Rama's Last Act (Clay Sanskrit Library)

458 Pages·2007·1.38 MB·English

by  Bhavabhuti

THECLAYSANSKRITLIBRARY
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GENERALEDITOR
RICHARDGOMBRICH
SHELDONPOLLOCK
EDITEDBY
ISABELLEONIANS
SOMADEVAVASUDEVA
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uttararamacaritaQQQ 1 (1, 0)
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FirstEdition
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uttararamacaritaR 2 (2, 0)

RĀMA’S LAST ACT
BY BHAVABHŪTI
TRANSLATEDBY
SHELDON POLLOCK
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
JJC FOUNDATION

uttararamacaritaQQQ 3 (3, 0)

LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Bhavabhūti,thcent.
[Uttararāmacarita.English&Sanskrit]
Rama’slastact/byBhavabhuti;
editedandtranslatedbySheldonPollock.
p.cm.—(TheClaySanskritlibrary)
InEnglishandSanskrit(romanized)onfacingpages;
includestranslationfromSanskrit.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN:----(cloth:alk.paper)
.Rama(Hindudeity)—Drama.
I.Pollock,SheldonI.II.Title.
PK.BU
'.–dc

uttararamacaritaR 4 (4, 0)

Cɴɴ
Sanskritalphabeticalorder 
CSLconventions 
Preface 
ForewordbyGirishKʀɴ 
RAMA’SLASTACT
Introduction 
Prologue 
ActI:AʜPɪɴɪɴɢEʜɪʙɪɪɴ 
PreludetoActII 
ActII:TʜEɴʀɴɪɴPɴʜ·ɪ 
PreludetoActIII 
ActIII:TʜSʜ 
PreludetoActIV 
ActIV:TʜMɪɴɢKʟʏɴJɴ 
ActV:TʜYɴɢMɴ’Vʟʀ 
PreludetoActVI 
ActVI:TʜRɢɴɪɪɴʜYɴɢMɴ 
ActVII:Rɴɪɴ 
ParaphraseofPrakrit(chāyā) 
Notes 
Index 
Sandhigrid 
uttararamacaritaR 5 (5, 0)

uttararamacaritaR 6 (6, 0)
ʟɴɴɪɴ
ɴʀɪʟʜʙɪʟʀʀ
Vowels: aāiīuūr.¯r..l¯.leaioaum. h.
Gutturals: kkhgghn˙
Palatals: cchjjhñ
Retroflex: t.t.hd. d.hn.
Dentals: tthddhn
Labials: pphbbhm
Semivowels: yrlv
Spirants: śs.sh
ɢɪɴʀɪʀɴɴɪɪɴ
a but vowelsothattaih. ispro-
ā,â father nouncedtaihi
i sit k luck
ī,î fee kh blockhead
u put g go
ū,û boo gh bighead
r. vocalicr,Americanpur- n˙ anger
dyorEnglishpretty c chill
¯r. lengthenedr. ch matchhead
.l vocalicl,able j jog
e,ê,ē made,esp.inWelshpro- jh aspiratedj,hedgehog
nunciation ñ canyon
ai bite t. retroflex t, try (with the
o,ô,ōrope,esp.Welshpronun- tip of tongue turned up
ciation;Italiansolo totouchthehardpalate)
au sound t.h sameastheprecedingbut
m. anusvāranasalizesthepre- aspirated
cedingvowel d. retroflex d (with the tip
h. visarga,avoicelessaspira- of tongue turned up to
tion(resemblingtheEn- touchthehardpalate)
glish h), or like Scottish d.h sameastheprecedingbut
loch,oranaspirationwith aspirated
afaintechoingofthelast n. retroflex n (with the tip
elementofthepreceding of tongue turned up to
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uttararamacaritaR 7 (8, 0)
ʀ’ʟ
touchthehardpalate) y yes
t Frenchtout r trilled,resemblingtheIta-
th tenthook lianpronunciationofr
d dinner l linger
dh guildhall v word
n now ś shore
p pill s. retroflexsh(withthetip
ph upheaval ofthetongueturnedup
b before totouchthehardpalate)
bh abhorrent s hiss
m mind h hood
ʟɴɪɴɴɢʟɪʜ
TheacuteaccentonSanskritwordswhentheyoccuroutsideofthe
Sanskrittextitself,marksstress,e.g.Ramáyana.Itisnotpartoftra-
ditionalSanskritorthography,transliterationortranscription,butwe
supplyitheretoguidereadersinthepronunciationoftheseunfamiliar
words.SincenoSanskritwordisaccentedonthelastsyllableitisnot
necessarytoaccentdisyllables,e.g.Rama.
ThesecondCSLinnovationdesignedtoassistthereaderinthepro-
nunciationoflengthyunfamiliarwordsistoinsertanunobtrusivemid-
dledotbetweensemanticwordbreaksincompoundnames(provided
thewordbreakdoesnotfallonavowelresultingfromthefusionof
twovowels),e.g.Maha·bhárata,butRamáyana(notRama·áyana).Our
dotechoesthepunctuatingmiddledot(·)foundintheoldestsurviving
samplesofwrittenIndic,theAshokaninscriptionsofthethirdcentury
ʙ.
ThedeeplayeringofSanskritnarrativehasalsodictatedthatweuse
quotationmarksonlytoannouncethebeginningandendofeverydi-
rectspeech,andnotatthebeginningofeveryparagraph.
ʟɴɪɴɴʀɪ
TheSanskrittextisalsopunctuated,inaccordancewiththepunc-
tuationoftheEnglishtranslation.Inmid-verse,thepunctuationwill
notalterthesandhiorthescansion.Propernamesarecapitalized.Most

