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Synopsis This work is an analytical account of classical Sanskrit literature in its historical perspective. It is divided into six parts, each dealing with a particular branch of Sanskrit learning. Part I deals with the great epics of India – the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as well as the Puranas and the Tantras; Part II with Kavya anda its varieties; part III and IV with the narrative, prose and Campu respectively; Part V with the dramatic literature and part VI with Alankara, Sangita, Kama and chandas literature. The work is full of references; the footnotes refer to a variety of sources, legendary, inscriptional numismatics, architectural and literary. The writer has consulted several journals, catalogues, annals, reports and other documents in discussing the vexed problems of the date, place, genealogy of the authors and the literary tendencies of their compositions. His methodology of literary criticism is rationalistic and bears the stamps of the modern scientific age. An elaborate index, a critical introduction, an exhaustive bibliography, the list of abbreviations, the table of transliteration and a supplement are the most useful additions to this interesting and instructive work of literary history.