other very well in terms of the psychological ambiance, the social classes represented by the characters, the intensity of the purely poetical quality, the kind of humor employed, and the nature of the plot.