our point of view,
in making such a character the hero of a love-drama; and indeed,
it is Vasantasena who does most of the love-making.[19]

Vasantasena is a character with neither the girlish charm of
Shakuntala[20] nor the mature womanly dignity of Sita.[21] She is
more admirable than lovable. Witty and wise she is, and in her
love as true as steel; this too, in a social position which makes such
constancy difficult. Yet she cannot be called a great character; she
does not seem so true to life as her clever maid, Madanika. In
making the heroine of his play a courtezan, Shudraka follows a
suggestion of the technical works on the drama; he does not
thereby cast any imputation of ill on Vasantasena's character. The
courtezan class in India corresponded roughly to the hetaerae of
ancient Greece or the geishas of Japan; it was possible to be a
courtezan and retain one's self-respect. Yet the inherited[22] way of
life proves distasteful to Vasantasena; her one desire is to escape
its limitations and its dangers by becoming a legal wife.[23]

In Maitreya, the Vidushaka, we find an instance of our author's
masterly skill in giving life to the dry bones of a rhetorical definition.
The Vidushaka is a stock character who has something in
common with a jester; and in Maitreya the essential traits of the
character--eagerness for good food and other creature comforts,
and blundering devotion to his friend--are retained, to be sure,
but clarified and elevated by his quaint humor and his readiness
to follow Charudatta even in death. The grosser traits of the typical
Vidushaka are lacking. Maitreya is neither a glutton nor a fool,
but a simple-minded, whole-hearted friend.

The courtier is another character suggested by the technical
works, and transformed by the genius of Shudraka. He is a man
not only of education and social refinement, but also of real nobility
of nature. But he is in a false position from the first, this
true gentleman at the wretched court of King Palaka; at last he
finds the courage to break away, and risks life, and all that makes
life attractive, by backing Aryaka. Of all the conspirators, it is he
who runs the greatest risk. To his protection of Vasantasena is
added a touch of infinite pathos when we remember that he was
himself in love with her.[24] Only when Vasantasena leaves him[25] without
a thought, to enter Charudatta's house, does he realize how
much he loves her; then, indeed, he breaks forth in