Appointment with Kalidasa

Author(s): G K Bhatt
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/001533/1

Page #1
APPOINTMENT WITH KALIDASA L. D. SERIES 83 GENERAL EDITORS DALSUKH MALVANIA NAGIN J. SHAH By G. K. Bhat Ex-Director Bandarkar Oriental Research Institute POONA L. D. INSTITUTE OF INDOLOGY AHMEDABAD-9

Page #2
APPOINTMENT WITH KALIDASA - L. D. SERIES 83 GENERAL EDITORS DALSUKH MALVANIA NAGIN J. SHAH By G. K. BHAT Ex-Director, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune HL. D. INSTITUTE OF INDOLOGY AHMEDABAD-9

Page #3
Printed by Swami Tribhuvandas Shastry, Shri Ramananda Printing Press, Kankaria Road, Ahmedabad-22 and Published by Nagin J. Shab Director L. D. Institute of Indology Ahmedabad 9 First Edition Jaquary 1982 PRICE R$ Revised ho 3 Price Rs. L. D. Indok 4 5 - 0 _

Page #4
FOREWORD The L. D. Institute of Indology has great pleasure in publishing the book Appointment with Kalidasa by Dr. G. K. Bhat, Ex-Director, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona. The book will, no doubt, prove a good introduction to Kalidasa. Therein Dr. Bhat treats of Kalidasa's life, date and works, his world of thought, his personality and art, his outlook on life and the values he cherished in art and life. His appraisal of Kalidasa's Supreme theme : Sungara or love is particularly very interesting and illuminating. He evaluates the problem in the context of social atmosphere prevailing in the days of Kalidasa. He does not favour the "sublimation' thesis or "spiritual' interpretation and argues out his case very convincingly. His treatment is throughout lucid and authentic. We hope that the book will be of great interest to scholars of Sanskrit Literature in general and of Kalidasa's works in particular. L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad-380009. 26th January, 1982. Nagin J. Shah Director

Page #5

Page #6
The L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, invited me, in June 1979, for a couple. of lectures on "Kalidasa's Philosophy of Living". Severity of my arthritic ailment prevented me from keeping the engagement. The authorities of the Institute were kind to me and kept the invitation open. I took the lectures on the 26th and 27th November 1979 under the auspices of the Institute. PREFACE During the interval the Institute made another offer to me inviting me to write a small book on Kalidasa which the Institute undertook to publish. The present work is my response to the kind offer. I have called the book "APPOINTMENT WITH KALIDASA" for a reason. It naturally includes the material which I used for my lectures. But it is meant as an introduction to Kalidasa introduction to the life and literature of Kalidasa, his world of thought, his personality and art, his outlook on life and the values he seems to have cherished in art and life. I made an imaginative effort to be on the inside of the poet, as it were. If I am able to help the reader towards a better understanding of the great poet and appreciate his peerless art, that is all the reward I hope for. I am grateful to the Institute's former and present Directors, Pt. D.D. Malvania and Dr. Nagin Shah, for the courtesy and affection with which my convenience was looked after. I wish also to express my gratitude to my several former pupils and friends who gave an enthusiastic attendance at my lectures. A 12, Svapnanagari Apartments, Karve Road, PUNE-411 004, November, 1979. G. K. BHAT

Page #7

Page #8
CONTENTS Pages p.1 to p.10 1. PERIOD OF LIFE AND ACTIVITY Difficulties in determining the dates of Sanskrit poets, of Kalidasa - Two limits of discussion : First century B. C.; Sixth century A.D. Evidence for Gupta Age view : Fourth century more plausible than sixth or fifth - Suggestive references to Gupta kings and to events in the reign of Candragupta II - Influence on Vatsabhatti - Similarity to Kamasutra - Envoy in Kuntalesvara-daut ya likely to be Kalidasa himself - Setubandha of Pravarasena, Kalidasa's hand - Golden Age of Guptas consistent with Kalidasa's rich literature. Evidence for first century B. C. view : Possibility of the existence of Vikramaditya and new era in first century B. C. - Relation between Asvaghosa and Kalidasa - Reference to Agnimitra Sunga as a living king in the epilogue of the first play - Bhita medallion - Evidence of ancient culture, language and grammar - New evidence of sculptural art; literature and art as mirrors. 2. LITERARY WORKS p.11 to p.39 Difficulties in determining works - Lack of historical sense, historical records - problem for critical scholarship - general agreement : 1. Rtusamhara 2. Meghaduta 3. Kumarasambhava 4. Raghuvamsa 5. Malavikagnimitra 6. Vikramorvasiya 7. Abhijnanasakuntala 3. GLIMPSES OF PERSONALITY p.40 to p.63 1. Lack of information about the poet and his times - Silence des pite desire for fame - Literary convention ? -- Life illuminating literature -- Example of Wordsworth. 2. Legends and traditional tales : suggestive points : Poetic inspira tion by a divine miracle -- connection with royal family - skill at poetic games and generosity of mind -- loose private life.

Page #9
3. Critical examination : Relation between life and literature -- some examples -- Literary principle : selection of experience, reflex of personality in form and composition - - Details of tiras -- royal connection -- court poet --- suggestive meaning of 'praksti-purusa' -- minister or embassador -- genesis of Meghaduta -- Allusions to lores and arts, education -- Significance bebind poetic games -- Company of courtesans, ancient 'ganika' - immoral behaviour out of consideration - Gosthi is ancient India - Ujjayini, birth place or place of active life. Characteristics of art-personality : (a) Combination of scientific learning and cultural polish -- familiarity with fine arts; no exhibition of erudition; art founded on serious principles. (b) Superb aesthetic sense -- different, intense and unexpected perception; instinctive expression -- examples. (c) Feeling for nature -- place of nature in literature : extensive travel, store of information or loving observation -- four stages : objective perception; emotional correspondence between man and nature; identity; nature, a living personality -- illustration from Sakuntala. (d) Mirthful outlook on life -- Humour - Vidusaka, other characters, delightful high-level humour, unconscious humour, dramatic irony -- Laughing at oneself-Vidusaka, Siva. 5. Avoidance of the bitter, terrible in life : Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti -- Examples --- Preference for the holy, for love and peace. 2. 4. WORLD OF THOUGHT p.64 to p 91 1. Context of time : Context of thought-trend : transitional period after Buddha -- Asvaghosa's literary propaganda -- Necessity of the time : Stability for Vedic thought -- Indirect contribution of Kalidasa's literature - No strictures on social inequalities, no rebellion -- stand of an artist. Religious thought : Revival of Brahmanism -- stress on religious practices -- performance of sacrifices. New gods : Trimarti -- Siva, personal favourite -- Personalistic form of god -- influence of Gita -- Cycle of births, rebirth -- Bhakti, Yoga. Political Thought : Form of governnent, Monarchy - Royalist -- Two contrasting pictures in Sakuntala -- Ideal king - personal faith - Curbs on uulimited monarchy : Sages and thinkers the framers of law; Cabinet ministers to advise and guide; Training of a young prinde; Stress on moral values; King as father, happiness of people; sympathetic taxation; Ideal of controlled and devoted life, 3.

Page #10
5. 4. Social Thought: Acceptance of four varnas -- meaning of gunakarma-vibhaga - Enforcement of varna-dharma, king's responsi bility Principle of asrama-dharma -- Ideal of Raghu kings Importance of Grhathakrama significance of 'son' of senses and restraint. Control 5. Marriage relations: Secondary position of woman-- Bhavabhuti's sympathetic attitude Framework accepted by Kalidasa. 6. Thoughts on Education petition among equals knowledge Ideal teacher 7. 8. 9 3. 4. Education, a state responsibility -- Commerchants of knowledge Test of Expectations from a pupil. Thoughts on Art: Principle of rasa and dhwani - Word and sense inseparable Concept of natya Approval of experts -- Literature as communication. SUPREME THEME: SRNGARA OR LOVE 1. Srngara or love, the sthayi bhava of Kalidasa's writing --- Some objections Dislike; Objection to excess-hypocritical or sincere -- Principle of art Criterion of Anandavardhana Examples. Collective Picture: Attitude of acceptance not defeatism, search for ideal -- Full enjoyment of life, necessary for creative art. 2. The 'transformation-sublimation' view what it means -- Review of Kalidasa's literature and examination of the view Object and fruit of Uma's penance Love of Dusyanta and Sakuntalameaning of 'tapovana-virodhi-vikara"-- meaning of 'curse-Starcrossed lovers'. p.92 to p. 130 Heroes of Kalidasa: General attitude of respect and sympathy about heroines -- Heroes suspect -- polygamous; flippant like a bee; language of physical attraction and passion -- Poet's intertion Ideal of society and literary art; polygamy, an established social fact; Language epithets and vocatives in contemporary context Woman as the treasure and embodiment of beauty. Portrait of Hero: Artistic caution: Criticism of hero by dramatic characters queen, Vidusaka - Test of the sincerity of love -- love not against the code of religion and social practice Aim of courting marriage, position as mistress of the house Heroine's restraint a curb on liberty -- Insistence on mutual response of love Philosophy of love woman's consent, equality Heroes

Page #11
5. 10 -- valorous men Courtesy correct moral attitude to married women; respect for queen; care not to hurt or humiliate -- Example from Vikramorvasiya Meaning of Hamsapadika's song -- Anguish of childlessness - sorrow of separation -- Final answer to 'sublimation' thesis. Universal aspect of love love for child, freind, married love, significance of re-union; vision of the play of prakrti and purusa. 6. Deeper meaning of love: Impetus of life love in nature -- rati, sthayi bhava of life; fruit, Kumarasambhava -- passion changing into love for child devotion is rati view in the Gita -- Intensive presentation of all stages of life Faith and role of an artist.

Page #12
APPOINTMENT WITH KALIDASA "vAgarthAviva saMpRktau vAgarthapratipattaye / jagataH pitarau vande pArvatIparamezvarau // "

Page #13

Page #14
PERIOD OF LIFE AND LITERARY ACTIVITY It still appears difficult to fix the date of Kalidasa, the periods of his life and Jiterary activity. Silence on the part of the poets and lack of precise, decisive evidence lead, at the most, to some probable inferences. But the deductions are bowled down if the literary evidence on which they are based are shown to be capable of a different interpretation; sometimes, the interpretations act like double-edged sword cutting both ways. The evidence of edicts, copperplates, cions etc. is generally regarded to be reliable as authentic historical material. But evidence of this kind is inadequate in the case of Kalidasa. Moreover, it appears that there were a number of poets in Sanskrit literature who did have the same name Kalidasa. Rajasekhara, of the 10th-11th century A.D., poetically refers to three Kalidasas.2 Though it is likely to be an allusion to three works of Kalidasa, such literary references are confusing, and they make the question of the poet's date more complicated. But the discussion over the years has yielded some well defined limits within which the date of Kalidasa could now be tackled. (a) The dramatic plot of Malavikagnimitra is based on the life of king Agnimitra, who belongs to the Sunga dynasty known to ancient Indian history; the period of this dynastic rule is 2nd to 1st century B.C. It is therefore clear that Kalidasa could not be earlier than this limit of time. The opinion of Fauche, who regarded Kalidasa as a contemporary of the last king of the Raghuvamsa, Agnivarna and ascribed him to 800 B.C., will have, therefore, to be rejected. (b) The downward limit of Kalidasa's time is determined by two factors : A Jain poet Ravikirti has mentioned Kalidasa and Bharavi together, this is recorded in the Aihole Inscription which is dated 634 A.D. Secondly, Bana, the protege of emperor Harsavardhana (606-647 A.D.) is known to have paid a glorious tribute to Kalidasa.4 These two references show that the date of Kalidasa cannot be taken beyond the 6th-7th century A.D. The assumption in Bhojaprabandha that Kali. dasa was a court poet of Bhoja of Dhara (10th century A.D.) or that he was a senior contemporary of Bhavabhuti (700-730 A.D.) as a popular legend assumes, will both appear to be fortuitous. The period of Kalidasa's life and literary activity, thus, falls between first century B.C. and sixth century A.D. The precise date within this period of time is, again, a matter of opinion and shows some distinct divergence, Two views stand out prominently :

Page #15
Appointment with Kalidasa (i) A large number of scholars like Lassen, Keith, Bhau Daji, Rameshchandra Dutt, Haraprasad Shastri, Pathak, Mirashi cic. think, with some variations, that Kalidasa must be assigned to the Gupta period of Indian history. (ii) On the other hand, William Jones, C. V. Vaidya, Kunhan Raja etc. are inclined in favour of the early date, first century B.C., which is linked with 57 B.C., the beginning of Vikrama Samvat. Evidence for Gupta Age : The variations in the opinions of those who assign Kalidasa to the Gupta age are due to the fact that the period of the Gupta empire extends fron: 320 to 569 A.D.5 Different centuries within this period have been considered for Kali lasa by different scholars. Sixth Century A. D. (i) A poet Abhinanda says in his epic poem Ramacarita that the works of Kalidasa or the poet himself were raised to unique fame by 'Sakarati'. This sakarati is Yasodharman, the powerful king of Mal-va, who ruled in the sixth century A.D. and who had defeated Mihirakula, the formidable Hun king. Yasodharman assurned the title Vikramaditya and put his learned friend and poet Matrgupta on the throne of Kashmir. This Matrgupta is identical with Kalidasa. This evidence, which is upheld by Haraprasad Shastri,7 puts Kalidasa in the sixth century A.D. Historians find a confusion of history in these assumptions. Huen-Tsang was in India at this time; the king whom he mentions with respect and esteem is not Yasodharman, but siladitya [ of Valabhi. Further, it does not appear from the inscriptions of Yasodharman that he had taken the title Vikramaditya. (ii) The famous astrologer Varahamihira belongs to the sixth century. He fixed the beginning of monsoon as from the first day of the month Asadha. The reference in Meghaduta, 'asadhus ya prathamadivase', 8 bears a striking resemblance to Varahamihira's opinion. However, it cannot establish that Kalidasa was a contemporary of Varahamira. More important is the fact that monsoon breaks in the beginning of Asadha in some parts of India; and one can see the rain-filled black clouds with one's eves. Is it necessary to seek the authority of a work on astronomy to support such a patent experience ? (iii) A verse in the Jyotirvidabharanao states that the work was composed by Kalidasa, who was patronised by Sakari Vikramaditya, and who was one of the nine jewels' of the king's court.

Page #16
Period of Life and Literary Activity Even if this work were accepted as of the sixth century, its faulty diction and pedestrian language cannot be accepted as coming from the author of the Sakuntala. The evidence, thus, loses all value. On the whole, the sixth century hypothesis has not much to commend itself. Fifth Century A. D. In the Raghuvamsa Raghu is described to have defeated the Huns on the bank of Vanksu or the river Oxus. 10 It is known from history that the Huns established their imperial rule on the bank of Oxus in Balhika or Bactria by about 450 A. D., and from there they marched into India. It is proved from the Girnar Inscription (455-56 A.D.) of Skanda Gupta that this king of the Gupta dynasty defeated the Huns. Prof. Pathak thinks that Kalidasa has deliberately woven this contemporary allusion in the legendary account of Raghu's military campaign; and thus he regards Kalidasa as a poet of the fifth century A D . It is to be noted that there is another reading 'Sindhu' is place of Vanksu'. But even if "Vanksu' were taken as the reading, the assumption of Prof. Pathak that Huns were not known to India till the fifth century A. D. is not correct. The Huns are mentioned in the Mababharata, and Lalitavistara, a work of the third century, refers to the writing script of the Huos. Skanda Gupta, therefore, must not have been the first Indian king to counter and defeat the Huns. Fourth Century A. D. Many scholars are, therefore, inclined to accept the fourth century A. D. as the most probable period of time for Kalidasa. Tradition seems to have fixed Kalidasa's connection with some Vikramaditya. The sponsors of the Gupta age view find many suggestive allusions to Gupta kings in the works of Kalidasa, skillfully woven with the literary thread. For example, the repeated use of the word vikrama in the Vikramorvasiyall is, the scholars think, a deliberate and suggestive allusion to Vikramaditya. The military campaign of Raghu for the conquest of the four quarters resembles that of Samudra Gupta. The rescue of Urvasi by Pururavas from the hands of demon Kesin has a close parallel to the rescue of Dhruvadevi effected by Chandra Gupta disguising himself as a woman and securing entry into the enemy ranks. The title Kumarasambhava appears to have been chosen to bring a reference to Kumara Gupta. At the same time, assuming that the poet refers to several Gupta kings from Samudra Gupta to Kumara Gupta, it cannot be assumed that Kalidasa lived during the reigns of all the three kings, unless he is granted a life of 150 years. So, it is held that Kalidasa was an honoured poet of one of the Gupta kings: and in the opinion of majority it is Chandra Gupta II (380-415 A. D.) who was the patron of the poet. Chandra Gupta II and his grand son Skanda Gupta alone

Page #17
Appointment with Kalidasa had assumed the title Vikramaditya. The evidence of the inscriptions and of coins has shown that Chandra Gupta II destroyed the Saka-Ksatrapas of Kathiawar; this fits with the epithet Sakari. It is also koown that Chandra Gupta had made Ujjayini as his capital. His generosity and patronage to learned men and poets are equally well known. The evidence is regarded, therefore, as strongly supporting Kalidasa's connection with Chandra Gupta II. Other considerations which support this date are as follows : (i) Buhler, Keilhorn, Keith and other scholars have shown that the paneygric composed by the poet Vatsabhatti, recorded in the inscription of the Sun-temple at Mandsor (473 A.D.) emulates to a considerable extent the poetic style of Kalidasa. This suggests the influence of Kalidasa and the fact that he must have preceded Vatsabhatti. (ii) The verse, 'susrusasva gurun...' in Sakuntala,12 in which Kanva's advice to his daughter and to the newly married girl is contained, shows a striking similarity of thought and diction with those in the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana. Kalidasa's deep study of the Kamasutra is evident from his writings. The probable date of Vatsyayana is 250 A.D. Kalidasa obviously appears to have succeeded him. (iii) The envoy mentioned in the poem Kuntalesvara-dautya is probably Kalidasa himself. The Kuntalesa is the grand-son of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya, the Vakataka king Pravarsena II. 13 The daughter of Chandra Gupta, Prabhavatigupta, was married to Vakataka Rudrasena (395 A. D.); Pravarasena is her son. He was a child at this time; so Prabhavarigupta was looking after the administration of the kingdom under the guidance and direction of her father Chandra Gupta. This political happening is corroborated by the description in Kuntalesvara-dautya, 'The over-lord of Kuntala has placed the burden (of political administration) on you'. The particular verse is supposed to have been said by Kalidasa bimself according to the Srngaraprakasa of Bhoja;14 this suggests the possibility that the envoy or the messenger must have been Kalidasa himself. The literary reference and history, thus, indicate fourth century A. D. as the date of Kalidasa. (iv) The Prakrit epic Setubandha or Ravanavaho to which Bana alludes is supposed to have been composed by Pravarasena, and belongs to a period earlier than the seventh century A. D. Pravarasena is Kuntalesa mentioned above. It is likely that Pravarasena wrote this poem and Kalidasa corrected and improved it; or Kalidasa himself may have composed it for Pravarasena.15 (v) The Gupta Age is known as the golden age in ancient Indian history. It was an age of the revival of Sanskrit learning and arts which received an afflatus from royal interest; it was also the age which bestowed new glory on the BrahmaDical religion. It is reasonable to associate Kalidasa with an age of prosperity and glory; his literature bears the stamp of this age.

Page #18
Period of Life and Literary Activity Chandra Gupta II ruled from 380 to 413 A. D. Thus, the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth appears to be the period of Kalidasa's life and literary activity. Evidence for earlier date : Tradition connects Kalidasa with Vikramaditya : there are many scholars who are inclinded to accept an early date for Kalidasa, synchronising with Vikram Samvat 57 B. C., that is, the first century B. C. (i) The difficulty in commending this view was that history was not aware of any Vikramaditya' or of the commencement of some Samvat or Saka in the first century preceding Christian era. But it appears from Vatsabhatti's Mandasor inscription that one 'Malavagana' was in vogue in this period of time. 16 It is, therefore, possible to say that the allusion to 'Malavagana-sthiti' in the inscription is not connected with a ruling gana or tribe but with a particular system of calculatiog calender years. It is also possible that the Malavagana, suffering a defeat from the Greek soldiers in their confrontation with Alexander, may have moved down to Malwa and Rajputana where they tried to consolidate their hold. The leader of this gana was one Vikrainaditya; he had repulsed the Greek advance in the first century B. C., earning the title 'Sakari', and had started his own era or Samvat; but considering that a gana or tribe is greater than an individual, the era was not started with the name Vikrama-samvat but with the tribe's name Malavagana.17 A royal family called Gardabhilla was ruling at Ujjayini in the first century B. C. Vikramaditya, son of Gardabhilla, had repulsed and driven out the sakas from Ujjayini and promulgated his own era, in about 56 B. C. This is recorded by a Jain writer Merutunga 18 It is also a suggestive fact that the personal name of this Vikramaditya's father was Mahendraditya : Kalidasa has used the names or words *Mahendra' and 'Vikrama' with some deep meaning in his Vikramorvasiya, and the literary allusion is interesting. If this evidence were acceptable, the problem of the existence of a Vikramaditya and Samvat era in the first century B. C. gets solved and Kalidasa's connection with this period of time also becomes a reasonable assumption. (ii) The poetic works of the Buddhist poet Asvaghosa and those of Kalidasa show a remarkable similarity in thought and style. About the mutual influence of the two poets scholarly opinion is divided. Mirashi and others who assign Kalidasa to the fourth century A. D. naturally think that Kalidasa has imitated Asvaghosa. On the contrary Sharadaranjan Ray, Nandargikar, Karmarkar etc. are of the opinion that Asvaghosa was influenced by Kalidasa's writing. 19 Any way, the evidence suggests that the two poets may not have been far removed from each other in time; Asvaghosa is supposed to belong to the first century A. D.

Page #19
Appointment with Kalidasa (iii) The dramatic plot of Malavikagnimitra draws on the life of the Sunga king Agnimitra. Those who believe that Kalidasa lived in the Gupta age regard the date as a matter of history; and believe that any poet can draw on the historical material of the past; it is not necessary that he should be a contemporary of the historical personalities mentioned in his writing. Mirashi conjectures the play to have been written on the occasion of the marriage of Vakataka Rudrasena and Chandra Gupta's daughter Prabhavatigupta 20 However, the obvious references to the present, prevailing rule of king Agnimitra in the epilogue of the play remains a puzzle and is not at all explained by the advocates of the Gupta age view. The epilogue refers to Agnimitra as a current ruling king21 and suggests that Kalidasa must have been his contemporary; the time is first century B. C. (iv) A medal discovered at Bhita depicts the scene of deer hunt, reminding of Dusyanta's hunt in Sakuntala. Prof. Ray thinks it to be of the Sunga period (117-72 B. C.).22 The protagonists of the Gupta period do not accept that the scene is from Kalidasa's play and do not take the period of the medal as conclusively proved. (v) Some cultural and historical references in Kalidasa's works are indicative more of an early age rather than the Gupta period. For example: the reference in Sakuntala to the vaikhanasa-vrata and the ancient Vaikhanasa-smrti; employment of Yavanis, that is, Greek women as the personal body-guards of a king; the mention in Meghaduta of the village elders who still remember the legend of Vatasara ja Udayana; continuous reference to Asoka; the rather unusual word used for Indra, Akhandala, and its phonetic associations : Akbandala > Akhandara > Alexander. It is also worth remembering that the Gupta kings were Vaisnava, while Kalidasa, though non-sectarian, was particularly devoted to Siva. (vi) The linguistic evidence like the simplicity of Kalidasa's language, his grammatical forms which go against Panini's rules but which sometimes accord with Patanjali's sentence-construction, 23 and such other language and grammar peculiarities are in favour of an carly period for Kalidasa. (vii) The problem of the dates of Sanskrit poets can be tackled from a fresh direction provided by Indian art. Prof. C. Sivaranamurti, ex-Director, National Museum, Delhi, has made a special study of Indian sculptures and paintings, and has come to the conclusion that, "The understanding of a forgotten past is made possible and what is left unexplained or vague by one is explained and made clear by the other, as art and literature act as real mirrors'. 24 This approach is as interesting as it is valuable. A study of the parallelisms between Kalidasa's poetic ideas and literary allusion on the one hand and art representations on the otier necessarily lead to the belief that Kalidasa must have been an early poet. A few examples are given further. (a) Kalidasa describes the Kalpa tree as creating everything that a woman needs for her decoration, in his Meghaduta 25 A sculpture from Barhut

Page #20
Period of Life and Literary Activity rail-coping shows a wine-pot in a sling, jewels and variegated garments issuing from a Kalpavalli, and answers the description in the Meghadata. The sculpture is of the Sunga period, 2nd century R. C. (b) Another Barhut rail-coping depicts the hand of Vanadevata issuing from a tree clump. This also is of the Sunga period and recalls to mind the gifts of Vanadevata to Sakuntals .20 Prof. Sivaramamurti observes that it is probably the best explanation of the verse in the Sakuntala,' (c) Referring to the sport of married couples Kalidasa describes in the Raghuvamba, Aja tenderly feeling the body of his beloved.27 This idea is well depicted in a Nagarjunakonda sculpture of the Iksvaku period, 3rd century A. D. (d) A verse in Uttara-Megha describes the flower decorations and marks of enjoyment of women.28 Prof Sivaramamurti believes that the entire verse has a vivid sculptural commentary in a panel from Nagarjunakonda', which belongs to 3rd century A. D. (e) Describing the diversions of lovers. Kalidasa mentions the Yaksapatni speaking to the Sarika in a cage, 20 A fine sculp tural representation of this idea is found in Kushan work from Mathura, of which the Bhutesara Yaksi addressing the parrot is probably the most charming'. This is of 2nd century A. D. (f) Rama, in his aerial journey from Lanka to Ayodhya, shows a fancy fish-elephant30 in the ocean to Sita. This matanga-nakra is referred to as Thamrga in earlier literature like the Ramayana. This curious animal is depicted on the Amaravati rail, of the Satavahana period, 2nd century A. D. There are, of course, other pictorial representations inspired by Kalidasa's literary art that belong to later periods up to the 12th century A. D. But these earlier speci mens which show a close parallel between the literary idea and the pictorial-sculptural representation are not possible to be explained without assuming an early date, first century B. C., for Kalidasa. 7 The discussion is enough, I believe, to make us aware of the wide difference of opinions and of the difficulty of determining precisely the date of Kalidasa. Prof. Karmarkar seems to be willing to admit two Kalidasas and two Vikramadityas, one of the first century B. C. and another of the fourth century A. D. It, however, appears that Kalidasa has to be assigned to one of the two periods of time. The view of the earlier date has not been refuted by those who reject it, and the cumulative evidence, especially the recent one from art representations, is in favour of taking Kalidasa as a poet of the first century B. C. Determining the date of a Sanskrit poet is a major task of history. But a common reader is likely to be confused and baffled by the variety of opinions held; and, interested more in the literary art of a poet like Kalidasa, would like to say in the words of Rabindranath Tagore :3 Hay re Kabe, kete geche, Kalidaser Kal! Panditera vivida kare laye tarikh sa!!

Page #21
Appointment with Kalidasa Hariye geche se-sab abda Itivrtta ache stabdha -- Geche yadi apad geche, mithya kolahal | NOTES 1 The German scholar and researcher Aufrecht has mentioned six writers having the same name Kalidasa. 2 Quated in Suktimuktavali. 4. 60: eko'pi jIyate hanta kAlidAso na kahiMcit / zRGgAre lalitodgAre kAlidAsatrayI kimu // 3 cf. yenAyoji navezmasthiramarthavidhau vivekinA jinavezma / sa vijayatAM ravikIrtiH kavitAzritakAlidAsabhAravikIrtiH / / 4 cf. Har sacarita, I. 16 : nirgatAsu na vA kasya kAlidAsasya sUktiSu / prItimadhurasArdAsu maJjarISviva jAyate // 5 See, The History and Culturc of the Indian People, Vol. III; The Classical Age; ed. R. C. Majumdar. 6 cr. 'khyAti kAmapi kAlidAsakavayo(kRtayo) nItAH shkaaraatinaa|' 7 "Age of Kalidasa", in Journal of the Bihar-Orissa Research Society (JBORS), Vol. II. 8 Parva Megha, 2. 9 Jyotirvidabharana, 22. 10 : dhanvantarikSapaNakAmarasiMhazaGkuvetAlabhaTTaghaTakaprakAlidAsAH / khyAto varAhamihiro nRpateH sabhAyAM ratnAni vai vararucirnava vikramasya / / 10 Cr. Raghuvamsa, IV, 66-68; sre particularly v. 67; vinItAdhvazramAstasya vaMkSu(sindhu)tIraviceSTanaH / dudhuvurvAjinaH skandhAlagnakuGkumakesarAn / v. 68 has, tatra hUNAvarodhAnAM bhartRSu... babhUve raghuceSTitam // 11 CI. Citraratha's compliments to Pururavas : '...vikramamahimnA vardhate bhavAn / ' 'anutsekaH khalu vikramAlaGkAraH / ' and the title of the play. Vikramorvastya, act I. 12 Sakunatala, IV. 18. 13 See, Krishnaswami Ayangar, Srudies in Gupta History, p. 54. 14 The full verse quoted in the Srigaraprakasa is as follows: asakalahasitatvAt kSAlitAnIva kAntyA mukulitanayanatvAt vyaktakarNotpalAni / pibati madhusugandhInyAnanAni priyANAM tvayi vinihitabhAraH kuntalAnAmadhIzaH / / 15 See, MM. Dr. V. V. Mirashi, Kalidasa (in Marathy and Hindi ); Marathi, p. 40,

Page #22
Period of Life and Literary Activity 16 Cf Mandasor Inscription : mAlavAnAM gaNasthityA yAte zatacatuSTaye / vinavatyadhike'bdAnAmRtau sevyadhanasvane // Vatsabhatti's. 17 See Baladeva Upadhyaya, Sanskrit Sahitya-ka Itihasa (Hindi), pp. 157-158. 18 Alluded to by Nandargikar, Raghuvansa (ed.), Introduction, p. 47; Karmarkar, Kalidasa pp. 6-7. 19 Prof. Karamarkar is of the opinion that Aivaghosa uses in his epic Saundarananda (I. 26, I. 36) two allusions to Sakuntala : kaNvaH zAkuntalasyeva bharatasya tarasvinaH / vAlmIkiriva dhImAMzca dhImatomathileyayoH // 1. 26 jijJAsamAnA nAgeSu kauzalaM zvApadeSu ca / anucakrurvanasthasya dodhyanterdevakarmaNaH // I. 36 This shows that Asvaghosa knew Sakuntala; and since the allusion comes by way of a standard of comparison (upamana) he must have regarded it as an ideal work worth referring to. See, Kalidisa, pp. 9-11.. 20 Mirashi. Kalidasa, op. cit., p. 40. 21 Cf, Malavikagnimitra, V. 20 cd : AzAsyamItivigamaprabhRti prajAnAM saMpatsyate na khalu goptari naagnimitre|| 22 Ray, Sakuntala, ed. Introduction, p. 9. 23 For example : the forms of Am Perfect with the inflexion separated from the verb-element, 'taM pAtayAM prathamamAsa,' 'prabhraMzayAM yo nahuSaM cakAra'; the grammatical construction with a noun and adjective with yat-ending termination which do not agree in gender. 'zakyamAliGgituM pavanaH / '; Kalidasa is fond of the word 'pelava'; but Vamana (8th cent. A.D.) points out that it has an obscene sense. For the examples and other linguistic discussion see Ray. Sakuntala, ed., Introduction. 24 See. C. Sivaramanarti. Sanskrit Literature and Art -Mirrors of Indian Culture, Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India. No. 73; first ed. 1954; Reprint, Lakshmi Book Store, Janapath, New Delhi; 1972. The following examples and quotations are taken from this work. 25 Cr. Uttara-Megha, I?d: ekaH sUte sakalamabalAmaNDanaM kalpavRkSaH / See also v. 2. for the use of flowers as decorations. 26 Cf. Sakuntala, 1V. 5; particularly, the second half : anyebhyo vanadevatAkaratalarAparvabhAgotthitaiH / dattAnyAbharaNAni naH kisalayodamedapratidvandvibhiH // 27 Cr. Raghuvansa, VIII. 7: sadayaM bubhuje mahAbhujaH sahasodvegamiyaM vrajediti / aciropanatAM sa medinI navapANigrahaNAM vadhUmiva / / 28 Uttara-Megha. v.?.

Page #23
Appointment with Kalidasa 29 Uttara-Megha, 25 cd : pRcchantI vA madhuravacanAM sArikAM paJjarasthAM / kaccid bhartuH smarasi rasike tvaM hi tasya priyeti // 30 Cr. Raghuvamsa, XIII. 11: mAtaGganakaiH sahasAtpatadbhibhinnAn dvidhA pazya samudraphenAn / kapolasaMsparzitayA ya eSAM vrajanti karNakSaNacAmaratvam // 31 The quotation is from the poem 'sekala': see the Sahitya Akademi publication, Ekottarasats, 1961, p. 226. The substance of Tagore's lines is : Alas, that age of Kalidasa is long past ! Learned men are now furiously debating about his precise date. One doesn't know where those years are lost is the limbo of Time. For, History holds complete silence in that connection. But if the age is gone, well and good; the worry is over! Why this futile uproar for determining the poet's date?

