Although, in the conduct of the plot, and the delineation of
character, Hindú dramatists show considerable skill, yet they do not
appear to have been remarkable for much fertility of invention. Love,
according to Hindú notions, is the subject of most of their dramas.

The hero, who is generally a king, and already the husband of a wife
or wives (for a wife or two more or less is no encumbrance in Indian
plays), is suddenly smitten with the charms of a lovely woman,
sometimes a nymph, or, as in the case of [S']akoontalá, the daughter of a
nymph by a mortal father. The heroine is required to be equally
impressible, and the first tender glance from the hero's eye reaches
her heart. With true feminine delicacy, however, she locks the secret
of her passion in her own breast, and by her coyness and reserve keeps
her lover for a long period in the agonies of suspense. The hero,
being reduced to a proper state of desperation, is harassed by other
difficulties. Either the celestial nature of the nymph is in the way
of their union, or he doubts the legality of the match, or he his own
unworthiness, or he is hampered by the angry jealousy of a previous
wife. In short, doubts, obstacles, and delays make great havoc of both
hero and heroine. They give way to melancholy, indulge in amorous
rhapsodies, and become very emaciated. So far, it must be confessed,
the story is decidedly dull, and its pathos, notwithstanding the
occasional grandeur and beauty of the imagery, often verges on the
ridiculous.

But, by way of relief, an element of life is generally introduced in
the character of the Vidúshaka, or Jester, who is the constant
companion of the hero; and in the young maidens, who are the
confidential friends of the heroine, and soon become possessed of her