A Play in Seven Acts
Dramatis Personae
KING DUSHYANTA.
BHARATA, nicknamed All-tamer, his son.
MADHAVYA, a clown, his companion.
His charioteer.
RAIVATAKA, a door-keeper.
BHADRASENA, a general.
KARABHAKA, a servant.
PARVATAYANA, a chamberlain.
SOMARATA, a chaplain.
KANVA, hermit-father.
SHARNGARAVA }
SHARADVATA } his pupils.
HARITA }
DURVASAS, an irascible sage.
The chief of police.
SUCHAKA }
} policemen.
JANUKA }
A fisherman.
SHAKUNTALA, foster-child of Kanva.
ANUSUVA }
} her friends.
PRIYAMVADA }
GAUTAMI, hermit-mother.
KASHYAPA, father of the gods.
ADITI, mother of the gods.
MATALI, charioteer of heaven's king.
GALAVA, a pupil in heaven.
MISHRAKESHI, a heavenly nymph.
Stage-director and actress (in the prologue), hermits and hermit-women, two court poets, palace attendants, invisible fairies.
The first four acts pass in Kanva's forest hermitage; acts five and six in the king's palace; act seven on a heavenly mountain. The time is perhaps seven years.