Page #24
2 LITERARY WORKS Thanks to the immense admirtaion, esteem and popularity that Kalidasa appears to have earned from almost the prime of his literary career, it has happened in the history of Sanskrit literature that a number of works of all kinds came to be gathered round his name. Obviously, lesser writers must have palmed off their lesser works on Kalidasa's name in order to bask in the reflected glory of the great poet.. Perhaps, Kalidasa may have been a hallowed name; and many writers may have assumed it, the adoption being facilitated by the easy etymological derivation of the name. Aufrecht has noted, as we have seen, at least six writers who bear. the name Kalidasa. And lack of historical sense, indifference to the necessity of maintaining accurate historical records, among the ancient Indians, as also the difficulties of coinmunication and contact, all must have resulted in perpetuating the confusion about authorship, sometimes confounding it worse. One of serious tasks facing Sanskrit scholarship in the early days was to sift the genuine from the spurious ascription of literary works. And though such sifting may still continue in the case of some works or authors, there seems to be a general agreement now about the literary works of Kalidasa. Kalidasa is the author of the following works : (i) Two lyrical poems : Rtusamhara, Meghaduta : (ii) Two epics : Kumarasambhava, Raghuvamsa; (iii) Three plays : Malavikagnimitra, Vikramorvasiya, Abhijnana-sakuntala. 1. Rtusamhara Rtusamhara is a small lyrical poem of 144 stanzas in 6 cantos, mostly in Vamsastha metre (cantos I, II, V, VI), the variation being Vasantatilaka (canto III) and Upendravajra (canto IV). The poem gives a graphic and poetic description of the six seasons of India. Through the description Kalidasa presents a vivid and eloquent picture of Nature. But in stead of filling in details picked from accurate observation, as Valmiki often does, Kalidasa pays more attention to describing the effect of nature on the emotional life of man, particularly on the emotion of love. The descriptive poem is, therefore, neither a list of the seasons nor a record of nature's wealth in different seasons. The sympathetic association between nature and human emotion is the basis of the poetic description in the lyric. The familiar objects and

Page #25
ii Appointment with Kalidasa scenes in nature wear here the hues of love. The symbols like the kiss of the clouds, the embrace of creepers, the intoxication of freely flowing streams and others are, no doubt, conventional; and the description of the seasons lacks the splendour of the poetic vision in the Meghadata. But the poem is still remarkable for its poetic spur, its limpid slyle and the relation it stresses between nature and human emotions. The poem opens with a description of Grisma or the hot season. The days in this season are unbearable due to heat; but the moon-lit nights are particularly enjoyable to the lovers. The effect of the heat in the form of continuous thirst and laziness is, of course, noticeable on the human beings, birds and beasts. There are forest conflagrations in this season. Varsa or the Rainy season follows Grisma with a fanfare, blowing the trumpet of the thundering clouds and waving the flag of lightning flashes. Clouds filled with rainwater move ponderously in the sky. The Cataka birds heave a sigh of relief and eagerly look up. Streams of water knock at the trees on their banks and rush towards the sea, like a wanton woman, Nature wears a green cloak. And then Sarad or Autumn arrives, with the splendour of a bride, the blooming lotuses for its face and hands, the ripe rice crops for its cloak, the warbling Kalahansas for its anklets. The creepers now appear like the arms of beautiful women; the Jasmine flowers sparkle like their white teeth; clusters of red Asoka look like their smiling lips. With the advent of Hemanta the rice and fields are ripe and yellow; but lotuses wither; the farms are over-hung with mist. But the cold in this season is very delightful, especially in the close company of a beloved. However, as the cold increases in Sisira, hot Sun during the day and blazing fire at night seem preferable to the closeness of one's beloved. The sixth and the last canto describes Vasanta or Spring, the prince of seasons. Wearing the Karnikara flower in their ear-lobes, the blossom of the fiery-red Asoka in their hair, young women start now with enthusiasm towards their trysts. The music of the Koil keeps them company. And the God of Love is ready to release arrows of mangoblossom on their hearts. It is a season which creates yearning and, sometimes, heartburning; but it is also the season that young lovers love best. Mallinath has not commented on the Rrusahhara. The Anthologies do not quote from it. The language, descriptive style and the poetic imagination in this poem are on a lower level than what they are in the other poetical works of Kalidasa. Some scholars are, therefore, inclined to believe that it is a work of some lesser poet fathered on Kalidasa. But the poem obviously belongs to the apprenticeship period of the poet; and recognising this literary fact one can understand its comparatively lesser merit, without denying its genuineness. 2. Meghaduta The Meghadata is still smaller in extent than the Rrusamhara, the first part or the Parva-Megha having 66 stanzas and the second half or Uttara-Megha 55. But

Page #26
Literary Works 13 in concept, poetic style, superb imagination, masterly execution and in profound, heart-stirring emotional appeal it is a lyrical gem that can hardly be matched. The poem has a slender but delectable narrative thread which accounts for its genesis and which runs through its colourful fabric. A Yaksa, servant of the lord of Alaka, Kubera, made some mistake in his duty; Kubera punished him with a curse, banishing him from Alaka into exile for a period of one year. As the poem opens, the Yaksa has passed eight months of his bapishment, living alone on the Ramagiri, away from his loving wife. The first day of Asadha augurs the advent of the Rainy season and the sight of an elephantine cloud, black with rain-water, butting at the line of the horizon, fills Yaksa's eyes with tears, bringing up his suppressed sorrow of separation, because the monsoon period is always hard on lovers close to each other in love but separated. An idea of sending a message of love and assurance to the pining wife far away in Alaka through the roaming cloud takes shape in the mind of the Yaksa. As a matter of fact, a cloud is merely an aggregate of smoke, fire, water and windy vapour, and lacks the intelligent, efficient sense organs for picking up, understanding and delivering a message couched in human language. But intense love, particularly the soul-scorching agony of separated love, can blind a person to the obvious, taking away the normal ability to distinguish between the animate and the inanimate. So, the Yaksa decided to uncover his soul in agony before the cloud and turn him into his personal messenger Hence the title of the poem. The Yaksa offered the cloud a loving greeting with the Kutaja flowers and spoke to him with words of tender love and persuasion. He praised the cloud for his high lineage and described him as the 'Praksti-purusa' of the bounteous Indra: he relied on the supreme quality of the cloud as a 'refuge of the tortured' and persuaded him to take with him his message to the city of Alaka in the Kailasa mountain range, where the presence of Siva bathes perpetually the terraces of its mansions in brilliant moonlight. The Yaksa then proceeds to describe the route the cloud can take to reach Alaka from Ramagiri. It is a glowing description of various places, and not a geographical tour tinged with historical or legendary information. With every place mentioned on the route, the poet creates an image, a picture framed with ornate or poetic detail. The places will have their own charm each to delight the cloud; there wiil be birds, rivers, and women to greet him ar.d show him the way : there will be rest-places like mountain-tops and occasions for personal enjoyment when the cloud came across a river; there will be places to offer devotional service, and opportunities to earn the gratitude of rain-thirsty earth, birds or the agricultural community. For example : the flying cranes can keep company with the cloud in his long journey, at least part of the way; and the Saranga birds can show him the way. The river Rewa or Narmada, breaking into several streams on the marble rocks will present the likeness of a huge black elephant decorated with white strips of colour. The fragrant earth and

Page #27
14 Appointment with Kalidasa a variety of flowers will be there to greet the cloud, as there will be village women, pushing the hair back from their eyes and looking up to him. There will also be playful women, on the Kailasa mountain, who will poke the cloud with the points of their bracelets and turn him into a shower-house. At Ujjayini the cloud can refresh his memory with the story of Udayana; he can attend the evening worship at the Mahakala temple, where the attendants of Siva will greet him because he resembles the dark-blue throat of Siva in his colour, and he can take active part in the worship replacing the drums by his thunder. The rivers are the beloveds of the cloud; the one that looks emaciated the cloud will be able to revive with new vigour; the one that is buxom he can enjoy. The entire journey of the cloud will, thus, be crowded with pleasure and enjoyment. The end of the journey is Alaka, which is the delight of delights. A semi-divine, fabulous city situated on divine precincts, it has all the splendour of the Lord of wealth, the luxuriance of nature and the charm of a dream city. All flowers bloom here all the year round, the nights are all moon-Jit, the men and women are blessed with eternal youth, and the Kalpa tree alone creates all the things needed by women for their toilette and decoration. Yaksa's own house is to the the north of Kubera's mansion. There is a young Mandara tree near it, reared by Yaksa's wife, and so small that she can pick its flowers easily. There is a beautiful arch, and a well in the house in which golden lotuses with green jewelled stalks bloom and emarald steps lead to it; the swans come to rest here forgetting the Manasa lake. There is a pleasure-hill near the well surrounded by gold plantain creepers, a favourite spot of Yaksa's wife. A red Asoka and a charming Kesara stand by the house; a marble board is fixed between them with gold sticks; it is a spot where the Yaksa's wife loves to sit and teach the peacock to dance keeping the musical rhythm by clapping her palms to the accompaniment of her tinkling bracelets. Besides, a conch and a lotus are painted on the door-jamb. These are the signs by which the cloud will be able to recognise the house without difficulty. One cannot be sure what time of the day or night the cloud will reach Alaka and Yaksa's house. If the wife is asleep due to fatigue and the unbearable of separation, the Yaksa would request the cloud not to disturb her but wait for a while. Mostly, she would be dragging herself through the long hours, keeping herself occupied doing the various cores. She may be placing the offerings on the doorstep; painting a picture of the emaciated Yaksa; talking to the Sarika in the cage; or humming a personal song to the tune of the lute, forgetting the words and the melody lost in her tears; counting the remaining days of the period of separation by placing flowers on the threshold. The Yaksapatni is a very beautiful woman, with an ideal form and perfect limbs, but the separation must have affected her terribly, making her lean, soiled, neglecting her toilette and decoration, somehow living on the hope that the separation will end and she will be in the arms of her husband, A

Page #28
Literary Works message of cheer will, therefore, be very opportune and will strengthen her hope and will to go through the remainder of days with patience and courage. The Yaksa asks the cloud to introduce himself as a beloved friend of her husband and to convey to her that he is upharmed in body in his hermitage on the Ramagiri and is asking after her well-being. The Yaksa has not been able to block the memory of his loving wife even for a moment; his body aches for her close touch; he sees her likeness in several objects of nature; lack of sleep deprives him of the delight of seeing her in a dream, and the waking hours of the day rob him of the pleasure of painting her likeness because the gushing tears spoil the effort But he is living on hope and wants his wife to do the same; for happiness must follow Sorrow in the universal scheme of nature. The curse will terminate on the eleventh day of Kartika, and the remaing four months must be passed with eyes closed. When reunited in love, the beautiful autumnal nights brilliant with moonlight will be theirs to wipe out the agonies of separation with re-doubled pleasures of love. With this message of hope, consolation and abiding love, the Yaksa also prays that the cloud may never experience separation, even for a moment, from his own beloved, the lightning. The first half of the lyric presents a series of pictures of beautiful nature in which the flowers, creepers, birds and animals, rivers and mountains, come alive with a life of their own; and there are either loving associations connected with them or there is the tender emotion of love and attachment which illumines them. The second half of the poem is a picture gallery of human emotions, of love and love in separation, each picture mounted on the beautiful frame of marvellous nature. Kalidasa has chosen the slow-moving Mandakranta metre which pauses in its pace, as a fitting vehicle for the expression of vipralumbha srngara, so that the mood of pervading sorrow is matched by the slow, halting movement of the words. He has further shown an instinctive poetic genius in ending the poem on the message, with a defipite promise of cheer, consolation and reunion, allowing the human heart to enjoy the bitterness of sorrow laced with the assurance of happiness, which is the deeper truth of life. And in keeping the background of the story and the personality of the central characters vague, lost in mythological belief and poetic imagination, he has endowed the poem with a universal quality and appeal. What does it matter who this Yaksa is (kascit)? It is not his story, but the story and the intensely moving emotional experience of the human heart. The poem is a sad-sweet song of the human heart. Its poetry, beauty and tenderness of emotion have made it an immortal piece of literature. Its imitations by the scores in the history of Sanskrit titerature and its innumerable translations prove its abiding attraction and aesthetic value. 3. Kumarasambhava The subject of Kumarasambhava is the love of Siva and Parvati, their marriage and the birth of Kumara or Kartikeya, who later slays the demon Taraka and reli

Page #29
16 Appointment with Kalidasa eves the Universe of a dreadful worry and danger. Parvati is the daughter of Mena and Himavat. Kalidasa personifies the Himalaya mountain and presents him as a human, loving father, deeply concerned with the happiness of his pet daughter; but at the same time the geographical and material aspects of the mountain range and the mythological fancies associated with it are carefully preserved and mixed in the dual personality. The epic begins with a gorgeous, marvellous description of the Himalaya which is the wonderful background and the 'scene of action of this story of love and marriage. Himalaya is presented as the 'soul of the gods', on whose precincts wonderful herbs grow, some emitting light in darkness, some of unique medicinal value; it is a mine of numberless jewels and precious stones; its surroundings are hallowed by the presence of gods and of sages who practise uncommon penances. Its majestic peaks, wrapped in pure-white snow, rise above the clouds and reach heavens, blocking sometimes the movements of celestial beings travelling in air. But with all its snow and inaccessible heights, its wonderful majesty and its rich splendour continue to dazzle all beings, including the supernatural denizens. The only daughter of Himavat is Parvats who was enticed by Siva and wanted to marry him. Siva is engaged in a penance, for some 'mysterious reason', and has sought a secluded corner of the rich, enticing regions of the Himalayas for his purpose. Parvali goes to the place to give him her personal service and attends on him with her companion while he chooses to remain undisturbed and urmoved in his mental concentration and penance. But it appears that the gods are themselves interested in the marriage of Siva and Parvati. An asura by name Taraka has triumphed over the divine power and is poised to take the universe under his control. Since Prajapati has given him a boon of indestructibility, neither he nor the Preserver of the Universe, god Visnu, is able to deal with the growing might of the demon. It is predicted that a son born of the union of Siva and Parvati will alone destroy the demon. So, the gods propose to help Parvati, in their way, in her own pursuit of love. To kindle the spark of love in the heart of Siva, Brahma asks Madana, the god of love, to do his bit. Madana comes to the Himalayan regions with his wife Rati and his companion Vasanta. All of a sudden, the Himalayan region comes into glory with the bloom of an untimely spring. The flowering trees blossomed into a riot of colours. The deer started roaming the plains. The male Koel with its throat hoarse with now mango shoots burst into a sweet melody. The male and female bee perched on a flowers to sip the juice, the male following his beloved. The black antelope scratched the doc with his horn and she closed her eyes in sbeer happiness. The female elephant put a mouthful of scented water into the trunk of the male. The Kimpurusa could not help kissing the fragrant mouth of his beloved. Even the ascetics found it difficult to keep their minds in concentration, conscious of amorous activities all round them. Kama eluded the watchful eye of Nandi and entered the inner sanctum where

Page #30
Literary Works Siva was deep in samadhi. Parvat! was near by silently watching, offering her worship and salutations to Slva lost in his meditation. Kama seized an opportunity, as Siva opened his eyes and directed them to Parvati's lips while she was offering a garland of lotus-seeds. Kama fixed the sammohana arrow to his flowery bow. As he was pulling the bow-string Siva saw him; and before the words of warning and appeal were out of the mouths of the gods watching the happening from the sky, a flame of fire issuing from the third eye of Siva reached Madana and reduced him to ashes. Rati's heart broke; her sorrow was beyond consolation. Her misery at the loss of Madana drove her to end her own life and she would have thrown her body on the pyre of burning wood prepared for her husband. But a heavenly voice assured her that Madana would be brought back to life and asked her to preserve carefully.the ashes of his body. Parvati realised with a shock and amazement that her unparalleled personal beauty, which had put even Rati to shame, and all the blandishments of Kama had no effect on Siva. There was no way to reach his heart except perhaps penance of which he, as a Yogi, was the master. Bitterly disappointed but firmer in her determination she decided to start severe austerities, against the entreaty of her mother, subjecting her delicate body to fasts, living on fallen leaves, then giving up even these and subsisting on air, standing in cold water in the biting winter, and in summer kindling four fires round her and gazing at the mid-day Sun. 17 Utterly exhausted, yet persevering and hopeful, Parvati was biding her time, when a young celibate, blazing with Brahmanic lustre, entered the tapovana where Parvati was doing her penance. She received him with due honour and respect. The young ascetic with matted hair asked her about her well-being, her austerities, and complimented her for undertaking a penance which would serve as a model even to seasoned ascetics. He naturally wanted to know its purpose and showed his willingness to give her half the merit of his own austerities so that Parvati could have her wishes fulfilled. What was amazing was that there was no cause for undertaking any penance: Parvati was born in the divine family of Hiranyagarbha; she had the beauty at which all the three worlds were marvelling; splendour, riches and happiness were like hand-maidens in the house of her father; she was in the prime of her youth. What else could any one want to gain by penance? She could not want to gain heaven, because her father ruled over the godly lands. Why did she don then a bark-garment which befits advanced old age, not youth and uncommon beauty ? The ascetic guessed that it was a matter of love and expressed a desire to know about the young man whom Parvati coveted. When he learned from her companion that Parvati had set her heart on Siva, the young ascetic could not check either bis words or the laughter that was about to break the bond of his lips. Love for Siva ? That Sambhu, who lives on the cemetery grounds, goes about without clothes, besmears his body with ashes from the cemetery, loves to put on an elephant-hide dripping with blood, and serpent coiled as a bracelet round his wrists? Siva's three eyes 3

Page #31
Appointment with Kalidasa leave nothing to be said about his personal charm; his nakedness proclaims what wealth he has; nobody knows about his lineage. How could Parvati come to love such a personality ? How horrible it would be when Siva's serpent-coiled hand would hold Parvati's hand in the marriage ceremony ! How could his elephant-hide match with the silken brial dress of Parvati ? And how ridiculous would the bridal procession be when Parvats would ride behind siva on the back of a bull! Parva ti was flaring in anger as the Batu was proceeding; and now she came out with a stunning reply. To her mind there were hardly any people who realised the quintessence of Siva's unique personality. Lacking garments to wear Siva was the source of all riches; living in cemetery he was the master of the three worlds; dreadful in outward aspect he was known as Siva or the auspicious. He symbolised the Universal Man, and it did not matter, therefore, what he wore, where he lived or how he acted. He may ride a bull; but Indra riding his Airavata makes way for him and bows at his feet. It is no wonder if his lineage is not known; how could one know the birth of the god who creates the self-born Brahman ? But Parvati did not wish to argue with a flippant, talkative chap, and ordered her companion to show him the way out; and she herself got up to leave the place, because listening to the abuse of the great is itself a sin. The young ascetic threw away his disguise, and stood before Parvati as Siva. He took her hand in his, and declared kimself to be her 'servant, bought by her austerities' and, of course, her devotion and love. The proposal of marriage is then brought formally to Himavat by Arundhati and the seven sages. The marriage is celebrated with regal splendour and divine touch with full ritual and festivities. Kalidasa devotes the eighth canto to describing the pleasures of love of the newly married couple. The printed editions of the epic have nine more cantos which carry the story forward, describing the birth of Kumara, his growing up, his exploits and his gigantic fight with the demon Taraka in which he kills him. But in the execution of the story, poetic imagery, use and handling of metres, language and diction, the imitation of Kalidasa can be recognised but not the sure and genuine hand of the poet. The commentary of Mallinatha is not available after the eighth canto. It is argued that the birth of Kumara-Kartikeya and Taraka-vadha are an integral part of this legend and the story, therefore, ought to include them. But is it a literary compulsion for a poet to handle the whole legend ? Does he not have the freedom of art to choose a part of the legen and leave the rest with enough poetic suggestion ? That is what Kalidasa seems to have done. The traditional belief that Kalidasa wrote a full epic but the cantos after the eighth came to be lost somehow, is a belief I do not share. It does not appear from the title of the epic that Kalidasa had planned a full story of Siva-varsa or Kumara-carita. Kalidasa appears to have in his mind the story of the uncommon love of Siva and Parvati, culminating in their marriage.

Page #32
Literary Works With the pleasures of the wedded couple described, the 'possibility' and the 'birth' (the two meanings of the word, sambhava) of a son were assured. The poem then could end on the obvious poetic suggestion (dhvani) because the rest of the story is known from the established legend; and, moreover, the details are too full of the marvellous elements to attract human interest, which predominates in the story-portion of love and marriage. I am also not inclined to accept the other traditional belief that Kalidasa's depiction of srngara of the 'parents of the world' provoked strong criticism from lovers of literature and critics; and so, he left the composition of the epic after the eighth canto. This may be a matter of literary taste, which does change with the passage of time. But the view is not consistent with Kalidasa's own outlook on love and life. The story of the divine love of Siva and Parvati is a symbol of the power of creation which moves, animates and perpetuates the entire Universe. It is in this sense that the mythical couple is to be recognised as the parents of the world. The other-worldly ascetics and yogis would like to burn Kama and destroy the natural passion to ashes, as Siva did in his agitation. But the divinities assure rati and kama is brought back to life; it is the force of animation and nature's arrangement for the continuation of life in this universe. There is a pleasure and gratification of the body and mind in the fulfilment of love. But it is also true that physical union is not an end in itself. It demands unselfish devotion and hard penance sometimes, as the examples of Parvati and Rati show. When these motives combine there is real fulfilment in the form of a son who will be not only the delight of his parents but also an ornament to the world. 19 Kalidasa seems to present this theme of universal love and its deeper significance through a mythical story. And in treating this story with its emphasis on the human angle, Kalidasa's art blooms with Vernal splendour. In the description of the Himalaya, the advent of Spring and Parvati's severe austerities, poetic imagination and picturesque grace join hands together. The devoted love of Parvati and the heart-rending lament of Rati churn out the tender feelings and pathos of human life. In the disguise of Siva there is a thrilling dramatic quality, as his own ridicule is the finest example of dramatic irony and humour and of the disarming ability to laugh at oneself. Nature and human emotions match in understanding response to make this story of love a poetic delight. It is said that Kalidasa wrote Raghuvansa after completing the Kumarasambhava. The two epics do not appear to be far separated in time, considering the stamp of maturity discernible in this epic. 4. Raghuvamsa Raghuvansa is a massive epic in 19 cantos, and, judging by a long-established tradition of literature and of Sanskrit studies, the most admired work of Kalidasa,

Page #33
Appointment with Kalidasa an epic which earned him unreserved praise from literary critics and the pet name of 'Raghukara'. Kalidasa opens this epic with a salutation to siva and Parvati, the parents of the universe, blended inseparably with each other like word and sense. A poet's power of words may be limited; but he aspires to rise to the heights of fame. The effort may be inadequate; but the Raghu family hailing from the Sun possesses such dazzling and extra-ordinary qualities as to inspire any man of letters and lead him to burst into a flow of words in describing the worthy kings of this Solar race. The son of Surya was Manu; in Manu's family was born an eminent king, Dilipa. Physically Dilipa was epuipped with broad chest, massive shoulders and the stature of a Sala tree, he had the intellectual and spiritual qualities to make him a fine administrator and a valorous leader of men, the kingdom of the earth was in his hands, and his people loved him. Queen Sudaksina was a worthy match for him. In the midst of this luxury and splendour Dilipa and his queen suffered from one drawback which deprived them of the happiness of family life and closed the door of other-worldly happiness for them; they had no child. They decided to consult their family priest Vasistha. In their chariot ride to the hermitage, though their hearts were heavy with sorrow, nature and map did not forget to offer them a loving welcome. Gentle breezes removed their fatigue; peacocks sang their praises; tha sarasa birds stood in a line to raise an arch over their heads; the villagers greeted them with jars of fresh ghee made from cows' milk. The royal couple too spoke to the simple village elders, asking them their names and of the trees not familiar to them. When Dilipa reached the hermitage of Vasistha, it was evening; preparations for the evening fire-oblations were ready; the wives of the sages were feeding the young ones of the deer with handfuls of wild rice; fragrance of the burning incense had filled the atmosphere. Dilipa spoke to the priest and Vasistha found out in Samadhi the cause of the king's misery. Dilipa was, once, returning from the heaven after serving Indra, and in his eagerness to go back to his wife he had failed to notice the celestial cow Surabhi sitting under the Kalpa tree and had forgotten to pay his respects to her. Surabhi had cursed him for the lapse and so he was childless. The sage advised him to serve Nandini, the daughter of the Kamadhenu, who was in the hermitage. Dilipa and his queen immediately decided to act up to the advice. They chose a cottage to live, used darbha blades as a mattress to sleep on, subsisted on wild roots and fruits, and thus, observing the hermit's vow, started attending on the cow. Sudaksina would worship the cow morning and evening, Dilipa would follow her like a shadow during the day in her roamings through the forest, feed her now and then with luscious green grass, walk behind her, sit when she sat and sleep after she had gone to sleep. The couple followed this ritual with devotion for twentyone days. Then, one day, Nandini climbed a high and difficult peak of the Himalaya and started grazing there. All of a sudden she gave a cry of distress and Dilipa found that the cow was in the clutches of a lion. Dilipa tried to pull his arrow, but his

Page #34
Literary Works hand stuck at the quiver. The lion then spoke to him in human terms, explaining that he was an attendant of Siva, the Devadara tree in this precinct was an adopted child of Siva and Parvati, and that he, Kumbhodara, was permitted to eat any animal that came in this region and molested the tree. Dilipa found that he was helpless against the divine ordination; so, he offered his own body to the lion in place of the cow's, disregarding the ridicule and advice of the lion, bent only on doing his duty to the cow and fulfilling the kingly obligation of protecting one's subjects. But in stead of the lion pouncing on Dilipa a heavenly shower of flowers greeted Dilipa. It was all an illusion created by Nandini in order to test Dilipa and he had passed the test. Nandini advised him to drink her milk and promised the fulfilment of his desire. 21 Nandini's boon bore the fruit. In due course Sudak sina was blessed with a son. The desolate place turned into a treasure-house of joy and happiness as the little Raghu started rambling through the apartments, holding the finger of his nurse, and prattling delightful childish words and playing his games. Dilipa looked after the education of the prince with care and soon Raghu became proficient in all lores and statecraft. He acquired good physique also, and standing near Dilipa he looked like a young elephent by the side of a mighty elephant. Dilipa arranged his marriage in due time and installed him es heir-apparent. Dilipa then decided to perform the Horse-sacrifice. Reghu was entrusted with the protection of the horse assisted by at huge army. The sacrifice commenced; but suddenly the horse disappeared mysteriously. Once again Nandini came to the help of the royal family. When Raghu washed his eyes with the sacred urine of the celestial cow his vision could penetrate all open and hidden obstacles. He saw that the jealous Indra had stolen the sacrificial horse. Raghu challenged Indra to a fight. Indra was amazed at Raghu's valour. But he told him that the title Satakratu' must belong exclusively to Indra; Dilipa can get, however, the religious merit of having completed the sacrifice. Dilipa felt that he had obtained the fruit of his life. He handed over the reins of the kingdom to Raghu and went away with his queen to live the life of a forester. Coming on the throne Raghu assumed a new brilliance. The invisible Laksmi held the royal parasol over his head as it were, and Sarasvati sang his praises through the mouths of his bards. The Earth felt honoured and gratified at having such a king; and Raghu fully justified his designation 'Raja' to his subjects by keeping them pleased and happy. When the Monsoon was over and Autumn came, Raghu decided to undertake a military campaign of all-round conquest. Accompanied with a fully equipped army Raghu first came to the East. His huge army crossing the eastern ocean looked like the mighty stream of Ganges coaxed by Bhagiratha from the matted hair of Siva. Raghu conquered Subya, Vanga, and planted his victory pillars in the stream of Ganga. He turned then to the South. The Kalinga king paid him a tribute and saved his kingdom. Moving further down south Raghu crossed the Kaveri river and, along the southern coast, came to the kingdom of the Pandyas.

Page #35
22 Appointment with Kalidasa The Pandya king presented Raghu the tribute of pearls gathered in the sea near the mouth of the river Tamraparni and accepted his suzere inty. Raghu crossed the sandal wrapped Malaya and Dardura mountains, went beyond Sahya range, defeated the kings of Kerala and Aparanta; and then moved up by the ground route in order to meet the Parasikas. He covered the earth with the severed heads of the long-bearded foes. On the long beach of Sindhu, as Raghu's horses, their manes entwined with saffron shoots, rolled in the sands they were refreshed; it was easy for Raghu to crush the Huns, Kambojas etc. with his cavalry fresh and vigorous after the rest. Raghu then conquered the clans like Utsava, Samketa in the Himalayan region and came to Kamarupa - Assam. The king of Kamarupa offered flowers of jewels at Raghu's feet. With the conquest of four quarters Raghu returned to his kingdom. He performed the Visvajit sacrifice and distributed all the wealth, his own as well as the acquired, with the generosity of showering clouds. But as the sacrifice was over, Kautsa, a pupil of Varatantu, came to Raghu to beg for 14 million gold pieces which he wanted to present to his teacher as preceptor's fee. Raghu's treasury was empty. It was also his sacred vow never to send away a needy person without granting his wish. Kautsa was about to turn away; Raghu requested him to stay in the palace for a couple of days; he had decided to attack Kubera to get the necessary wealth. Kubera knew it, and he filled Raghu's treasury with showers of gold during the night. Raghu offered the entire wealth to Kautsa; but he collected only the exact amount, thanked the king and went away, giving him the blessing that he would have a virtuous son worthy of himself. As the son was born to Raghu with the blessing of a Brahmin, he named him Aja (the unborn). Like a lamp lit from another lamp, Aja inherited his father's vigour, strength and nobility. When Aja came into youth, king Bhoja of Krathakaisika sent his messenger to Raghu for the svayamvara of his sister. Raghu thought well of this possible relation with the Vidarbha kingdom; Aja was of a marriageable age: he sent Aja therefore with a suitable army. On his way Aja stopped for a while on the bank of Narmada. There was a curious elephant in the river; its strong scent, bitter like that of the Saptacchada tree, repelled the elephants in Aja's army; they started running helter-skelter and the army camp was in uproar. Aja saw this confusion, selected a particular arrow and discharged it at the head of the rogue elephant. It was really the son of a Gandharva, Priyamyada, who had offended the sage Matanga and was transformed into an elephant by the curse of the sage. In gratitude Priyamvada gave Raghu a gandharva missile, sammohana, and both went their ways. Aja encamped near the capital of Bhoja who welcomed him personally. The svayamvara was next morning; but Aja could not sleep thinking of it and of Indumati. Sleep came to him only in early hours of the morning, when he was awakened by the songs of his bards, Dawn was breaking, dew-drops had collected in the folds of reddish leaves; lotuses were opening; the parrot in the cage was repeating the songs sung by the bards. Aja got up and started his preparations to go to the marriage-hall.

Page #36
Literary Works Aja entered the hall in dignity and took his appointed seat. Other kings were already there and every one craned his neck to have a look at Aja. In a little while the professional bards came and sang praises of the royal family; the fragrant smoke of sandal and aguru filled the hall; conches were blown confusing the peacocks with the semblance of thunder-clap; and princess Indumati arrived in the svayamvara-mandapa in a palanquin. There was an immediate excitement among the kings gathered in the hall. One king started whirling the lotus in his hand; another held the jewelled necklace slipping down from his shoulder and turned his neck to have a better look at the approaching figure; one turned his eyes down to his gold foot-stool and drew lines with his big toe on it; another turned to his neighbour to whisper something to him; one tore the Ketaki leaf in this hand inadvertantly; the other rattled the dice in his hand and threw them down; the third was busy adjusting his crown. Indumati was naturally unmindful of these erotic gestures on the part of the prospective suitors. She walked through the row of sofas, a garland. in her hands, accompanied by the bold pratihari, Sunanda, who was familiar with all the suitors. She described each one with all his special points. Indumat! would stop before a king while he was being introduced by Sunanda and then move forward. The particular king's face would be illumined with hope as long as Indumati was standing before him, but it would be plunged in darkness of despair when she moved ahead. In a way Indumati was like a lighted torch moving through the royal road, alternately illumining and throwing into darkness the turrets of the palatial mansions on the side. Indumati could not feel any attraction for the various kings who were introduced to her, except for Aja whom she finally chose and garlanded. In a sense, it was the union of jewel and gold. All then turned towards the city to celebrate the wedding properly. As the couple was driven through the streets, the women in the city rushed to look at the bride and the groom and in their hurry and confu. sion forgot to complete their toilette. The marriage was performed in regal splendour. Aja took his bride with him and started home. The disappointed kings had not uttered a word during the marriage ceremony; but now they combined to block Aja's way and take away Indumat from him by force. Aja gave a stiff fight. He realised, however, that it would take a long time to defeat the combined forces of the opposition and there was also an element of uncertainty about the final cutcome. So, he used the sammohana missile sending his enemies into sleep. He showed with just pride the kings lying in disorderly sleep to his delighted wife and returned home safe and jubilant. 23 Raghu was happy with the happiness of Aja and Indumati. The kings of the Raghu family do not like to stick to the throne, particularly when they have a capable son. Raghu decided to use the rest of his life in the practice of yoga for his own salvation; and handing over the kingdom to Aja he repaired to the solitude of a forest. It was hard for Aja to bear the separation from his father; but he was trained in statecraft and did not falter or fail in his kingly duties. Then Raghu

Page #37
24 Appointment with Kalidasa passed away. It was fortunate that Indumati had given birth by this time to a son who was named Dasaratha. Once Aja and Indumats were in the garden outside the city. Narada was passing through air to Gokarna to pay his holy respects to Siva located at that southern place of pilgrimage. The garland of flowers hanging from his lute broke loose and fell on Indumati's breasts and she died on the spot. Aja fainted with the shock. But when he recovered consciousness the fact that he had lost Indumati sent him in inconsolable sorrow. The heart-rending lament of Aja bewildered the birds, the trees wept with him shedding tears of falling leaves. How could a garland of flowers kill any one ? And why did Indumati go away without telling him ? The whole place was filled with memories of her. Could not death show a little mercy ? In taking Indumats away death had robbed Aja of the mistress of his house, a wise counsellor, a companion and a beloved pupil in fine arts. There was nothing left for Aja to live for. Aja completed the funeral rites and somehow came back to the city. Vasistha was engaged in a sacrifice at the time; but he sent a message through his pupil. Death is a mystery; but no mortal can escape it. Death is the law of nature; life is a borrowed experience. So, it is not proper for the wise to mourn over death. It is true that Indumati died suddenly; but she was an apsara really, by name Harini; Indra had sent her to spoil the penance of a sage, Trnabindu, and it was due to his curse that she had taken a human birth; the curse was to end at the sight of a celestial flower; so, she went back to her heavenly regions. Aja should understand all this, said Vasistha, and control his sorrow. No amount of tears would bring the dead back to life; on the contrary the tears are supposed to burn the departed. Ending one's life is also no good, because it does not mean re-union with the departed. Vasistha's words were weighty, full of deep philosophical truth, and they carried sympathy and consolation. But Aja had decided otherwise. He lived for eight years somehow till Dasaratha came of age; and then committed suicide by fasting unto death at the confluence of Ganga and Sarayu. Dasaratha governed his kingdom well. He had the ideals of his father before him; bis mind was tuned to the happiness of his people and the people too were happy. Personally he had no vice. Once he thought of going on a hunting expedition. It was spring time. The scent of flowers, songs of birds, the cool touch of the gentle breeze were in the atmosphere, in addition to the riot of colours, the sweet honey of the flowers and other paraphernalia of nature to excite and gratify the senses and mind. Dasaratha could not but be affected by the emotion-charged atmosphere. The plumage of the peacock reminded him of the tresses of his beloved wife interspersed with flowers, and the sight of the deer of her eyes; he could not use his arrows against them. But he hunted and killed wild boar, rhino and tiger. With night-fall he encamped in the wood. In the early hours of the morning he thought he heard an elephant

Page #38
Literary Works 25 drinking water at a nearby river. He sent a special arrow in the direction of the sound. To his horror he heard a hu nan cry of agony. He rushed to the river and found a Brahmin boy, sravana, who had come to fetch water from the river and had become the victim of his fatal arrow. Dasaratha tended him and, on his telling, carried him to his old parents. The arrow was pulled out of the heart of Sravana but the boy died immediately. The aggrieved father cursed Dasaratha in his anguish that he toy would die by the grief over his son. The old parents died on the pyre of their only son, and Dasaratha returned to his capital with a heavy heart, solemn like the sea with the fire burning in its belly. Is curse, sometimes, an augury of an unconscious bliss ? Dasaratha was childless so far. He decided to perform the Putra-kama-isti. The gods in heaven were waiting, at this time, for the human avatara of Visnu to deal with Ravana whose might was uachallenged and was further enhanced by the boon of Siva. Visnu agreed to take birth as Rama. According to divine ordination, when the wives of Dasaratha ate the sacrificial caru, Rama was born to Kausalya, Bharata to Kaikeyi and Laksmana and Satrughna to Sumitra. In the following six cantos Kalidasa presents the story of Rama on the lines of Valmiki's Ramayana. There is a reference to the killing of the Kraunca bird by the hunter and Valmiki's inspiration for the epic composition. The incidents, from the protection of Visvamitra's sacrifices in early childhood, through the training and education, marriages, Kaikeyi's insistence on putting Bharata on the throne, the exile into forest, Dasaratha's death, killing of Tadaka and a host of demons in the Dandaka, abduction of Sita, search for her, friendly alliances with Sugriva and Hanumat, final crossing of the ocean, seige of Lanka, death of Ravana and the triumphant return to Ayodhya after Sita's purification by fire-ordeal, are all briefly presented. Ramarkable in this presentation is the picture of the lands of India (Bharata-bh umi) which Kalidasa paints through Rama as he and Sita proceed from Lanka to Ayodhya in the Puspaka aerial car. The pictures pulsate with life, accuracy of details, colour and variety. The rule of Rama was an happy augury of a just and righteous government. But the public scandal about Sita's long stay in Ravana's captivity, in spite of her fire-ordeal, hurt Rama very much and he abandoned her while she was advanced in pregnancy. Kalidasa's Sita does not blame Rama, only questions his judgement in the light of her ordeal and the reputation of the family; her love for Rama remains constant. Valmiki looked after the abandoned Sita and her twin sons, educated them, taught them his Ramayana, which Rama had an opportunity to hear when he met the boys in the course of his Asvamedha performance. He recogoised Kusa and Lava as his own sons but wanted Sita to demonstrate her purity before all the people, Sita chose to disappear in the bosom of her mother Eerth. This was a shock

Page #39
Appointment with Kalidasa to Rama. He had put his brothers in charge of different parts of his kingdom. He now ended his life in the river Sarayu. Many citizens followed suit, such was their love for their king. Satrughna had dealt with the brood of Lavana demons on the bank of Yamuna; his sons Satrughati and Subahu were now given the charge of Mathura and Vidisa, the newly founded Kingdoms on the Yamuna. Bharata had put down the rebellion of the Gandharvas in the Sindhu region and installed his sons Taksa and Puskala to administer the kingdom of Taksasila and Puskalavati. Laksmana's sons, Angada and Candraketu, were ruling over Karapatha. Rama had himself given the kingdom of Saravati to Lava and of Kusavati to Kusa. After the decease of Rama Kusa as the eldest son became the chief ruler. But as he prefered to live in Kusavati, the city of Ayodhya had a faded and dumb look. One night Kusa had a vision. He was awake in his bed. Suddenly his bedchamber was flooded with brilliant light. A woman dressed like a virahini stood before Kusa with folded hands. She was the presiding deity of Ayodhya. She described the desolate condition of the city and urged him to go back to Ayodhya to restore her to her former glory. Kusa accepted the plea He returned to Ayodhya and rebuilt the city. He asked some Brahmins to look after the kingdom of Kusavati and conducted his owo state affairs from Ayodhya. Once as he was enjoying the water sport on the Sarayu, his bracelet fell in the river. It was given to Rama by the sage Agastya, and Rama had given it to his son. Kusa organised an extensive search, but could not recover the lost bracelet. Thinking that a serpent may have swallowed it he employed the Garuda missile, The king of the Nagas came up from the waters, returned the bracelet to Kusa, and offered his younger sister Kumudvati to him. From this incident Ayodhya was freed from the danger of serpents and the serpents too earned protection from Garuda. Kumudvati gave Kusa a son, Atithi. Later, when Kusa was fighting the Durjaya demons for the sake of Indra, he and the demon both were killed, Kumudvati followed her husband in death. The ministers put Atithi on the throne. Atithi had deeply studied the Arthasastra and political economy. He observed a careful timetable day and night and performed his duties with a sense of discipline. He had also mastered his senses, as he did his enemies. His kingly rule grew in glory; Indra and Kubera were his allies; the people enjoyed prosperity. After Atithi twentyone kings ruled inheriting the kingdom by family descent. Sudarsana, the son of the twenty-second king Dhruvasandhi, came to the throne as a child. But as a crescent of the moon illumines the sky, a cub of a lion strikes terror in a forest, or a lotus-bud adorns a lake, Sudarsana brought prestige and glory to his rule. The experienced ministers helped him to acquire proficiency in administration. He lived long. In his old age he handed over the kingdom

