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introduction

understanding of its doctrines, and of the principal technical terms. (Taylor 1893 [1812]: iii–iv)

Although Taylor’s treatment of “The Rise of Wisdom Moon” as a primer of Vedanta philosophy had much to recommend it in 1812 when it was first published (it remains essential reading for serious students of early nineteenth-century Indology and still serves as an excellent example of Georgian Sanskrit translation), the play has perhaps suffered by having been consigned to this pigeon-hole in the Western study of Indian literatures. Sylvain Levi, in his Le Theatre Indien, clearly situated “The Rise of Wisdom Moon” in the context of dramatic and poetic art, but interest in the play has continued to be focused primarily upon its doctrinal content (Levi 1963 [1890]: 229–35). The more recent translation by Dr Sita K. Nambiar, based on her 1960 dissertation completed under the direction of the great Vedanta scholar Paul Hacker, still exemplifies this, though it may be recommended for its overall accuracy and its close attention to the philosophical and theological aspects of the allegory.32 Recent translations in French, Italian and especially Spanish have gone further in the way of exposing to the contemporary reader something of the text’s pleasures as literature;33 among them, the work of Louis Renou’s student Armelle Pedraglio should be noted in particular as the most thorough study of Krishna·mishra’s play to date. Nevertheless, perhaps owing to the mustiness that now hangs over the allegorical form in general, “The Rise of Wisdom Moon” has not for some time seen the _________

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