Of all Sanskrit dramas, Sakuntala has acquired the greatest celebrity.
It is not in India alone that it is known and admired. Its excellence
and beauty are acknowledged by learned men in every country of the
civilised world. It was the publication of a translation of this play by
Sir William Jones, which Max Muller thinks "may fairly be considered as
the starting point of Sanskrit Philology." "The first appearance of
this beautiful specimen of dramatic art," he continues, "created, at
the time, a sensation throughout Europe, and the most rapturous praise
was bestowed upon it by men of high authority in matters of taste."