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Prose in India goes back to hoary past. A large part of Sanskrit literature, original and commentarial, is composed in it. In one period of time it touched such aesthetic heights as to be proclaimed as the touchstone, the nikasa, of the poets. Bana, Subandhu, Dandin and Soddhala with their voluminous Kathas and Akhyayikas of long-winded descriptions and multitudes of extensive compounds with a jingle of alliteration and forceful expression became models for later writers, their only wish being to approximate to them in style. They became the byword for perfection in prose. To be called Abhinavabhattabana was the greatest testimonial to their excellence in prose writing. So great was the impact of these writers that their prose characterized by abundance of compounds set the standard for it: ojah samasabhuystvam etad gadyasya jivitam. This type of prose continued to exercise its sway down the centuries till the onset of the last one when under the impact of western education change in its character was discernible. There came a new awakening with the contact with western literature even in the tradition-bound Pandit who broke loose of the traditional Kathas and Akhyayikas with their well-defined parameters. The most perceptible change came about in fiction. Katha and Akhyayika gave way to novel, given the Sanskrit name 'Navalika' by modern Sanskritists on the basis of writing called, interstingly enough, Kadambari in many of the regional languages, showing the hold the old work exercises on Indian psyche.

One of the most famous of the early Sanskrit novels was the Sivarajavijaya of Ambikadatta Vyasa which had appeared serially in the Samskrtacandrika of Calcutta. The work gained unusual popularity and was a textbook in many institutions which probably was due to its style and the theme. In style it was an admixture of the ornate and the simple and in theme it dealt with a hero of not long past who had the strength and the quickwittedness in challenging the mighty Moghul ruler Aurangzeb something that bouys up the spirit of the people. One little known fact is that it is based on the work called the Maharastrajivanaprabhata of the Bengali novelist Ramesh Chandra Dutt. The Hindi writer Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi had written on 5 th March, 1990 to Appashastri Rashiwadekar, the editor of the Samskrtacandrika that it was the Sanskrit rendering of Dutt's work in Bengali. Whatever be the case, the fact remains that Bengal did exercise considerable infuence on Sanskrit novel in the last part of the 19 th and the first part of the 20 th centuries. The evidence for this is furnished by the large number of translations of Bengali novels in Sanskrit that made their appearance at that time. Interestingly, it is not only the Bengali Sanskritists who attempted this, even some of the South Indians did so. Sailatatacharya translated Bankim Chandra Chatterji's Ksetraramani into Sanskrit. A Bengali novel Saivalini was adapted to Sanskrit by A. Rajagopala Chakravati. Among the Sanskrit translations of Bengali novels by Bengali Sanskritists could be mentioned the Sanskrit renderings by Renu Devi of Bankim Chandra Chatterji's novels Radha, 1922; Durgesanandini 1923; Rajani, 1928 and Radha Rani, 1930. In 1918 Hari Charan Bhattacharya had translated the Kapalakundala. With exposure to these novels the Sanskrit writers got the motivation to break out of the translation syndrome and to try their hand at original composition. That was the second half of the 19 th century. Coming to the 20 th century the Sanskrit novel found its earliest representation in the works of Mudumba Srinivasacharya who wrote in addition to two of his Tamil-based Sanskrit novels the Manimekhala and the Pravalavalli the original