Page #40
Literary Works to his son Agnivarna and, following the tradition of Raghu family, repaired to the forest to devote his time to the hermit's life and penance. 27 Sudarsana had enforced such firm and fine traditions that Agnivarna had nothing much to do for administering his rich kingdom. But Agnivarna was by temperament a pleasure-seeker, loving women, wine and music. He spent almost all his time in his apartment listening to or playing music. As if the women in his harem were not enough, he invited handsome maids and courtesans to keep him company. Agnivarna was a real expert in music. He personally played the mrdanga as an accompaniment to dance, and pointed out to the female dancer her errors in keeping musical time. But all this pleasure-loving had its inevitable results. The administration was ruined. The subjects could hardly see their king. Once when the minister pressed him, Agnivarna thrust his foot out of a window of his bedchamber to give darsana to his people. The excesses with women and wine had also taken a toll of his health; he had contacted the wasting disease; ultimately death overtook him. For caution the ministers arranged cremation in the garden of the palace and suppressed the news of the king's death. Agnivarna's pregnant queen was put on the throne. The queen, the ministers and the knowing public began the waiting period, hoping, for the birth of a new successor to the royal family. The epic is a saga of Solar kings. Kalidasa named it after Raghu perhaps for a number of reasons. Raghu stands near the top with Dilipa in Kalidasa's story and the succession of kings could naturally be described as the scions of his family. Raghu, on the whole, is the most exemplary of the royal family described here. Rama is equally great. But he comes far down in the line; and besides, in the poet's eyes Rama is good in human form; on the contrary Raghu is an extra-ordinary man who raised himself to divine heights. By writing this epic Kalidasa appears to have created a norm for a literary epic a massive subject; elegant construction with a veriety of personalities, incidents. and emotions; beautiful expression which runs through varying style and metres; the poetic and dramatic quality of the descriptions; a stress on an ideological portraiture; and a noble thoughtful outlook on life: these these are some of the characteristics that distinguish Raghuvansa. There is no wonder if the 'Raghukara' found a permanent place in the hearts of all lovers of literature. 5. Malavikagnimitra The dramatic story of Malavikagnimitra is a story of love that finally succeeds through harem intrigue and opposition by clever plotting. Agnimitra, king of Vidisa, happened to notice in his usual visit to the harem apartments a picture recently painted showing a group of ladies in the harem. There was a young girl there who particularly attracted his attention. But the senior queen Dharini did not answer

Page #41
28 Appointment with Kalidasa Agnimitra's simple question about the girl, fearing undesirable developments. Dharini's young sister, a child, Vasulaksmi, gave out the name of the girl as Malavika. The queen's silence was a tactical error, because it only served to increase the king's curiosity. The girl was sent to the queen by her low-born brother who was posted to command the fortress on the bank of Narmada; the girl came into his hands as a refugee, and seeing her exceptional skill in dance, he had sent her to Dharini. Malavika was living in the harem as a personal maid of the queen and was receiving dance lessons from the royal preceptor of dance, Ganadasa, as the younger queen Iravati was being coached by another dance master Haradatta. These things were known in the harem apartments; so, when Agnimitra spoke to his companion and jesting pilot' Gautama and expressed his keen desire to see Malavika in person, the Vidusaka instigated a quarrel between the two dance masters as an indirect but sure remedy to fulfil the king's wishes. The dance masters were both experts in their special field and touchy; when they were challenged by each other about their respective superiority in their specialised art, the quarrel came to a head; both sought an interview with the king, as they were in royal employment and as the king is the final tribunal in matters of dispute. Agnimitra invited Dharini and her learned companion Parivrajika-Pandita Kausiki to hear the dispute in order to maintain an appearance of personal unconcern and indifference. Dharini was clever enough to see through this manoeuvre and tried desparately to stop the quarrel by several arguments; but Gautama continued to provoke the old Ganadasa by accusing him of lack of skill, of doing nothing to earn his salary, and comparing the two dance masters to rams and elephants who would give no peace till one of them was vanduished in a fight, which, any way, would be great fun. Unfortunately for Dharini, Parivrajika did not exactly take her side; she suggested that the masters demonstrated their skill by the performance of their pupils, for undisputed skill in an art is not a matter of theoretical knowledge only but also of an ability to train a pupil. So, a show was finally arranged to be held immediately in the music apartment of the palace. Ganadasa was given priority because of his age; Parivrajika was to act as a judge; and a difficult piece, the Chalita dance, based on the fourth quartret of Sarmistha's composition, was selected for presentation by both the contending parties. The performance of Malavika is shown in the second act; that of Haradatta's pupil is reported. Malavika gave a perfect exhibition of the difficult natya and came out the winner, Agnimitra had the pleasure of watching Malavika at close quarters, admire her exquisite personal beauty and her accomplished skill in dance and abhinaya. The experience resulted only in increasing his interest in the girl; he fell in love with her and pressed the Vidusaka to arrange for a meeting with her. The opportunity came partly by a coincidence. Dharini had a favourite Asoka tree; it had not come into blossom though the season was ripe; it was necessary to fulfil the tree's dohada; normally Dharini would herself have fulfilled the longing of the tree by kicking it gently with her left foot; but she sustained a fall from the

Page #42
Literary Works swing and injured her foot; this may perhaps have been Gautama's trick; any way, the work came to Malavika; Dharini promised her that she would accord to her wish if the golden Asoka blossmed in five nights due to her effort. Gautama, however, had managed to take Bakulavalika, a harem maid and a personal friend of Malavika, into his confidence and asked her on the king's behalf to prevail on Malavika and make her respond to the king's love. The third act shows this beautiful, romantic scene of Asoka-dohada-purana. Malavika comes into the Pramadavana, slightly puzzled but hopeful, and already entertaining thoughts of love for king Agnimitra. Bakulavalika comes with the personal ornaments of queen Dharini and decorating materials to give her assistance to Malavika. while applying the red lacdye to the tender foot of Malavika she opens up the topic of the king's attraction for Malavika and wins a confession from her of her love for the king, and also of the difficulties in her way. Bakulavalika gives her encouragement and promise of all help. The Vidusaka had brought Agnimitra to the scene and both were watching the developments from behind a creeper. As Malavika rises up to kick the Asoka with her decorated ornamented foot and fulfils the tree's longing, Agnimitra steps forward and begs Malavika to fulfil his own longing for her. The romantic scene of love is spoiled by Iravati who jumps into the scene. As a matter of fact, Agnimitra had promised his younger queen Iravati to be with her to enjoy the swing in celebration of the Spring: Iravati had come to the royal garden with her maid, slightly drunk; had discovered Malavika near the Asoka, wondered about it; but knowing the reason of the maid's presence felt a pang of jealousy too. Now, seeing her husband making overtures of love to Malavika she could not control her anger. She rushed forward and taunted Malavika and the king with words of bitter and jealous anger. The Vid usaka was taken by complete surprise and could not think of any means of escape, except running away from the scene. The king, equally taken aback, tried to explain the situation away by bluffing and actually apologised to Iravati touching her feet. But Iravati was irate; she raised her fallen girdle to strike at the king, checked herself somehow, and went away in anger, predicting disaster like the fiery planet Mars. Malavika and Bakulavalika had already excused themselves and run away from Iravati The king and the Vidusaka were left on the spot, frustrated and fearful of unknown consequences. 29 They came without delay. At the instance of Iravati, Dharini was compelled to throw Malavika and Bakulavalika into confinement in the cellar of the Samudragrha, and the garden-keeper and guard, Madhavika, was instructed not to set the girls free unless the queen's signet-ring was shown along with the order for release. Gautama has now to employ a series of tricks. The most important thing was to obtain the possession of the queen's ring. For this purpose he plays the hoax of serpent-bite. He pretends that he had gone to pick a few flowers for the queen for his visit to her when he was bitten by a poisonous serpent. When he is brought in the presence of Dharini he acts the part superbly, shaking all over, and requesting

Page #43
Appointment with Kalidasa Dharini to pardon all his faults and look after his family after his death. The queen. is alarmed that she was an indirect cause of a Brahmin's death. The physician is sent for. Gautama has taken a number of people into his conspiracy, particularly Jayasena, the messenger and go-between. She brings the medical opinion, as taught, that a surgical operation to let out the poisoned blood was necessary, which Parivrajika confirms from her knowledge; in addition, a mantra procedure was necessary for which some object with an effigy of serpent was required; Dharini in her anxiety and fear for the Brahmin's safety takes out her signet-ring and gives it to Jayasena, because it has the serpent's figure carved on it. The Vidusaka is apparently taken to the royal physician; but he and Jayasena meet on the way; she is left back to carry the message, after proper interval of time, to the queen that Gautma was out of danger to his life; and the Vidusaka armed with the ring, collects the king and together they go to the Samudragrha. Gautma shows the ring to Madhavika; he silences her suspicion by bluffing that the king's stars were not favourabla and so it was decided to release all prisoners as a mark of auspiciousness; further, Dharini had put the girls in prison to humour Iravati; she did not want to hurt her feelings: so, in stead of sending her own servent she had sent Gautama with the ring as it would give the impression that the king was personally interested in setting the girls free. The entire hoax works perfectly. Agnimitra is able to meet Malavika in the privacy of the Samudragrha. Gautama choses to sit near the gate, sends Bakulavalika to watch the path leading to the Samudragriha, and the lovers are left to themselves. But it happens that Iravatt is on her way to the Samudragrha. She is still fuming with anger, but is repentent also of her rash behaviour in the Pramadavan. A little uncertain and also proud she had decided to present her apology to the picture of Agnimitra placed in the Samudragrha. When she and her maid see Gautma at the entrance they suspect some intrigue. The maid drops a crooked stick on the Vidasaka who was dozing at the moment without any care in the world. His instinctive fear for the serpent suddenly rouses him and he shouts in alarm for help. Agnimitra and Malavika come out running from the house, and Bakulavalika too from another direction. Iravati understands everything in a flash. The situation has repeated itself. Only a lucky coincidence saves it. Vasulaksmi, playing with a ball, was frightened by a brown monkey and was shaking like a leaf in fear. Everybody's attention is turned to the child. Agnimitra runs to console her; Iravati in her natural concern for the child forgets her anger; and Gautama finds, to his relief, that a partisan, a brown monkey, has come to his assistance and saved the situation. 30 A number of things happen in the fifth and the final act. The golden Asoka blossoms into full luxury before the five nights are over. Dharini is delighted. She arranges a special festive ceremony around the Asoka and orders that Malavika be dressed in a bridal dress used by Vidarbha maidens This work is particularly entrusted to the clever Parivrajika. There is a side-thread in this story of love, namely, the dispute between the two Vidarbha princes Yajnasena and Madhavasena; the

Page #44
Literary Works latter is a partisan of Agnimitra; and to counter the treachery and arrogance of Yajnasena, who had thrown Madhavasena into prison, Agnimitra had ordered a military attack on Vidarbha. Dharini's brother Virasena was in charge; the results of this battle come to hand now. Yajnasena is routed, Madhavasena is freed from prison, and the loot collected after the military victory, along with two girls skilful in music, is being sent. When the girls arrive they immediately recognise Malavika. She is, in tact, the princess of Vidarbha and the younger sister of Madhavasena. Her marriage with Agnimitra was already negotiated; but the political upheaval came in the way. With Madhavasena's imprisonment his minister Sumati arranged to take Malavika, his own sister Kausiki (the Parivrajika) and a few people to the safety of Vidisa through a secret route in the Vindhya mountain range. Unluckily the party was attacked by a band of marauders in the Vindhya mountain pass; Sumati fought bravely; but he was alone; he died in his effort to save the women. Malavika was lost; as we know she came to the hands of Virasena who sert her to Dharini. The distressed Kausiki became a nun and finally found her way in the royal harem as Dharini's companion. This part of the story is narrated by Pandita-Kausiki, who is also recognised by the two girls. The narration revealed, for the first time, that Malavika was not a maid but a princess. Kausiki explains to the apologetic Dharini that she did not reveal Malavika's true identity because it was predicted from her horoscope that she would be required to live like a maid for one year before happiness came to her. Dharini was glad and wanted to make full amends for treating Malavika as a maid though it was not her fault . At this moment another piece of good news comes. Dharini's son Vasumitra was guarding the sacrificial horse for his grandfather Pusyamitra, and Dharini was in perpetual anxiety for his safety. The news comes that he has routed the Yavanas and won the final victory. Pusyamitra has also sent an invitation to the entire royl household to attend the celebration of his Asvamedha. In this moment of all-round joy, Dharini gives the hand of Malavika io Agnimitra. The play is a comedy of royal love, and a hilarious comedy, as it is full of amusing situations,mirth and laughter, with the serious undercurrent of a deep mutual love. But it is obviously the first dramatic work of Kalidasa and he could not avoid certain shortcomings. The major is the portrayal of Agnimitra. He is shown as a king who is entirely dependent on his dependents. His armies, commanders and his young son fight the battles; and there is no political work for him except deciding the strategy and directing the campaigns. Even in the matter f his personal love he relies completely on his companion, the Vidusaka, whom he describes as his *minister of personal affairs'. The Vidusaka dominates the active of the play. And with Agnimitra's unimpressive portrait the modern reader, at least, is in doubt about who the real hero of the play is. Gautama is quite clever and resourceful; but should a minor character assume such an importance in a sophisticated play? The embarrassing situations in which Agnimitra is placed in the Pramadavana and Samudragrha scenes are not lattering to his personality, like the fun Gautama makes of him.

Page #45
32 Appointment with Kalidasa The play is also full of coincidences which luckily help the development and fulfilment of love. The pattern Kalidasa chce is of a low-lavel comedy; but it is not suitable for a dignified play. Kalidasa, of course, improves his technique in the following plays. But it appears that even Malavikagnimitra set a vogue; for, we find Sri Harsa, and later Rajasekhara, imitating Kalidasa in creating their court comedies of love. Vikramorvasiya This is also a play of love, technically a Totaka, because the heroine is a celestial nymph and the hero a renowned king of the earth. It is the story of love tetween the heavenly Urvasi and the mortal Pururavas, a Vedic legend to which Kalidasa has given a poetic form and human garb. The pattern is varied too; the davelopment of love goes through the stages of union, separation and reunion. King Pururavas is returning from heaven after paying his holy respects to Sun. When in mid-air, he hears a cry of help, as if some small birds had cried out in distress. Obviously the danger was to some woman or women. Pururavas learns from the distressed nymphs that Urvasi, the ornament of heaven, was abducted by the demon Kesin as she was returing from the mansion of Kubera, along with her friend Citralekha, and the rescal had escaped in the North-Eastern direction. The rescue was possible only by one who was a partisan if the gods and who had the ability to travel on aerial paths in the sky. Puiuravas promises all help to the nymphs and they promise to wait for him on the peak of the Hemakuta mountain. The chariot of Pururavas flies through the sky and in no time overtakes the demon. Pururavas rescues Urvasi and her friend and brings them back to the Hemakuta to their anxious companions. Urvasi is quite safe; only she had fainted in face of the danger. Now, when she cpens her eyes it is like lotus opening its petals at the close of a dark night. Urvasi had thought that she was rescued by her patron Indra; but Citralekha draws her attention to the king who was an equal of Mahendra in prowess; Urvasi looks at the king and suddenly feels that the demon had obliged her by bringing her into contact with the king. Pur uravas, on his part, is amazed at the heavenly beauty of Urvasi and thinks that if she were the mental creation of sage Narayana it must be a myth. It is a case of love at first sight. But the background is of Vikrama, the brave rescue affected by Pururavas. If Urvasi's extra-ordinary beauty attracted Pururavas to her, Urvasi had every reason to fall in love with him; Pururavas was majestic and handsome; his valour was matchless; and he had put Urvasi under a loving obligation by saving her life. Citraratha arrives on the spot, because the news of Urvasi's abduction had reached heaven and Indra had despatched an army of Gandharvas for her rescue. Citraratha thanks Pururavas on behalf of Indra and the parties depart. But it is once again obvious that Urvasi is leaving her heart behind. The emotions of Pururavas are not different. A taste of the these mutual feelings is had in the second act. Pururavas is lovesick for Urvasi, and the current Spring season only serves to increase his longing for her.

Page #46
Literary Works 33 Urvasi is in no better position. But being a denizen of heaven she has greater freedom. She decides to go down to the earth to meet the king taking Citralekha with her, They find Pururavas in the garden of his palace musing with himself and his compa. nion the Vidusaka. The nymhs keep themselves invisible by their 'lore of concealment' and listen to the conversation. The king is talking of his love for a woman and how it has affected him. Urvasi decides to reveal her own love. She snatches a birch-leaf, writes a poetic letter of love, and drops it near the king. The fool of the Vidusaka, prover bially afraid of snakes, mistakes it for the slough of a serpent; but as the leaf is turned over by the breeze the letters become visible. The king picks up the leaf, reads the letter and confesses his own love for Urvasi. He asks the Vidusaka to hold the letter for him, because his sweating fingers might spoil the letters written on it. Citralekha and Urvasi discard their concealment and come into the presence of the king. But before they could talk much, Urvasi is called back to heaven for the dramatic performance in which she is playing a major role. The lovers' meeting is abruptly ended; but they are both fired by love and mutual responese. The king wishes to turn back to the letter as some kind of consolation. The fool, however, has lost it. The wind carries the birch-leaf away; and, as if by a dramatic coincidence, it gets stuck at the anklet on the foot of queen Ausinarl who is coming in the garden. The queen has noticed the listlessness and paleness of her husband and suspects a love-affair. The letter now confirms it. She confronts the king with the letter, to which the king has no convincing answer. He apologises to his wife; but she leaves him in anger. The antagonism of the queen is not the only obstacle for the fulfilment of the love. The real difficulty is bringing heaven and earth together in a wedlock. How could a heavenly being like Urvasi leave heaven and come to live on the earth with a mortal king as his wife? The difficulty is solved rather unexpectedly and in a curious way. The dramatic performance in which Urvasi was playing a part was a drama, Laksmisvayamvara, composed by Sarasvati and directed by Bharatamuni; Urvasi was acting the heroine's part. In a scene she was asked by her companion about whoin she loved most; and she was to reply that her heart was set on Purusottama, Visnu. But her heart being with Pururavas now and the love engulfing her emotional life, Urvasi made the natural psychological blunder in saying her line and took name of Pururavas in place of Purusottama's. Bharata was angry; he banished her from the world of heaven. Indra took mercy on her and permitted her to live on earth with the king till a son was born to her. In a way, some good came out of the blunder and the curse; Urvasi's way to the fulfilment of her love was cleared. The king's way was also cleared for him; because queen Ausinari realised, in spite of her hurt and resentment, that it was no use going against the wishes of her lord and master; she undertook the 'priyaprasadana' vow and on its completion, on a full-moon

Page #47
34 Appointment with Kalidasa night, made a religious offering to her king-husband, on the terrace of the Maaibarmya palace, promising that she would be friendly to any woman who had won her husband's affections. After the queen's departure Urvasi arrives. It is clear that their union is in sight. The interlude of the fourth act gives us the reason for the separation of the lovers. Pur uravas and Urvasi after their marriage had gone to the celestial Gandha. madana-vana to enjoy their married love. There Pururavas happened to notice a vidyadhara girl playing in the sands building hills. The beauty and the self-absorotion of the child took his attention from Urvasi. Urvasi resented this. She was very short-tempered, and her love was deep, demanding and possessive. She walked away from Pururavas in anger and by mistake stepped into the sacred grove of Kartikeya which was forbidden to women. She was immediately turned into a creeper, though she retained her powers of mind and knowledge. Urvasi's disappearance proved to be a mental shock to Pururavas. He lost his sanity. The main scene of the fourth act is a scene of Pururavas' mad search for his lost beloved. I think the treatment of this scene is deliberate and carefully worked out. There are a number of Apabhramsa verses which describe by symbol the condition of the love-lost Pururavas. There is music and dance; the stage-directions show that even Pururavas takes dance steps. In other words, the scene is constructed like a ballet. To my mind, this is the only way prolonged pathos could be offectively presented on the stage. Pururavas is present on the stage continuously for nearly half an hour; and his inquiry with different objects about his lost Urvasi is bound to be monotonous and tiresome in a stage representation. So, the dance and music technique. The objects are not a part of stage scenery, which did not exist much on the ancient Indian stage. They are represented by a dancer or a group of dancers doing the swan or peacock dance as the case my be; and Pururavas too approaches the objects with dance steps to put his inquiry. This is how the scene is designed for stage play. In the course of his mad search Pururavas comes across a precious stone. He is about to throw it away. But he is warned by a heavenly voice that it is a "gem of reunion' (sangamaniya-mani) issued from the lac-dye applied to the foot of Gauri. Pururavas picks it up; and when he embraces a creeper that draws his attention with the gem in his hand, the creeper is changed into Urvasi. The separated lovers are united. Urvasi has witnessed in her inner mind the agony and sorrow of Pur uravas and obtained the proof of his deep and sincere love. The couple returns to the Capital from the heavenly gardens, and Urvasi commands a cloud to carry them back like an aerial car by her celestial powers. Happiness now reigns in the house of Pururavas, except that he is still not blessed with a child. Then an incident takes place. Pururavas and Urvasi have come to the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna. Pur Oravas has been guarding the 'gem of reunion'

Page #48
Literary Works with his life. It was placed away while he was bathing; and as a servant was taking it back to him on a palm-leaf covered with a silk cloth, a hovering vulture snatched it away mistaking it for a piece of meat. For a moment Pururavas was lost admiring the beautiful movements of the bird in the sky and the sparkling display of red light emitted by the gem in the vulture's beak; but he became aware of his loss and ordered his bow and arrows. Before he could shoot the bird, however; an unknown arrow killed the brid. The chamberlain brought an arrow and the beloved gem to the king. The king picked up the arrow to read the name inscribed on it, it announced that the arrow was of Ayus, son of Urvasi and Aila-Pururavas. On the heel of this unexpected news came a female ascetic from the hermitage of Cyavana with a six year old boy. Urvasi recognised her own son and explained everything. She was permitted to live with Pururavas till he saw the face of a son born to him from Urvasi. Urvasi loved Pur Oravas so much that she sacrificed her motherly love and kept the boy away in the hermitage of Cyavana. Now that the boy had acted against the asrama discipline in shooting at the bird he was brought back to his mother. But with this Urvasi's stipulated period of stay was also over. The prospect of a perfect family reunion was thus spoiled, and the atmosphere became heavy with im. pending separation and sorrow. Luckily for the couple and the boy a favour materialised, Narada bringing the news. A serious war between the gods and the asuras was about to break; Pururavas had always been an important and valuable ally of the gods; Indra, therefore, would not like Pururavas to retire from his kingly life and take to hermit's vows as he was planning to do at the departure of Urvasi to her heavenly abode; in return for the king's assistance in the coming war Indra granted a special favour so that Urvasi was permitted to live on earth with Pur Uravas as long as he lived. The threatened separation changed into life's union. It is vikrama, the valour of Pur Uravas that won Urvasi for him; it is vikrama again that enabled him to have her all his life. That is why the word figures signi. ficantly in the title of the play. 7. Abhijnanasakuntala The Sakuntala-upakhyana in the Mahabharata, which is the obvious source of Kalidasa's drama rather than the Puranic versions, is rather crude, full of improba bilities and supernatural elements. To give a beautiful poetic form to this legend, change the characterization, invest the story with convincing and moving human emotions, bring nature in to responsive harmany with man, ipfuse the tale with a definite philosophical outlook on life, and, above all, to write in such a poetic and dramatic style as to convey an impression that heaven and earth are combined in this play, is the supreme achievement of Kalidasa. The story of the Sakuntala also runs through the stages of union, separation and te-union. But they are worked out here more elaborately in seven acts and with

Page #49
36 Appointment with Kalidasa greater intensity of convincing human experience. The first three acts complete the stage of union by the gandharva marriage; the reason of separation is found in the interlude of the fourth act in the form of the curse of Durvasas; the actual separation occurs in the fifth act when Dusyanta, losing his memory due to the curse, rejects Sakuntala; the sixth act is a preparation for the reunion; which is shown in the inal seventh act. Dusyanta comes to the hermitage of Kanva by chance, in the pursuit of a deer he is about to kill. He is stopped by the hermits as the deer belongs to the hermitage. Dusyanta accepts the plea, is invited in the asrama, and meets Kanva's daughter Sakuntala, along with her companions Anasuya and Priyarivada, watering the trees in the hermitage; Kanva is away on a long pilgrimage to Somatirtha which he has undertaken in order to pacify the adverse fate of Sakuntala. Dusyanta is terribly attracted by the natural unadorned beauty of the girls, particularly of Sakuntala, and considers whether he can take Sakuntala as his wife. The story of Sakuntala's birth. and the knowledge that she is the daughter of a celestial nymph and the royal sage Visvamitra convinces him that there is nothing untoward from the religious angle in his desire for her. Sakuntala too has been moved by the sight of Dusyanta and experiences the stirrings of love, whicn she feels 'contrary to the tapovana life' in her innocence. Both have responded naturally to the impetus of love. Dusyanta is no longer interested in his hunting project. He confesses to his companion the Vidusaka his feelings for Sakuntala. The Vidusaka ridicules the idea, first, with several objections Trying to marry a Tapasa-kanya, a daughter of a Brahmin sage, was against the normal religious code; Dusyanta's attraction for the girl may be a passing fancy, like a person tasting a sour tamarind as a change from sweet things; and if Dusyanta were to entice this girl and reject her after he had his pleasure it would be a moral crime, because it would ruin the entire life of an innocent girl. Dusyanta answers these objections convincingly; religion is no bar to this love, as Kanva is only a foster-father to Sakuntala; Sakuntala's beauty is heavenly; a person must be out of his senses not to want her permanently as his life's partner. The Vidusake convinced of Dusyanta's deep attachment and sincere love tells him to stock enough provender for himself as the journey of love is going to be a long one. Dusyanta wants an opportunity to go back to the asrama; this is unexpectedly provided. The hermits find that in the absence of Kanva their daily sacrifices are disturbed by invisible demons; they invite Dusyanta to live in the hermitage to guard their sacrifices. But at this moment a message comes from Dusyanta's mother asking him to return to the Capital. The mother is observing the vow of Putra-pinda-palana; Dusyanta is childless; the completion of the vow will take place in four days, and Dusyanta's presence on the religious occasion was necessary. Caught in a dilemma, Dusyanta decides to send the Vidusaka in his place, dismisses the army, and remains alone in the tapovana to do his religious duty for the ascetics. The opportunity to be near Sakuntala in his spare time naturally helps the development of mutual love. While Dusyanta is

Page #50
Literary Works yearning for her, Sakuntala suffers heavily the pangs of love. Her companions decide to help her. They prevail upon Sakuntala to write a letter of love. In a moving poetic scene in the third act Kalidasa brings the lovers together who open their hearts to each other in the presence of Sakuntala's companions. Dusyanta removes any doubt from Sakuntala's mind by promising that she will be the pratistha, the glory and the stability of his family and proposes gandharva marriage. The fourth act shows that Dusyanta and Sakuntala are married. Dusyanta's religious duty in the asrama is over. He gives his ring to Sakuntala and returns to his Capital, promising to send an escort for her within a few days. Unfortunately, on the very day of Dusyanta's departure, and as Sakuntala is experiencing the first pangs of separation and is lost in her own grief, Durvasas arrived in the hermitage uninvited; and because sakuntala fails to notice his arrival curses her that her husband will not remember her. Anasuya and Priyamvada somehow pacify the angry sage and he concedes that the curse would cease to operate at the sight of a 'token or recognition' (abhijnana). The girls feel that Dusyanta's ring which is in possession of Sakuntala will with hold the effect of the curse, They keep the incident of the curse a secret but advise Sakuntala to take care of the ring. Kanva has now returned from his pilgrimage. He comes to know of Sakuntala's marriage through an incorporeal voice in the fire-sanctuary; congratulates his daughter for the choice of her husband as both are extremely worthy and perfectly matched, and promptly makes arrangements to send Sakuntala to her husband's house. The main scene of the fourth act is one of the finest poetic interludes imaginable. It is a scene of parting, a married daughter leaving her parental home. All the soft and silken emotions of the human heart come out on this occasion; even Kanva finds it difficult to check the rising tide of his own emotions; but everything is held in superb control and the auspicious occasion of a daughter's daparture is not allowed to be dissolved in tears and sorrow. Nature also joins the farewell, not only by giving Sakuntala precious wedding gifts but also by shedding silent tears at the departure of this daughter of nature, a mother to the creepers as to the young deer, a sister to the trees, and a beloved relation of the whole nature. Kanva gives some wholesome advice to his daughter, removes her imaginary fears at the loss of the parental home, and prepares a solemn message to be delivered to Dusyanta. The party leaves. The beginning of the fifth act and the song of Hamsapadika is a warning that the curse has affected Dusyanta's memory. As we know a little later, Sakuntala has lost the ring on her way and is without any means to convince Dusyanta of her marriage to him and to revive his lost memory. When the asrama party arrives, Dusyanta is completely puzzled. The young woman standing before him, far advanced in pregnancy, claims to be his wedded wife; but he has no recollection of any such happening; the Vid usaka is not with him; and the statements of the party do not produce any conviction; Sakuntala herself is unable to give any evidence to support

Page #51
Appointment with Kalidasa her claim. Under the inevitable circumstances Dusyanta's mind suspects a foul play, In fact, it is a moral dilemma for him. If the girl's claim is true by rejecting her Dusyanta would be abandoning his wife; but if he were correct in his stand, by accepting her he would be taking in the wife of a stranger; which is the greater sin ? That is why, on moral grounds Dusyanta decides to take the risk of dara-tyaga as a lesser evil and repudiates Sakuntala. The scene is full of terrific dramatic tension. Tempers rise, accusations are hurled at each other and emotions come to a breaking point. The spectator would stand aghast at the sheer irony of fate that brought the situation to such a bursting point. The priest of Dusyanta suggests a temporary solution. It is predicted that Dusyanta would have a son who would have all the astrological signs of a sovereign emperor; if the young woman had such a son it would prove that she was Dusyanta's wife. The Purohita offers to give shelter to Sakuntala in his house till the time of her delivery. But as the party leaves the presence of Dusyanta, a light in female form descends down from heaven and Jifts the crying sakuntala away. This is Menaka, Sakuntala's mother who had rushed to help her in her plight of life. The interlude of the sixth act shows the miraculous recovery of the ring. Gautami was right; While offering her homage at the Saci-tirtha the ring slipped into the waters from Sakuntala's finger; it was swallowed by a fish; after a lapse of six years fisherman caught the fish and found the ring in its belly; as he was trying to sell it in the market he was caught by the officers, brought to Dusyanta because it was a royal gem the theft of which was punishable by death at the order of the king himself. The things, of course, took a different turn. The sight of the ring wiped out the effect of the curse, Dusyanta's memory came back and he remembered everything about Sakuntala, including his cruelty in rejecting her. Dusyanta's sorrow knew no bounds. He forbade all festivities in his kingdom, lost all interest in his state affairs, and helplessly surrendered himself to his sorrow. Dusyanta's agony and torture was particularly enhanced by the case of the merchant Dhanamitra, who had died without a child; Dusyanta realised consciously the spiritual importance of a son and successor to the family, and the rejection of the pregnant Sakuntala come to him as the cruellest stroke of misfortune and an unbearable shock. Moreover, there was no news of Sakuntala. The dramatist, however, arranges through Sanumati, a nymph and friend of Menaka, to take his readers and audience into his confidence; it is learnt that Sakuntala is in the hermitage of Marica on the Hemakuta mountain and her son is being properly cared for there. Fortunately Dusyanta gets an opportunity to go to the heaven to help Indra in his battle against the asuras, and on his way back Indra's charioteer Matali brings him to the hermitage of Marica. There Dusyanta meets his son Sarvadamana, and recognises him, through artistically presented signs, to be his owo. Sakuntala then comes forward, pale and emaciated, but devoted to her husband. Dusyanta explains his action, begs her pardon for the wrong he unconsciously inflicted on her, wipes her tear with his own hand and touches her feet. Marica furnishes

Page #52
Literary Works 39 the full explanation, including of the curse that caused the separation, gives his blessings to the couple and their son and predicts great prosperity and happiness for them. The dramatic skill of Kalidasa and his poetic abilities appear to have come to a luxurious blossoming in the Sakuntala. The construction of the play is beautifully. designed, logical, dramatically suggestive and suffused with the charm of poetry. The characters are neatly matched and contrasted, have an individuality of their own, and speak naturally. Nature is presented not only with its wealth and varied charm but also is, in this play, a living character in tune with the emotional life of man. The enticing atmosphere of nature, beautiful dailogue that speaks the hearts of characters, the fabric of the play steeped in graceful poetry, the delightful variety of sentiments like joy, sorrow, despair, laughter, love of young people and for child and nature, wonder and marvel : these make the Sakuntala a triumph of literary creation. The deep sorrow and endurance of the earth and the dreamy happiness of the heaven seem to be combined in the Sakuntala. As Goethe felt, it is a union of earth and heaven. Kalidasa too must have felt that he had created the work of his life; otherwise, he would not have prayed to Siva to grant him salvation at the conclusion of the play,

Page #53
3 GLIMPSES OF PERSONALITY A perpetual handicap in the study of Sanskrit Literature is the lack of information about the personal life of a poet and of the times in which he lived. The Sanskrit poets are very reticent about themselves. What tradition or legendary accounts tell about them is either scanty or often distorted by hearsay, imagination of the mistaken notion of heroworship. Some exceptions do occur. Bhavabhuti or Bana write about their family and their childhood. The prologue of Sudraka's play provides some distinct details about this king-poet. The dramatists Jayadeva and, more than him, Rajasekhara sing their own praises. Scanty as these details are they give, at least, an introduction to a poet. Kalidasa seems to have risen to pre-eminence in his own lifetime; and later he became an imortal poet of Sanskrit language. But Kalidasa bas left only his name behind. The only poet who outdid Kalidasa in this kind of reticence appears to be Bhasa who omitted even his own name from his dramatic prologues. Why should this happen ? Acquiring fame is one of the urges of writing. Writers of Sanskrit Poetics like Mammata endorse it.1 Kalidasa could not have been averse to fame. He pleads in his prologue to his first play that old is not always gold, and a new poet must have his chance and must be judged strictly on literary merit.2 He admits at the beginning of his Raghuvamsa that he is soliciting literary fame.3 King Dilipa, offering his own body to the Lion as a substitute for Nandini, the daughter of the celestial Cow, begs him to be merciful to the body of his fame'. It is possible to imagine that Kalidasa too may have prayed in his youth to the God of Death to spare his yasahsarira : Any way, Time seems to have heard this unuttered praver to bestow immortality on Kalidasa's poetic glory! Silence of the Sanskrit poets about their personal life; therefore, remains a puzzle. It cannot be fully accounted by a poet's modesty. For, even if modesty be a striking virtue of a poet like Kalidasa, there are other Sanskrit poets who are egotistical enough to blow their own trumpets; and if they checked their tongue or their pen, there are their admiress who would place them at the top and declare them as incarnations of the Goddess of Poetry. There is, of course, some truth in the observation that Sanskrit poets have no sense of time or history; if a few have, it is partial only and exceptional. It may mean, philosophically, that the Sanskrit poets cared more for the survival of their literary work rather than for the knowledge of its authorship or the time when it was produced; after all, men must die; and Time never remains stand-still; what Time and Death cannot touch is an outstanding literary work; Time is endless and the Earth is vast to safeguard and preserve a work of supreme art. Such an attitude to

