PKEfACE.
I may perhaps appear presumptuous in having come forward to render into Sanskrit the thoughts of the immortal Bard of Avon, and I feel that my bold attempt needs a few words of explanation.
A literature is often enriched by translations. This has been the case with almost all the languages of Europe. We have thus English versions of Greek and Latin poets — not to speak of the English renderings of modern works of note in the current languages of Europe. Similarly the writings of Shakespeare have been translated into German, French and other tongues. Some of the choicest works of the East have also been thus rendered into several languages of the West. Sakuutala has her admirers on the banks of the Danube as much as on the banks o£ the Ganges or the Cauvery. It is a pity that Sanskrit should not have been thus enriched — the more so that it is peculiarly fitted for such a task by reason of its richness and pliability.
It has been my long-cherished wish to render into Sanskrit some of the plays of Shakespeare. But a trans- lation in the form of a Sanskrit drama, is attended with difficulties. A Sanskrit drama, even if it should be a trans- lation, has to conform to a string of hard and fast rules. Failing in this respect, the work, no matter however good. is sure to offend the taste of Sanskrit Pandits, and a work like mine written in the first instance to give our Pandits a taste of Western- poetry will have no reason for its existence.
Translation in narrative form is not so fettered ; but the feelings and dramatic effect are lost in such mere narra-