Prose 21 novel Kairavini in Sanskrit. Another South Indian Sanskrit novelist Paravastu R. K. Krishnamacharya wrote two novels Vararuci and Candragupta based on the two famous characters after whom they are named. These novels had appeared serially in the Sanskrit magazine Sahrdaya between the years 1908 and 1909. The Gujarati writer Shankar Lal Maheshwar was the more prolific among the early Sanskrit novelists. He had published four Sanskrit novels: the Anasuyabhyudaya, the Bhagavatibhagyodaya, the Candraprabhacarita and the Mahesvarapranapriya. That was the time when the epics and the Puranas were still holding their sway over the creative mind of the Sanskritist who drew on them for his themes. A novelist of the time Lakshaman Suri based all of his three novels on the epics. Two of these, the Ramayanasangraha and the Mahabharatasangraha reproduce the story of the Ramayana and Mahabharata in the form of a novel while the third one, the Bhismavijaya concerns itself with the incidents connected with the character of Bhisma in the Mahabharata. As time passed, Sanskritists drew on their own imagination for themes which would not unoften concern the contemporary social matrix. Among the earliest of such writers was Kapishthala Krishnamacharya who composed his Mandaravati in the typical Bana-like high-flown prose style. The one to follow him was Medhavratacharya with his Kumudinicandra which has run into more than one edition and in style stands midway between the ornate and the simple earning thus for itself great popularity which is reinforced by its absorbingly interesting theme. Serially published in the magazine Sahrdaya were the social novels like the Pativrata, the Panigrahana and the Susila of R. Krishnamacharya which depict the condition of women in modern India. In the same strain are the Candramauli of Rajamma, the Sulocana of Kuppuswami, the Duhkhini Bala of Bhatta Rama Nath Shastri, the Viyogini Bala of Bhatta Balabhadra Sharma and the Subhadra of Balakunnan Nambudiri. Among other novels with original themes mention may be made of the Vanamala of Valiya Tamburan, Kusumakalika of Parameshwar

Jha, the Jayantika of Jaggu Vakulabhushana and the Candraprabha of Vidhu Sekhar Bhatataharya. Abject proverty is the theme of Narayan Shastri Khiste's novels Daridranam Hrdayam and the Divyadrsti. Though going back to Bengali source occasionally even now as in the case of the Adarsaramani of Bhatta Mathura Nath Shastri which is based on the Bengali novel Pranaraksa that had appeared serially in the Bengali monthly Pravasi, the modern Sanskrit novel has charted an independent course for itself meandering on in different lanes and bylanes. It has got matured enough to stand on its own. No longer is it weighed down with the objective of a proximating a model like the Kadambari in style. It is no longer a jumble of unending chain of compounds or long-winded descriptions. It is embellished with dialogues, crisp and straight as also palpable suspense. There are works in it like the Suryaprabha kim va Vaibhavapisacah¹ which describe what goes on in the rich mansions and the poor shanties of the exploding city of Calcutta or the works like the Candramahipati² both these are of Shrinivasa Shastri-which demonstrate as to how society can be transformed if those in power and position were to develop cultured and sensitive mentality and ungrudgingly share their wealth with their fellow beings which according to its author is the Sarvabhyudaya or works like the Gopalabandhu³ which is a penetrating study of the psychology of a rustic village boy who longs for having a brother and who comes to believe in the words of his mother who just to console him tells him that he has one in Gopala, she meaning the Lord and the poor boy taking him to be a man of that name and, coming across one, bestowing all his love and affection on him; the story finally coming to an end with the disclosure of the fact that it was Lord Gopala who had assumed the form of an ordinary human being just to uphold the faith of the innocent boy. It is very difficult to give an idea of the contents, however briefly, of each and every novel in Sanskrit of the 20 th century within the parameters of a research paper. With the constraints of time and space it would be better just to recount the names of

