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Five further Clay Sanskrit Library volumes will be published together in January 2008. Click on the titles for more information about each volume.

Life of the BuddhaAśvaghoṣa
Patrick Olivelle
“Life of the Buddha” takes the reader from the birth of Siddhártha, the future Buddha, to his Awakening when he discovered the truths of the Buddhist doctrine. Some of the most poignant scenes take place when the young prince is confronted by the reality of human life subject to sickness, old age, and death, and when he is seduced by the charms of the women employed by his father to keep him at home.

Maha·bhárata V: Preparations for War (volume one of two)
Kathleen Garbutt
At the beginning of “Preparations For War,” the Pándavas have just completed their thirteen-year exile, most recently having lived in disguise and in humiliating service in Viráta’s city. The Pándavas believe they have completed the terms of their exile, though Duryódhana claims otherwise. This first volume of “Preparations For War” sees the Pándavas and Kurus gathering arms for the coming war and making preparations to fight.

Maha·bhárata VIII: Karna (volume two of two)
Adam Bowles
The Book of “Karna” tells the events that occurred during the mighty hero Karna’s two days as general of the Káurava army. In this second volume some of the epic’s most telegraphed events reach their climax. Not only will the epic’s most anticipated duel between Árjuna and Karna be played out to its cruel and tragic end, but one of the more gruesome episodes in the epic will also take place with Duhshásana meeting the fate that has long waited him since his brazen maltreatment of Dráupadi in the assembly hall

The Quartet of CauseriesŚūdraka, Śyāmilaka, Vararuci & Īśvaradatta
Csaba Dezső & Somadeva Vasudeva
Four monologue farces composed by four authors of the fourth-fifth centuries CE. The four are traditionally presented together, united in plot but divergent in style.

Seven Hundred Elegant Verses Govardhana
Friedhelm Hardy
When Go·várdhana composed his “Seven Hundred Elegant Verses” in Sanskrit in the twelfth century CE, the title suggested that this was a response to the 700 verses in the more demotic Prakrit language traditionally attributed to King Hala, composed almost a thousand years earlier. Both sets of poems were composed in the arya metre. Besides being the name of a metre, in Sanskrit arya means a noble or elegant lady, and Go·várdhana wished to reflect and appeal to a sophisticated culture. These poems each consist of a single stanza, almost as condensed and allusive as a Japanese haiku. They cover the gamut of human life and emotion, though the favorite topic is love in all its aspects.