Page #54
Glimpses of Personality one's literary productions is not impossible in our land. It may have prompted the writers to cloak themselves in comparative anonymity. It is also a general literary fashion noticeable in the old literature of the world, which has come down to us anonymously or only with the name of the writer. The old world had enough good writers but no literary historian. The desire to know a poet in his personal life cannot be said to be born entirely out of human curiosity or admiration. These feelings are naturally there; but a factor of greater literary importance is a presumed connection between a poet's personal life and his literary creations. Even when such a connection is limited to the urge or inspiration for a particular piece of writing and the shape it gives to the experience presented, yet the threads of personal connection known from a poet's life often shed an interesting light on the literary creation and help to understand it better than a mere critical analysis ever can. Wordsworth's poetry, for example, contains a number of sweet and affectionate poems about a littls girl Lucy. The admiring reader and critic looked upon these poems as a fine reflection of Wordsworth's love of nature and of child. The subsequent researches, however, showed that the poems had an intimate connection with the poet's private life which was not known till then. Wordsworth had lived in France for some time before the French Revolution. He fell in love with a woman there, and they had a daughter born to them. Difference in religious faith came in the way of their formal marriage, and Wordsworth had to return to England, disappointed and sad. But the memory of the girl never left his mind; it took the poetic shape of Lucy. This information, hitherto unknown, about the poet's intimate life serves now to throw a new light on the Lucy poems, and helps to understand the particular tenderness and depth of affection that are found in them. The literary pleasure is certainly enhanced by this personal detail. A poet's personal life and his literary creations, thus, seem to be somehow conDected, though the connection often remains hidden or unknown. The increasing curiosity about Kalidasa's personal life may be reasonably related to such a literary background. As a matter of fact, Sanskrit literature has produced some remarkable writers who would outshine Kalidasa in individual qualities. Kalidasa does not have that emotional abandon and grandeur of diction which Bhavabhuti shows. The poetic imagination which travels from earth to heaven and back again, and the command of language which can give shape to such flights, which Bana exhibits, is not a feature of Kalidasa's writing. A 'string of soft and glittering words' is the forte of Jayadeva.5 Bhasa stands alone in delving the human mind and discovering unexpected traits of humanity in so-called villainous men and women. And yet, it is Kalidasa whom tradition honoured as 'the grace and pleasure of Poetic Muse', 'the preceptor or chief of the family of poets'. There is no doubt that the tribute is due to Kalidasa's graceful writing and his masterly art. But it is also true that Kalidasa attained

Page #55
Appointment with Kalidasa unrivalled eminence in handling successfully such diverse literary forms as lyric, epic and drama, which no other poet in Sanskrit literature could do. That is why, we would have liked to know something about the personal life and personality of this great poet. 42 Since Kalidasa is completely silent about himself, the unsuppressible curiosity must have led to the rise of several legends about his personal life, aided by the dazzling fame the poet seems to have acquired in his own life-time. The legendary stories look like the creations of imagination; they cannot have any historical truth in them. But if tradition raised these stories, making a mountain of a mole-hill, they deserve a critical analysis in order to discover the basic personal detail or quality the mole-hill-which may have provided the foundation for raising superstructure of imagination, the (2) According to one such legend, Kalidasa was born in a Brahmin family but was an orphan. A family of cowherds looked after the boy and raised him. The boy grew up till 16 or 18 years of his age in the company of cowherd boys, illiterate and uneducated; but he was very handsome and fair and a picture of perfect health. It so happened that the king of that country had a daughter who was very beautiful (as heroines of stories are expected to be !). She was also educated in all the fastras and trained in all the arts. When she came of age, she declared that she would choose her husband after testing him in sciences and arts, a whim though, quite consistent with the daughter of a king. But no young man could satisfy the princess who was herself a trained scholar and an accomplished artist. The king lost all hope for getting this girl ever married; and his minister too was frustrated and desperate. The minister wished to teach the obstinate princess a lesson. In his search for a suitable bridegroom, the minister chanced to see this handsome, healthy boy, Kalidasa, and decided to work up a plot to hoodwink and outwit the princess. Another version of the story gives a varying detail. The king of Banaras wanted his daughter to marry the famous grammarian Vararuci. The princess refused. Vararuci felt humiliated and insulted. He hatched a plot to punish the princess using a cowherd boy. The minister, in our story, brought Kalidasa secretly to his residence, kept him happy with good food, clothes and ornaments, gave him a little idea of what he intended to accomplish through him, and gave him a strict warning that he must not open his mouth to speak under any circumstances. Having thus prepared the boy the minister managed to bring from Kas a band of young boys trained in different sastras and arts, and sent word to the king and princess for a meeting. Kalidasa was posed as a young scholar who had arrived to woo the princess and

Page #56
Glimpses of Personality the young boys as his pupils. The only condition stipulated for the meeting was that the 'pupils' would answer the questions put by the princess, and if the answers did not satisfy the princess then only the 'guru' would speak to her. The princess agreed. The minister then dressed Kalidasa elegantly for this special occasion, instructed the boys properly and repeated his warning to Kalidasa. With complete preparation the meeting took place in the royal court. The result could be easily predicted. The questions the princess asked, from whatever science or art, were adequately answered by one boy or the other who was perfectly trained in that particular branch. The princess was impressed by the knowledge and skill of these boys and naturally supposed that their 'guru' must be an exceptional young man, though the 'guru' had no occasion to open his mouth. The 'guru' or Kalidasa looked gorgeous in his clothes and ornaments and in his handsome appearance looked like a prince. Such a combination of rich personality and wide learning was indeed rare. The princess was overjoyed and consented to marry this young, handsome suitor, The wedding was duly celebrated. However, when the couple met for the first time in the royal bedchamber, the boy Kalidasa, left alone to manage for himself, was completely bewildered. The princess suspected something wrong and piled her husband with questions; but the young husband would not open his mouth to speak. The princess lifted a sword from the corner of the bed and threatend to kill the boy if he did not speak and tell her everything. Frightened beyond his wits, the boy narrated the whole story in his native, unpolished language. The princess was dumbfounded; then anger seized her, and also terrible shame. She was his wife, and could not do anything to her husband. She asked him to leave the palace, and not to show his face to her unless and untill he accomplished something in his life and acquired some learning. The incident and particularly the dismissal affected the young Kalidasa very deeply. He went straight to the temple of Kali, sat down before the idol, praying for enlightenment, and vowing that he would cut his head and offer it to the goddess were she not to answer his prayer. The sincerity and devotion of the boy moved Kali and she placed her hand of blessing on the bowed head of the boy. He was endowed with knowledge and poetic genius as a favour of Kali, and came to be known thence as Kalidasa or a devoted servant of Kali. Kalidasa then went to Kasi, the home of all learning and lore, and soon mastered many sastras and arts. Returning from Banaras Kalidasa first went to pay a call of gratitude to the princess, who had remained faithful to her husband, sorrowing over her tragic fate but acting according to religion like a devoted Hindu wife. When she saw Kalidasa she wondered whether the years had at least turned his rustic speech into the language of the polished and cultured gentry. She asked him, 'Is there any imr ment in your speech'-Asti kascit vag-visesah ? Kalidasa picked up each si

Page #57
44 Appointment with Kalidasa from her question and in reply recited on the spot, in a sudden burst of inspiration, an epic, a lyric and another epic : The Kumarasambhava begins with Asti-uttarasyam disi Devatatma, Meghaduta with Kascit kanta-viraha-guruna and the Raghuvamsa with Vag-artha-viva samprktau.... The princess already pleased in her mind by the return of her long-lost husband was amazed by this spontaneous exhibition of poetic genius and birth of wonderful poetry, and rushed to welcome and hug her husband with love and joy. But the entire experience had worked a far deeper transformation in Kalidasa's life. He regarded the princess as his spiritual guru, and refused to take her as his wife. This was a jolt and a shock to her. When all her pleadings failed to move Kalidasa from his determination, the rejected wife cursed him that he would die at the hands of a woman for repudiating the love of his devoted wedded wife. Kalidasa was sad in his heart. But he left his royal wife and started an independent life of his own. He wrote plays and added to his growing reputation. He won wealth and patronage and was prosperous in his material life. But the curse had corroded his personal and private life, much of which he spent in the company of courtesans. Later, in his old age, he went to see his old friend Kumaradasa, the author of the epic poem Janakiharana, who lived in Larka. But in stead of going to his friend's house he stayed with a prostitute. Now, the king of Sinhaladvipa (Lanka, Ceylon) had announced a substantial reward to any poet who would complete a metrical couplet by composing a second line to the one given. It is possible that Kumaradasa himself might have thought of this trick and persuaded his king to act on it in order to trace Kalidasa's whereabouts, whose arrival in the island was somehow known but not the place where he chose to remain in hiding. The first line of the verse given for completion was : Kamale kamalotpattih sruyate na tu drsyate (It is heard that a lotus arises out of a lotus, but no (instance) has been seen). No poet could come forward to complete the verse and claim the reward. Kalidasa came to know about all this through the courtesan. He smiled and said to her, 'My girl, how is it then that two blue lotuses (eyes) have sprung from your face-lotus'? (Bale, tava mukhambhojat katham indivara-dvayam). Kalidasa had completed the verse and beautifully answered the statement in the first line of the couplet. The courtesan did not know the real identity of Kalidasa. But she was enticed by the sudden prospect of winning fame and the greater and certain prospect of winning the reward. She decided to do away with Kalidasa, got him killed, and went to the royal court to claim the reward. Kumaradasa suspected foul play, because he was sure that none but Kalidasa had the genius to complete the verse. When the courtesan was severely questioned under threat of punishment she confessed to all that happened. Kumaradasa was grieved beyond consolation at the tragic death of his dear friend. The story is that he threw himself on the burning pyre when Kalidasa's mortal remains were cremated and ended his own life. It is said that the place of cremation is still shown to tourists at Lanka. The curse given by the princess was somehow fulfilled.

Page #58
Glimpses of Personality The Bhojaprabandha. compiled by poet Ballalasena for king Bhoja, contains numerous stories of Kalidasa's poetic genius in completing from the given line at verse, which skill he exercised not only for pleasure but also for helping poor Brahmins who had neither the ability nor the learning to recommend themselves for royal favour and gifts. The imaginative stories and legends with which the name of Kalidasa is surrounded in tradition imply the following details: (i) Kalidasa was born in a Brahmin family; he was an orphan; he had no education; learning and poetic genius came to him by a miracle, by the favour of goddess Kali. (ii) Kalidasa came to be connected with a royal family, either by relation or by formal association. (iii) Kalidasa was a gifted poet; he would also amuse himself and give pleasure to others by playing intellectual games of poetrymaking. (iv) He was generous in nature and helped poor Brahmins directly or through his patron-king. (v) His private life was unsteady; he was given to pleasures of women and did not lead a precisely moral life. (3) There are no means or evidence in existence to enable us to evaluate the deductions which the legends and popular stories yield. In the absence of real history and reliable records for varification of any personal detail of the poet's life, the only course open to us is to construct the literary personality of the poet and to see how far it is consistent with the picture the legends and stories give. It must, however, be remembered that the literature of a writer is not his autobiography, nor even his biography and a record of traits of his character or actual happenings in his own life. It must also be acknowledged that the personal life of a writer and the literature he creates can, sometimes, be poles asunder. DH. Lawrence, for example, who gave a rude shock to the contemporary standards of morality by his novels of sex relations, was in reality a simple and straightforward person, almost ascetic in his personal life. Bernard Shaw whose tongue-slashing at the established order of society is notorious was a deep thinker and a vegetarian like an orthodox Indian Brahmin. On the contrary, Leo Tolstoy, who is hailed as a profound philosopher and a sage in the history of literature, led a different kind of private life, as some surprising details of his personal life revealed by later research show. Accepting both these literary principles it may still be conceded that a literary creation generally takes the colours of a writer's personality. The experience which

Page #59
Appointment with Kalidasa a writer chooses to present, the art-form which he imposes on the experience, the thoughts and ideas which take shape through his artistic picture, somehow reveal directly or indirectly the writer's personal predilections, his likes and dislikes, and the values of life he seems to accept and cherish. Milton said, 'A precious literary work is the life-blood of a master-spirit...'. The remark implies, at least, that a literary creation reflects, if not a writer in person, the writer's art-personality, some remarkable and possibly brilliant traits of the inner man. A search for such traits through the literary creations is likely to reveal, not the actual life of a writer but, at least, the image of his thought-life. This is the only purpose for which a comparative study of the legends about Kalidasa's life and character and his literature is undertaken, although the legends and stories have no historical value and deserve to be dismissed as figments of popular fancy. The details which relate to the time of Kalidasa are evidently worthless. The list of pine brilliant jewels in the court of king Vikrama or Bhoja brings together poets and theoretical writers who belong to different centuries.>> Bhoja lived in the 11th century A. D. and, in spite of a little uncertainty about Kalidasa's date, Kalidasa could not have been a contemporary of Bhoja to be the brightest jewel of his court. The relationship between Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti, assumed by another story,8 bas to be similarly dismissed as an historical anachronism. There is a possibility that Kalidasa's association with a royal family or a ruling king, which the legends relate, may have some basic truth. The subject of his three plays and of the epic Raghuvarsa is the life and personality of kings. The pictures in the epic are painted with the idealistic colours of myth and are modeled on the ancient legendary kings. But the royal heroes of his plays are drawn as contemporary models, and Kalidasa shows not their legendary valour but their private love-life. The personal life of contemporary kings, their behaviour in the royal harem, their love-life, the women in the harem and their intrigues and rivalries, the etiquette of royal court and the code of courtly behaviour, men, women and officers of the king and the formal conventions of their conduct, are all presented with unerring accuracy and freshness, which suggests the poet's personal knowledge of and familiarity with royal life in private and in court. From the literary point of view Kalidasa could be said to have created the form of a royal courtly comedy of love, or to have given the dramatic form popularity and prestige. It may be presumed, therefore, that Kalidasa did have the opportunity of observing royal and court life first hand and from close quarters. It does not appear improbable that Kalidasa may have been more closely connected with royal life than a mere observer permitted in royal presence. It is commonly believed that Kalidasa enjoyed royal patronage, that he was the court-poet (Rajakavi) of some king who had taken the title of Vikramaditya. Kalidasa may perhaps have been more than an honoured poet of a royal court. The legendary

Page #60
Glimpses of Personality story describes him as the husband of a princess. It may not be true. But historical records prove that poets or learned Brahmins were in royal service as ministers or officers. A reference in Meghaduta is worth investigating in this context. The Yaksa praising the Cloud calls him as the 'praksti-purusa' of Indra. The phrase is as striking as it is surprising. There is an opposition between the two words as the Samkhya philosophy or even common knowledge would vouch : Prakrti and Purusa are opposite concepts; one cannot be the other; so that the compound of the two words is not a case of apparent contradiction (virodhabhasa) but of actual contradiction (virodha). How did Kalidasa come to use such a contradictory phrase ? Considering Kalidasa's perfect command of language, the coining must appear to be deliberate; and if so, the meaning of the compound expression must be determined from other than the philosophical source. It appears that the phrase has a political connotation. The word prakrti denotes a king's minister, cabinet minister, or the subjects in the political context. Purusa has the sense of officer in Kalidasa's own play,1deg PrakrtiPurusa thus means 'a king's minister or officer'. Indra in the later mythology is a god of rain; and the cloud may be looked upon as a servant or representative of Indra whose duty is to distribute rain over the earth. There is poetry in this concept and an evidence of the flight of imagination. But this chief function of the cloud of showering rain-water is quite irrelevant, or at best incidental, in the theme of the Meghaduta. The peculiar phrase, therefore remains a literary puzzle. May we surmise that it is a projection of the poet's own psychology ? Perhaps, Kalidasa bimself was a 'praksti-purusa', that is, a minister of a king, who in his capacity as a minister in charge of foreign affairs or as an embassador, may have been sent out by his king on a political mission. He may have been required to stay away from his home and his beloved wife for a long time to carry out his mission. And the sight of the raincloud 'on the first day of Asalha' may have deeply stirred Kalidasa's heart with tender memories of home and of love. The love-lyric Meghaduta may have been born in some such very personal circumstances. It is a surmise, an inference drawn from the writer's works. But it is tempting to believe that the lyric was inspired by an intensely moving personal experience. And then the puzzling phrase which is so unusual becomes clear. In describing the Cloud as the 'prakrti-purusa' Kalidasa is imposing his own official position on the cloud, either deliberately or due to a psychological trick ! If Kalidasa was closely connected with a king both as a poet and as the king's political officer, it follows that he must have been adept in contemporary lores and in political science; for without comprehensive learning and skill a high political office cannot normally be attained. Kalidasa's own literature testifies to his comprehensive knowledge of different sciences and arts. Vedas, Upanisads, Gita, Vedanta, Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Mimamsa, as well as material sciences like Arthasastra and Rajaniti, are mentioned in his poetry and dramas with significant and skilled allusions.

Page #61
Appointment with Kalidasa Kalidasa was exceptionally gifted; and yet he must have done his apprenticeship as a poet. Sanskrit and Prakrit languages and their grammar; study of prosody and poetics; the poet's grammatical similes which naturally come to the mind, the rhymes and alliterations in the 9th canto of Raghuvamsa, the Vedic Tristubh which Kanva uses to worship the sacrificial Fire, all these clever and skilled exercises in versecomposition; imbibing deep influences of ancient poets, particularly of the Adi-kavi Valmiki, as a guide to literary creations; deep study of Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas; perfect knowledge of the modes and conduct of love as outlined in the Kamasutra : these and such acquisitions can be legitimately inferred from the writings of Kalidasa. And so, in stead of believing the miracle that learning and poetic ability came to Kalidasa suddenly through the blessing of a goddess, it is more reasonable to accept that Kalidasa must have studied in some 'gurukula' or hermitage, of which he has given striking descriptions in his literature. It is possible that Kalidasa was endowed with brilliant intellect so that he completed his formal education sooner than other pupils could do, like "Kusa and Lava for instance. Bhavabhuti describes a pupil Atreyi, who could not keep pace with the intellectual grasp of Kusa and Lava, and who, therefore, left the Asrama of Valmiki and joined that of Agasti in order to complete her course in Vedanta philosophy." It is said about the famous philosopher and social thinker Carlyle that he was very dull as a child; he could not articulate any words till he was three or four years old; and then he suddenly started speaking, using complete and accurate sentences like an intelligent adult. Such an exceptional happening may have occured in Kalidasa's own life. But when it is given the form of divine intercession and a miracle, one can understand it only as a symbol of hero-worship. The story of Valmiki's poetic inspiration and the birth of Ramayana comes in the same category. The miracle of reciting two fulllength epics and a lyric in answer to a simple question must have, therefore, happened only in the mind of some dazzled admirer of Kalidasa. The invented story looks like a charming effort of imagination to link up the three poems in a poetic connection; it is also an attempt to install a divine halo round the poet to extol his extra-ordinary creative powers. The poet's connection with Kali is similarly a result of clever punning on the name. The skill attributed to Kalidasa in completing a verse from a given line, and his supposed association with courtesans, the two details from the legendary stories, have a curious connection with each other which is impossible to be imagined by any one not familiar with the old classical tradition. The courtesan of ancient India was a woman in a separate category of her own. Though born in a family and profession which compelled her to earn her living by selling her body, the ancient courtesan was a gifted woman, well educated and accomplished in fine arts. The contemporary elite (vidagdha) gathered in her luxurious residence or in public

Page #62
Glimpses of Personality assemblies where she was invited to be present to amuse themselves by discussions on poetry, sciences and arts or by musical sessions and dance exhibitions. These assemblies were known by the name of 'gosthi'. The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana furnishes an interesting and suggestive description of such gosthis; Bana mentions them in his personal account prefixed to his Harsacarita. Among the forms of entertainment provided in these assemblies there were, besides the game of dice, such literary sports as prahelika, bindumati and samasyaparti,la in which the elite citizens and poets, as well as the courtesans, participated. Though lowly in birth the courtesans were highly educated and cultured, and that enabled them to mix naturally with the high-ranking intellectuals in society. The examples are Kalidasa's Urvasi and Sudraka's Vasantasena. The odour of immoral life which the word courtesan or prostitute brings to a modern mind is, it will be seen, completely out of place in the ancient context. Further, these courtesans were not inextricably tied down to their low professional status. How otherwise could the marriage of Urvasi and Pururavas, Vasantasena and Carudatta, Madanika, and Sarvilaka have been possible ? The fact that a king like Pururavas and Brahmin youths like Carudatta and Sarvilaka, married courtesans, ganikas, must be interpreted in the correct cultural light. When thus understood the prejudice against a courtesan, enforced by the later changed tradition, will be invalid. In the ancient society a courtesan had a distinctive place, and association with her was a kind of social get-together of educated, cultured and art-minded men and women on the level of art and intellectual exchange. So, even if the legend depicted Kalidasa as associating himself with courtesans it cannot be taken as a bad reflection on his moral character; such an assumption would only betray stark ignorance of ancient social conditions and values. Without, therefore, drawing any conclusions about Kalidasa's moral character it may be assumed that Kalidasa may have been a very prominent literary figure in the social gosthis. He may have a special skill in samasyapurti, and he may have helped many a Brahmin or half-baked poet by solving literary riddles for him. The generosity of mind attributed to him may have been possible due to his position in the royal court; but it also appears to be a trait of his mind and his character. The gay and pleasure-loving attitude of the poet, which the stories imply, need not be objectionable, unless it is linked with the social morality of men and women, as some readers of Kalidasa's literature mistakenly do. The denial of any immoral standards or values posed by Kalidasa is not based, it must be told, on the respect, admiration or devotion which Kalidasa's extra-ordinary literature, his unsurpassed art, engender. The fact is that there is no basis for so-called immorality or looseness of character and behaviour in Kalidasa's writing. This poet who paints pictures of open and upresticted love does not describe prohibited love. He describes with freedom of mind and art the loves of young people who get united in holy wedlock or of the husband and wife. His royal heroes are the social and political leaders of society

Page #63
50 Appointment with Kalidasa and stand for certain ideals, His heroines include young women from the innocent, bashful princess to the fearless daughter of Nature, and a daughter of a celestial person who could shame the tried ascetics by her severe austerities. Kalidasa's women are devoted to their husbands and possess purity of character. In the love-inspired creation of Kalidasa there are female companions who shower their selfless love on their friend; there are fathers like Himalaya and Kanva whose touching love for their children has a divine fragrance; and there are also children like Sarvadamana who would melt any one's heart with love. It is unthinkable to imagine that a poet who created this loving world of humanity had no private sense of morality and of moral virtue. It is wrong to interpret Kalidasa's pictures of srngara by the changing standards of later times or by imposing current ideas on old literary works. It is useless to read old masters by imagining ourselves to be defenders of current morality. One more detail : The stories about Kalidasa associate him with Ujjayini and Kasi. Kasi or Varanasi has been known as the centre of traditional learning from old days; it is not improbable that Kalidasa had his education there. The Yakna in the Meghaduta particularly recommends to the Cloud to visit Ujjayini, though the city does not lie on his chartered course of journey; the soft corner for Ujjayini that Kalidasa seems to have naturally suggests that he had a personal and private association with this city; Ujjayini is very probably the birth-place or the work-place of Kalidasa, as tradition aslo believes. (4) Some other details of Kalidasa's personality must now be collected from his writings. This is an attempt to construct the literary personality of Kalidasa. (a) The poet's education, his acquisition of sastric knowledge and his preparation for a literary career were referred to in the foregoing section. In the words of Mammata, 13 this is expertness or skill (nipunata) which comes to a studious person by keen observation of the world and the people, sastras and the poetic art. A few additional details could be filled in the picture. The system of education followed in the ancient 'gurukulas' does not appear to be one-sided. Study of grammar and the academic sastras must naturally have received priority as the foundation of sound learning. But the other aspects of education, including the training of girls, do not seem to be neglected. Anasaya diagnoses the physical ill condition of Sakuntala as a result of love-sickness, without any personal knowledge of the matter but from her knowledge of the love-lorn young people described in histories and puranas.14 The Brahmacarin in Bhasa's Svapnavasavadatta alludes to the cakravaka bird and other lovers described in Kavya literature when he speaks about the tragic sorrow of Udayana,15 It is evident, therefore, that poetry, historic and puranic story literature had also a due place in the academic syllabus at the centres of education. Another interesting reference occurs in the context of Nature's unexpected wedding gifts to

Page #64
Glimpses of Personality Sakuntala. Sakuntala's companions are confused for a moment by the wealth and variety of ornaments given by Nature. But they say, "We will deck you properly with these ornaments with the help of our knowledge and practice of painting pictures'; and Sakuntala is aware of the skill that her two companions have acquired in this art.16 It appears that the girls received a special training and practice in the art of painting and also in the art of toilette and decoration. Bakulavalika, in Malavikagnimitra, is another girl who is expert in the art of decoration (prasadhana-kala), and she says that she learnt this art from king Agnimitra.17 It may be assumed, therefore, that girls received education along with boys at the gurukula or in a preceptor's hermitage, and the girls were particularly taught, with the basic courses, some useful fine arts. The royal children had special facilities to learn music, dance, histrionics (abhinaya) and the art of painting; it is clear from the Malavikagnimitra that renowned preceptors were specially employed in royal houses to teach these arts. Kalidasa's Dusyanta is a connoisseur of music, vocal and instrumental; and is himself expert in the art of painting. Education in fine arts and training in their critical appreciation appear to be a necessary part of ancient Indian education and culture. And so, the literary personality of Kalidasa must be deemed to be not only rich in sastric learning but also rich in artistic training. The allusions to music, dance and painting in Kalidasa's writing do not appear to be 'bookish' but as coming from an expert. The musical allusions to 'peacock melody rising from the middle note'18 and the 'song overflowing with scientific structure and emotion";19 the allusion to the technical aspect of dance in 'branch-originated soft acting': 20 the background which Dusyanta plans for the portrait of Sakuntala,21 and the pointed mention of the puffed spot on the canvas where Dusyanta's tear had fallen and the spreading of pigment,22 cannot be imagined to be the results of mere acute observation. It is probable that Kalidasa really knew these arts. Aja mourning for Indumati recalls that she was his beloved pupil in the practice of tine arts";23 but the epic does not mention that Aja ever gave any lessons to Indumati, as Udayana tutored Vasavadatta to play on the lute. May we imagine that Kalidasa's reference may have come from his sub-conscious mind and may have only a personal relevance ? Psychologically it is just possible that a 'beloved pupil' may have become Kalidasa's wife, or he may have taught some fine art to his wife turning her into a 'beloved pupil'! The point, of course, is that an expert knowledge of fine arts is a vital aspect of Kalidasa's personality. Sastric erudition and instinctive love of art seem to have combined in the personality of Kalidasa. This unique combination has bestowed a singular beauty on his litereture. Bhavabhuti came to know, after writing one play, that sastric erudition does not help literary creation;24 and yet he could never help showing his learning. Jayadeva, the author of the Prasanna-raghava, boasts of his ability to handle "harsh logic and the art of tender poetic skill' simultaneously.25 But only a rare artist can achieve a creation which balances learning and art, so that his work has

Page #65
Appointment with Kalidasa the stamp of learning which does not deface his art, and his art does not become superficial for want of a solid foundation of knowledge. In the literary creations of Kalidasa sastric wisdom does not float on the surface like foam, but mingles with the delicious stream of his poetry; and since his creative structure is raised on unerring knowledge his art never becomes superficial. And so, the harmony of learning and instinctive art must be rackoned as a trait of Kalidasa's literary personality. (b) Another trait of Kalidasa's personality is his deep sense of beauty. A poet is naturally expected to have a sense of beauty which common men lack. Kalidasa's writing is so obviously beautiful, his scenes and visions, characters and actions, the natural ornaments of his language and the sweetness, lucidity and brilliance of his diction are so impressive that it would be redundant to speak of beauty as a special characteristic of the poet. What is meant is something different and unusual. A poet's sense of beauty is revealed, perhaps, in two ways. One is the appearance of unexpected but accurate content in the poetic description, which stands apart from the usual beauty of language and the embellishment of imagination. For example, Kalidasa gives a beautiful picture of Kanva's tapovana and the surroundings of his hermitage, through the eyes of Dusyanta. The familiar details of asrama life and some others are very realistically presented here. But what Kalidasa's eye specially notes are the small grains of wild rice dropped at the foot of trees from the nests of birds built in the branches above; small stones used for breaking ingudi fruits and greased with the fruit-oil; the narrow foot-paths sprinkled with drops of water dripping from the skirts of bark-garments as the hermitage girls fetched water in jars from the reservoirs.26 The picture is not merely an example of minute observation; it is the poet's eye which discovers beauty in the unexpected, small details which may escape observation or poetic fancy. In the Vikramorvasiya, Kalidasa describes an evening scene in the royal palace. What he notes particularly is the old servants carrying lighted lamps in their hands and distributing them at the appointed places all over the palace apartments.27 When the Cloud in Meghaduta will arrive at the Kailasa mountain the celestial women living there will not be able to resist temptation of pricking the rain-cloud with the pointed ends of their bracelets, turning it into a shower-house, and bathing under the fresh water.28 This unexpected touch is as delightful as the pleasure-bath is ticklish. Another way in which a poet's irrespressible aesthetic sense manifests itself is as follows: The sense of beauty is absolutely spontaneous, and shows itself suddenly and unexpectedly, and sometimes on an unwanted occassion. Why is it that, confronted unexpectedly with a beautiful sight, a person bursts into an exclamation of joy? A beautiful sight, a melodious stretch of sweet music, affects a person suddenly with a feeling of inexplicable yearning:29 why ? Kalidasa's Dusyanta had this experience. He went to the hermitage of Kanva at the invitation of the hermits, to pay his tribute of reverence to the Sage. But in stead of meeting with matted and bearded

Page #66
Glimpses of Personality ascetics, as expected, he came across the hermitage girls each carrying a water-jar suitable in size to her delicate form and young age and watering the trees in the asrama! The sight was as unexpected as it was breath-taking; for the girls were really beautiful. Dusyanta, not a stranger to beauty in every possible form, had to admit to himself that the forest creepers had surpassed the garden creepers. He exclaimed spontaneously and with joy. 'Oh, what a sweet sight the girls present !' The song of Hamsapadika moved Dusyanta to his depths and he tried to explain his mysterious restlessness by the theory of previous birth.30 Why Dusyanta, even Pururvas lost himself in watching a Vidyadhara girl playing with sand on a riverbeach even though the touchstone of all beauty, Urvasi, was close by his side 131 Agniinitra is just a king; but when he stood watching the beautiful line of red lac-dye being painted on Malavika's fair tender foot he could not help imagining the foot as the new reddish foliage sprung on the tree of Madana whom Siva had burnt to ashes.32 There is an interesting anecdote about a professor. The professor while taking his class on a morning chanced to look out of an open window, and suddenly exclaimed, 'Gentlemen, the Spring is outside !'33 He left his class, ran out and forgot to return to his class ! Such a keen aesthetic sense, the effect of losing one's bearings by some heavenly fragrance, 34 or the ability to transport oneself into different world at the did-da ... ... did-da melody of a sitar,35 betoken an impact of beauty different from conventional and channelled attitudes. Such aesthetic sense is revealed, sometimes, when there is no occassion for it. A thief has bored a hole in the wall of Carudatta's house and, securing an entry, has taken away the valuable ornaments Vasantasena had deposited with him in trust. This is indeed a grave occasion. One would think that the first thing that must be done was to institute an immediate search for the thief. But Carudatta stood before the wall, lost in admiration, appreciating the beautiful pattern of the hole carved in the wall !36 One can see that this aesthetic sense is of a different category. The 'gem of reunion which Pur Oravas was fortunate to get, which brought his lost Urvasi back to him, and which he was guarding with his life, has been snatched away by a vulture mistaking it for a bloody piece of meat. But before aiming an arrow at the vulture, moving in circles high above in the sky, with the gem in its beak, Puru. ravas stands gazing in wonder at the predatory bird, creating circles of red fire, comparing them to the red circles made by a moving burning torch, and fancying the red gem held in the beak and emitting lustrous rays as an ear-ornament of red Asoka blossom worn in the ear by the lady of Direction ! The black vulture and the red gem in its beak remind Pururayas of Mars in the vicinity of a dark cloud !37 Such perception of beauty in unusual places and at unusual moments may appear lunatic; but it must be remembered that there is no inconsistency in it; the aesthetic sense follows its own logic. Pururavas is not prepared to accept that Urvasi was a creation of the sage Narayana whose finer senses were dulled by Vedic studies and

Page #67
Appointment with Kalidasa who had absolutely no interest in the charm of material things. If the logical principle is like cause like effect', Urvasi must have been fashioned from Moon, Spring season or the god of love Madana, says Pururavas.38 The incomparable beauty of Sakuntala and the equally wonderful story of her birth from a celestial nymph satisfy the logical mind of Dusyanta, because he is convinced that lightning which trembles with lustre cannot spring from the surface of earth.39 Dusyanta further thinks that the Creator god must have used an unusual process when he created Sakuntala. He must have first drawn a picture of the most beautiful girl, improving it continuously till it was absolutely perfect; and when he was sure that it was perfect and flawless, then he must have breathed life into the picture and given to the world as Sakuntala !40 It is necessary to understand this unusual sense of beauty that Kalidasa shows. Without such an understanding one would fail to understand Kalidasa's heroes, because the poet endows them with this sense; and then one would equally fail to understand Kalidasa and his art. This sense of beauty has a close association with love. Both beauty and love, in their intensity, have a profound impact on some souls making them lose themselves. This is not a question of traditional or current morality. The failure to understand this is to miss the art of Kalidasa. The miserrable loss will be our own. For, the unusual sense of beauty is a very vital trait of Kalidasa's personality. (c) The third trait of Kalidasa's personality is his feeling for nature. Nature has a great and very important place in Kalidasa's literature. Rtusamhara is, in a way, the story of nature's life. In the first part of his Meghaduta the numerous and varied pictures of nature throw into relief Yaksa's deep feeling of love in separation; in the second part nature serves as a golden frame to the figure of Yaksa's wife, pale and emaciated by the tortures of separated love. Kalidasa describes, in his Kumarasambhava and Raghuvamsa, different rivers and mountains, creepers and trees, birds and beasts, with colourful imagination and striking realism; he also presents the Spring in its full grandeur.41 Nature is always present in his dramas too; and in Sukuntala nature seems to have assumed the vitality and dignity of a character. The conventional and mechanical manner in which nature descriptions occur in later Sanskrit poetry is not to be found in Kalidasa's writing. One gets the impression that Kalidasa did not look at nature through books or a composer's fancy but lived in close contact with nature. The poet who described the long journey of the cloud from Ramagiri or Ramtek to Alaka with wonderful pictures of nature, who gave us a tour of the whole of India through Raghu's triumphant military campaign, who presented a version of Bharata and of its water-drenched, fruit-loaded and harvest-green lands through the eyes of Ram travelling in the Puspaka aerial car from Lanka to Ayodhya, 42 could hardly be imagined to have been looking at nature through the window of his apartment. One must assume that either Kalidasa travelled extensively observing different

Page #68
Glimpses of Personality spots and places, flora and fauna, with loving observation, or he had the faculty, like Shakespeare, to learn and retain in memory all the information and bits of knowledge he picked up in his meeting with travellers from all over India. It is obvious from his literature that Kalidasa was remarkably knowledgeable (bahusruta); and it is also true that his observation is minute, accurate and prone to beauty. It is possible to find three or four rising levels in Kalidasa's treatment of nature. The objective picture of nature, which result from keen and loving observation, are profusely scattered throughout his literature. But when a poet realises that nature is not merely an object to be looked at and admired but has an emotional life of its own, sometimes parallel to, sometimes contrary to, the human life, there is a distinct change in the poet's attitude to nature. The poet then speaks of emotional correspondence between nature and man by the process of description, as in the Rtusamhara, or touching it through rhetorical figures like simile and poetic fancy. One discovers a reflection of human emotion in nature or the changes in nature seem to be an image of human emotion. In Kalidasa's Rativilapa, Ajavilapa, in the lament of Pururavas over the lost Urvasi, in Sakuntala's departure from her father's tapovana, or in the word-pictures drawn by Yaksa, we find this emotional association between man and nature. In such an attitude of mind, it is not surprising if the mournful lover discovered traces of the image or existence of his beloved in nature. Pur Uravas feels that nature has accorded him a reception worthy of a king; 48 king Dilipa is also given a royal reception by nature;44 Pururavas sees the image or some definite traits of Urvasi in the swan, peacock or river;45 this is indeed a merger of man's and nature's life. Once the poetic mind grasps this reflective identity of man and nature, it is but a natural step to imagine that it is not man who follows nature but that nature is imitating man. Pururava's charge that the swan has stolen the graceful gait of Urvasi46 must be understood from this apgle. This assumed identity between man and nature can be real for a poet; and in this next stage nature becomes a distinctive personality with a life of her own. Nature in the fourth act of the Sakuntala is such a live personality. And, therefore, when Sakuntala is preparing to leave her father's hermitage to go to her husband's palace Nature showers a wealth of wedding gifts on her; the cuckoo sweetly sounds the hour of departure; wind blows gently and with fragrance.47 The actual moment of departure is more intensely moving. The female deer let their mouthfuls drop from their open mouth, like children incapable yet to understand a grave situation and enjoying themselves in food and drink, suddenly becoming aware of something serious happening and then forgetting their food and gazing with open mouth; the peacocks stop dancing, like little grownup children stopping their play and looking dumbly at the married girl leaving the house; and the silent creepers shed their tears of drooping leaves, like elderly women moved by the separation of the girl, standing back to the wall and shedding tears with their faces hidden behind their skirts.48 Kalidasa's treatment of nature progresses from charming objective pictures to the creation of a living, loving and moving

Page #69
S6 Appointment with Kalidasa personality of nature. It is a distinct, classic feature of his literature and art. It must, therefore, be regarded as a trait of his literary personality. (d) The fourth trait of Kalidasa's personality is his cheerful and playful outlook on life. This outlook is clearly reflected in his description of life, love and the joys of family life. But a better representative of this outlook is Kalidasa's sense of humour. Considering that many a learned man and even an artist may lack humour, this trait of Kalidasa is apt to be very engaging. The usual vehicle for humour in Sanskrit literature is the character of the Vidusaka or the clown. His humour based on his silly remarks and his greed for food has become the stock-in-trade of the later Sanskrit drama; it is mechanical and lifeless. But there is a possibility that when Kalidasa used these modes there may have been a freshness about them, for the simple reason that Kalidasa is a very early writer. However, it is important to note that Kalidasa's humour is not confined to conventional gadgets. Kalidasa discovers something to laugh at or to provoke an amusing smile even in situations of family warmth or in an unexpected aspect of situation. Such humour is delightful. It does not belong exclusively to a particular character; it can come from any one who can look playfully at life; and it takes shape the moment an amusing detail is perceived. Freed from the grave charge of the theft of a royal gem, rewarded unexpectedly by Dusyanta, the fisherman in Sakuntala who was threatened with life by the police men breathes now free air. He then asks the police officers who had made fun of his trade, 'Sir, what do you think of my profession now?' The police men also turn round about; the fisherman whom they were planning to send to the gallows or throw before a vulture becomes to them now the lord of fishermen'; and when he offers to share the reward with them, the police men embrace him as a dear friend and all move to a liquor shop to celebrate and seal the new friendship !49 .Who would not be amused by the situation and revelation of human nature ? Priyamvada is, true to her name, a delightful talker. When Sakuntala complains that she had fastened her upper bark-garment with a tight knot restricting her movements, Priyamvada rejoins, 'Why do you blame me ? Blame your own bursting youth !:50 Noticing Sakuntala gazing at the creeper Vanajyotsna and lost in herself. Priyamvada invites the attention of Anasuya and remarks in mischief, 'Do you know what Sakuntala is thinking of? The creeper has been united with a worthy husband, when will I get such a suitable husband ?'51 And the same Priyamvada noticing the inscription on the singnet-ring offered by Dusyanta to redeem Sakuntala of her supposed debt, and recognising that the delightful stranger is king Dusyanta himself, says to Sakuntala with mock courtesy, "My dear, your debt has been paid by this worthy gentleman..... one may say, by His the Majesty King Dusyanta himself.'52 The truth is that even Dusyanta does not escape the amusing thrust of this delightful girl. Such a delightful humour is sometimes manifested quite innocently and unconsciously, the speaker not being aware that he is saying something vastly amusing.