Prose 23 the novels together with the names of their author/s which the writer of these lines happens to know. There is a sizeable number of Sanskrit novels at present which include the Lavanyamayi of Appasastri Rashiwadekar, Kusumalaksmi of A. R. Ratnaparakhi, Dva Suparna of Ramji Upadhyaya, the Udayanacarita," the Tapovanavasini and the Vidhipaurusa⁹ of Krishna Kumar, the Sitalatrsna¹o, the Pratipad, the Rtam 12, the Anjali¹³, the Pataka14, the Madhuyana 15, the Sikha 16 and the Sasirekha¹ of Keshab Chandra Dash, the Viyogavallari 18 and the Brhatsaptapadi 19 of Durga Datt Shastri, the Sindhukanya 20 of Shrinath Hasurkar, the Avinasi²¹ of Bisvanarayan Shastri and the Sima 22 of Ram Karan Sharma-the last three the winners of the Sahitya Akademi Award. The latest additions to the 20 th century Sanskrit novel literature are the Kalaya Tasmai Namah23 of Ogeti Parikshit Sarma, the Padmini 24 of Mohanlal Sharma Pandey, the Vyamoha, 25 the Sanskrit rendering of the Hindi novel of the same title by the author Shyam Vimal himself. Even with all this activity in novel, there still remain certain types of it which have not attracted the attention of the Sanskritists. There is no detective novel in Sanskrit or what goes by the name of Tilasmi in Urdu. Short story has been with India in the form of legend, tale or fable. It is a long way off from that to modern short story in style and structure. To put the focus on its new incarnation the modern Sanskritists have given a new name to it, the Kathanika which merely is the Sanskritization of the Hindi name Kahani. Every Sanskrit magazine carries in its issue some short story or the other which in form and content-except of course the medium, is very akin to any short story in any language. There are hundreds of these stories in Sanskrit magazines which have published their special short story numbers in many cases. If a compilation of these were to be attempted, it may well run into several volumes. In addition to individual stories, there have appeared of late collections of them, some of the more noteworthy of them being the Katharatnakara 26 in two volumes by Bak Kanbe, the Kisorakathayali 27 and the Katharasananda 28 of Ram Kishore

Mishra, the Iksugandha 29 of Abhiraja Rajendra Mishra, the Kathanakavalli 30 of Kala Nath Sastri, the Abhinavasamskrtakatha³ of Narayan Shastri Kankar, the Kathakaumudi³2 Vol. I and the Svetadurva 33 of Prabhu Nath Dwivedi, the Disa Vidisa 34 and the Ekada³5 of Keshab Chandra Dash, the Kathavallari 36 of S. B. Warnekar, the Anaghratam Puspam³7 of Prashasya Mitra Shastri, Niravasvanah38 of Banamali Biswal, the Samskrtakathavithika³9 edited by Gangadhar Bhatt and Pyare Mohan Sharma and the Kathakalpah40 of Shiv Sagar Tripathi. There is a collection in Sanskrit translation by H. V. Nagarajan of five of Munshi Prem Chand's stories under the title Vipancika.41 Of the collections of foreign short stories given the Sanskrit form mention may be made of the Afrikakatha 42 of M.R. Bhat, the Tolstoykathasaptaka 43 of Bhagirath Prasad Tripathi Vagish Shastri besides the earliest of such attempts the Isabnitikathah, the Sanskrit rendering of Aesop's Fables by Balakrishna Godbole. Many years back Charu Deva Shastri, the father of the writer of these lines had translated into Sanskrit a German short story under the title Hasavimukhi Rajadarika and a Russian story under the title Andapramanakam Dhanyam both of which had appeared in the Visvasamskrtam of Hoshiarpur. The independence movement in India had led to the appearance on the Indian horizon of leaders whose saga of sacrifice and suffering inspired a number of Sanskrit writers to compose works on their life and work. The father of the writer of these lines Charu Deva Shastri was the first one in the present century to publish the biography of Mahatma Gandhi in Sanskrit prose under the title Srigandhicartia.45 Composed in impeccable style, it deals with the life story of the Mahatma upto the Dandi March. Another work on the same leader though much shorter, just twenty-five pages in print, is the Mahatmacarita % of Pandharinath Sharma Pathak which presents the briefest account ever of the life history of the leader in its entirety carrying it upto his assassination. G. B. Palsule, the great admirer of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly called Veer Savarkar, has composed three

