The Dark Age Ridiculed, by Nila.kantha, Beguiling Artistry, by Kshemendra, The Hundred Allegories, by Bhallata

Written over a period of nearly a thousand years, these works show three very different approaches to satire. Nila.kantha gets straight to the point: swindlers prey on stupidity.

The artistry that beguiles Kshemendra is as varied as human nature and just as fallible. We are off to a gentle start Sanctimoniousreally no more than a warm-up among vices but soon graduate to Greed and Lust. From there it's downhill all the way, as unfaithfulness...

This play was one of the first examples of Indian literature to be seen in Europe; it attracted considerable attention (among others, from Goethe), and indeed pained surprise that such a sophisticated art-form could have developed without the rest of the world noticing. A good deal of that surprise will be revived by the hitherto untranslated Kashmirian recension.

Kali.dasa's The Recognition of Shakuntala is a play that scarcely needs introduction. Among the first works of Sanskrit literature translated into European languages, its skilful plot of thwarted love and eventual...