Page #70
Glimpses of Personality $7 Dusyanta recognises in Sarvadamana his own son born of Sakuntala. He wants to pull the boy in his embrace and fondle him. But the little Sarvadamana complains to his mother, Mother see, this stranger is embracing me calling me his son ! Even when he is assured that the relationship is true, Sarvadamana tells indignantly to Dusyanta, 'No, Dusyanta is my father, not you!'53 Who will not be moved by this delicious humour arising out of dramatic irony and innocence ? The humorous thrusts of the Vid Usakas of Kalidasa at the royal heroes are not merely fun-producing; the bite, ridicule and fun in the remarks of the Vidusakas are a revealing searchlight on the private life of ancient kings. The Vidusaka in his motley dress appears to be a real critic of life. But one can always make fun of others. The crucial test of humour is the abi. lity to laugh at oneself; and it requires a real playfulness and a broad mind. It appears that Kalidasa had this ability. But as the Sanskrit writers rarley speak about themselves it is difficult to connect any humorous piece personally with an author. The evidence would be, if any, only indirect. The Vidusakas of Kalidasa while poking fun at others do not fail to ridicule themselves. Gautama and Manavaka admit easily that they resemble monkies.54 Manavaka asks Pururavas, 'Is Urvasi as incom; parable in beauty as I am in ugliness 756 The ability to laugh at oneself is seen at its delicious best in Siva of the Kumarasambhava. Siva comes disguised as a Brahmin student in order to test Parvati's love and devotion; and in speaking to her the fun he makes of the appearance of Siva, his dress or rather lack of it and his ornaments, his habitat, his riding a bullock, and the laughter it would evoke when Parvati would ride behind him in the wedding procession, has no comparison. Siva is the favourite deity of Kalidasa, When we find Siva here ridiculing himself, as no one else could have done, we feel that Kalidasa would never have hesitated to laugh at himself. Such a free humorous attitude, a real playfulness and the largeness of heart that goes with it must, therefore, be regarded as the genuine traits of Kalidasa's personality, (5) The image that Kalidasa's literature creates is that of a poet rich in intellectual equipment, exceedingly sensitive to beauty in all forms, a lover of life, cheerful and playful in his outlook. At the same time it appears that Kalidasa prefers to close his eyes at the dreadful and bitter in life. It is possible that royal patronage, comfortable and happy life, naturally pleasant temperament and such other factors may have limited his experiences, shutting off the furious and the dreadful in life and in nature from him. Whether the cause is environmental or mental, it is true nevertheless that Kalidasa is prone to softness and tranquillity. The descriptions of rivers, mountains and other objects in nature in Kalidasa's literature are charming and pleasant. A mountain is a rest resort in the Meghaduta.

Page #71
Appointment with Kalidasa When the Cloud comes to rest on a mountain the poet visualises the Lady Earth, the mountain being her round breast. 56 A river appears to the poet's eye in the form of Urvasi The warbling row of birds moving on the river's surface is the tinkling girdle; the foam floating on certain spots is the white garment loosened in the confusion of love. The imagery occurs in the Meghaduta too, with the difference that a branch of bamboo bending down and touching the water becomes the hand gathering the loose garment of foam.58 Granting that these images appear to the mind anguished by separation in love, the poet's predilection for the pleasant and the tender is yet apparent. The impression the description of the Himalaya in the Kumarasambhava creates is that of an object full of marvel and celestial. The mind is not awe-struck or thrilled by the tail precipices of the Himalaya, its grandeur and breathtaking vastness, its snow-capped peaks thrust into the heart of the sky; in stead, it entices us by its 'divine-souled' form and as the 'source of innumerable jewels'.50 Bhavabhuti, on the contrary, sees the terrifying torrents of water cascading down from mountaintops, the clash of rivers and the mountain-like waves rising up from them, and he hears the angry music thundering from the clash of water currents."0 58 Kalidasa describes the military campaign of Raghu and the hunting expedition of Dasaratha. But the march of Raghu and his army is like a pleasure tour; climbing a mountain and crossing its top is like a dalliance of love.61 The peacock with its plumage spread reminds Dasaratha of the tresses of Kaikeyi, interwoven with manycoloured flowers and loosened in the sport of love; the sight of a deer is a vision of the fawn-eyed beloved. Although the theme of the Raghuvansa was quite favourable to the creation of the heroic sentiment (vira-rasa) Kalidasa prefers the mellowness of love and the delight of the marvellous. Bhavabhuti, again, creates a state of world-destruction even in the fight of two children, Lava and Candraketu.3 The cemetery grounds and the fierce goddess Camunda which Bhavabhuti describes create awe and terror. In the picture of Aghoraghanta the feelings of devotion and fury (bhakti-bhava, raudra-rasa) are intermingled.44 Kalidasa describes the evening worship in the Mahakala temple; but along with the furious form of Siva in the tandava dance he likes to place the figure of Bhavani keeping her eyes closed in fear," Bhavabhuti has drawn a picture of young students in the hermitage of Valmiki in his Uttara-rama-carita. These boys, in their private conversation, make fun of Vasistha who has arrived as an honoured guest. They discuss the menu arranged by their preceptor for feeding the guests. On the day of an unexpected holiday, when lessons are stopped in honour of the guests, the boys romp about the hermitage grounds in noisy abandon; their curiosity is terribly roused by an animal, 'horse", whom they had never seen; they discuss the animal with vigorous argument; and the moment they sight a band of armed soldiers they run away with the fleetness of dear. Kalidasa's picture of Kanva's hermitage is different. Here there are industrious ascetics; confident deer are grazing without fear on the green grass; smoke

Page #72
Glimpses of Personality of ghee is rising up from the sacrificial altars; the narrow footpaths are marked with drops of water fetched from reservoirs; wet bark-garments are suspended from the branches of trees; grains of wild rice dropped from bird-nests have collected at the foot of some trees; small stones besmeared with ingudi--oil are to be seen here and there.67. The usual sounds are those of the recitation of Vedic mantras during the performance of the daily rituals, or the mild conversation of the hermitage girls watering the creepers and trees. Dustlifted up in clouds by the hooves of Dusyanta's horses or the wild confusion created by an elephant frightened by the sight of Dusyanta's chariot 68 are occurrences of the moment, accidents that happen once in a while. The pupils also are like their teachers, thoughtful and sober. On the whole, therefore, the governing note of the asrama is tranquillity. 69 The comparison between the two poets is not intended to suggest the relative poetic merit of one or the other. It is significant only for understanding the difference in outlook, temperament and mental attitude between the two. Describing the background which he intends to paint for the portrait of Sakun. tala Dusyanta says :70 'I will draw the river Malini. On its sandy beach there will be a pair of swans reclining closely. All around will be the holy slopes of the Himalaya, with deer squatting on them. Bark-garments hanging down from the branch of a tree (will be shown) and under the tree I will paint a doe scratching her left eye on the tip of a black antelope's horn.' Dusyanta's concept of the picture very probably indicates the mental frame of Kalidasa himself. The description, of course, shows the appreciative, artis cic and aesthetic attitude of Kalidasa. But there are indications also of the preferences of his mind and heart. There is love, symbolised by the pair of swans, the deer and the doe, a love not verbal but instinctive and filled with mutual trust. The river Malin and the Himalaya signify the feeling for holiness and grandeur. And a profound, wordless tranquillity which envelopes life is the keynote of the picture. The doe is scratching her eye on the antelope's horn-tip. Even the slightest movement of the antelope's neck would pierce the doe's eye. That this does not happen and the female is not injured is as much due to their mutual trust as it is due to the nature of the atmosphere from which any sense of fear or the possibility of danger to the life of the innocent, loving animals has been completely removed. Trust and peace rule the atmosphere. So, holiness and certainty of divine presence, love blossoming through mutual trust, and peace and tranquillity covering consciousness like a silken cloak : these are qualities that Kalidasa seems to like of life. He does not want noisy confusion, turbulence or violent conflict. These preferences seem to be a striking trait of Kalidasa's personality. They indicate, perhaps, a limitation also of the literary and artistic personality of this great poet.

Page #73
Appointment with Kalidasa NOTES 1 Kavyaprakasa, I.2 : kAvyaM yazase...' 2 Malavikagnimitra, prologue Read : pAripArzvikaH - prathitayazasAM bhAsa-kaviputra-saumillakAdInAM prabandhAna atikramya vartamAnakaveH kAli. dAsasya kriyAmimAM draSTu kathaM pariSado bahumAnaH / sUtradhAraH - aye vivekavizrAntamabhihitam / pazya parANamityeva na sAdhu sarvam na cApi kAvyaM navamityavadyama / santaH parIkSyAnyatarad bhajante mUDhaH parapratyayaneyabuddhiH // 1.2 3 Raghuvamsa, I.3 : 'mandaH kaviyazaHprArthI...' 4 Ibld. II.57 : 'kimapyahiMsyastava cenmato'haM yazaHzarIre bhava me dayAlaH / ' 3 Cf. Gita-Govinda, 1.3 : yadi harismaraNe sarasaM mano yadi vilAsakalAsu kutUhalam / madhurakomalakAntapadAvalIM zRNu tadA jayadevasarasvatIm // 6 Cr. 'yasyAzcoraH cikuranikaraH karNapUro mayUraH bhAso hAsaH kavikulaguruH kAlidAso vilAsaH / harSoM harSoM hRdayavasatiH paJcabANastu bANaH keSAM naiSA kathaya kavitAkAminI kautukAya // Prasanna-raghava, I22; also Subhasitaratnabhandara, under sAmAnyakaviprazaMsA. no.68. 7 cr. dhanvantarikSapaNakAmarasiMhazaGkuvetAlabhaTTaghaTakharparakAlidAsAH / khyAto varAhamihiro nRpateH sabhAyAM ratnAni vai vararucirnava vikramasya // Subhasitarainabhandara, under sAmAnyakaviprazaMsA, No. 67, Jyotirvidabharana, 22.10. & The story is that Bhavabhuti read his Uttara-rama-carita to Kalidasa, who advised him to take one anusvara out from the verse, I.12, rAtrireSa vyaresIt emended to rAtrireva.... See my URC. Introduction, p. 26. 9 Rajasekhara, the author of Kavyamimamsa, held the post of a royal priest and Visvanatha, the author of Sahityadarpana describes himself as 'sAndhivigrahika--mahApAtra...' 10 cr. Duwanta's statement, rAjJaH parigraho'yamiti rAjapuruSaM mAmavagacchatha / ' Sakuntala 1293-4. 11 Cr. Uttara-rama-carita, act II, Viskambhaka. 12 See MM. Dr. Kane's notes to his edition of the Har sacarita ch. 1, for the meaning of these literary terms. 13 Kavyaprakasa, I.3: zaktinipuNatA lokazAstrakAvyAdyavekSaNAt / kAvyajJazikSayAbhyAsa iti hetustadubhave // 1 Eakuntala. III.8.12-13 Anasuya says : halA zakuntale, anabhyantare khalu AvAM madanagatasya vRttAnta. sya / kintu yAdRzI itihAsanibandheSu kAmayamAnAnAmavasthA zrUyate tAdRzIM tava pazyAmi / 15 Svapnavasavadatta, I-13 : naivedAnI tAdRzAzcakravAkA / naivApyanye strIvizeSairviyuktAH //

Page #74
Glimpses of Personality 16 Sakuntala, IV,5, 9-10 sakhyau abe, anupabhuktabhUSaNo'yaM janaH / citrakarmaparicayena atreSu te bhAbharaNaviniyogaM kurvaH / zakuntalA - jAne vAM naipuNyam / 17 Malavikagnimitra, act III. Read : bakulAvalikA api rocate te'yaM caraNarAgarekhAvinyAsaH / mAlavikA - AtmanazcaraNagata iti lajje enaM prazaMsitum / kathaya kena prasAdhanakalAyAmabhivinItAsi / bakulAvalikA atra khalu bhartuH ziSyAsmi / 18 Malavikagnimitra 1.21. nihA digyupahitamadhyamasvarotthA mAyUrI madayati mArjanA manAMsi // 19 Sakuntala, V. 'aho rAgaparivAhiNI gItiH / Dusyanta's remark on hearing his queen Hathsapadika singing. 20_Malavikagnimitra, II. 8 : 'zAkhAyoniH mRduH abhinayaH' 21 Sakuntala VI.17. The verse is quoted further in full see note no. 70. 22Pbid. VI. 15 svinnAGgulivinivezo rekhAprAnteSu dRzyate malinaH / : atra ca kapolapatitaM yamidaM varNikocchvAsAt // 23 Raghuraja VIIL67 gRhiNI sacivaH sakhI mithaH priyaziSyA lalite kalpravidhI / 24 Malatimadhava 17 yad vedAdhyayanaM tathopaniSadAM sAMkhyasya yogasya ca jJAnaM tat kathanena phi na hi tataH kazcida guNo nATake // 25 Prasannaraghava, I. 18ab : yeSAM komalakAvyakauzalakalAlIlAvatI bhAratI teSAM karkazatarkavakavacanodgAre'pi kiM hIyate / 26 Sakuntala, I. 14. 27 Vikramorvasya, III.2cd : AcAraprayataH sapuSpabaliSu sthAneSu cArciSmatIH sandhyAmaGgaladIpikA vibhajate zuddhAntavRddhAjanaH // 28 Purva-megha, verse 64 : tatrAvazyaM valayakulizodhanodgIrNatoyaM neSyanti tvAM surayuvatayo yantradhArAgRhatyam / 29 Sakuntala, V.2ab : ramyANi vIkSya madhurAMdha nizamya zabdAn paryutsukIbhavati yat sukhito'pi jantuH / 30 lbid. V. 2cd: tazcetasA smarati nUnamabodhapUrva bhAvasthirANi jananAntarasauhRdAni // 31 The incident is reported in Vikramorvasiya, act IV, pravesaka. 32. Malavikagnimitra, 111.11 'prathamAmiva pallavaprasUtiM haradagdhasya manobhavamasya // "

Page #75
Appointment with Kaidasie 33 Ido not now recollect tbe excact source of the book where I read it. 34 Cf. the story of Kapinjala in Bapa's Kadambari. 35 I am referring to a beautiful Marathi poem, Satariche Bol, by the heralder of modern Marathi poetry, Keshava-suta (1866-1905 A.D.). 36 Mrechakatika, III. 'aho darzanIyo'yaM saMdhiH / ' and verse 22 that follows. 37 Vikramorvaixya, V.2, 3, 4. 38 Ibid. I.10. 39 Sakuntala, I.25. 40 Ibid. II.9. 41 Rusamhara, canto 6%BRaghuvamsa, IX.26-48; Kumarasambhava, III.24-42. The references in due order are to Meghadata, first half, verses 13-66; Alaka is described in the second half, vv. 1-14; Raghuvamsa, IV. 27-84; XIII. 2-67. 43 Vikramorvastya, IV. 13. 44 Raghuvamsa, II. 9-14. 45 Cr. Vikramorvasiya, IV. 17,22,32, 33, 52 etc. 46 Ibid. IV.33 47 Sakuntala, IV. 5, 10, 11 48 Ibld. IV. 12 : uggalia-dabbha-kavalA miA pariccatta-gaccaNA morA / osaria-paMDu-pattA muaMti assUNi via ladAo // 49 Ibid., act VI, pravesaka. 50 Ibtd., act I: zakuntalA-sakhi anasUye, atipinaddhena valkalena priyaMvadayA niyantritAsmi / zithilaya tAvadetat |...priyNvdaa-(shaasm ) atra payodharavistArayitRkam bhAtmano yauvanamupAlabhasva / mAM kimu pAlabhase / Std. act 1: jAnAsi kinimittaM zakuntalA vanajyotsnAmatimAtraM pazyatIti |...ythaa vanajyotsnA ana rUpeNa pAdapena saMgatA, api nAma evam ahamapi AtmanaH anurUpaM varaM lameya iti / 32 Ibtd., act I : priyaMvadA-(kiMcid vihasya) halA zakuntale, mocitAsi anukampinA AryeNa, athavA mahArAjena / gaccha idAnIm / 53 Tbid., act VII : 'mAtaH, eSa ko'pi puruSo mAM putra iti AliGgati / '.... 'mama khalu tAto duSyantaH, na tvam / / 54 cr. 'sAdhu re piGgalavAnara sAdhu / suSTu paritrAtastvayA sapakSaH / ' Gautama in Malavikagnimitra, IV; 'rAjA-vatsa, itastava pituH priyasakhaM brAhmaNam azaGkito vandasva / viSaka:-kimiti zakiSyate / nanu AzramavAsaparicita eva zAkhAmRgaH / ' Manavaka in Vikramo vastya, act V. 55 Vikramorvashya, II : 'kiM tatrabhavatI urvazI advitIyA rUpeNa, ahamiva virUpatayA / ' 56 Purva-megha, v. 18. 57 Vikramorvasiya, IV. 52 58 Maghaduta, first half, vv. 29, 44. 59 Kumarasambhava, I.1 ('devatAtmA'), 3 ('anantaratnaprabhava'). 60 Cr. Uttara-rama-carita II.20,3 61 Raghavamsa, IV.51,52. 62 Ibtd.,IX.58,67.

Page #76
Glimpses of Personality 63 Uttara-rama-carita, V.6,9,13.14. 64 Malarsmadhava, V. 13-19; 22-23, 25 etc. 65 Parra-megha, v. 39. 66 Urtara-rama-carita, IV.Misra-viskambhaka; v. 26 and ff. 67 Sakuntala 1.14-15. 68 Ibld., I. 31-32, and ff. 69 Ibid., cf. 'guruziSye gurusame' in VI.9; 'zAntamidamAzramapadam' in I.16; also 'zabhapradhAneSu tapodhaneSu' in II.7. 70 lbid. VI.17 kAryA sakatalInahaMsamithunA srotovahA mAlinI pAdAstAmabhito niSaNNahariNA gaurIguroH pAvanAH / zAkhAlambitavalkalasya ca taronirmAtumicchAmyadhaH zuoM kRSNamRgasya vAmanayanaM kaNDyamAnAM mRgIm //

Page #77
4 WORLD OF THOUGHT (1) A writer is bound to express or suggest a number of thoughts and ideas on different subjects and different aspects of life. It need not be supposed that they are always his personal thoughts or opinions; because a writer can, sometimes, be purely objective and may be expressing the thoughts of the particular character be has created and he may be trying only to be true to life. However, it is equally possible to conjecture from the writer's characters, their thoughts and actions, how his mind works, what thoughts and ideas he appears to prefer, his outlook on life and the values he accepts; in other words, the thoughts expressed by a writer are a clue to his 'philosophy of life'. Some of the thoughts are related to values of life; but some others may be contemporary ideas only. The former may have no relation to particular time or circumstances and may express timeless verities. The latter are circumscribed by the times in which the writer lived; and in that case the date of the writer becomes an important factor in order to understand the thoughts in their proper context. The date of Kalidasa is uncertain; but the researchers so far have boiled down to two possibilities: Kalidasa may either be regarded as a contemporary of king Agnimitra of the Sunga dynasty and, as such belongs to the first century B. C., or a contemporary of Gupta and Vakataka kings and belongs to the third or the fourth century A. D.1 Wide as the gap may appear, it does not pose a serious problem from the political angle. For, monarchial rule is the common aspect of ancient Indian history; and though the kings and their dynasties changed the political life continued in much the same way, and people were accustomed to the monarchial form of government. It is when we look at society from the point of view of religion and philosophy that the changed outlook becomes important. The history of the ancient world testifies to social changes, sometimes overhauling changes in the life of a society, that religion and philosophy have wrought. There are possibly signs of such social changes in the period under consideration, and the literature of Kalidasa reflects them unconsciously. The work of composing and collecting together into unified forms of the Vedas, Upanisads, Gita, the Mahabharata, Ramayana and some Puranas, which represent the wealth of ancient Indian religion, philosophy and literature, was completed by this time. The philosophy of life and of life beyond which the Upanisads teach was

Page #78
World of Thought widely spread among the people influencing the modes of their living. The horizons of scientific thinking were enlarging; and it was becoming increasingly necessary to codify all this diverse knowledge and preserve it in its essential principles in a form easy for memorising. In other words, it was the time for sutra works and their com. mentaries extended to all branches of scientific thought. This was a period of striking intellectual activity. As a matter of fact, the religious philosophy promulgated by the Vedic literature had permeated down to the life of the people and could have sunk its roots dee por still. Time had moved so far ahead. That this did not actually happen may be partially due to political rivalries and unsteady governments that this period in history witnessed. But the major cause appears to be the rise of new religions, like the Bauddha and the Jain, which broke away from the Vedic tradition. There is no doubt that the thoughts of Buddha and the way of life he taught had deeply touched the mind of common men and had influenced some intellectuals of the time. During the period from the first century B. C. to the first-second century A. D. some ruling kings of North India had embraced Buddhist religion, giving it thus the prestige of political authority. The old religion had naturally to face this challenge. The period of time, therefore, is mainly that of conflict and transition; and it is with these times that Kalidasa seems to be connected. A predecessor or a senior contemporary of Kalidasa, Asvaghosa (1st cent between 50 B. C. & 50. A. D.) who was a Brahminturned-Buddhist wrote some philosophical works on the Buddhistic doctrines and also composed Sanskrit epics, Buddhacarita and Saundarananda, to teach the life and phil. osophy of Buddha, to carry the new message to the heart of the people through the alluring medium of literary art. The great need of the times, was the coming on the horizon of a writer who would hold the attention of the people and who would champion the cause of the old religion and philosophy and recapture the glory of the ancient Vedic tradition. The literature of Kalidasa fulfilled this need indirectly. 'Indirectly', for two obvious reasons : Kalidasa never wrote anything to propagate any particular philogophy or religious creed, as Asvaghosa did. He was an artist to his finger-tips, and would not permit any upadesa to swallow his art presentation. The opinion, therefore, expressed by a scholar, tbat Kalidasa's Sakuntala is an answer of the Brahmanical Culture to the Buddhist religion, is exaggerated and misleading. Kalidasa is not a philosopher like the Upanisadic thinkers or like Sankaracarya of the later period. He does not hold a brief for any particular opinion, has no personal axe to grind, but strictly adheres to his role as an artist. There is another reason also, Controversies and taking sides apart, Kalidasa does not even invite attention through his characters to possible faults in the current religious behaviour of the people and to precepts that have lost validity of the context. A sadra, Sambuka, practised penance

Page #79
Appointment with Kalidasa permissible only to Brahmins. This was a violation of the Vedic code. It was supposed to result in the untimely death of a Brahmin boy. The Brahmin came complaining to Rama demanding justice. Rama went to Pancavati in search of Sambuka and killed him. The Brahmin's son came back to life. This incident is presented in the Ramakatha of Kalidasa's Raghuvamia,3 and Rama is shown as a true defender of the ancient religious faith. It is also presented in the Uttara-rama-carita of Bhavabhuti. And though Bhavabhuti was born in an orthodox Brahmin family that had the prestigious right to a Soma drink in a Soma sacrifice, his Rama is terribly shaken by this religious belief and the demand it makes on a ruling king. Bhavabhuti's Rama executes his religious duty, killing the Sadra Sage 'somehow', against his will, and confessing to his own 'cruelty', wondering what connection there could ever be between the death of a Brahmin's son and the penance of a Sudra! Kalidasa does not appear to be touched to the quick by such social inequalities and religious beliefs that have lost their meaning over the passage of time. It will be seen, on the other hand, that Kalidasa only reiterates the orthodox and traditional precepts of religious philosophy in his poems and dramas without commenting on them. That is why, it is not correct to assume that Kalidasa's writing advocates positively any particular creed or philosophy. Whatever ideas we may gather have to be deduced indirectly from his literature. 66 It must also be remembered that the stand that Kalidasa takes in his writing is that of an artist. The old lilerature was didactic and was produced to preach and teach. But even after the aesthetic principle of rasa came to hold its own in literature, some poeticians still expected the fulfilment of the four goals of human life (purusartha) from poetry and literature. The literary opinion thus seems to waver continuously between pure aesthetic delight and wholesome advice as the purpose of literary art. The stand that Mammata has taken seems to be more correct. Literary art is principally concerned with aesthetic relish and delight; the advice or author's philosophy should come indirectly, like the advice given by a charming wife, never at the cost of art. Kalidasa's literature exemplifies this literary principle. So, even from this point of view, any opinions or philosophy of life that Kalidasa's literature presents will be indirect', a matter of inference and deduction. (2) The centuries under consideration seem to have changed to some extent the general aspect of the old Vedic religion. The Brahmanic religion based on the observance of rituals and performance of sacrifices, what is known as karmakanda, came into glory once again. The philosophical thought in the Upanisads had really diverted the peoples' minds from ritual action to knowledge, and had taught that pursuit of jhana or knowledge with its emphasis on austerities and renunciation, although difficult, was a better way to spiritual liberation than the way of karma which promised only material rewards and kept man bound to existence. But the needs of common men

Page #80
World of Thought 67 for happiness on this earth and prospects for heavenly pleasures after death, and more particularly the onslaughts of the Buddhist religious thought on the orthodox religion, must have made it essential, at this time, to revive the glory of ancient sacrificial system in all its former splendour. Kalidasa accepts this spectacular aspect of religion. His king Dilipa waits on the celestial cow in order to obtain a son and counteract a curse in the previous birth, at the advice of his family priest,7 The Raghu kings are great performers of sacrifices. Rama performed an Asvamedha to establish his sovereignty; and Kalidasa records a similar performance by an historical king of the times, Pusyamitra of the Sunga dynasty, father of Agnimitra.8 Raghu did one better, by performing the Sarvamedha, the Visvajit Sacrifice, at the couclusion of which he gave away all his wealth in gifts, so that when a pupil approached him to beg for the sum of fees to be paid to his preceptor Raghu found his treasury empty, and had to think of attacking Kubera to obtain the money. During the reign of the Raghu kings the river-banks used to be studded with sacrificial pillars proclaiming the kingly glory to heavens. Sacrifices, great and small, had assumed such prestige and importance in the lives of the rich and mighty that even lowly people in the kingdom were conversant with them and the principles behind them. The fisherman in Sakuntala justifies his way of living by using the analogy of a Srotriya, sacrificial priest. He points out that a sacrificial priest has to slaughter an animal in a sacrifice; but that does not mean that his heart is bereft of tenderness and compassion;' and so his profession of catching and killing fish for food must not be taken as a reflection on his personal character. It is likely that the poets upheld and extolled the institution of sacrifice for a number of reasons, like its being a symbol of the prosperity of life; the impressive grandeur of religious performances the sacrifice implies; the opportunity the sacrifice provides for bringing a host of people together in a religious context with other-worldly outlook; the distribution of wealth by way of sacrificial gifts among a large section of people, and as a link between the rich and common men on the basis of religion. Since the time of the Brahmana literature the Vedic gods were gradually losing their importance and new gods connected with sacrificial performance like Prajapati and Visnu were coming into prominence. The Svetasvatara Upanisad praises Rudra as the highest principle of religion and philosophy. These three gods represent the new Trinity upheld by the times and approved by the later Hinduism. Kalidasa has described and praised Prajapati-Brahma and siva in the Kumarasambhava, 10 Visnu identified in the personality of Rama in the Raghuvamsa, and Siva in all his dramas.12 It appears, however, that Siva was the favourite deity of Kalidasa. The picturesque description of the evening worship in the Mahakala temple at Ujjayini in the Meghaduta, 13 the poetic presentation of the full life of Siva and Parvati in the Kumarasambhava, the prayers addressed to Siva in the nandi verses of the dramas, and the prayer for final liberation from mundane life made to Siva in the valedictory verse (Bharatavak ya) of the sakuntala, all point to Kalidasa's devotion

Page #81
Appointment with Kalidasa and love for Siva. But Kalidasa's mind is not unduly partial and sectarian, as his praises of other gods clearly show. Kalidasa's devotion to Siva must, therefore, be taken only as a personal choice prompted by an individual religious faith. Considered from philosophical and poetic angle the divine form of Siva is really enticing. In the Trinity Siva is the deity of destruction (samhara); but he is 'siva', that is, full of auspiciousness and bliss. Accustomed to live in the dreadful inauspicious cemetery grounds, he is the incarnation of the auspicious and the holy. The most beggarly, this god has unlimited splendour. So naive and innocent, his generosity of heart is boundless. He has such love of pleasure that Uma is his better half not in a figurative sense but literally; and yet he is a Yogi par excellence. As a supreme exponent of art, he is the father of tandava and through Uma of lasya dance; in his half-male-half-female form the art of natya has achieved a visible shape. This extra-ordinary form of Siva, full of mutual opposites, and yet firing imagination, stirring emotion and dazzling intellect, has grasped by Kalidasa.14 The characteristic of creating new life and fresh urge of vigour, been lovingly which the union of Siva and Parvati symbolises and which Kalidasa describes in the story of Kumarasambhava, must have a special attraction for the poet's mind. 68 The personalistic form of god can be traced to very ancient days. The thinkers of the Upanisads conceived an abstract, impersonal first principle, called it Brahman, and established it as the Ultimate Reality and the ground of all existence. The unification of the two aspects, personal and impersonal, was probably achieved in a convincing way by the Gita, so that the threefold cosmic function of origination of the universe, its preservation and annihilation for the purpose of a new creation, though attributed to three separate gods, the Trinity really was a unity of three cosmic.functions of one basic principle. This view of Unity, One Godhead, was intellectually staisfying and emotionally appealing. It appears that Kalidasa was greatly influenced by this philosophical doctrine of triune unity and particularly by the teachings of Gita. In the benedictory verse (nandi) of the vikagnimitra he described Siva as the supreme goal of man's devotion; in the Sakuntala he enumerated the eight visible forms (atta-tanu) of Siva, thereby proving that the presence of god is not a matter only of Scriptural testimony, logical inference or transcendental perception available by Yoga, but also a matter of understanding and direct perception. It was, in a way, a poetic answer to the atheists and the sceptics. In the nandi verse of the Vikramorvaliya he turned to Vedanta and asserted the unity of the impersonal, non-dualistic First Principle and the personalistic One Godhead. That the Unity breaks into three aspects is stated in the description The One Form split itself into three', which comes in the Kumarasambhava 15 and, more distinctly, in the Prayer addressed to Visnu in the Raghuvamda,16 Rama is conceived as an avatara of Visnu. God descended on earth to kill Ravana; He consented to be born, although Total and Self-sufficient in Himself, for the purpose of saving the world from the tyranny of the unrighteous and as a favour to the distressed mankind.17 Kalidasa writes,

Page #82
World of Thought "There is nothing that you have not attained, nor wish to attain. The singular purpose of your birth and activity is gracious favour on the world and its people, '18 The phrasing of this prayer is reminiscent of Gita,19 and one feels that Kalidasa is echoing the avatara theory of Gita almost in the words of the Gospel. Kalidasa naturally accepts the doctrine of the cycle of existences, with the attendant belief in previous birth and re-birth, a doctrine which is a plank of the Brahmanical and Hindu religion. Vasistha takes care to describe the previous birth and the action therein of Indumati in his effort to console Aja lamenting over her sudden death by an incredible trifling cause.20 And Dusyanta, moved unaccountably by the song of Hamsapadika, tries to seek the cause of his restlessness in the 'loves of previous birth'21 Kalidasa's final personal prayer, expressed in the Bharatavak ya of Sakuntala is for the termination of re-birth.23 Kalidasa liked the way of complete devotion to reach and realise god. But it appears from his description of the Vanaprastha stage of Raghu's life that he would have accepted the path of yoga and knowledge intellectually. 23 The practice of the Raghu kings was, he says, "to take leave of the mortal body by the process of yoga'.24 Kalidasa describes, in the Sakuntala, the ascetics doing penance and practising yoga in the hermitage of Marica on the Hemakuta mountain; and gives a thrilling picture of the astounding penance Marica himself was doing. 35 The description is suggestive of Kalidasa's own inclination and admiration. Youth is the time for enjoyment of the pleasures of world and for fulfilling the obligations demanded from a married householder; with these duties done and as the years advance, the time is ripe for retirement from worldly life; one should move to the solitary calm of forest residence, and engage oneself in attaining knowledge of god through austerities and yoga practices; blessed with knowledge of god, final stage is reached when one can discard the physical frame and merge in the divine. 26 Having enjoyed life fully, the final surrender to god should be equally intense and complete, characterised by supreme selfless penance : 'What sages generally seek to achieve by their austerities, in that heaven of happiness these ascetics in the hermitage of Marica) practise further penance !'27 These words of wonder and admiration reflect Kalidasa's own mental processes and his thinking. While accepting the religion and philosophy handed down by established tradition, Kalidasa accepts each purusa, tha individually and believes that fulness of life is possible by the fulfilment of each one of them, and not merely by the ideal of moksa at the cost of other human ideals. (3) All the three plays of Kalidasa and his Raghuvansa deal with the life of kings as the principal theme. No other Sanskrit dramatist seems to have painted the pictures

