Essay name: Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures (seven volumes)
Author:
Satya Vrat Shastri
Affiliation: Karnatak University / Department of Sanskrit
The series called "Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures" represents a comprehensive seven-volume compendium of Dr. Satya Vrat Shastri's research on Sanskrit and Indology. They feature a wide range of studies across major disciplines in these fields, showcasing Shastri's pioneering work. They include detailed analyses like the linguistic appraisal of Yogavasishtha, etymological studies in the Mahabharata and the Devibhagavata-purana, as well as explorations of human values as defined in ancient texts.
Volume 4 - Modern Sanskrit Literature
21 (of 222)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S3 Foundation USA.
20
Modern Sanskrit Literature
One of the most famous of the early Sanskrit novels was the
Sivarajavijaya of Ambikadatta Vyasa which had appeared serially
in the Samsk峁泃acandrik膩 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
Mah膩r膩峁ａ弓raj墨vanaprabh膩ta of the Bengali novelist Ramesh
Chandra Dutt. The Hindi writer Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi had
written on 5th March, 1990 to Appashastri Rashiwadekar, the
editor of the Samsk峁泃acandrik膩 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 19th and the first part of the 20th 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
K峁trarama峁嚹� into Sanskrit. A Bengali novel Saivalin墨 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 R膩dh膩, 1922; Durge艣anandin墨
1923; Rajani, 1928 and R膩dh膩 R膩峁嚹�, 1930. In 1918 Hari Charan
Bhattacharya had translated the Kap膩laku峁囜笉al膩.
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 19th century. Coming to the 20th 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
CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S3 Foundation USA
