It is astounding that the last half of the Twentieth century is witnessing production of a large number of Sanskrit works, -Epics and Lyrics, Novels and Dramas, some even creating new genres. No earlier century did witness creation of such a large number of works. As a matter of fact, more works are being produced now than they had been produced in the hay-days of Sanskrit literature. It is equally surprising that modern dramatists are selecting themes from contemporary social life and are trying to point-out to the weaknesses of the society with the ultimate objective of changing the social order. This means that the technicalities of Sanskrit Dramaturgy are being over-looked and new techniques are being introduced for the purpose of enchanting the modern mind. Sometimes old stories contained in the classics are being reinterpreted in consonance with the existing social and economic, political and administrative order, as a result of which new messages are being extracted from dramas composed on old themes. A few dramatists are concentrating their energy in translating works of great literary artists or are expending their energy in making dramatic versions of the stories composed by them. In selecting works to be translated significant contributions of writers in every language are being selected, and this selection from a large circle is giving Sanskrit a national and even international character.
Broadly speaking, Sanskrit dramas produced during the last three decades of the twentieth century are capable of being classified into five types: (i) Dramas drawing their themes from ancient Classics, but reinterpreting them in consonance with present social and political scene of the country; (ii) Dramas drawing their themes from social and political scenario and casting sarcastic flings at the weaknesses of the society with the ultimate objective of giving a face-lift to it; (iii) Dramas created on old models, but focussing greater attention on the degeneration of moral and ethical, social and spiritual values with the purpose of effecting resurrection of values and rejuvenation of spirit; (iv) Dramas translated from dramas written in other languages keeping the message of the original intact or modifying it slightly in consonance with the spirit of the nation; (v) Dramas depicting characters of freedom-fighters who laid down their lives in the struggle for Indian Independence and saints, who restated the eternal message of the nation and helped in the march of man towards fulfilment.
It is characteristic of all modern writers to introduce new techniques by drawing them from dramas written in other languages and to use simple Sanskrit so that the fear relating to Sanskrit disappears from the minds of the public. As a result of all these, modern works have become more presentable than ancient ones. As a matter of fact, the presentation of modern plays on board is drawing more appreciation from the audience than earlier ones, that are difficult to penetrate. This employment of simple Sanskrit and innovation of new techniques, more suited to the modern mind are two definite contribution of modern Sanskrit plays.
Though much has been stated about ancient plays, as yet no serious attempt has been made to penetrate deep into modern Sanskrit plays and bring out their salient features, including themes and techniques. Not only that; no serious attempt has yet been made to make a survey of the modern Sanskrit plays produced in the country and to prepare a report on these. It is refreshing to note that in her work 'Modern Sanskrit plays: A Sociological Introspection' Dr. Rita Chattopadhyay has given a survey of more than 200 plays produced in the last three decades of the Twentieth century and has given exhaustive analysis of the innovation made by each dramatist in the matters of handling of the plot, characterisation and induction of new technique of presentation.
The present work has touched upon more than two hundred and fifty plays produced, in different provinces of this vast peninsula, exclusively in in the period from 1970 A.D. to 1998 A.D.
Actually, the foundation of this vast work was laid by the present authoress thirteen years back since when she had been making a sincere and extensive research work on 20th century Sanskrit Literature. However, accomplishment came in three phases. First of all, the book titled as "Modern Sanskrit Dramas of Bengal (20th Century A.D)" was published in 1992 A.D; secondly the the monograph titled as "Language in the 20th century Sanskrit Literature: A socio- linguistic perspective of Tradition and Innovation" was completed during the tenure as a "Fellow' (1997 A.D-1998 A.D) under CIIL (Central Institute of Indian Languages; Ministry of HRD, Dept of Education, Govt. of India) Mysore, Karnataka and in the third phase the present research work titled as "Modern Sanskrit Plays (1970 A.D-1998 A.D): A Sociological Introspection") is being published in 1999.