Page #83
Appointment with Kalidasa of royal life, including the private harem life of a king with the harem conflicts, jealousies and rivalries with such minute and penetrating details as Kalidasa seems to have done. The Udayana plays of Sri Harsa show such pictures; but there is an obvious imitation and influence of Kalidasa; and in the later plays the love life of a royal hero has a conventional set pattern, modelled on Kalidasa's writing. It is reasonable to believe, therefore, that Kalidasa initiated the court comedy of royal love. And this he could not have done by mere poetic observation from a distance, but by close contact with royal life. It has been already suggested that Kalidasa must have been connected with some royal court not only as an honoured poet but also as an officer, perhaps as an embassador, of a king. The intimate pictures of royal life given by Kalidasa can be better understood on such an assumption; and they also show Kalidasa's views on the ideals of kingship and monarchial government. 70 It is evident that Kalidasa is a royalist; and this is not surprising on the background of ancient Indian history which shows that the form of government was prevailingly monarchial. But it must be remembered that Kalidasa's political loyalties are not determined by the fact of royal patronage. It was a general belief of the people in those days that if a ruling king happened to be strong and brave, just and generous, the subjects had no worry about their welfare; that a good government under the leadership of a king would be free from difficulties and discontent of any kind. Kalidasa shares this belief. The Raghu kings were, of course, ideal rulers. But even an earthly king like Agnimitra wins this encomium from Kalidasa that under his rule no calamity, earthly or supernatural, ever visited his people.28 A complete harmony between the wishes of a king and of his subjects is the basis of this belief. It is obvious that the government of an ideal king would give no cause for discontent or opposition Kalidasa tells us that under the rule of Raghu kings the mass of their people did not swerve from the chartered path by even so much as a thin line. But granting that a ruling king followed his ideals, what about the integrity of his officers whom he must appoint to share the burden of the administration ? One or two instances in the Sakuntala certainly give an odour of hypocrisy and dishonesty. The meeting with Sakuntala has taken away Dusyanta's attention from the projected hunting. The comfortloving Vidusaka would naturally like the hunt to be abandoned; his opposition to hunting is selfish but consistent with his nature. But the attitude of Dusyanta's commander of the army is definitely puzzling. He encourages the Vidusaka privately to be persistent with his opposition and promises that he will personally take the opposite stand only to please his master.30 Is not the Senapati's praise of hunting an obvious hypocrisy though his obedience to his master is transparent? The behaviour of Dusyanta's chief of police and his two constables is openly dishonest. They terrorize the poor fisherman; later they are prepared to share half the reward with him; and take him to a liquor shop to celebrate their new friendship.31 Dusyanta may be an ideal king in himself; but his officers are shown to be hypoc ritical and corrupt; and the picture is contradictory to the assertion that the wrong

Page #84
World of Thought 11 doers were severely punished under the rule of Dusyanta.32 Is it that Kalidasa was tempted to try his hand at stark realism known to him from general sources, or that he had greater faith in the integrity of the king as the leader of society ? Any way, there is no picture of political oppression, discontent or revolt in Kalidasa's writing. Nor does Kalidasa speak of any other form of government, like the Buddhist Republics prevailing in Magadha, of which Kalidasa must surely have some knowledge. It appears that Kalidasa followed the political thought of Kautilya or he was by his own persuasion loyal to kingship. There is another side to the picture given above, and it deserves to be noted. In the ancient monarchial government the king owned the ultimate authority. So, even if some of the officers were dishonest and corrupt the power vested with the king really; and it was always possible for the people to approach the king directly and seek just redress of all their grievances. This must have acted as a curb on the nuisance of corrupt officers and the possible harm they could inflict on common people. This is a possible interpretation of Kalidasa's picture of small corruption lurking in society in spite of good government. As an artist, who had minute knowledge of human nature, Kalidasa could not help putting his finger realistically on human weaknesses. And in doing this he is not suggesting that Dusyanta was a naive king to have appointed spoiled officers to work for him, rather, he is indicating his firm belief in the intergrity of the ruler at the top of the administration. In describing the personalities of his royal heroes Kalidasa has particularly emphasised their devotion to the good of their people. Riding in full speed in eagerness and joy of hunting, Dusyanta halts his chariot suddenly the moment the hermits raise their hands and remind him that the weapon put in his hand by traditional authority is meant for protecting the distressed and not for striking the innocent.33 Dusyanta accepts this plea with bowed head and withdraws his arrow immediately. According to the prevailing law the entire property of a man went into royal treasury if he had no son to claim it after his death. Dusyanta's ministers had disposed the case of Dhanamitra accordingly. But Dusyanta reverses the decision, thereby doing justice to the pregnant widow of the deceased merchant. King Raghu is not willing to send the pupil Kautsa back empty handed even though he has no money left in his treasury after the sacrificial gifts he has generously distributed; on the contrary, he requests Kautsa to wait for a while and plans to attack Kubera to get the money for gurudaksina for the boy.35 These remarkable instances from Kalidasa's literature suggest that not only the poet but the subjects also had firm faith in the generosity and sense of justice of their king. Kalidasa's compliment to Dusyanta, that his people looked upon the king as their relative and brother truer than the blood-relations, 36 must have originated not in poetic fancy but from complete faith in the king. Kingship in those days was hereditary. It was also the source of all power. Law, execution and administration of law, and justice, under Democratic rule, are independent; and there is a clear decentralisation; justice is not under the control of govern

Page #85
72 Appointment with Kalidasa ment administration, and the executive is fully responsible to the elected legislature. In theory, therefore, the form of government in ancient India will have to be described as Unlimited Monarchy, because all the three departments of government, law, administration and justice, were under the control of the king. The king, no doubt, was helped by cabinet ministers and administrative officers; but their appointment was made by the king and their authority was derived from and delegated by the king; the king was also the ultimate tribunal and the final authority in dispensation of justice, as the case of Dhanamitra referred to above shows. In spite of such complete centralisation of power in the ruler the ancient people accepted kingship and were presumably quite happy under it. Modern critics would perhaps explain this political state as due to the absence of any political consciousness on the part of the people and their ignorance about individual rights. This is probably true. But Kalidasa's writing shows the prevalence of certain curbs on the unlimited royal power. Although the king was responsible for law and its administration the king was not a law-maker but a promulgator of traditional laws. The laws, rules and procedure were derived from the Dharmasastras and authoritative texts on polity. The theoretical foundation of government was provided by the Dharmasatras and the practice was described in scientific works like the Arthasastra. The sages who were the authors of Dharmasastra and composers of Smoti works framed the laws; practical direction in the application and administration of laws, especially in the political sphere, was provided by experienced statesmen like Kautilya and sage-philosophers like Vyasa in the santi and Anusasana parvans of the Mahabharata. It appears therefore that a king's role was that of an administrator mainly, who executed the laws and rules of government and of political behaviour framed by the best, intellectual authorities of the day. It may be said, therefore, that the controlling power on royal authority was the power of the great social thinkers. A king rarely overruled this traditional authority, except in solitary cases when his sense of justice and compassion demanded a modification of the existing law. The appointment of ministers and officers does not appear to be merely for the purpose of sharing the vast burden of administration. The king usually consulted them on matters of importance, followed their advice and, on occasions, left the entire administration to their care. Before taking the final decision of ordering a military attack on the Vidarbha king, Agnimitra wishes to consult his cabinet ministers; and when the chief minister tells him that the Amatya parisad had arrived at the same decision then only does Agnimitra issue the necessary orders.37 When Dusyanta receives an invitation from Indra to help him in a fight against Durjaya Asuras he hands over the responsibility of government to his chief minister and tells him, 'Let your thought and intellect lok after our subjects during our absence. Our bow is temporarily engaged in another task.'38 The administrative help of ministers and continuous consultations with wise political scholars provided another curb on the unlimited royal power.

Page #86
World of Thought We have demarcated the spheres of social and religious life; and we are prepared to believe that religion is a matter of individual faith and observance and individual ideas of spiritual aims. Religion was not so individual-based in ancient days. That is why, perhaps, a revolution in religion was likely to shake up the entire social life of a people. Ancient history bears testimony as to how Buddhist religion affected society as a whole, especially after its propagation from the ruling throne. Castos and their specific duties had no place in Buddha's religious thinking; and since ho held life to be an existence rooted in misery, compassion and complete renunciation came to dominate the general tendency of the people influenced by his thoughts and teaching. The picture changed by the revival of Brahmanism in a new form. From the social angle it is plain that the Brahmanism is based on the division of society into clearly defined castes and of life into distinct stages to which specific duties and obligations are related under the banner of religion. Kalidasa has advocated the superiority of this social religion founded on four castes and four stages of life (varnaasraina-dharma) in his writings. This may be regarded as Kalidasa's personal contribution to the revival of new Brahmanism. The Gila states that the division of society into four castes is really due to inherent qualifications and the occupations people have as individuals.52 Individual qualities come by hereditary transmission; and the environment and surroundings in which a person is reared and brought up, the training and education he receives, determinc his capacity, ability and skill for a particular kind of work and profession. Hereditary qualities and environmental influences give a decided direction to an individual's personal and social duty which is called the religion of the caste. Whatever that duty may be, accepting it without grudge and executing it to the best of one's ability ensures the good of the individual and is beneficial to the society as well.53 This is the meaning of the Gita's doctrine; and it may be presumed that Kalidasa took the social doctrine in the same light. The kings described by Kalidasa adhered scrupulously to their Ksatriya-dharma, and understood that the weapon and power placed in their hands were meant for the 'protection of the distressed', for fremoving fear from the minds of the oppressed and tortured', and for giving them the feeling of safety and security.54 The fisherman in the Sakuntala55 states without mincing words that the duties which have come to a person on account of his caste and social position have to be accepted as such even if others thought his profession to be reprehensible; in fact, the profession can never be a clue to person's character; else, a Vedic Brahmin who has to slaughter an animal in a sacrifice will have to be dubbed as a merciless butcher ! It is, at least, clear from the example that all sections of people in the society were willing to accept and follow their caste duties. Fulfilling caste duties and obligations was an individual responsibility. But the king was expected to see that this was done. The Raghu kings and Dusyanta are shown as paying their personal attention to this obligation. The family priest of

Page #87
Appointment with Kalidasa Matali, remaining invisible, pounds him, Dusyanta suspects that his own house may be possessed by evil spirits. He confesses that a person is incapable of knowing the moral blunders he may be committing himself day by day; how could a king then become aware of the doubtful behaviour of his countless subjects !46 If kings and rulers were to be so wakeful and ready to probe their own conscience at every happening in their states, what better could the people ask for! About the Raghu kings Kalidasa sayg47 : They enjoyed the pleasures of family life only with the awareness of religious duty of providing an heir to the family; they displayed valour and destroyed their enemies only to stabilise the glory of their government; they preferred few words to verbose pratile in order to preserve the prestige of truth; they amassed vast fortunes so that they could gift away their treasures to the needy, distressed and the virtuous. Kalidasa likes these ideals of kingship and government, these virtues and moral values of a dedicated life. Kalidasa describes king Dilipa as a real father to his people and their own fathers as mere proginators. 18 When Dilipa started for the hermitage of Vasistha elderly men and cowherds from various towns and villages came to meet him. Dilipa asked them their names and inquired after their well-being. 19 This was a personal contact of the ruling monarch with his humble subjects in their own surroundings. Kautilya states in his Arthasastra that a king must sit in his Justice-hall every morning to give audience to his subjects, listen to their grievances and dispense justice forthwith. At these hours people had free and unchecked access to the king. It is obvious that a king like Dusyanta observed this practice without fail50, An exception was made only when the king was indisposed either physically or mentally.51 The personal contact of the king with his subjects, therefore, was not a gesture to win popularity but was a part of the ideals of royal conduct and moral values taught by discern. ing theorists. Kalidasa accepted monarchial rule and was partial to royalty probably because of the self-sacrificing, noble and idealistic life the kings led. At least, the kings whom Kalidasa know created and maintained a political state where pursuit and realisation of the four ideals of human life was possible with ease, where happiness and prosperity ruled, where blazing examples of ideal personal life lifted common life also on to a higher plane. (4) It can be said that social life in ancient days was controlled by the precepts of religion. The observance of social customs and practices was believed by the people to be discharge of religious duty as well. The present attitude to religion is different.

Page #88
World of Thought .: 75 We have demarcated the spheres of social and religious life; and we are prepared to believe that religion is a matter of individual faith and observance and individual ideas of spiritual aims. Religion was not so individual-based in ancient days. That is why, perhaps, a revolution in religion was likely to shake up the entire social life of a people. Ancient history bears testimony as to how Buddhist religion affected society as a whole, especially after its propagation from the ruling throne. Castes and their specific duties had no place in Buddha's religious thinking; and since he held life to be an existence rooted in misery, compassion and complete renunciation came to dominate the general tendency of the people influenced by his thoughts and teaching. The picture changed by the revival of Brahmanism in a new form. From the social angle it is plain that the Brahmanism is based on the division of society into clearly defined castes and of life into distinct stages to which specific duties and obligations are related under the banner of religion. Kalidasa has advocated the superiority of this social religion founded on four castes and four stages of life (varnaasrama-dharma) in his writings. This may be regarded as Kalidasa's personal contribution to the revival of new Brahmanism. The Gita states that the division of society into four castes is really due to inherent qualifications and the occupations people have as individuals.52 Individual qualities come by hereditary transmission; and the environment and surroundings in which a person is reared and brought up, the training and education he receives, determine his capacity, ability and skill for a particular kind of work and profession. Hereditary qualities and environmental influences give a decided direction to an individual's personal and social duty which is called the religion of the caste. Whatever that duty may be, accepting it without grudge and executing it to the best of one's ability ensures the good of the individual and is beneficial to the society as well.53 This is the meaning of the Gita's doctrine; and it may be presumed that Kalidasa took the social doctrine in the same light. The kings described by Kalidasa adhered scrupulously to their Ksatriya-dharma, and understood that the weapon and power placed in their hands were meant for the 'protection of the distressed', for 'removing fear from the minds of the oppressed and tortured', and for giving them the feeling of safety and security.54 The fisherman in the Sakuntala55 states without mincing words that the duties which have come to a person on account of his caste and social position have to be accepted as such even if others thought his profession to be reprehensible; in fact, the profession can never be a clue to person's character; else, a Vedic Brahmin who has to slaughter an animal in a sacrifice will have to be dubbed as a merciless butcher ! It is, at least, clear from the example that all sections of people in the society were willing to accept and follow their caste duties. Fulfilling caste duties and obligations was an individual responsibility. But the king was expected to see that this was done. The Raghu kings and Dusyanta are shown as paying their personal attention to this obligation. The family priest of

Page #89
Appointment with Kalidasa Matali, remaining invisible, pounds him, Dusyanta suspects that his own house may be possessed by evil spirits. He confesses that a person is incapable of knowing the moral blunders he may be committing himself day by day; how could a king then become aware of the doubtful behaviour of his countless subjects 46 If kings and rulers were to be so wakeful and ready to probe their own conscience at every happening in their states, what better could the people ask for! About the Raghu kings Kalidasa says : They enjoyed the pleasures of family life only with the awareness of religious duty of providing an heir to the family; they displayed valour and destroyed their enemies only to stabilise the glory of their government; they preferred few words to verbose prattle in order to preserve the prestige of truth, they amassed vast fortunes so that they could gift away their treasures to the ncedy, distressed and the virtuous. Kalidasa likes these ideals of kingship and government, these virtues and moral values of a dedicated life. Kalidasa describes king Dilipa as a real father to his people and their own fathers as mere proginators. 48 When Dilipa started for the hermitage of Vasistha elderly men and cowherds from various towns and villages came to meet him. Dilipa asked them their names and inquired after their well-being.49 This was a personal contact of the ruling monarch with his humble subjects in their own surroundings. Kautilya states in his Arthasastra that a king must sit in his Justice-hall every morning to give audience to his subjects, listen to their grievances and dispense justice forthwith. At these hours people had free and unchecked access to the king. It is obvious that a king like Dusyanta observed this practice without fa 150. An exception was made only when the king was indisposed either physically or mentally.51 The personal contact of the king with his subjects, therefore, was not a gesture to win popularity but was a part of the ideals of royal conduct and moral values taught by discerning theorists. Kalidasa accepted monarchial rule and was partial to royalty probably because of the self-sacrificing, noble and idealistic life the kings led. At least, the kings whom Kalidasa knew created and maintained a political state where pursuit and realisation of the four ideals of human life was possible with ease, where happiness and prosperity ruled, where blazing examples of ideal personal life lifted common life also on to a higher plane. It can be said that social life in ancient days was controlled by the precepts of religion. The observance of social customs and practices was believed by the people to be discharge of religious duty as well. The present attitude to religion is different.

Page #90
World of Thaught discover particular talent or skill; or the young people chose their life's partner on the basis of mutual attraction and love. A woman in these cases enjoyed a certain freedom. But it must be limited for, the social practice of free choice of a husband appears to be limited to the higher and rich classes; and secondly, even in the case of a love marriage the husband's authority over the wife was undisputed. A woman's life was, thus, crabbed and confined. Among the Sanskrit poets Bhavabhati seems to be the one who has given a sensitive vent to this social inequality. He writes: 'A woman's mind is soft like a flower. A girl born in a good family, inheriting its fine traditions, is naturally innocent, bashful, always afraid to hurt any body's feelings by her word of act. Should any one be so cruel as to tyrannise over such a girl after marrying her, burn her sensitive and tender mind with words of fire? But men are short-sighted, impudent and obstinate; they love to behave like dictators. Inevitably, therefore, a woman's heart is alienated; she starts believing that a woman's life is a perpetual pain which death alone can terminate. And the parents of girls and their relatives abhor the birth of a daughter.' What a dreadful social truth is concealed in these sincere words of Bhavabhuti, what poignant awareness of a form of social inequality, what human compassion for the weaker sex! Kalidasa has given moving expression to the profound love between man and woman, and to the unbearable pangs of the sorrow of separated lovers, in almost all his writing. But he did not touch this basic social inequality between the sexes. In stead of saying that Kalidasa was insensitive to this pain rooted in the social arrangement, let us say that Kalidasa was inclined to accept the existing social order and its philosophy, with the inherent good points and blemishes, as it was traditionally established. (6) Education is the foundation of the cultural life of a people. Kalidasa has made a number of observations about the ancient educational system, expressing some opinions directly, suggesting some things through his pictures. These opinions and suggestions are naturally important for understanding Kalidasa's general outlook on life. 79 It is known that gurukula was the centre of education; and the education imparted to the boys and girls in the hermitage of a preceptor was devised to be as comprehensive as possible. It is possible to say that the asrama of Kanva in the Sakuntala was such a centre of education. Kanva has been described as a Kulapati. The dictionary sense of 'kulapati' is a Brahmin sage who provides board and lodging to ten thousand pupils and takes complete care of their education.76 Leaving the exaggeration in the technical definition regarding the number of students, it is obvious that young boys and girls were required to leave their parental homes and live with the guru at his hermitage during the entire period of their education; and the guru was required to shelter his pupils, feed them and educate them. The pupils did not pay any regular fees to the teacher for receiving education, as at present. After their education was completed, when they had become snatakas and were permitted

Page #91
Appointment with Kalidasa pleasures, and the havoc it does work, 6 Kalidasa places side by side the pictures of Satakarni who was an easy prey to the enticements of nymphs and of Sutiksna who was an ascetic by temperament and who had moral control over his conduct and actions, and thereby indicates the supreme importance of self-control and restraint over senses. The heroes and heroines of Kalidasa convey the message that enjoyment of pleasures has a definite place in human life; but just as the denial of youth and its pleasures is a mistake, even so is excess in the indulgence of pleasures; love, sex and other pleasures of life must not contradict the precepts of religioa;To the purusartha Kama must obey the dictates of restraint. 78 (5) Kalidasa seems to accept the current frame of religious, political and philosophical thought; his attitude is the same in regard to social philosophy, especially as it affects marriage and family life. The contemporary society had accepted polygamy and it was prevalent among the higher and rich classes, The heroes of Kalidasa are polygamous, the two exceptions being the Yaksa and Rama. It is inevitable that a woman's place will be after the man; secondary to the male, in such a social setup. Kalidasa has not expressed any dissenting opinion against this social order. On the contrary, he has accepted it as it is. Abandoned by Rama, the message the forlorn Sit sends to him through Laksmana is,71 You deserted me listening to public scandal; does it become your learning and wisdom, the prestige. and glory of your family? As the rejected Sakuntala tries to follow the asrama party, Kanva's pupil Samngarava orders her to stay back, stating. 'It is quite all right even if you worked as a maid-servant in your husband's family. '72 And the philosophical, solemn Saradvata too admits Dusyanta's right to deal with his own. wife in any way he liked; for, the authority of the husband over his wife is plausible and universal'73. The far-sighted and wise Kanva also has not been able to divine any answer to the social inequality between the sexes. On the eve of her departure to her husband's house he advises Sakuntala, 'Serve your elders. Behave like a true friend towards your rival wives. Though humiliated or badly treated by your husband do not be angry and act against his wishes. ... This is the way young women attain the position of good housewives. Those who act to the contrary become a bane to their family,74 The advice of Kanva is evidently an understandable compromise with the existing social conditions. A woman had no alternative but to please, satisfy and obey her husband. Religious and social laws had declared complete devotion and loyalty to the husband as the worthy goal of a woman's Life. It appears that marriages, in those days, were generally arranged and settled by. the elders in the family. But Kalidasa's writing bears evidence to svayamvara and gandharva forms, that is, love marriages. A girl's father tried to obtain a worthy bridegroom for his daughter by stipulating some wager or arranging a test to

Page #92
World of Thaught discover particular talent or skill; or the young people chose their life's partner on the basis of mutual attraction and love. A woman in these cases enjoyed a certain freedom. But it must be limited for, the social practice of free choice of a husband appears to be limited to the higher and rich classes; and secondly, even in the case of a love marriage the husband's authority over the wife was undisputed. A woman's life was, thus, crabbed and confined. Among the Sanskrit poets Bhavabhati seems to be the one who has given a sensitive vent to this social inequality. He writes: "A woman's mind is soft like a flower. A girl born in a good family, inheriting its fine traditions, is naturally innocent, bashful, always afraid to hurt any body's feelings by her word or act. Should any one be so cruel as to tyrannise over such a girl after marrying her, burn her sensitive and tender mind with words of fire? But men are short-sighted, impudent and obstinate; they love to behave like dictators. Inevitably, therefore, a woman's heart is alienated; she starts believing that a woman's life is a perpetual pain which death alone can terminate. And the parents. of girls and their relatives abhor the birth of a daughter.' What a dreadful social truth is concealed in these sincere words of Bhavabhuti, what poignant awareness of a form of social inequality, what human compassion for the weaker sex! Kalidasa has given moving expression to the profound love between man and woman, and to the unbearable pangs of the sorrow of separated lovers, in almost all his writing. But he did not touch this basic social inequality between the sexes. In stead of saying that Kalidasa was insensitive to this pain rooted in the social arrangement, let us say that Kalidasa was inclined to accept the existing social order and its philosophy, with the inherent good points and blemishes, as it was traditionally established. 79 (6) Education is the foundation of the cultural life of a people. Kalidasa has made a number of observations about the ancient educational system, expressing some opinions directly, suggesting some things through his pictures. These opinions and suggestions are naturally important for understanding Kalidasa's general outlook on life. It is known that gurukula was the centre of education; and the education imparted to the boys and girls in the hermitage of a preceptor was devised to be as comprehensive as possible. It is possible to say that the drama of Kanva in the Sakuntala was such a centre of education. Kanva has been described as a Kulapati. The dictionary sense of 'kulapati' is a Brahmin sage who provides board and lodging to ten thousand pupils and takes complete care of their education.76 Leaving the exaggeration in the technical definition regarding the number of students, it is obvious that young boys and girls were required to leave their parental homes and live with the guru at his hermitage during the entire period of their education; and the guru was required to shelter his pupils, feed them and educate them. The pupils did not pay any regular fees to the teacher for receiving education, as at present. After their education was completed, when they had become snatakas and were permitted

Page #93
78 Appointment with Kalidasa pleasures, and the havoc it does work.6% Kalidasa places side by side the pictures of Satakarni who was an easy prey to the enticements of nymphs and of Sutiksna who was an ascetic by temperament and who had moral control over his conduct and actions, 69 and thereby indicates the supreine importance of self-control and restraint over senses. The heroes and heroines of Kalidasa convey the message that enjoyment of pleasures has a definite place in human life; but just as the denial of youth and its pleasures is a mistake, even so is excess in the indulgence of pleasures; love, sex and other pleasures of life must not contradict the precepts of religioo;70 the purusartha Kama must obey the dictates of restraint. (5) Kalidasa seems to accept the current frame of religious, political and philosophical thought ; his attitude is the same in regard to social philosophy, especially as it affects marriage and family life. The contemporary society had accepted polygamy and it was prevalent among the higher and rich classes. The heroes of Kalidasa are polygamous, the two exceptions being the Yaksa and Rama. It is inevitable that a woman's place will be after the man; secondary to the male, in such a social setup. Kalidasa has not expressed any dissenting opinion against this social order. On the contrary, he has accepted it as it is. Abandoned by Rama, the message the forlorn Sita sends to him through Laksmana is,71 'You deserted me listening to public scandal; does it become your learning and wisdom, the prestige and glory of your family ? As the rejected Sakuntala tries to follow the asrama party, Kanva's pupil Sarngarava orders her to stay back, stating. It is quite a right even if you worked as a maid-servant in your husband's family. '72 And the philosophical, solemn Saredvata too admits Dusyanta's right to deal with his own wife in any way he liked; for, the authority of the husband over his wife is plausible and universal 73. The far-sighted and wise Kanva also has not been able to divine any answer to the social inequality between the sexes. On the eye of her departure to her husband's house he, advises Sakuntala, Serve your elders. Behaye like a true friend towards your rival wives. Though humiliated or badly treated by your husband do not be arigry and act against his wishes. ... This is the way young women attain the position of good housewives. Those who act to the contrary become a bane to their family. '14 The advice of Kanva is evidently an understandable compromise with the existing social conditions. A woman had no alternative but: to please, satisfy and obey her husband. Religious and social laws had declared complete devotion and loyalty to the husband as the worthy goal of a woman's Life. It appears that 'marriages, in those days, were generally arranged and settled by the elders in the family. But Kalidasa's, writing bears evidence to svayamvara, and, gandharva forms, that is, love marriages. A girl's father tried to obtain a... worthy bridegroom for his daughter by stipulating some wager or acranging a test to

Page #94
World of Thought 81 are many people who, once they attain a position of honour, are in perpetual worry and endeavour to maintain that position at all costs. Were a rival to pick up some controversy with them, in stead of meeting the challenge to their knowledge with a forceful show of intellect, they try to bypass the discussion; and they pretend not to have heard any censure or adverse criticism. Such an attitude on the part of a teacher is selfish and mean. The purpose of learning is to spread the light of knowledge. If, therefore, some selfish and self-satisfied teachers were to hide behind their once-acquired knowledge or the position they were lucky to get, their so-called scholarship will be nothing but an instrument of livelihood. It is difficult to call such people teachers or preceptors; they are, in fact, merchants selling the merchandise of knowledge.'80 The Upanisadic statement, 'A learned man who has known the joy of the highest knowledge has no fear from any quarter !81 must be interpreted in everyday context to mean that a truly learned man is not afraid of challenges, controversies or criticisms. It is natural that two persons who have identical knowledge or qualifications should entertain mutual competition and rivalry. 82 It will be unfortunate if one were in a high position and the other, equally competent, were to be ignored or discarded. And if the discarded person were to be envious of the other, it would be natural in the light of human psychology; it would also indicate self confidence. It is the reason why competitive spirit runs among persons who are equally qualified but are placed high and low by circumstances. Of course, the final test of knowledge is the considered judgement of the experts in the particular field. Many people may succeed in parading their knowledge or skill before an assembly of half-baked or mediocre men. A man of real sound learning, of firm and quick intellectual grasp and of transparent skill in imparting knowledge to others, would stand the test before an assembly of the learned. The true test of knowledge is a fire-test. Pure gold is not blackened by the flames of fire. A man whose knowledge and skill are not tarnished in the fire-test given by the experts is a truly learned man.83 Intellectual grasp of knowledge and the ability to impart it are different things : and not every teacher does have both. Teachers are, therefore, of different kinds. Some have a deep and comprehensive knowledge of their own subject, but lack the ability to teach; there are others who have masterly skill in imparting to the pupil what they know, and this skill is so impressive that one forgets to gauge the depth of their real learning; in the opinion of pandita-Kausiki, or rather of Kalidasa, a teacher who possesses both the qualities, sound and profound knowledge of the subject and a matchless ability to put it across, is an ideal teacher, one who must be placed at the head of all preceptors.84 If Kalidasa expects such sterling qualities from a teacher, he has some expectations about a pupil too. Were the teacher not to get a pupil worthy of his calibre, what chance is there for his learning and skill to scintillate with brilliance ? A rain

Page #95
82 Appointment with Kalidasa drop falling in a conch-shell in a sea when the constellation Svati looms in the sky is alone transfor.ned into a pearl ; in the same way, the learning and skill imparted by a teacher to a very worthy and deserving pupil blossom into real brilliance.95 The implication of the analogy is that a pupil has to be worthy, with innate abilities, before a teacher may start teaching him ; otherwise it will be a sheer waste. In the gurukula system in ancient India, the desire and insistence on the part of a teacher to take up only deserving pupils had a meaning and a significance. Instances of preceptors who would not impart real knowledge before putting a pupil to some kind of severe test are easily found in the Upanisads; and it appears that such a criterion continued to operate in educational life in later days also. It may have lost some of its validity, perhaps, with the employment of paid teachers. The teacher today cannot exercise this right of refusing a pupil; the ability to pay fees is the only passport to education, In Kalidasa's thinking a pupil too had a certain privilege as the teacher did have. It was considered unfair to ask pupil to show his knowledge or skill, in a test or examination, till he had fully assimilated it.86 In modern language it means that tests or examinations were for the pupils; the pupils were not compelled to submit to them unless they were ready. And the guardians were equally alert about this principle. Queen Dharini's objection to the public show of Malavika's skill in the art of dance can be interpreted from this angle. But it is also true that the teacher, not the pupil or the pupil's guardian, will be in a better postion to judge whether a pupil is ready for the test or must wait. If Ganadasa insisted that Malavika gave an exhibition of her ability, even though Dharini thought that Malavika was yet 'not ripe', it means the teacher was confident of his pupil, whatever laymen may think. There is an educational principle involved in the confidence a teacher may express like this about a particular pupil. The teachers in those days generally declined to accept a pupil with mediocre intelligence lacking the ability to complete a course in a branch of knowledge or in art. Dharini asks, 'If a girl with limited intelligence spoiled the instruction she had received from her preceptor, how could it be taken as the teacher's fault ? Gandasa replies, with confidence, that it would be the teacher's fault; because, 'In choosing a pupil not worthy of the standard the teacher shows his defective intelligence.' 87 It is evident that this principle cannot be operative in our present educational setup. It may have some scope still in the teaching of some arts like music or dance; but it is invalid in the sphere of general education. A teacher may come to grief if he used this principle. And educational institutions, guardians of students and even the government have no use of it. Strangely enough, the present day student also my not have any respect for a teacher with an independent mind and principles, concerned as he is with btaining a certificate or a degree by hook or by crook. Kalidasa's principle that a teacher would show lack of intelligence if he accepted an unworthy pupil is clearly out of date !

Page #96
World of Thaught (7) The thoughts Kalidasa has expressed about the art of literature are few, mostly suggestive, but quite important to understand his artistic inclinations. Dealing with the Ramakatha in his Raghuvamsa Kalidasa says about Valmiki that his 'sorrow arising from the sight of the bird wounded by the hunter transformed itself into a poetic verse.' 88 This description of Va!miki's poetic inspiration bears a close resemblance to the words of Anandavardhana.89 And since Anandavardhana came later than Kalidasa (in the 9th century A. D.) it is reasonable to believe that the poetician is imitating Kalidasa's words and sharing his view. It is clear from Anandavardhana's Dhvanyaloka and Abhinavagupta's commentary Locana on it that the poetic principle of rasadhvani is being enunciated with this literary allusion. The critical observation touches the process of poetic creation and literary expression. Poetry presents an aesthetic experience. A poet is stirred into an awareness of such an experience through emotional perception. Valmiki's heart was profoundly stirred by the lament of a bird. The sorrow roused in his heart by the tragic spectacle could not but help seeking a spontaneous expression. But the expression also comes in suggestive words (dhvani), coloured by the emotion and blossoming through emotion (rasa). This is the nature of an aesthetic experience which Anandavardhana is propounding here, and as Kalidasa has expressed the experience in words which Anandavardhana found fit to be used, it may be concluded that both, the poet and the poetician, share the same view about the nature of true poetry : It is that poetry is a spontaneous expression of a deeply felt emotion ; poetry presents an emotional experience ; and as such its expression is indirect and suggestive so that it can evoke a similar emotional response. This is, in brief, the principle of rasa-dhvani, a suggestive presentation of a deep emotional experience and its emotional impact. It is obvious that Kalidasa was aware of the true nature of poetry. His own writing furnishes abundant examples of rasa and dhvani, which have been regarded as the hallmark of literary excellence. We call such emotional experience presented through the medium of art an aesthetic experience because it is also an experience of beauty. A beautiful sight, a haunting melody, an extra-ordinary divine smell, all have such a profound emotional impact on a sensitive mind as to make it unaccountably restless ; so do deeply stirred emotions affect us. There is something beautiful about this, including the restlessness. We may try to philosophise about the emotional effect or call it beyond explanation, But it is there ; and it represents the heart of the matter we call art.90 Kalidasa seems to be fully aware of this high purpose of art; the picture of the emotionally disturbed Dusyanta on hearing the song of Hamsapadika is a testimony to it. Paying his homage of reverence to Paramesvara (Siva) and Parvati, at the begin. ning of Raghuvamsa, Kalidasa describes the divine couple to be 'as inseparably

Page #97
84 Appointment with Kalidasa united as word and sense'.91 Reversing the simile it is possible to say that word and sense, especially in literary art, are as inseparably joined as Siva and Parvati. In the sphere of literature a word cannot exist without a signiticant sense and no sense can be imagined except through words. This togetherness (sahit ya) of word and sense costitutes the texture of literary art (Sahitya-kala). But this also means that words are important in literature only in so far as they convey a sense, namely the intent of the poet, the emotional experience he intends to communicate. The poets often forget, particularly in the composition of longer poems and in narrative or descriptive passages, the relative value of word and sense, and are tempted to play with words only. It is true that the play with words has an ornamental effect; figures of word like alliteration, rhyme, and the picturesque arrange nent of letters (citrabandha) which is a particular feature of Sanskrit poetry, owe their existence to word-play. It has a charm of its own; but it is not true or high poctry by common consent. Kalidasa too was tempted to try his hand at word-play, as the nineth canto of Raghuvamsa shows; but the important thing is that he checked this temptation. The later Sanskrit poets revelled in the display of erudition, of mastery over words and in verbal acrobatics. In the history of Sanskrit literature this is a period of decadence. As a matter of fact, renowned literary critics and theorists had pointed out that poetry which has charm only of words and patterned arrangement of words, and of the manufactured ornaments of rhetorical figures, is of a very low order.92 The awareness, therefore, that Kalidasa shows about the proper function of word and sense, and of the nature of high poetry, is very imporant for the art of literature. Ganadasa, the professor of dance in the Malavikagnimitra has expressed some definite views on the nature and function of nitya. Natya, which for Kalidasa denotes dance and abhinaya, the histrionic or the representational aspect of drama, is described here as a 'visual sacrifice' (caksusa kratu).93 A dramatic (or a dance) performance is to be enjoyed with our eyes (and ears); but in describing it as a sacrifice, a number of things are further suggested, like the grandeur and splendour of spectacle; association of religion and solemnity; the co-operation of many in a single accomplishment; a link joining several people from different levels of society in a team work; which are applicable to sacrificial as well as dramatic performances, Kalidasa states through Gandasa, that natya has two forms, the vigorous and the tender, demonstrated by the tandava and the lasya of Rudra-Siva and Uma. It may be assumed that a dramatic spectacle was in the early stages a mimetic dance performance. This is borne out by the information available from the Nal yasastra of Bharatamuni; and Kalidasa is probably speaking here about the origin and evolution of drama as a performing art.94 From the point of view of the audience there is no doubt that drama is in its own class as a source of entertainment for all kinds of tastes. It is so because drama represents the many facets of human life; and it is one form of art which is a meeting place of several other arts like literature, dance, music, histrionics, architecture, engineering. painting and other handicrafts.

