Mṛcchakatika (The Little Clay Cart) (Sanskrit: मृच्छकटिकम्), also spelled Mrcchakatika, Mricchakatika, or Mrichchhakatika, is the name of a ten act Sanskrit play written by Śhudraka (Sanskrit: शूद्रक) in the 2nd century BC. It is set in Pataliputra (modern-day Patna).

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Media 4 Additional reading 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links

[edit] Plot

Rife with romance, sex, court intrigue and comedy, the plot of the play has numerous twists and turns. The main story is about a young man named Charudatta (Sanskrit: चारुदत्त), and his love for Vasantasena (Sanskrit: वसन्तसेना), a rich courtesan or nagarvadhu. The love affair is complicated by a royal courtier, who is also attracted to Vasantasena. The plot is further complicated by thieves and mistaken identities, thus making it a hilarious and entertaining play.

[edit] Characters

• Charudatta
• Vasantsena
• Cheta-Kumbhilika
• Vidhushaka

[edit] Media

The play was translated into English, notably by Arthur W. Ryder in 1905 as The Little Clay Cart. (It had previously been translated as The Toy Cart by Horace Hayman Wilson in 1826.) Ryder's version was enacted at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley in 1907,^[1] and in New York in 1924 at the Neighborhood Playhouse,^[2] which was then an off-Broadway theatre, at the Theater de Lys in 1953,^[3] and at the Potboiler Art Theater in Los Angeles in 1926, when it featured actors such as James A. Marcus, Symona Boniface and Gale Gordon.^[4]

• Utsav, a 1984 Hindi Bollywood film by Girish Karnad was based on an adaptation of this play.
• The Indian play depicted in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, "Spectacular Spectacular", may have been based on The Little Clay Cart.

[edit] Additional reading

• Barrucand, Victor. Le Chariot De Terre Cuit, H. Piazza, Paris, 1921
• Parab, Kashinath Pandurang. Mrichchhakatika, commentary by Prithvidhara, Bombay: Nirlaya-Sagar Press. 1900

[edit] See also

• Śudraka
• Sanskrit drama
• Sanskrit literature

[edit] Notes

1. ^ http://illuminations.berkeley.edu/archives/2005/history.php?volume=9
2. ^ "PROF. A. W. RYDER, OF SANSKRIT FAME", The New York Times, March 22, 1938, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60B1EFD3C5C1B7A93C0AB1788D85F4C8385F9 
3. ^ Milton Bracker (June 7, 1953), "Story of a Determined Lady", The New York Times: X3, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00713FD3C5A117A93C5A9178DD85F478585F9 
4. ^ Edwin Schallert (December 9, 1926), "'Clay-Cart' Hero Wins: 'Twas Ever Thus—Even in the Sanskrit", The Los Angeles Times: A9, http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/362657072.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=CITE:AI 

[edit] External links

• The Little Clay Cart by Shudraka, translated by Arthur William Ryder (1905).
• Śūdraka; Horace Hayman Wilson (transl.) (1826), The Mrichchakati; Or, The Toy Cart: A Drama, V. Holcroft, Asiatic Press, http://books.google.com/books?id=ZS4pAAAAYAAJ