uttararamacaritaR 8 (9, 0)
ʟɴɴɪɴ
Sanskrit metres have four “feet” (pāda): where possible we print the
commonślokametreontwolines.Thecapitalizationofversebegin-
ningsmakesiteasyforthereadertorecognizelongermetreswhereitis
necessarytoprintthefourmetricalfeetoverfouroreightlines.Inthe
Sanskrittext,weuseFrenchGuillemets(e.g.«kvasam.cicīrs.uh.?»)instead
ofEnglishquotationmarks(e.g.“Whereareyouoffto?”)toavoidcon-
fusionwiththeapostrophesusedforvowelelisioninsandhi.
Sanskrit presents the learner with a challenge: sandhi (“euphonic
combination”).Sandhimeansthatwhentwowordsarejoinedincon-
nectedspeechorwriting(whichinSanskritreflectsspeech),thelastlet-
ter(orevenletters)ofthefirstwordoftenchanges;comparethewaywe
pronounce“the”in“thebeginning”and“theend.”
InSanskritthefirstletterofthesecondwordmayalsochange;andif
boththelastletterofthefirstwordandthefirstletterofthesecondare
vowels,theymayfuse.ThishasaparallelinEnglish:anasalconsonant
isinsertedbetweentwovowelsthatwouldotherwisecoalesce:“apear”
and“anapple.”Sanskritvowelfusionmayproduceambiguity.Thechart
atthebackofeachbookgivesthefullsandhisystem.
Fortunatelyitisnotnecessarytoknowthesechangesinordertostart
readingSanskrit.Forthat,whatisimportantistoknowtheformofthe
secondwordwithoutsandhi(pre-sandhi),sothatitcanberecognized
orlookedupinadictionary.ThereforeweareprintingSanskritwitha
systemofpunctuationthatwillindicate,unambiguously,theoriginal
formofthesecondword,i.e.,theformwithoutsandhi.Suchsandhi
mostlyconcernsthefusionoftwovowels.
InSanskrit,vowelsmaybeshortorlongandarewrittendifferently
accordingly. We follow the general convention that a vowel with no
markaboveitisshort.Otherbooksmarkalongvoweleitherwitha
barcalledamacron(ā)orwithacircumflex(â).Oursystemusesthe
macron, except that for initial vowels in sandhi we use a circumflex
toindicatethatoriginallythevowelwasshort,ortheshorteroftwo
possibilities(eratherthanai,oratherthanau).
Whenweprintinitialâ,beforesandhithatvowelwasa
îorê, i
ûorô, u
âi, e
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uttararamacaritaR 9 (10, 0)