Prose 25 works on him in three different literary forms, the Vinayakaviragatha 47 in prose, the Dhanyo 'ham Dhanyo 'ham 48, a play and the Vainayaka⁹ a Mahakavya of which the first one, the one in prose, gives in brief the account of the most eventful life of the doughty freedom fighter and the hero of the Hindu nationalist movement. Vivekananda being another favourite of Palsule, he has published his biography in prose under the title Vivekanandacarita.50 Baladhanvi Jaggu Venkatacharya presents the life-sketches of the Alvars in his Divyasuricaritani.51 Important and remarkable incidents from the life of thirty-one characters, old and new, get a collective treatment under the title Carucaritacarya 52 from Ramesh Chandra Shukla who has a fascination for the old type of high-flown style. Though the far more colourful personality of Swami Vivekananda did attract far more notice of Sanskritists who composed works on him in all literary forms, it was inconceivable that his spiritual Master Ramakrishna Paramahamsa should have suffered neglect. There is a work on him in prose by P. Panchapagesa Sastri who published it as early as 1940.53 In keeping with the trend of having history books in Sanskrit, a majority of which are in verse, there appeared in the recent past some works in prose which deal with certain specific regions like the Kasmiretihasa 54 of Hanumat Prasad Shastri and Pracinakamarupaparicaya 55 of Asoke Chatterji Sastri on Kashmir and old Assam respectively. One of the latest works in the field of biographical literature in Sanskrit prose is the Appasastricarita 56 by Vasudeva Sastri Audumbarkar which describes in detail the life history of one of the most remarkable of the Sanskritists of Maharashtra who had the proud privilege of being the editor of two Sanskrit magazines the Samskrtacandrika and the Sunrtavadini and translating into Sanskrit the well-known tale "The Aladin and the Wonderful Lamp" as also publishing essays on Astronomy and Mathematics. A few good travelogues have also come up recently in Sanskrit prose. They are the Yatravilasas of Naval Kishore Kankar which gives a description of his journey from Jaipur to

Gangotri through Hardwar, Rishikesh and Uttarakashi, the Kasmiraviharana 58 of Chuni Lal Sudan which describes his travels through Kashmir, the Apascimah Pascime 59 of Vishwasa which gives on account of his travels through America and the Pascatyasamskrtam 60 of Digambara Mahapatra which gives a record of his travels in Holland and Russia. Besides the above, there are a few works in modern Sanskrit prose which deal with miscellaneous subjects like the Svasthavrtta 61 of Vedananda Vedavagisha which deal with health and longevity, the Vipanmitram Patram 62 of Shankaralal Maheshwar which in the form of an imaginary long letter describes the qualities and the role of the Vaidehivivaha 63 of K.S. Krishnamurti Sastri, a long narrative on the Ramayanic episode of the marriage of Sita, the Sahityamanjari 64 a compilation of literary essays by Batuk Nath Shastri Khiste and the Atithidevo bhava, 65 a treatise on guests and hospitality by M.P. Degvekar. The Sanskrit prose in modern Sanskrit works, in spite of the hold of tradition on it in some cases, is unmistakably showing signs of qualitative change. With a few exceptions it is more easy and relaxed now. With all the inverted commas, single and double, dashes and dots it has started wearing a new look. The dialogues appear in it in lines, one succeeding the other without the names of the speakers after their initial appearance once. The movement of the narrative is more quick and direct. The vocabulary has a large dose of new coinages and words of foreign origin or their loan translations. The story, though getting smaller, is still far short of what goes by the name of mini story in western literature. By the very spirit of the Sanskrit literature the crime thrillers have dared not make their appearance in it. It is time a thorough review of the modern Sanskrit prose literature is taken in hand, a task possible of accomplishment by a band of devoted scholars. That alone will give a complete idea of it which even by a conservative estimate may run into a couple of thousands of pages in print. The modern Sanskrit prose has shown great promise to forge ahead . It is to be hoped that the coming century will add more