Page #98
World of Thought Pandita-Kausiki says in the Malavikagnimitra that, the principal thing about the science of drama is the value of stage-representation'.95 Bharata describes drama as 'visual poetry' (disya-kavya.) Natya or drama is literature, so far as the story, the development of the plot through different scenes, and the dialogue in prose and verse are concerned. But drama is equally an article of stage, and its theatric representation involves skillful use of different kinds of abhinaya and of the art of presentation. A dramatist, to be successful, will have to be careful about both these aspects of drama. Perhaps the stage aspect is more important, because drama is not a piece of literature to be read in privacy like a poem or a story, but an experience to be visualised on a theatre stage with the mass of humanity. This implies that a drama leaning heavily on the literary side may miss the stage values, and thereby become only a literary composition in dialogue form' (prabandna). On the other hand, a drami using all possible gadgets of successful stage performance may not have the depth of literature, and in that case it will be worthless as an experience. All students of Sanskrit drama know how in later days drama turned into a clever literary exercise using the same mechanical devices and patterns, losing in the attempt its value as performing art. The important thing is to achieve a nice balance between the literary and the stage aspects of drama. Kalidasa's perception of these values and his own accomplishment in the art of drama by their conscious use establish him as a great dramatist, The Sutradhara about to present the Sakuntala to the assembled gathering says with apparent diffidence, 'I cannot consider my special knowledge of drama production to be really well unless the learned (the experts) are completely satisfied. '96 If Kalidasa said this when he wrote and presented his mastarpiece, the remark certainly shows his benign modesty. But it is possible to interpret the remark from a literary angle and get additional meaning out of it. The learned critics, the experts, are the final authority in judging the merit of a dramatic or literary work. And this means that literature is not only the self-expression of a creative artist; it is also a communication. And so, the canons of appreciation and assessment cannot be disregarded. A gifted and inspired writer my create new standards and forge new forms or trends Yet it cannot be denied that a creative piece of literature is as much for the delight and satisfaction of the artist himself as it must evoke similar response or satisfaction and pleasure from the discerning reader and the learned critic. The remark, thus implies that Kalidasa knew and accepted the value of literature as a comunication. (8) Looking into thoughts of Kalidasa on different aspects of life it is now possible for us to have some idea about his outlook on life and the values he accepted. In regard to religion and religious philosophy, social laws and the ideology behind thein. Kalidasa's attitude is of acceptance of the given framework. The historical background on which Kalidasa created his literature may have made such an attitude inevitable or necessary. Even then the personal note is clear. Kalidasa

Page #99
86 Appointment with Kalidasa does not brook any revolt or conflict; he prefers quiet, peace and steady established life. His literature, which reflects this preference, shows that he has connived at or avoided any conflicts in the religious and social spheres, and omitted any observation on the social inequalities and unfair traditions. He appears to believe that one can remain within the frame of religious and social philosophy of the day and still enjoy life and derive pleasure from it. It need not be said that this attitude betokens defeatism. For, Kalidasa maintains and advocates certain ideals of political government and of the social life of man. They underline the faith that given the necessary ideals and moral values the life of humanity can be raised to material eminence and spiritual good. The feelings of peace and satisfaction, the contented and joyful outlook on life may, perhaps, cunceal some deeper significance than a mere personal attitude. The philosphy of renunciation and spiritual good is very great; intellectually no objection or exception can be taken to it; as knowledge and a way of life it is incomparable. And yet it cannot be gainsaid that such an otherworldly philosophy is a negation of life as it is. A common man surrounded by such a philosophy is most likely to have a pessimistic outlook on life and miss even the simple natural joys of life. It appears that Kalidasa does not want the common man to be affected so gloomily by a philosophy which is beyond his comprehension. So, while accepting the religious philosophy as it was and supporting the highest spiritual value of moksa-dharma as the guiding principle of man's life, Kalidasa yet emphasised the religion taught by Smrtis and Dharmasastras, the religion of the four castes and four stages of human existence, leading a man gradually and step by step to the final goal of spiritual salvation, while enabling him to experience the fulness of every stage of existence. He described the lives of ideal kings and showed that every stage of life not only demanded certain duties from man but also offered some pleasures. Kalidasa never suggests that a man should give himself to pleasures at the cost of his duties and obligations; that would be utterly ruinous. But one may not lean excessively towards the other extreme; at least the common man and the bulk of humanity should not. Kalidasa's own philosophy of living is to live and enjoy every stage of life fully and work one's way in the end towards God. Such an attitude, it will be seen, is essential for creative activity and the pursuit of art. It is really doubtful whether a person rejecting life as it is could ever be capable of understanding life and interpreting it fully. A seer and a philosopher knowing the essence of life would create a philosophy, not art. In order to create art you have to be an observer and a critic of life. You have to study life minutely in all its stages, aspects and facets; and the study can be authentic and complete only if you are prepared to go through life and live it fully. This viewpoint includes the spiritual philosophy of life naturally; but it includes also the joys and sorrows of a full life. A common man will speak the language of spiritual values and higher life

Page #100
World of Thought 87 but will never be able to deny the pleasures to himself, creating thus an internal contradiction in his life and living like a smooth, self-deceiving hypocrite. Th: philosophy of phased life is, therefore, in the interest of the common man, the largest section of humanity. And for a creative artist it is the only philosophy that will work. But once this attitude is accepted, with reasoning and logic and with the consciousness of the failings and weaknesses of man, one's eyes will be opened on the beauty and joy that lurk in the ordinary routine of life, the order and seasonal changes in nature, the small and neglected things; in fact, one would find 'tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.' 79 According to philosophy the bliss of salvation, the joys of heavenly existence lie beyond this mortal life. But on the platform of art the joys and heaven are to be found on this very earth. Kalidasa describes Dusyanta returning to the earth from the heavenly world. He stops on the Hemakuta mountain, the residence of the sage Marica who is the parent of the gods. The place is just above the earth, many aerial regions below the world or heaven. It is significant that Marica chos: this place near the earth for his residence. Seeing the hermitage of Marica Dusyanta remarks, 'This place is more blissful than the heavens. I feel that I have been in mersed in a pool of nectar !' 08 Dusyanta's feeling is really significant because he hus visited and lived in heaven. But Matali's remark will probably carry greater weight. Matali is Indra's charioteer and a denizen of the heavenly world. As he brings the divine chariot down through various aerial regions to the earth he spots the earth; and he exclaims with sheer joy, 'Oh, how gorgeous and beautiful is the earth !' " Kalidasa shows us through the eyes of a heavenly being the beauty of our earth. This place of the mortals is as beautiful as heaven, nay, more beautiful than heaven, Art must bring such an experience to us. NOTES 1 See section II, 'Date : Probable period of life and literary activity.' 2. Saradaranjan Ray : Introduction to his edition of Abhijnanasakuntalam. 3. Raghuvansa XV 42-53. 4. Uttara-rama-carita, act II, See verses 8, 10-11. 3. cf., for instance, Visvanatha, Sahityadar pana, I. 2. 6. Kavyaprakasa, I. 2. roci... 99:9faz' a ffardwaangazi 7. cf. Raghuvamsa, I. 65-81. 8. cf. Raghuvansa I. 44, IX. 20. Malavikagnimitra, act V, dialogue between vv. 14 and 16, and the personal letter sent by Pusyamitra. 9. Sakuntala, VI. 1. 10. cf. Kumarasambhava, I. 3-15; III. 45-50; V. 65-81. 11. cf. Raghuvamsa, X, 7-36. 12. cf. The nandi verses. 13. Meghaduta, vv. 37, 39,

Page #101
88 Appointmet with Kalidasa 14. See, for references, Kumarasambhava V. 65-81; the randi verses of the dramas; and Malavikagni. mitra, I. 4b. 15. Kumarasambhava VII. 44 : ekava mUtivibhide tridhA saa...| 16. Raghuvamsa x. 16-32. 17. Ibtd. x. 44. 18. bid, x. 31 : anavAptamavAptavyaM na te kiJcana vidyate / lokAnugraha eveko hetuste janmakarmaNoH // 19. cf. Gta III 22 : na me pAsti kartavyaM triSu lokeSu kiJcana / nAnavAptamavAptavyaM varta eva ca karmaNi // 20. cf Raghuvansa VIII. 79-31. 21. Eakuntala v.2. cd : taccetasA smarati nUnamabodhapUrva / bhAvasthirANi jananAntaramauhadAni // 22. Ibid; VII.35cd : mamApi ca kSapayatu nolalohitaH punarbhavaM parigatazaktirAtmabhaH // 23. cf. Raghuvamsa, VIII. 11, 14-22. cf. also Sakuntala, II. 34, VI1-20. 24. Ibid., I. 4 : 'yogenAnte tanutyajAm'. 25. Sakuntala, VII. 11-12. 26. See Raghuvainia, I. 6-3; Sakuntala, IV. 20, VII. 20 27. Sakuntala VII-12 : 'yat kAGkSanti tapobhiranyamunayastasmistapasyantyamI // ' 28. Malavikagnimitra, v. 20 : AzAsyamItivigamaprabhRti prajAnAM saMpasyate na khalu goptari nAgnimitre / / 29. cf. Raghuvanka, I.17 : rekhAmAtramapi kSuNNAdA manovarmanaH param / na vyatIyuH prajAstasya niyantumivRttayaH / / Ro. cr. Sakuntala, act L: senApati:-( janAntidama) rakhe, sthirapratibandho bhava / ahaM tAvat svAmi nazcittavRttimanuvatiSye | andr. upto v. 5. 31. Ibid act VI, Pruvesaka. 32. Tbid, v: niyamayasi vimAgaprasthitAn AttadaNDaH / ' 33. Ibid.. I.11 : 'AtaMtrANAya vaH zastraM na prahartumanAgasi // ' 34. Ibid, act VI; see v. 23 and the dialogue preceding it. 35. See Raghuvainsa v. verses 24-25-26. 36. Sakuntala., v. 8 - atanupu vibhaveSu jJAtayaH santu nAma / tvayi tu parisamApta bandhukRtyaM prajAnAm // 37. Malavikagnimitra, I, opening scene and v, 8. 38. Sakuntala VI. 32. 39. Cr. Raghuvamia IV. 12 : yathA prahalAdanAccandraH pratApAttapano yathA / tathaiva so'bhUdanvartho rAjA prakRti rajjanAt // Mallinatha's comment on this is, yadyapi rAjazabdo rAjateH dIptyarthAt kaninpratyayAnto, na tu rajeH, tathApi dhAtUnAmanekArthatvAd 'raJjanAd rAjA' ityukta kavinA / 40. See Sakuntala, v. 5 ('prajAH prajAH svA iva tantrayitvA'.v.7. ( 'svasukhanirabhilASaH khidyase loka hetoH' ): v. 8 ( 'niyamayasi vimArgaprasthitAnAttadaNDaH, prazamayasi vivAda kalpase rakSaNAya / atanuSu vibhaveSu jJAtayaH santu nAma, tvayi tu parisamApta bandhukRtyaM prajAnAm // ') 41. Sakuntala, II. 14. 42. Ibid., II. 13.

Page #102
World of Thought 43. cf. Raghuvamsa, I. 18 : prajAnAmeva bhUtyarthaM sa tAbhyo balimagrahot / sahasraguNamutsraSTumAdatte hi rasaM raviH // 44. Arthasastra. I. 19 (Rajapranidhi): prajAsukhe sukhaM rAjJaH prajAnAM ca hite hitam / nAsmapriyaM hitaM rAjJaH prajAnAM tu priyaM hitam // 45. cf. Sakuntala, V. 9. 46. Ibid., VI. 26 : mA tAvat / mamApi sattvairabhibhUyante gRhAH / athavA, ahanyahanyAtmana eva tAvaj jJAtuM pramAdaskhalitaM na zakyam / prajAsu kaH kena pathA prayAtItyazeSato veditumasti zaktiH // 47. Raghuvamsa, I.7: tyAgAya saMbhRtArthAnAM satyAya mitabhASiNAm / yazase vijigISUNAM prajAyai gRhamedhinAm // 48. Ibid., I. 24 : prajAnAM vinayAdhAnAd rakSaNAd bharaNAdapi / sa pitA pitarastAsAM kevalaM janmahetavaH // 49. Ibid., I. 45. 50. The Arthasastra reference is I. 19, Rajapranidhi. Read : upasthAnagataH kAryArthinAm bhadvArAsaha __ kArayet / durdoM hi rAjA kAryAkAryaviparyAsam AsannaiH kAryate / tena prakRtikopamarivazaM vA gacchet / cf. sakuntala, V. 3 ff. Kaicuki's statement, '....idAnImeva dharmAsanAdutthitAya punaruparodhakAri kaNva ziSyAgamanam asmai notsahe nivedayitum / athavA avizramo'yaM lokatantrAdhikAraH / ' 51. cf. Sakuntala, VI. 5. 52. Gva, IV. 13 : 'cAturvarNya mayA sRSTaM gunnkrmvibhaagshH|' 53. lbid., III. 35 : zreyAn svadharmo viguNaH paradharmAt svanuSThitAt / svadharme nidhanaM zreyaH paradharmo bhayAvahaH // 54. cf. Sakuntala, I.11, II.16 ('ApannAbhayasatreSu dIkSitAH khalu pauravAH / ') 55. Ibid., VI. 1 : bhataH mA evaM bhaNa / sahajaM kila yad vininditaM na khalu tat karma vivarjanIyam / pazumAraNakarmadAruNo'nukampAmRdureva zrotriyaH // 56. Ibid.. V. 11 ff. : 'bho bhostapasvinaH, asau atrabhavAn varNAzramANAM rakSitA prAgeva muktAsano vaH prati pAlayati / ' 57. Ibtd., V. 10b : 'na kazcid varNAnAm apatham apakRSTo'pi bhajate / ' 58. Ibid., I. 22, 26-27. 59. Raghuvamsa I. 8 : zaizave'bhyastavidyAnAM yauvane viSayaiSiNAm / vArdhake munivRttInAM yogenAnte tanutyajAm // 60. Ibid., I. 65 ff. x. 2,4. 61. cf. Sakuntala, act II, the Karabhaka episode. 62. Ibid., VI. 25. Cr. with this Raghuvamsa I. 66, Dilipa's words to Vasistha: nUnaM mattaH paraM baMzyAH piNDavicchedadarzinaH / na prakAmabhujaH zrAddhe svadhAsaMgrahatatparAH // 12 vAdhaka muni

Page #103
90 Appointment with Kalidasa 63. Sakuntala IV. (between vv.17-18): 'vanaukaso'pi santo laukikajJA vayam / ' 64, Ibid., act VII (following v. 12). 65. Raghuvamsa, I. 7 : 'prajAyai gRhamedhinAm '| Mallinatha cominents, prajAyai santAnAya gRhamedhinAM dAra. parigrahANAm / na tu kAmopabhogAya / 66. cf. Meghadita, Uttara-megha, v. 14 : vittezAnAM na ca khalu vayo yauvanAdanyadasti / 67. cf. Raghuvamsa, IX. 47 : 'na punareti gataM caturaM vayaH / 68. Ibid., canto XIX. 69. cf. Raghuvamsa, XIII. 38-44. 70. cf. Gra, VII. 11b: dharmAviruddho bhUteSu kAmo'smi bharatarSabha || also, x. 28 : 'prajanazcAsmi kndrpH| 71. Raghuvamsa, XIV. 61 : vAcyastvayA mavacanAt sa rAjA vahnau vizuddhAmapi yatsamakSam / mAM lokavAdazravaNAdahAsI: zrutasya tat ki sadRza kulasya / / 72. Sakuntala, V. 27. ('patikule tava dAsyamapi kSamam / ') 73. Ibtd., V. 26 : tadeSA bhavataH patnI tyaja vainAM gRhANa vA / upapannA hi dAreSu prabhutA sarvatomukhI // 74. Ibid., IV. 18 : zubhraSasva gurUn kuru priyasakhIvRtti sapatnIjane bharturviprakRtA'pi roSaNatayA mA sma pratIpaM gamaH / bhUyiSThaM bhava dakSiNA parijane bhAgyeSvanutsekinI yAntyevaM gRhiNIpadaM yuvatayo vAmAH kulasyAdhayaH // 75. Malatimadhava, VII. 11. 46, 58-60, 68-72. See my Bhavabhati, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1979; ch.6; p. 72. 76. Note, munInAM dazasAhasraM yo'nnapAnAdipoSaNAt / adhyApayati viprarSirasau kulapatiH smRtaH // quoted by Gajendragadkar in his text-edition of Sakuntala, on I 12.4, 77. cr. Sakuntala, II. 13 : mUkhe, anyad bhAgadheyameteSAM rakSaNe nipatati yad ratnarAzInamapi vihAya abhinandyam / pazya yaduttiSThatti varNebhyo nRpANAM kSayi taddhanam / tapaHSaDbhAgamakSayyaM dadatyAraNyakA hi naH // 78. Raghuvasna, Canto v. 79. See Svapnavasavadatta I. 8b: 'dIkSAM pAritavAn kimicchati punardeyaM garoyaMda bhaveta / 80. Malavikagnimitra, act I : 'kAmaM khalu sarvasyApi kulavidyA bahumatA / na punarasmAkaM mATacaM prati mithyAgauravam / ' I preceding v. 4; and v. 17 : . labdhAspado'smIti vivAdabhIrostitikSamANasya pareNa nindAma / yasyAgamaH kevalajIvikaiva taM jJAnapaNyaM vaNija vadanti // hA 'AnandaM brahmaNo vidvAn na vibheti kutazcana / ' Taittiriya Upanisad IL 4.1, 9.1. se 1200 'prAyaH samAnavidyAH parasparayazaHpurobhAgAH'f. also I. 10. 83. Tbid.. II.9: upadezaM viduH zuddha santastamupadezinaH / zyAmAyate na vidvatsu yaH kAJcanamivAgniSa // kAnamivAgniSu / / .

Page #104
World of Thought cf. also Sakuntala I. 2 : 'A paritoSAd viduSAM na sAdhu manye prayogavijJAnam / ' 84. Ibid., I. 16: zilaSTA kriyA kasyacidAtmasaMsthA saMkrAntiranyasya vizeSayuktA / yasyobhayaM sAdhu, sa zikSakANAM dhuri pratiSThApayitavya eva // 85. lbid., 16 : pAtravizeSe nyastaM guNAntaraM vrajati zilpamAdhAtuH / jalamiva samudrazuktau muktAphalatAM payodasya // 86. bid., I. 17.1-2 : Qucen Dharini observes : '...apariniSThitasya upadezasya anyAyyaM pradarzanama / ' 87 166-9. Read : devI-yadA punarmandamedhA ziSyA upadezaM malinayati tadA AcAryasya doSo nu / rAjA-devi, evamApadyate ( uppdyte)| gaNadAsaH-vinetuH adravyaparigraho'pi buddhilAghavaM prakAzayati / anta IV 701 : 'niSAdaviddhANDajadarzanotthaH lokatvamApadyata yasya zokaH // ' 89. cf. Dhvanyaloka, I. 5 : kAvyasya sa eva arthastathA cAdikaveH purA / krauJcadvandvaviyogotthaH zokaH zlokatvamAgataH // 90. cf. Sakuntala, V. 2: ramyANi vIkSya madhurAMzca nizamya zabdAn paryutsukobhavati yat sukhito'pi jantuH / taccetasA smarati nUnamabodhapUrva bhAvasthirANi jananAntarasauhRdAni // This is a difficult and intricate subject. If interested in further explanation, see my article "Pratibhana" in the Annals of the Bhandarkar 0. R. Institute, Poona. Diamond Jubilee Number, 1978 91. Raghuvamsa I. 1 : vAgoviva saMpRktau vAgarthapratipattaye / jagataH pitarau vande pArvatIparamezvarau // 92. cf. among others, Mammata, Kavyaprakasa, I. 5 : 'zabdacitraM vAcyacitramavyaGgyaM tvavaraM smRtam / ' 93. Malavikagnimitra, I. 4 : . devAnAmidamAmananti munayaH kAntaM RtuM cAkSuSaM rudreNedamumAkRtavyatikare svAGge vibhakta dvidhA / traiguNyodbhavamatra lokacaritaM nAnArasaM dRzyate nAdayaM bhinnarucerjanasya bahudhApyekaM samArAdhanam / / ga. See my Bharata-Natya-Manjari, Introduction, pp. VII-X;also my Sanskrit Drama, Karnatak: . University, Dharwar, 1975; pp. 3-6. 5. Malavikasmimitra, I. 15. 11-12 : deva, prayogapradhAnaM hi nATayazAstram / kimatra vAgvya vahAreNa 96. Sakuntala, 1.2. see Note no. 83. 97. Shakespeare As you Like It, act II rcene 1 (Opening speech of Duke). 98. Sakuntala, VII. 11 4 : 'svargAdadhikataraM ni tisthAnam / amRtahadamiva avagADho'smi / ' 99. Ibid., VII. 81 : (sabahumAnamavalokya ) aho, udAraramaNIyA pRthivI /

Page #105
5 SUPREME THEME: Srngara or Love In understanding Kalidasa's thoughts and ideas there was an attempt to discover his outlook on life. In this discussion Kalidasa's thoughts on love were not touched. The reason is that they deserve a separate treatment. As the major theme of Kalidasa's poetry and drama his views on love are very important in order to understand his art as well. Kalidasa may be described as the Prince of srngara. Srngara holds the kingly position among the rhetorical rasas, and Kalidasa is the 'grace of Poetic Muse who gives a 'beautiful literary expression' to this king of sentiments. Two of his poems and all his three plays carry the theme of love. His lyric Rtusamhara is principally devoted to the description of the six seasons of nature; but in describing the effect of the seasons on the emotional life of man the colourful shades of diffrent emotions and particularly of love have naturally crept over the canvas. The Raghuvasa sings the praises of ancient kings of the Solar dynasty and their royal life; but here again glimpses of maried love and occasionally of youthful love cannot be missed. The basic emotion of Kalidasa's literature is, thus, srigara or love; it is the sthayi bhava of his writing. Before examining Kalidasa's treatment of love, it will be of some advantage to consider the objections raised in this connection. These objections come from different. approaches. There is a section of critics who are traditionally very conservative. They always think that the veriety of life can suggest a number of themes to a writer; harping therefore on the theme of love and such intimate subjects is meaningless. They think that fragara and woman who symbolises its pleasures are a positive obstacle from raligious and other-worldly viewpoint; the aim of human life must be realisation of God and salvation from the repeated cycle of life and death; as such, the literary or any other art that hinders the spiritual progress of man must be deemed to be completely irrelevant. Assuming that such an objection is sincere and honest, it has to be remembered that it is not confined to Sanskrit literature or to Kalidasa; it can be, and has been taken at all times, in all countries, against erotic literature. It is not necessary to make any particular attempt to answer this objection. Those who honestly object to literature of love have other kinds of writing available to them, like the lives of saints and ideal men, and books on religion, philosophy and spiritful life. The truth, however, is that love has been a universal theme of literature. at all times and in all countries It is the essential and important emotion that

Page #106
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love moulds and shapes all life. And no one has the right to tell a real artist what he should and should not present in his art. The emotion of love came to be born in this universe with the appearance of the first man and woman on the surface of this earth; and it is bound to remain here as long as there is man on the earth. Besides, love has inspired and shaped some of the most beautiful creations of art as universal history testifies. In other words, love has been a perennial theme of art, and in spite of any objections honest or hypocritical, it will remain so. Another objection to stngara is due not to the description of love as such but to the excess, the openness in it. An objection from this angle can be both honest and hypocritical as well. The element of hypocrisy lurk in it because these critics often enjoy such literature of love in private and turn to it again and again with relish. Only they lack the courage to admit their enjoyment in public or the cloak of decent culture with which they cover themselves in public appearance prevents them from speaking the truth. If the objection is on such a level of hypocrisy, the answer is that man is inevitably fond of love; the limits imposed on the public exhibition of love either in art or in life do undergo a change with the passage of time or with an evolution in culture; so that, what a person may regard as an unbecoming excess may not appear to be so to another person. A reasonable stand like this leaves no room for guarded hypocrisy. The readers who admire Bhartshari for his Niti and Vairagya Satakas must reinember that the same poet had scored a Century of love. But the objection taken against the open description of love, when it is on the level of art values, is no doubt worthy of consideration, and literary criticism can not ignore it. This kind of objection has been levelled against a body of literature in all countries and Sanskrit drama and poetry do not escape from the charge of indecent eroticism. Kalidasa is guilty too of an occasional excess in his treatment of love which offends the values of art. The usual example is the sexual love he describes of Siva and Parvati in the eighth canto of his Kumarasambhava. Traditional criticism even in Sanskrit has expressed an unfavourable opinion against this gay picture; and it is believed, in old tradition, that Kalidasa gave up writing this epic further in the face of the critical disfavour. Personally, I do not share this belief. For, the very title of the epic implies only the 'possibility of the 'birth' of Kumara; and considering Kalidasa's leaning on the art of suggestion (dhvani) of which he is a master, the subject of the epic is really fulfilled with the marriage of Siva and Parvati and their union in love. If the story were to be extended further by describing the actual birth of the child born of the love union, his growing up, and his marvellous achievement, the epic theme would not be Kumarasambhava, but Kumaracarita or Sivavursa! Returning to the point of discussion, it must be pointed out that one of the ablest masters of Sanskrit literary theory and criticism, Anandavardhana, shows his frank disapproval of excesses in the treatment of Sragara, drawing attention to the many

Page #107
Appointment with Kalidasa aspects of love which can be treated by poets with beauty and relish. But Anandavardhna himself points out that a truly inspired writing of a really great poet can make all the difference: 94 Mahakavinam api uttamadevara-visaya-prasiddha-sambhoga-srngaradi anaucityam sakti-tiraskytatvat gramyatvena na pratibhasate/Yatha Kumarasambhave Devi-sambhogavarnanam/2 Anandvardhana is speaking about the two kinds of defects that may creep in literary writing. The defects of the poet himself, his lack of adequate ability and constructive skill, making the composition defective; and the defects which are due to the writer's lack of innate creative power sakti or pratibha. The defects of construction, language etc. are often shrouded by a poet's genuine creative power; the defects of the latter, pratibha, alone expose the common worth of a writer. Kalidasa's description of the sexual love of Siva-Parvati does not descend to vulgarity due to his extra-ordinary creative ability and genius. What in the hands of lesser poets would have turned into indecent and vulgar amour has been illumined into beauty and joy by the poetic genious of Kalidasa. The literary principle on the basis of which Anandavardhana makes this distinction between art and vulgar exhibitionism is aucitya or art-propriety. And in his treatment of rasa theory Anandavardhana states that there is no greater defect than impropriety causing break in aesthetic relish (rasa-bhanga) while appreciating literary art.3 Love (rari) may be a favourite theme with the poets. But sexual union is not an exclusive aspect of love. Poetic imagination can conceive many forms through which love could be expressed. They could be cultured and decent; and they would have the appropriate impact on a reader's mind and give him aesthetic pleasure. A writer deserves to pay attention to this kind of propriety in art. But sometimes even great poets are carried away by their power or in their enthusiasm they write something which is not quite proper. When this happens, Anandavardhana thinks, it is defective art: Na ca sambhoga-krigarasya surata-laksanah eva ekah prakarah, yavad anye api prabhedah paraspara-prema-darsanadayah sambhavani, te kasmod uttama-prakrtivisayena varnyante? yat tu evamvidhe visaye mahakavinam api asamiksyakarita lakaye drayate sa dosa eva The principle of propriety in regard to the type of character described (prakrt) and the theme or subject of the composition (visaya) which Anandavardhana insists on will be quite acceptable. At the same time it is necessary to accept, on the level of art, his advocacy of the extra-ordinary creative power (sakti or pratibha) of a poet which puts a different complexion on a literary presentation. And it means that if a poet's theme, the type of principal character he has chosen to be depicted, and the expected art-form of his composition were not naturally favourable to Srigara, the erotic descriptions would prove to be ticklish and excessive and offend aesthetic taste and

Page #108
Supreme Theme : Sragara or Love 95 response. On the basis of this literary and aesthetic principle, some of the open descriptive touches in the Meghaduta and the married love of Siva-Parvati in the Kumarasambhava could not be objectionable, at least from the angle of art. Individual taste may differ; and some would not be able to forget the religious or moral approach; but they are irrelevant in consideration of real art. The point will be clear, I hope, by looking at other examples from Kalidasa's poetry. In the Raghuvamsa Kalidasa says that Raghu, during his military campaign, lingered over the Southern mountains Malaya and Dardura for a while to enjoy and then he crossed the Sahya in order to turn towards the west. But describing this detail with a poetic fancy and double meaning, Kalidasa presents the Malaya--Dardura mountains as the twin breasts of the Southern Quarter, and the Sahya as the nitairba (slope; buttock) of Medini, Earth personified as a woman.5 The erotic and sexual suggestion in this descriptive touch is plain; and in the context of a military campaign which is supposed to be brimming with the heroic sentiment (virarasa), the touch of sexual love is unexpected, irrelevant from the angle of art. A verse describisng the death of Talaka is objectionable on a similar ground. The arrow of Rama hit Tadaka on her heart and she passed away to the abode of Yama, the god of death; using metaphor and pun Kalidasa has likened her death to the journey of a woman in love (abhisarika), hit by Cupid's arrow, wending her way to her lover's house. 6 This touch is uncalled for in the present context and situation. Such irrelevant erotic pictures are few in Kalidasa's writing; mostly he adheres to the values of art. The point, therefore, is the erotic pictures would be objectionable only on the ground of art, and not for any other consideration. The objection cannot be taken against the treatment of love, but against the uncalled for, irrelevant excesses which offend aesthetic taste and response. (2) There is another class of critics who are, in fact, the admirers of Kalidasa. They do not openly criticise Kalidasa's pictures of love; but they put a different construction on them so as to sublimate the emotion of love with the colour of the Vedanta. The essential point of this interpretative criticism is that in Kalidasa's treatment of love earth is transformed into heaven, and the physical love with its natural biological urge is sublimated into a bodiless union of two spirits or souls. And the critics imply by suggestion that a poet who raises physical love to the heavenly level of spiritual love must indeed be a very great poet and a supreme artist.7 A critical spproach of this kind is the fruit of two trends of thought which need to be examined carefully. It is assumed in this approach that earthly or physical love belongs to a very low level of life; it has to be sublimated; man must rise to nobility from the mere physical level of love. Kalidasa has done this in his literature; rather he had to do it to make his art worthwhile. This trend of thought is implicit or openly assumed in this approach. It is not beyond common knowledge that such an attitude to life is rather negative, born of the philosophy of renuncitation. And yet, a

Page #109
96 Appointment with Kalidasa reader of Kalidasa's literature cannot afford to forget that the poet treats of love and of the relations between man and woman with uninhibited frankness and the care of a profound artist. The critics of this class seem to think that if Kalidasa had treated love only on the level of physical necessity and pleasure he would have been a writor of the common run. Ordinary men and women love the pleasures of life. If literature were to cater to this necessity and taste, it would serve to nourish only the common tendency of enjoyment of pleasures and fail to raise man on to the higher level of noble life. It means that the approach implies another tendency of thought which demands from literature the uplifting of human life and sublimation of pleasureseeking emotions either in a suggestive manner of art or even openly if necessary. In suggesting that Kalidasa describes rati without any reserve, but he also lifts his readers to the higher planes of spirituality, there is an implicit defense of Kalidasa's art, whether these critics intended it or not. This Vedanta-coloured criticism is very pleasing to the ear and the heart. It has saved Kalidasa from being a common poet in spite of his frank and open pictures of human love; it has also sublimated Kalidasa whom we all love. And so, the approach is bound to delight us. We too have to gain something from this approach as readers. We may not be sure of what 'sublimation' exactly means. Our mind may linger, like that of Dusyanta, over the cane-bower on the bank of Malini; the picture of Dusyanta getting jealous of the bee hovering round the lotusfragrant face of Sakuntala may make a deep and pleasant impression on us; but we are free to enjoy the poetic and dramatic art of Kalidasa according to our capacity; because some great critics have assured us that there is something very noble in Kalidasa's treatment of love. In other words, this critical approach has saved the common readers as well! The basic question, however, is what precisely does Kalidasa intend by his poetic pictures to convey. An examination of this critical approach in depth is necessary not only to understand Kalidasa's writing but also to understand the approach of true art. In the light of the above critical approach, the Yaksa in the Meghaduta, and Agnimitra and Pururavas, the two heroes of Kalidasa's plays, will appear to be common men given to pleasures of sex and enjoyment of life. The ideal character in this critical approach is Uma in the Kumarasambhava. Uma practised very hard penance. Disregarding the frailty and tenderness of a woman's body, she abstained from eating food; lived on air; did the tapa with five fires blazing round her in hot summer; even seasoned yogis could not have done the penance Uma actually practised. Uma materialised in her life the noble values of spiritual existence. That is why she got Siva; she was merged in the body of Siva. The love of Dusyanta and Sakuntala went through the trying test of sorrow. Their first mutual attraction was physical. But Sakuntala was brought up in the hermitage of Kanva, under his care and teaching. And so, she was immediately aware of an emotion contrary to tapo

Page #110
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love vana life that took possession of her heart. But the awareness did not help her to check herself; she was swept off her feet by her emotion of love. This was her first mistake. It led to another. She failed to perform her duty as a hostess which Kanva had entrusted to her. She did not take "cognisance of Durvasas. This was an insult to the sage, an error, which brought its own punishment in the form of curse and her repudiation by her husband. The lonely vow of loyalty and devotion to her husband which she observed for six painful years in the hermitage of Marica consumed the dross in her life, purified her love, and she became fit to be reunited to her husband under divine blessing. Dusyanta was a parthiva in every sense of the word : a king no doubt, but earthly. In his first meeting with Sakuntala he had greeted her courteously, asking, Does your penance prosper ?' But his own inclination was to turn the tapovana (penance-grove) into an upavana (pleasure-garden).10 Dusyanta was addicted to pleasures of life; he was a seeker of fresh honey, in the words of Humsapadika. It was necessary that he too suffered from the pangs of separation as Sakuntala did. When Dusyanta realised the spiritual significance of son as a saviour of the fore-fathers from hell and as an assurance of family continuity, which is the other-worldly purpose of marriage, and when he got an opportunity to fight a battle of the gods against the demons and thereby execute a piece of work at once unselfish, philanthropic and serving a divine purpose, then only did Dusyanta rise to the higher level of noble life, sublimating his earthly passions into spiritual love, and becoming fit to be reunited to his pious wife. This reunion of the chastened lovers then took place on the Hemakuta mountain, where the parents of the gods live, a place above the earth and more beautiful and pious than the heaven itself. Thus was earth transformed into heaven, the mundane into spiritual; the physical love was sublimated into heavenly love. This construction put on the treatment of love in the Sakuntala and Kumarasambhava is very pleasing to read. But it is high time for some one to state in categorical terms that it is totally is relevant to art and to the literary art of Kalidasa in particular. Such literary criticism grafted on ancient works by later minds prejudiced by different philosophies is likely to create chaos in the field of art criticism. It is necessary, therefore, to expose the incorrectness of its approach which is based on a different outlook on life. This kind of criticism is born of a particular philosophical tradition. Already many critics and most of the coilege teachers are strongly influenced by it. Many a literary critic have used this approach to sing the glory of Bharata in its emphasis on the ascetic mode of life and spirituality. Some have used it as a handy and convenient device; so that in any dramatic composition when the theme runs into union, separation and re-union these critics are ready with the labels, the first union being called 'physical and the second 'spiritual! And this is not naive criticism; these critics feel a glow of triumph in that they have bestowed on literature a noble and spiritual significance. A really close examination of this prestigious 13

Page #111
98 Appointment with Kalidasa criticism of art and liter. critical approach is unavoidable for a healthy, unbiassed ature, Uma observed such hard penance as would have daunted even determined ascetics. Why? In order to get siva. In the simple language of life Uma did this to get siva as her husdand whom she loved from the depth of her heart. She resorted to tapa because Siva was a tapasvi, a yogi, whose heart could be touched only by tapa; the attractions of youth and feminine beauty, stirring of human einotions and blandishments of nature had failed to produce any effect on Siva's mind. The effort of Uma, therefore, is like that of a young girl who identifies herself completely with the absorbing interests of her young man, who struggles to achieve some measure of skill or efficiency in that interest, in order to win his heart for herself. In other words, were the hero of this theme different, interested, say in lute-playing, the heroine would have displayed absorbing interest in music, striven to get music lessons from him, and thereby work her way to his heart.11 The art design is unmistakable; and it is useless to put one's own construction on it to suit one's fancy or pet philosophy, If penance undertaken to win a husband were to be regarded as spiritual exercise, what name is to be given to the careful efforts made to get a suitable wife and to the pain of waiting till fulfilment came ? Siva is the greatest of yogis by traditional standards. When the severe penance of Uma pleased him, why did he not appear before her in his true divine form and carry her straight to spiritual salvation? Why did he hold Uma's hand as common lover? And why did Kalidasa himself describe the marriage of this couple with all the loving details of mundane celebration and carry it upto their honeymoon? in stead of showing Siva and Uma perched on the peaks of Kailasa and lost in divine samadhi, why did Kalidasa choose to take his readers into the privacy of the couple's bedchambor? A child being born is an ordinary and natural event in the life of a married conple; but the gods belong to a different category altogether. If gods allow themselves to be born the birth underscores a divine purpose, that of 'protecting the righteous and punishing the evil-doers.'12 Kalidasa could have shown the birth of Kumara in some marvellous, supernatural way, without describing the union of love; why did he not do it? It appears to me that the above, so-called spiritual approach of criticism is incapable of explaining some of these details in Kalidasa's treatment of a love theme. We will be driven to the same conclusion, I am afraid, if the story of the love of Dusyanta and Sakuntala were to be examined without prejudice and pre-conceived philosophical attitudes. If Dusyanta's first greeting to Sakuntala was, 'Api tapo var. dhate ? was it not quite natural and merely polite in the asrama surroundings? As a matter of fact, Sakuntala was not doing any penance. Dusyanta knew that she was frightened by the bee pursuing her, and he made his appearance before the girls challenging, on kingly authority, this avina ya or impudence perpetrated on the innocent girls of the hermitage. Dusyanta should have really asked her about her fright and pervousness. In stead, if Kalidasa's Dusyanta puts a question about tapa, it means

