Sudraka

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Sudraka was an Indian king and playwright.[1] Three Sanskrit plays are ascribed to him - Mricchakatika (The Little Clay Cart), Vinavasavadatta, and a bhana (short one-act monologue), Padmaprabhritaka.[1][2] Sudraka has been identified as the pen name of an Abhira king from the third century CE, either Indranigupta,[3] or Shivadatta, father of Ishwarsena.[4] According to Sten Konow's surmise Sudraka belonged to the 3rd century A.D. He established his kingdom in Pratisthana.[5]

Sudraka was the first Abhira king of the Andhras (Satavahanas). This monarch, commonly known to history as '''Simuka''', probably established his independence soon after the death of the great Buddhist emperor Ashoka in 232 B.C.[6]

Notes[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Banerjee, Biswanath (1999). Shudraka. Makers of Indian Literature. New Delh, India: Sahitya Academy. p. 4. ISBN 81-260-0697-8.
  2. Bhattacharji, Sukumari History of Classical Sanskrit Literature, Sangam Books, London, 1993, ISBN 0-86311-242-0, p.93
  3. Warder, Anthony Kennedy (1990). "Chapter XX: Drama in the +3 ; Śūdraka; Contemporary Lyric Poetry". Indian Kāvya Literature, Volume 3 (second ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 3. ISBN 81-208-0448-1.
  4. Banerjee 1999, p. 9 citing Konow, Sten (1920). Das Indische Drama (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 57.
  5. Konow, Sten (1969). Das Indische Drama. General Printers & Publishers.
  6. Illinois Studies in Language and Literature. University of Illinois under the auspices of the Graduate School. 1934. p. 13.

References[change | change source]

  • Ryder, Arthur William. Translator. The Little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika): A Hindu Drama attributed to King Shudraka, Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 1905.

Other websites[change | change source]