Prose 27 variety to it and strengthen it with new structures and innovations. For that it has sound foundations already, a galaxy of eminent writers having laid it. It has had a glorious past and there is no reason as to why it should not have a glorious future. REFERENCES 1. Published by the author, Calutta, Samvat 2025. 2. ibid. Samvat 1991. 3. Eastern Book Linkers, Delhi, 1988. 4. Published by B. K. Shastri, Banaras, 1947. 5. Published by the author, Delhi, 1961. 6. Devabharati Prakashan, Allahabad, Samvat 2020 (A. D. 1962). 7. Pracya Vidya Akademi, Devaprayag, 1981. 8. Mayank Prakashan, Kankhal (Hardwar), 1994. 9. ibid. 1997. 10. Lokabhasha Prachar Samiti, Puri, 1983. 11. ibid. 1984. 12. Devavani Parishad, New Delhi, 1988. 13. Lokabhasha Prachar Samiti, Puri, 1990. 14. ibid. 1990. 15. ibid. 16. ibid. 1994. 17. ibid. 18. Published by the author, Naleti, Disstt. Kangra, 1987. 19. ibid. 1991. 20. Published by Shrinath Shripad Hasurkar, Neemuch, 1982. 21. Sarvabhauma Sanskrit Prachar Sansthan, Varanasi, 1986. 22. Nag Publishers, Delhi, 1987. 23. Published by the author, Pune, 1999. 24. Pandeya Prakashan, Jaipur, 1999. 25. Surya Prakashan, Delhi, 1991. 26. National Publishing House, Delhi, 1970. 27. Published by the author, Khekra (Meerut), 1987. 28. ibid., 1999. 29. Vaijayanta Prakashan, Allahabad, 1986. 30. Rajasthan Sanskrit Akademi, Jaipur, 1987. 31. Published by the author, Jaipur, 1987. 32. Published by the author, Varanasi, 1988.

. Varanaseya Sanskrit Sansthan, Vaanasi, 1997. 34. Lakabhasha Prachar Samiti, Puri, 1988. 35. ibid., 1991, 36. Sanskrit Bhasha Pracharini Sabha, Nagpur, 1993 37. Swami Satya Prakash Pratishthan, Rae Bareilly, 1994 38. Padmaja Prakashan, Allahabad, 1998. 39. Rajasthan Sanskrit Akademi, Jaipur, 1999. 40. Matrsarana, Jaipur, 2 nd Edn. 2002. 41. Sudharma Prakashan, Mysore, 1976. 42. Published from time to time in the Amrtavani, Bangalore. 43. Chowkhamba Vidya Bhawan, Varanasi, 1970. 44. Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay, 1916. 45. Published by the author, Lahore, Samvat 1987. Reprinted by Devavani Parishad, New Delhi, 1989. 46. Sharada Gaurava Granthamala, Poona, 1989. 47. Sharada Gaurava Granthamala, Poona, 1966. 48. ibid., 1972. 49. ibid., 1998. 50. Sharada Gaurava Granthamala, Vol. 25, Poona. Year of publication not given. 51. Published by Baladhvani Sudarshanachar, Mysore, 1969. 52. Distributors: Sudha Kamal Granthalaya, Muzaffarnagar, year not given. 53. Published: Cochin, 1940. See V. Raghavan's Modern Sanskrit Writings, Adyar 1956. 54. Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, New Delhi, Samvat 2024. 55. Parimal Publications, Delhi, 1991. 56. Sharada Gaurava Granthamala No. 30, Pune 1973. 57. Distributors Ramesh Book Depot, Jaipur, 1973. 58. Sudan Prakashan, Saharanpur, 1976. 59. Samskrta Bharati, Delhi 2000. 60. Published by the author, Raurkela, 2003. 61. Published by the author, 1986. 62. Published by the author, Moni. 63. Published by the author, Madras, 1959. 64. Sharada Prakashan Sansthan, Varanasi, 1977. 65. Heramba Prakashan, Pune, 1999.