Bibliography of the Sanskrit Drama/Preface
PREFACE
It has long been desirable that students of Sanskrit literature should have as complete a catalogue as possible of all Hindu authors and their writings, in order that they might be able to tell at a glance how many manuscripts of each work are known, how many editions and translations have been made, and what has been written concerning them. It is the purpose of the present volume to fill this need for the Sanskrit drama. The material here presented has been collected for several years, but unforeseen circumstances have delayed the publication long beyond the time originally proposed, although some portions of the work have already appeared in print.[1]
In a book of this character it is practically impossible to secure absolute completeness, and this is especially true of lists of manuscripts, since new catalogues of collections both in India and in Europe are constantly being published.[2] Many titles of earlier editions and of the older ancillary literature, moreover, were accessible to me only in catalogues of various descriptions, frequently compiled with scant regard to bibliographical accuracy and by no means complete. The conditions under which I labored precluded the possibility of access to all the actual manuscripts and editions, and I was therefore obliged to cite a large number of entries at second or even at third hand. Absolute fidelity to the original titles has consequently been denied me, and—a far more serious matter—it has only too often proved impossible for me to secure the pagination and other details of very practical import for Sanskritists. Even when the volumes were at hand, however, I did not think it necessary to reproduce all the padding with which native scholars adorn their title-pages, so that a long entry has frequently been abridged in the following pages to the simple phrase 'edited with notes by . . .'
The arrangement of names and titles follows the order of the English alphabet, and no separate positions have been assigned to the vowels and consonants distinguished by diacritical marks. Heavy-faced type is used for the names of playwrights, ordinary Roman type for the names of plays. Plays are inserted under the author's name, when it is known, and cross-references are given under the titles of his various works. Anonymous plays are listed under the names by which they are known. Some titles, although identical with those of works by known authors, have had to be recorded in like manner as anonymous, merely because the necessary data for a determination of their authorship were not available. For the same reason no exact statement as to the number of extant dramas can be made at the present time.
Such honorific designations as 'Śrī,' 'Kavi,' 'Bhaṭṭa,' 'Paṇḍita,' and 'Rāja' have usually been omitted, unless they form a part of the name as commonly known or are necessary to avoid confusion with some other playwright of the same appellative. Editions and translations are arranged as far as possible in chronological order, critical works are classified alphabetically by authors. Volumes containing both text and translation are listed under text editions, and critical essays and notes are not separately recorded under critical works when included in editions of the text or in translations. Criticism relating entirely to a single author or play is catalogued under that author or play, but general books and papers are separately listed before the main body of the bibliography. A reference such as 'Amṛtodaya, A 1. p. 29' indicates that Aufrecht in his Catalogus Catalogorum has listed on that page one manuscript of a play called Amṛtodaya. When more than one manuscript is referred to, the number is given. In the case of commentaries the number of manuscripts is also stated. Thus 'Com. 5, by Jagaddhara 2' indicates that there are five manuscripts of unspecified or anonymous commentaries and two manuscripts of a commentary by Jagaddhara. In this way each entry shows the number of extant manuscripts of the work and of the various commentaries on it, if such exist. Some entries from Part 7 of the India Office Catalogue, however, duplicate those already given by Aufrecht from the Catalogue of the Mackenzie Collection; these were added because the early catalogue of Wilson gives no adequate description of the manuscripts, and because it seemed desirable to include all material not given by Aufrecht. The same is true of the Catalogue of Two Collections in the India Office Library, by Tawney and Thomas, which includes manuscripts recorded by Aufrecht from an old list by Sir William Jones. An introductory sketch of the Sanskrit drama has been incorporated in the volume, in order that students may have a convenient epitome of the whole subject readily accessible to them.
For the manuscripts listed in this bibliography I have relied in the main on the marvelously accurate and learned Catalogus Catalogorum of Aufrecht, although I have supplemented it by such catalogues as have appeared subsequently. For many titles of editions of plays and records of literature on the drama of India I am indebted to the bibliographies of Gildemeister and Zenker and to the Catalogue of Sanskrit books in the British Museum, although my richest source has naturally been the Orientalische Bibliographic. Antiquarian catalogues, especially those of Harrassowitz (Leipzig) and Luzac (London), have also been consulted with advantage.
My thanks are due to the librarians of the Royal Libraries of Copenhagen and Stockholm for information in regard to certain publications, while through the kindness of Professor Serge Oldenburg of St. Petersburg I had access to the large collections of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Oriental Seminar of the University of St. Petersburg, and certain queries were answered for me by Professor Carl Cappeller of Jena. My friend and former fellow-student, Dr. Louis H. Gray, placed his library at my disposal and gave me several additions and suggestions, while both he and Mrs. Gray most generously aided in the correction of the proofs. The main part of this toilsome revision, however, which my absence from America compelled me to forego, has been most kindly undertaken for me by Mr. George C. O. Haas, Fellow in Indo-Iranian in Columbia University, who has also added the new material from Hultzsch's Reports and the India Office Catalogue, and made many corrections and improvements. To my friend and teacher, Professor A. V. Williams Jackson, who, from the inception of the book to its completion, has grudged neither time nor pains to aid me, my deepest gratitude is due for his inspiration and assistance.
United States Legation,
Bangkok, Siam,
November 1, 1905.
- ↑ In JAOS. 22 (1901), pp. 237–248; 23 (1902), pp. 93–103; 25 (1904), pp. 189–196; Verhandlungen des 13. internationalen Orientalisten-Kongresses (1902), Leiden, 1904, pp. 33–37.
- ↑ In fact, Hz. 3 and IO. 7 were received while the volume was passing through the press, and the references to these were added in the proofs by Mr. Haas.