Book Review - Saṭṭaka Literature: A Study by C.S. Naikar

Summary

Satya Ranjan Banerjee reviews Chandramouli S. Naikar’s book “Saṭṭaka Literature: A Study.” Banerjee points out that Naikar’s work is significant because it provides one of the first detailed studies of the Saṭṭaka literature, a corpus of Sanskrit dramas that had previously received little systematic attention. Earlier scholars such as Chintharan Chakravarty and A.N. Upadhye had introduced the importance of Saṭṭaka literature, but their editions lacked comprehensive analysis. Naikar divides his study into six parts. He discusses the origin of Indian drama and the Saṭṭaka genre, the extant Saṭṭakas, dialects and metres used in Prākrit drama, the depiction of contemporary social life, the literary and historical significance of the Saṭṭakas, and finally a conclusion that synthesises his findings. Banerjee notes that Naikar devotes a chapter to each of the six extant Saṭṭakas discovered by Upadhye and that he provides a more elaborate analysis than earlier scholars. However, Banerjee criticises the book’s weak bibliography and notes that certain sections simply summarise different readings of editions without deeper analysis. Despite these shortcomings, the reviewer praises the study for drawing attention to Saṭṭaka literature and hopes it will encourage further research in the field of Prākrit and Sanskrit drama.