Thus, the work titled "Modern Sanskrit Plays (1970 A.D 1998 A.D): A Sociological Introspection" represents substantially the extensive post-doctoral research work of the present authoress for which she had to devote some twelve/thirteen years of hard and untiring labour.
More than seven hundred (700) plays all produced in the post-Independence period have been traced. Out of which more than three hundred (300) plays all produced in the last three decades have been culled personally.
In the beginning it was planned to introduce the plays all produced in the post-Independence period; but in that case the number of plays would have gone beyond a reasonable limit.
As such to make the present work compact and concise and to keep it within a sizable volume, the authoress has been compelled to restrict the limit within the works produced in the last three decades, in the seventies, the eighties and in the nineties.
As a result, a good many number of outstanding plays from different categories have been kept aside outside the purview of her discussion for which she begs to be apologized by the esteemed academicians.
The plays are classified into six (6) categories and six (6) charts have been furnished in chapter I, each of them (Charts) representing a separate category. Thus Chart-I represents Category 1, Chart-II represents Category 2 and likewise. In the charts the plays are mentioned along with the titles the names of the playwrights; the places to which they (the playwrights) originally belong; the years and place of publication and with brief introductory remarks regarding the theme.
Every piece of art is necessarily a form of social consciousness. An artist is but a social being and a product of his/her social environment which speaks through his/her creation. Be it the case of carvings of the caves or the more advanced form of artistic expression viz. poetry, drama, dance or so, each component and motive thereof come out of social urge. Portrait of Draupadi in the Mahabharata, for instance, reflects a society where the woman folk could hardly resist onslaughts of male chauvinism. Likewise, "The Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare reveals an atmostphere of social hatred and animosity where the Jews were in no way on the same footing as the Christians. And in portraits of individual characters in social enviroment in novels by Bankim Chandra, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Sarat Chandra, Tarashankar, Manik Bandyopadhyay, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Prem Chand, Mulkraj Anand and others too, we come to realise the inner truths of human existence in 19th/20th century Indian context. It is not without reason that V.I.Lenin characterised Leo Tolstoy's literature as the mirror of Russian revolution.
Verily, changes in social conditions usually lead to changes in art in respect of both content and form. The world scenario of Art of 20th century as it reflects the socio-economic tensions resulting in two devastating world wars and rise of new independent nations over the ashes of colonial powers is a case in point.
"The West Land" by T.S.Eliot at the backdrop of erosion of values in the great war, "Gitanjali" (Songs of offerings) by Tagore as a solace to the then ailing humanity or for that matter "Sabhyatar Sankat" (Crisis in civilization) by him as a prophetic call to resurrection of soaring dignity of the human civilization amply testify to the complex network of relationship between society and art.
Recent developments in technocrafts have brought about a revolution in all art forms orms including literatu Literary pursuits have undergone a seachange to the tune of technological advancements so much so that even literary idioms including metaphor have adapted to computational devices in terms of precision and exactitude. Literary pursuits in any corner of the world now, in fact, are bound to react to global issues and phenomena.
Every language in a sense is a confluence. It enriches itself with whatever it comes across in course of its development and pays back in turn by contributing to their progress. And Sansk And Sanskrit language is no exception here. For centuries together, Sanskrit has been enjoying the privilege of accommodating the vast pool of linguistic properties all over India to its fold and has been able to attain a really composite character.
Latin has contributed to the development of modern European Languages which is comparable to the contribution of Sanskrit to modern South-Asian languages.
Sanskrit has conspicuously influenced modern Indian languages. We can go ahead by saying that every modern Indo-Aryan Language has contain dined a component of Sanskrit in them.
It will not be out of place to mention here that the language of the Vedas was dynamic and not static at any time since the Vedic literature flourished in phases, spread over several centuries, bearing distinct marks of linguistic development. A cursory glance at any Upanisadic passage prose or verse, in comparison with a passage from the Yajurveda or the Rgveda will bear it out.
However, in the later period the Sanskrit language, as it is dealt with in Paninis grammar, was the language of the sistas of North India and naturally it confines itself, to the speech behaviour of a small section of people against the vast masses.
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