Digital Rare Book :
Malati and Madhava or The stolen marriage - A Drama.
By Bhavabhuti - 8th Century AD
Translated from the original Sanskrit by Horace Hayman Wilson
Printed by H.C.Das, Elysium Press, Calcutta - 1901

The play is set in the city of Padmavati. The king desires that his minister's daughter Malati marry a youth called Nandana. Malati is in love with Madhava ever since she saw him and drew his portrait. Madhava reciprocates, and draws a portrait of her in turn. Malati suspects her father's motives in falling in with the King's plans for her. A side plot involves the lovers' friends Makaranda and Madayantika. The latter is attacked by a tiger, and Makaranda rescues her, getting wounded in the process. After numerous travails, all ends well, with the two couples uniting.

Bhavabhuti (Sanskrit: भवभूति) was an 8th century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered equivalent to the works of Kalidasa.

- Wiki

Image :
Malati Receives a Visitor, Folio from a Malati-Madhava, 1798
Painting; Watercolor, Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper.
Kulu, Himachal Pradesh, India
Source : Los Angeles County Museum of Art