Page #112
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love only that he is on formally correct bebaviour; or else he felt suddenly embarrassed in the presence of the girls, his interest in them clouding momentarily his sense of propriety. This is only psychological interpretation that fits the dramatic situation. Later when Dusyanta asks about the possibility of an ascetic vow (Vaikhanass-vrata) that Sakuntala may be observing, her friends assure Dusyanta that Kanva intended Sakuntala to get married to a suitable husband With Kalidasa's own plain statement that Kanva had never thoughi of rearing his foster--daughter into a tapasvini, the reference of Sakuntala to 'an emotion contrary to hermitage life' (tapovana-virodhi-vikara) needs a better and correct interpretation. If Sakuntala were a little frightened by an overwhelming emotion, she had never experienced before, if she is nervous by a sense of wrong, it is a proof of her keen conscience and of her ability to search her own mind even in an unexpected situation of embarrassment; it is also an evidence of the asrama discipline which Kanva had taught and which Sakuntala bad absorbed. The truth is, as Kalidasa suggests, that Sakuntala was so innocent that she had not known love for a young man to this moment; and therefore when the emotion seized her all of a sudden, she did not know its meaning and thought that it was opposed to her asrama way of life. The arrival of Dusyanta in Kanva's hermitage disturbed its usual peace in a peculiar way: the agitation of the elephant frightened by the sight of Dusyanta's chariot represents the outward form of this thrilling disturbance; the nervous agitation in the mind of Sakuntala represents its inner, psychological form. Kalidasa is almost unrivalled in piling colourful and suggestive touches in an atmosphere and creating oui of them an artistically significant form. But what right have we to interpret a poet's artistic suggestions in any way we like? The sastra rule about vyunjana or art-suggestion is that it must come in the wake of the expressed sense ( vacyartha-aksipta ); that is to say, the context provi. ded by the poet and his perspective on the theme, the character of the person speak. ing the line or of the listener in the story, and such other factors determine the direction of the suggested sense; it is not a fanciful meaning imposed by anybody's will. Such a scientific limitation (Sastra-maryada) is absolutely necessary, if a poetically suggestive sense were not to be a mockery or nonsense. So, if Kalidasa had thought the love of Dusyanta and Sakuntala to be really tapovana-virodhi his development of the love-story would lose all meaning. There would be no point in the assurance given by Sakuntala's companions that Tata Kasyapa had decided to marry Sakuntala with a suitable husband. And Kanva himself had no nced to congratulate Sakuntala on the choice of her love-partner and bless her from his heart. For, all such love is physical, and the craving of passion has to be restrained and controlled in higher, spiritual interests, Kalidasa should have shown this daughter of a sage checking herself at the right moment, rejecting the earthly passion of Dusyanta, and becoming an ideal sanyasini, to the delight of these philosophers of spiritualism. But this does not happen in Kalidasa's play. It means, therefore, that the reference to the 'emotion contrary to hermitage life' and the jocular observation that Dusyanta tur

Page #113
100 Appointment with Kalidasa ned the tapovana into an uparana are intended by the poet to convey something altogether different. The artistic fact is that the unexpected meeting between Sakuntala and Dusyanta is not an everyday occurrence in the life of a hermitage. It happens once in a while; and when it does it cannot help affecting its usual peaceful and monotonous life. A serious love affair in the peaceful, disciplined life of ascetics or say of college students is an unexpected happening which is bound to cause an agitation and a stir. Such a thing may happen even today in a yoga-asrama, a college or a school ; and it will create a great disturbance. We describe such a happening as 'virodhi' in the simple sense that colleges, schools or asramas are not the places for love affairs or for fixing marriages. And yet unusual though, such things may happen occasionally. When they do, the normal discipline of educational or ascetic life is temporarily disturbed. The authorities may issue a warning or give commonsense advice to the young people concerned in the interest of their own future life. But no one would pronounce a deadly curse on their heads or rusticate them from the educational institution simply because they happened to fall in love. The warning and advice are perhaps necessary to maintain the geneal discipline and to see that the attention of the students is not deviated from their studies; childhood and young age are meant for study ; love and marriage can come at the end of the educational career ; this is the normal channel for normal life ; that is all. Further sometimes when love strikes a young heart there is always a possibility that the choice of a partner may not be correct; the young people are too blinded by their passion to see ahead, and that may seriously harm their future life. Kalidasa shows this red light of possible danger by letting his Kaaya use the imagery of a sacrificer whose eyes are bli. nded by sacrificial smoke and whose oblation may, therefore, fall outside the ritual fire. Fortunately Sakuntala had fallen for the right kind of man. Kanva himself is convinced about his daughter's worthy choice ; Dusyanta, according to him, is the foremost among the worthy' (arhatam pragrasarah); and nobody could have made a better choice than this. Kanva, therefore, feels that in bestowing Saku: tala on Dus. yanta he is handing over his vidya to the wortbiest pupil, and that there is absolutely no cause for any sorrow or repentance13. This is all that artistic picture of Kali. dasa conveys; and there is nothing in Kalidasa's writing to indicate that the poet had any further suggestions to offer. Yow far, therefore, can the process of vyanjana be stretched ? In this picture of Kalidasa there is no repudiation of natural love, nor denial of marriage. This is not to be confused with any mistaken notion of promiscuous liberty. For, the students who were given education in the ancient gurukulas or the hermitages of learned sages had to follow a certain discipline, which was perhaps more exacting than the one prevailing in modern educational institutions. The boys and girls in the hermitages had their daily duties assigned to them!4. Consulting the clocks of the Sun and the Moon they had to tell their preceptor the time for his daily ablutions, ritual and fire worship ; they had to collect and se ch from the for

Page #114
Supreme Theme: Srngara or Love 101 est the sacrificial faggots, flowers and fruits ; make preparations for the daily worship and the morning and evening prayers and offerings; the girls were required to water the trees in and about the hermitage, fetch water from river or water-reservoirs, help in preparing meals for the asrama residents, and so on. The learning of lessons was accompanied by such daily discipline. If after completing the course of education a particular pupil wanted to lead an ascetic and celibate life there was no bar. But it is obvious that most of the pupils took their preceptor's blessing and entered the householder's stage of life. In the restrained and disciplined atmosphere of the contemporary tapovana or asrama the pupils were principally devoted to their studies and to imbibing the moral and cultural discipline inculcated by the teachers. In this sense a tapovana could not be an upavana. But it does not imply that the elders taught the young generation to suppress and kill natural impulses and emotions. Were it so, the gurukulas and asramas would have been schools for turning out {anyasins and yoginis. The fact, on the contrary, is that the initiation and training to love creepers and flowers in nature, animals and birds, to behave with brotherly feeling and affection with one and all that the pupils got here, both by precept and example, was apt to prove to be a noble foundation of their future life. This is best illustrated in the life of Sakuntala herself. Kalidasa has nowhere repudiated the love that further leads to married life. No character in the Sakuntala has even covertly suggested that it was a terrrible mistake on the part of Sakuntala to respond naturally to the demand of her body and mind, and that, therefore, she rightly deserved the terrible punishment. The entire evidence of the play is against the interpretation of error, punishment and sublimation as the theme of the poet. The Vedanta-biassed approach is an after-thought, and a construction totally irrelevant to the design, purpose and intention of the artist. The witerpretation put by the above approach on the curse of Durvasas is similarly twisted to suit its trend of philosophy and confuses the basic issues. Sakuntala was not aware of the arrival of Durvasas in Kanva's hermitage and that is why she did not go forward to welcome the guest. And she was not aware of any one's arrival because, we are told by the dramatist, Dusyanta had left for his capital the same morning15 and Sakuntala was experiencing the fresh pangs of separation from her recently married husband. Though she was physically present in the asrama her heart was not there16. If, therefore, in this condition of mind she did not hear the sage, is it a serious offence ? And whom was she thinking about, apparently neglecting the sage ? Was she not thinking of her husband only ? 'The anxiety about her husband has made her unmindful of her own person; how could she then be aware of an uninvited guest ? This is the observation of Sakuntala's companions. The critics of the spiritual approach have not the eyes, apparently, to see the dramatic situation created by Kalidasa or the ears to hear the words of the companions. They would like to take the curse as a punishment to Sakuntala for neglecting her duty of atithi -satkara. Which Sastra imposes the penalty of terrible curse on a newly married girl

Page #115
102 Appointment with Kalidasa for losing her mind at the first anguish of a separation and for thinking of her own husband at the neglect of a guest ? The entire situation is handled by Kalidasa with delicate suggestions, yet they are so eloquent that it is a wonder how any critic could miss them. Particularly worthy of note is the character of Durvasas that Kalidasa has created with a few deft touches. Durvasas is an dgantuka; he came to the bermitage suddenly, unexpectedly, and without invitation. He is by nature sulabhakopa, easily provoked to uncontrollable anger without proper reason ; he is parkrtivakra, crooked and twisted by temperament, and would refuse to listen to any plea however respectfully submitted by any ope27. If neglecting a guest were an offence, Sakuntala committed it unknowingly ; it was the first ever offence in her life ; and innocent as she is, she did not realise the terrible consequences the power of an offended ascetic could impose upon her for a non-deliberate, unintentional neglect. Considering the total circumstances should not the sage show mercy to Sakuntala, a girl who is like a daughter to him, and pardon her 118 Who could burn with his anger a daughter-like girl for an unconscious seglect, except, of course, Durvasas ? It is the nature of fire to burn anything that comes into its close contact 19 ; it is the nature of an irascible sage like Durvasas, puffed with the power of his penance, to pronounce any curse that comes to lips and refuse to take it back even when it is shown to be unjust. Else, who would pour boiling water on a delicate Navamalika creeper 20 or subject an innocent girl like Sakuntala to the dire consequences of an unmerited curse ? A careful reading of the statements and epithets used by Kalidasa in this situation (which I have paraphrased in my analysis), with their possible sugges. tions, will lead any one to believe, like the companions of Sakuntala, that the poor Sakuntala has been an unjust victim, by a stroke of misfortune, of the anger of an unreasonable, obstinate and egotistical sage. The words of the poet and the poetical suggestions that flow from them reveal this intent. There is no ground, therefore, in Kalidasa's text to take the curse as a punishment for earthly or physical love, and suffering as a remedy for its sublimation. It is obvious that Kalidasa believes in previous existence. There was something unfoward in the fate of Sakuntala. Kalidasa has dropped an artistic hint of the 'unfavourable fate (pratikala duiva) of Sakuntala at the beginning of his play.21 According to the religious philosophy of the Hindus, a person's fate is determined by the deeds done in previous life (purva-janma); what he does in the present existence will determine his next birth. In other words, the suffering of Sakuntala is a result of something that happened in her former birth. It is this abstract notion of fate to which Kalidasa gives a material shape in his art design by the curse of Durvasas.22 That is also why he keeps this dramatic, thrilling and shocking incident 'behind the curtain'; because the curse is not a material happening determined by cause and effect of the moment ; it is a symbol of fate, the link of which goes back to previous birth. Sakuntala's father Karva tried to smoothen the consequences of the untoward fate by underta. ing a pilgrimage to Somatirtha. A father's unselfish love for his daughter may soften the attack of fate ; it has no power to change it. So, Sakuntala

Page #116
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love 103 suffered ; but the ascetic and religious merit of Kanva must surely have saved her life from total ruin. When she had gone through the misery destined for her she was re-united with her husband and happiness came in her life. Dusyanta had nothing to do with the curse incident ; yet he too suffered because he was wedded to Sakuptala and had to share the consequences of the curse with her. This is the meaning of the sufferings of the lovers in Kalidasa's art. From the angle of art the story of Dusyanla and Sakuntala is a tale of devoted lovers whose happiness was spoiled for some time by an angry. unfavourable fate ; it is a tale of love plunged into misery by misfortune ; or to use a Shakespearean phrase, it is a story of a pair of starcrossed lovers.' ( 3 ) The character of Kalidasa's Dusyanta must be considered along with his other dramatic heroes One reason for doing so is that the criticism of Dusyata's character and actions is applicable, more or less, to the other heroes as well. Another reason is, among the literary creations in Sanskrit literature, women are generally shown to be loyal and devoted to their husbands ; on the other hand, the religious and social code permits men to have many wives and as such their loyalty or love for one particular woman appears to be rather suspect. There are some neglected women in Kalidasa's literature ; but their loyalty is unquestionable. Uma was ready to throw away her life in rigorous austerities in her singleminded love for Siva, Sakuntala, clad in soiled dusy garment, endured the sorrow of a long separation in her devotion to her husband. Sita accepted desertion and lonely stay in forest-regions without a word of reproach for her royal husband. Rati proved her undying love for Madana even after he was burnt to ashes. These are women pure in character and devoted to their own husbands. Dharini, Iravati, Ausinari, Hamsapadika, these queens had occasions to express their anger or displeasure at the conduct of their king-husbands; but none ever rebelled against her husband or behaved contrary to his wishes. The Indian woman seems to inherit the generosity and tolerance of the mother earth. Kalidasa's portraits of wonen naturally evoke respect, admiration, affection and sympathy. Besides, there is generally a stream of compassion in the minds of male readers for women characters. Except, therefore, for a little displeasure at the neglect of some women in a polygamous social picture, there is not likely to be any adve. rse criticism against the women characters of Kalidasa. The critical a'titude to the heroes of Sanskrit drama is, however, different. With a few exceptions like Siva and Rama and Yaksa heroes of Kalidasa, particularly of his play', are polygamous. The dramatic story generally shows them falling in love with the young and beautiful heroine when they are already married and have one or two wives, and in the case of Agnimitra, even a child. The herces' talk of love, therefore, appears to be an expression of passion or lust, sometimes quite open to be indecent to modern taste. Thus, the heroes take particular interest in beautiful young women ; they are pleasure-seekers ; bees, ever in search of fresh honey ; loy. ing themselves primarily and their pleasure. How could then one feel any assuranca

Page #117
Appointment with Kalidasa about their professed sincerity and devotion of love? It is not possible to ignore this opinion or criticism if Kalidasa's treatment of love and his philosophy of love. were to be correctly appraised. 104 Does Kalidasa really intened to paint man as inconstant, given to pleasures and treating woman as a mere object of enjoyment? Even from the angle of realism it will not be possible for us to accept such an intention on the part of the poet. There are two reasons for rejecting the possibility: It is not only Rama but Dusyanta, Pururavas, even Agnimitra, that is to say the kings portrayed by Kalidasa, stand for the contemporary ideals of men in social life; they represent the social ethos. If we do not want to accept these ideals we are, in the present day, at liberty to reject them totally. But we also have to remember that social ideas change with the passage of time; so that the ideals of one age may not appeal to people in another age. However, such a change in attitude does not alter the fact that the ideal men in one particular age were really ideal for the people in their age; this is the social and historical truth, which our present dislike or prejudice can neither suppress nor change. We are inclined today to look upon Rama, who had only one wife, as the social ideal of man. But that does not give us any right or authority to treat Dusyanta and other much-married men as mere pleasure-seekers and philanderers. Kalidasa had to accept this social fact of his time; and with it he has painted Dusyanta and his other heroes as ideal kings. If it were permissible to ignore this social and historical. fact in private life, according to present-day likes and dislikes, to do so in the sphere of art is positively stupid. The second reason is that the Sanskrit theory of literature and drama had evolved certain canons for literary composition; it was laid down, in course of time, that the hero of a poetic or dramatic composition should. be one of the four recognised types, namely, dhirodatta, dhiralalita, dhitoddhata and dhiraprakanta. The Sanskrit writers generally followed these literary canons and endeavoured to present ideal or representative characters. If the literary canons had not. yet been scientifically shaped in Kalidasa's times, it must be remembered that he had the ideals of Valmiki and Vyasa before him. Besides, a student of literature is perfectly aware that all ancient literature leaned towards ideal and representative pictures of social life; to treat man as a lowly character with all his foibles, vices and crimes is a realistic tendency of the modern age. Thus, Kalidasa's heroes fall in the category of dhirodatta or dhiralalita nayakas. They are ideals of that age. We have, therefore, no buisness to adopt a modern, extrarealistic attitude and treat these heroes as flippant, sex-hungry men, according to our standards of private and social morality. It is far better to let the ancient classics alone if we cannot understand the approach of art. The point is that a reader has to cultivate an objective attitude in the study of art. The heroes of Kalidasa and other characters in Sanskrit literature should be understood in their contemporary setting, without trying to judge them and their actions with our own standards of morality and behaviour. We owe at least this much

Page #118
Supreme Theme : Spagara or Love 105 to our ancient writers. And how could one understand the men and women in the past age without understanding the contemporary context of time and place ? Shakespeare brought a ghost on the theatre stage and made him speak to his living son in human language; he made three witches dance round a boiling cauldron and predicted through them a future happening. Our readers are prepared, I think, to understand these scenes as consistent with public beliefs in Elizabethan England. What they apparently refuse to understand are the customs and beliefs prevailing in the past in our own country. An example is the social custom of polygamy. Does any one deny in the present day that it was an unfair social custom which created social imbalance and considerable misery ? But it existed in Kalidasa's times; how could he make it un-exist and paint monogamous heroes against the glaring social conditions? No writer can afford to run counter to the social life of which he himself is a part; and Kalidasa, uplike Bhasa, is not a rebellious writer; he works within the existing religious and social frame. What kind of art criticism it is which fails to recognise these facts and imposes criteria of the following ages ? We understand from social history that not only kings but rich men also pra. ctised polygamy in those days. The case of the merchant Dhanamitra mentioned in the Sakuntala leaves no doubt about it. Apart from the sanction of religion and social practice, the question of polygamy is basically rooted in economy. A modern young man may be hard put to supporting one wife; how could he plan a harem ? But it appears that in the ancient economic conditions it was possible for a man to have more than one wife either for pleasure or for sharing the occupational burden of the family; rich men could afford many wives, and a farmer too would get more wives to work his farm because that was more economical than to engage paid servants to work for him. These conditions have prevailed upto quite recent times among the agricultural and labour classes in India. There was another consideration of social prestige which a student of social history cannot ignore. It was regarded as prestigious for a man to have many women besides his wedded wife; instances could be picked up till the eighteenth century during the rule of Peshwas in Maharashtra. The point is that it is wrong to use polygamy as a weapon to strike at the heroes of Sanskrit drama. Polygamy was an established social fact of the times. Rama, whom a modern reader may very much admire as an ideal hero and a very loving husband, had three mothers. His own father Dasaratha had three wives, and instances like that of Rama are exceptions to the prevailing social order. Had Kalidasa bypassed this social fact, ran far ahead of his times to please the twentieth century readers ?), his contemporary spectators would have rejected his plays as unrealistic, distorting the existing social facts. The question of personal likes and dislikes is, in this case, completely outside the design of art. The context of the contemporary social realism discussed above will throw a different light of understanding on the women characters and their portrayal in 14

Page #119
Appointment with Kalidasa Sanskrit literature. Some of the epithets and vocatives used by the Sanskrit poets in a description of or conversation with a woman character would appear disrespectful and indecent today; nay, they might lead to court proceedings if used in modern writing. How could then the Sanskrit poets use them? The open references particularly in dramatic dialogues call for an explantion. The dramas were evidently written for stage performances and were staged at a king's order or on the occasions of religious holidays and festivals and in celebration of seasons, harvests or important events. Men from all ranks of society, including old people, children and attended them. Why did they not object to the open references to references to the heroine's breasts and buttocks in the poetic passages or conversation in the dramas. The point, I think, is obvious. Ideas of cultural decency do change from age to age. So, it is not true that the Sanskrit poets or their heroes are deliberately obscene or sex-mad; the truth seems to be that the modern readers have no perspective; men in the past age used the words and allusions in frank acceptance of the facts of life and in open-appreciation of the beauty of the female form; while the modern readers seem to read in them obscene motives and, ignoring the social conventions in the past age, accuse the old heroes of indecent attitude to women. 106 It is possible to look at the epithets and vocatives from another angle yet. Pururavas, in the third act of the Vikramorvasiya, expresses a loving desire that Urvast came gently and closed his eyes from behind with her fingers.33 Urvasi who was standing at the back of the king, invisible by her divine powers, likes the idea and acts accordingly. Pururavas recognises the loving touch and says to the Vidusaka who is by his side, 'My friend, this is the maiden with beautiful thighs born from the thigh of the sage Narayana 24 If the adjective used by the king were to be taken literally it would be a puzzle how the king could know that Urvali had a pair of beautiful thighs from the touch of her fingers on his eyes! It appears, therefore, that many words referring to the parts of a woman's body had lost their expressed sense at least in poetic and romantic contexts, and come to indicate the metaphorical sense of 'beautiful'. 'Varoru' in the example cited does not really express the sense of 'thighs' but indicates only 'a beautiful woman'. These linguistic considerations are important for art criticism as well. The detailed description of the physical beauty of a woman which is of common occurrance in Sanskrit literature may now be viewed from a correct angle. In the first place, such descriptions of a woman's beauty are the stuff of poetic writing, and would be found, with variations, in all literatures. Secondly, the basic intention in them is aesthetic, that of conveying a sense and feeling of beauty. Thirdly, the poetic imagination has always looked upon woman as an embodiment of loveliness, an image of beauty, a figure of irresistible charm and attraction. Thou art a handiwork of God' says Tagore about the woman. Two thousand years before him Kalidasa conceived Urvast as created out of moon, cupid or the vernal season.20 About Sakuntala he thought that the Creator God could not have dared to fashion

Page #120
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love 109 her by the usual process of creation; he must have first poured all his skill and power in sketching a flawless, perfect picture of a woman on a canvas, improving it continuously with careful touches; and when He was convinced that it could not be further perfected, then he must have breathed life into the picture; Sakuntala came to be born only in this way. !27 Such descriptions of beauty are a treasure of all literature. And love for a woman is not merely the prerogative of a poetic mind, it is the abiding emotion of human heart and a bliss of man's life. Unfortunate are those who cannot enjoy beauty from poetic writings and from art on the aesthetic level. Kalidasa had to mind the social conventions and the literary canons prevailing in his times when be came to create the heroes of his literary pieces. It is very easy, in a male-dominated polygamous social state, to accuse a man of inconstancy in love, fickleness and selfish pursuit of one's own pleasure. But if a man's love for a woman were thus untrustworthy, it will be terribly unjust to the woman in the society, and it would also destroy the very essence of art, because in art, at least, if not in real life, we do expect 'poetic justice' to operate. It appears that Kalidasa was fully aware of this conflicting situation in social life and in art. And to face the dilemma confronting art-representation of love in human life Kalidasa appears to have used some artistic devices and used some special constructive effort : (1) Kalidasa arranges in his plays to ridicule or criticise his heroes for falling in love with a new, young, beautiful girl although they are married and have a wife or two, sparing the reader/spectator any effort at criticism for their amorous behaviour. The characters in the dramas ridicule the heroes without reserve or criticise them frankly. Kalidasa maintains a playful atmosphere in his plays; but treats love quite seriously. It may not be wrong to say that it is the general pattern of Sanskrit drama, approved in theory, to treat the theme solemnly in spite of merry and light colours, which may be a concession to pleasant entertainment. Barring the pattern of prahasana and a bhana, a flippant and merely amusing treatment of love is unthinkable in Sanskrit drama. From this theoretical angle the fun and criticism poked at the heroes by the dramatic characters themselves will appear to be purposeful. In fact, they provide a searching test for the integrity and sincerity of the love professed by the heroes. The least likeable of Kalidasa's dramatic heroes is Agnimitra. He has two queens, and a grown-up son capable of leading an army guarding a sacrificial horse. These circumstances give his love for Malavika the colour of a passing romantic escapade. What queen Dharini and Iravati say to Agnimitra in connection with love affair has the sharpness of open taunt and the bite of anger and frustration. The plain-spokenness and ridicule in their words would not have been possible normally even for the queen of a ruler whose royal authority is beyond question. More blunt is Gautama, the clown and companion of the king, whose passing remarks through

Page #121
Appointment with Kalidasa out the play leave Agnimitra without any vestige of dignity either as a king or as a hero of the dramatic action. It appears that Kalidasa has exposed through this pict. ure the hypocrisy and unfairness of the polygamous state of society. Kalidasa appears to have used the wedded queen and the clowncompanion of the king as weapons to test the hero's protestations of love. The Viduska in the Vikramorvasiya is a blundering fool. But his foolishness exposes the love affair of Pururavas and the king has to face the anger of queen Ausinari. And when the king gets a little impatient in the company of Urvasi on the terrace of the Maniharmya palace under the brilliant full moon, it is this fool of a Vidusaka who asks the king sharply, 'Is it night of darkness for you two already ? 28 By placing the king-heroes, whose social greatness could never be challenged, in such situations of amusing ridicule and sharp criticism what Kalidasa suggests is that there is nothing clandestine or underband in their love affairs. And when the king-heroes are shown to be accepting the open ridicule and biting criticism meekly, with a readiness to explain and apologise, when they could have stopped such nonsense and insubordination by lifting their little finger of kingly authority, there is a further suggestion that their love for the young heroine is not a flippant affair but an inevitable urge of the heart which cannot be checked. This is the meaning of Kalidasa's portrayal of love. In the portrayal of Dusyanta Kalidasa has deliberately avoided introducing his queens on the stage in order to save his hero from embarrassing situations which might affect his dignity as a king and as a hero. But while changing the form of dramatic construction in this manner Kalidasa has not forgotten to provide the necessary comment on the hero's action in order to test the sincerity of his new love. The Vidusaka Madhavya is the first critic of Dusyanta. The Vidusaka's opening thrust is that Dusyanta's love for Sakuntala is only lust for an attractive hermit's daughter (tapasakanya)20. Surfeited with sweet dishes a person may turn for a change to the sour tamarind; Dusyanta's passion for Sakuntala, after his pleasures with the jewellike women in his own harem is not in a different category; this is the Vidusaka's second attack.3. The first implies an action against the accepted code of religion; Sakuntala is a tapasa-kanya, that is to say, a daughter of a Brahmin; entertaining desire for a girl of the higher caste, Dusyanta being a Ksatriya, is a form of pratiloma family connection; and it is not normally desirable, as it upsets the code of religious duty expected from the four varnas. The force of this criticism is that a king is bound by duty to respect and administer the religious laws in practice, and not set a bad example to his people by violating them himself. But, of course, the Vidu. saka's criticism was not well founded. The factual account of Sakuntala's birth removes this ground; the fact that she was born of a royal sage and a celestial nymph, and Kanva was only her foster-father, proves that she was fit to become the wife of a Ksatriya (ksatra-parigraha-ksama); if Dusyanta, therefore, desired to have her there

Page #122
Supreme Theme : Sragara or Love 109 was nothing objectionable in that from the point of view of religion. The second criticism of the Vidusaka implies that Dugyanta's attraction for Sakuntala may be a matter of change of taste', that is temporary, and lacking the permanenzy of a deep soul-stirring emotion. If so, Dusyanta is likely to seduce the innocent girl, and after he had his pleasure desert her; this would be a moral and social crime, ruining the life of a young girl. In reply to this serious criticism Kalidasa's Dusyanta paints a glowing picture of the incomparable and exquisite beauty of Sakuntala. The suggestion is that any one in the world would want a girl like Sakuntala to be permanently his wife; if the utter loveliness of this girl awakened only a momentary lust the person must be an ass, not a human being with eyes, mind and a heart. The artistic suggestion of the entire scene is that Dusyanta's love for Sakuntala is neither against the religious code nor is it shallow and flippant. The Vidusaka is convinced of Dusyanta's deep feeling and sincerity; and when he learns in further conversation that there are some signs of favourable response from the girl he then says to his royal friend, Take enough provisions with you; it's going to be a long journey.'31 (2) There is another suggestion from the above scene which deserves to be separately worked out. In all Kalidasa's writings there is no example of a love affair which is either prohibited by decent social custom or which is against the accepted religious code. As a matter of fact, it is not necessary to adopt such an orthodox and holy attitude in the sphere of art. And yet, Kalidasa observes this rule. It could only meen that Kalidasa does not want his heroes' actions in love to offend religion. It goes without saying that the poet is trying artistically to guard his heroes against any moral lapse or loose behaviour. The love of Dusyanta for Sakuntala has been tested prior to its fulfilment by the Vidusaka; it is thoroughly approved by the sage Kanva; it is further tested by the terrible sufferings of Dusyanta when his memory bligbted by the curse returns; and it is finally blessed by Marica, the parent of the gods. Even in the case of Agnimitra queen Dharini consents to his marriage with Malavika when it is revealed that she is not a maid but a princess in disguise. Here again, the general rule of religion is unconsciously followed. Urvasi is a nymph, a heavenly woman; this is the link of propriety that binds her to the mortal king, PurUravas. (3) A close scrutiny of Kalidasa's pictures of love reveals yet another aspect. It does not appear that the love the heroes feel for the beautiful heroines terminate once their passion was satisfied, Love does not appear to be a conquest of beauty to them; so that once they marry the heroines and dump them in their harems they cease to care for them, like some of the Indian state Rulers. On the other hand, the heroes wish from the beginning to marry them legitimately, not have a causal passing affair; and after the marriage install them on the honourable position of the mistress of the palace and the crowned queen. The heroes do not show the slightest tendency to use their authority or the social helplessness of the woman to serve their selfish ends or gratify their momentary fancies. The physical impatience and the mental torture

Page #123
110 Appointment with Kaliaasa of the waiting may be very intense; and occasionally they may be led to hold the heroine's hand, steal an embrace or attempt to kiss her; but such occasional physical liberties, prompted by the intensity of love, are immediately checked either by circumstances which the dramatist contrives to build or by the heroine herself. The liberty, thus, is confined to open declaration of love; the action is kept under proper control. The words of Sakuntala, Paurava, preserve your discipline and modesty. I am consumed with love, but I am not my own mistress.'32 are like a whip-lash to Dusyanta's rash and impatient overture. The girls show this awareness of propriety and have the power or tact to control men. The innocent Sakuntala has also the instinctive knowledge which women possess without any tutoring and the wisdom which comes with it (a-siksita-patutva). For, after the mutual confessions of love, Sakuntala says to her friend, 'My girl, the Royal Sage has been separated from his harem for a long time, and must be pining to go homa, Why take his time 7deg38 Dusyanta is touched to the quick by this apparently simple but cleverly administered thrust. A king is bound to have a number of wives. Sakuntala is trying to find out obliquely and with a woman's inborn sagacity what her position would be in the royal harem if she accepted Dusyanta's proposal of a love marriage and how far his confession of love was sincere. Pricked to the quick Dusyanta replies, 'This is like hitting a person who is already wounded by the shafts of Cupid.'34 He assures Sakuntala and her companions on this occasion that, in spite of his previous wives, the stability and glory (pratistha) of his royal family rests on his kingdom of the earth wrapped by the seas and on Sakuntala.35 The entire scene and the situation contrived by the dramatist provide a final test of the hero's sincerity of love and, at the same time, an assurance of a proper marriage and the future status of the lawfully wedded wife. That this did not happen as promised is not due to any fault or moral blemish on the part of the two lovers. Sakuntala's adverse fate ruined their happiness for some time. It is clear from Kalidasa's picture that the story of Sakuntala would have en. ded on a happy note in the fifth act had not the curse given it a drastic turn. (4) It is necessary to probe a little deeper into Kalidasa's pictures of love. Kalidasa does not appear to aim at making his drama merely entertaining all round or displaying the charm and grace of his incomparable literary art. Considering the suggestions (vyang ya-artha) flowing from his poetic content one is led to believe that for Kalidasa the freely given consent of the woman, her willing response of love, is an important test of love-fulfilment. If in a male-dominated, polygamous state of society, where the freedom and license of the male was an acknowledged fact, Kalidasa shows his heroes caring for a real response of love of a woman and not rushing into a one-sided mariage until the woman has expressed her desire in plain, unambiguous words, it can only mean that Kalidasa wishes to achieve poetic justice tbrough his art, so that the woman who in the social and religious laws thrust into a position of inferiority was, at least in the pictures of art, the equal of man. Barring a few examples in poetry and drama Kalidasa, it will be seen, has strongly advocated mutual and equal love between man and woman. In the syayamvara form of

Page #124
Supreme Theme: Srigara or Love were marriage the desire and consent of a girl are taken for granted; but if there some kind of stake or stipulation it would be an attempt to select the best possible bridegroom for a girl. The gandharva form of marriage, on the other hand, is a pure love match, determinad by the mutual love and consent of the young pair. Kalidasa takes particular care about the treatment of love in his dramas and tries to ensure that the pictures do not remain one-sided and that the heroine is only waiting to get the proposal of marriage from the hero. The love the hero and the heroine. deeply feel for one another does not merely depend upon the encouragement and assurances received from the helpmates; when they confess and express their love in a number of ways and in actual private meeting, then only the way to their marri age seems to open up. These scenes of mutual confessions of love are painted with all the intensity of emotion and the lyrical grace of poetry in the plays of Kalidasa. It is quite interesting to see that Agaimitra, who is the least impressive of Kalidasa's dramatic heroes, gives expression to a very peep philosophy of love: He says, 'Of the two lovers if one has an irresistible yearning, but the other does not show eagerness of any kind, there can be no joy in a married union of such lovers. On the contrary, if the two lovers share an equal and intense love, and were they to meet death in disappointment without the prospect of gaining each other, the death itself would be welcome !36 If an ordinary king like Agnimitra does have such a feeling for love in human life, feelings of heroes like Pururavas and Dusyanta can be easily guessed. In showing the men forgetting their whim, obstinacy, authority and the animal force of passion, waiting for the woman's response of love and her willing consent, and suffering during the period the tortures of unfulfilled love, artists like. Kalidasa are trying to establish that man and woman, at least in the kingdom of love, and in the view of art, are equal; in fact, the woman is somewhat superior to man, because man must wait for her pleasure before the fulfilment comes. This is the way of art to remove the social inequality between man and woman. 111 (5) Another particular trait found in the dramatic heroes of Kalidasa is that they are men of valour. As kings, statesmen and politicians, as leaders of the contemporary society, their position is unexceptional. Even the lovelorn and passive Agnimitra must be granted these qualities. Apparently Agnimitra fails to create any striking impression on a modern reader, because he sees in the dramatic action Agnimitra's son fighting on a battle-front while the king himself is running after Malavika in his own palace garden; and even in his pursuit of love it is the king's companion, the Vidusaka Gautama, who plots and manoeuvres the whole development. However, these situations have a different meaning in the light of the contemporary standards. The dramatist gives an idea of the sound knowledge of Agnimitra of statecraft and polity in the opening scene. Agnimitra's decision in regard to the Vidarbha Prince is fully endorsed by his ministers and political counsellors. From the point of view of military strategy it does not happen that the chief of the army fights at the front himself in every engagement; he plans and directs the attack. remaining at the back, and gives his junior commanders an opportunity to show

Page #125
119 Appointment with Kalidasa their mettle. This is true of modern fighting as well. So, Agnimitra's action in sending his son to lead the army must not be understood to mean that he wanted time off to run after a girl. The principle is the same which Dusyanta states with reference to Indra; it is a question of giving suitable opportunity to younger men and men of secondary rank, who would otherwise never get the necessary training and experience to hold the supeiror command.37 The valour and heroism of Pururavas, Dusyanta and the Raghu kings is evident. Thus, in Kalidasa's showing this is the srugara of valorous men, of real heroes; not of men in authority and power who have done very little in their life save hankering after beautiful women. This artistic suggestion in Kalidasa's pictures of love helps to elevate the image of his heroes. (6) In the polygamous atmosphere, even if a man's new love were tested for its integrity, a comparative neglect of the previous wife or wives seems to be unavoidable. No woman would ever like her husband traosferring his love to another woman or share her love in partnership. But there was no remedy against this contingency in the existing social conditions. An artist like Kalidasa, therefore, advises an attitude of reconciliation, understanding and friendliness; it is expressed in the advice of Kanva to Sakuntala : 'Behave like a loving friend towards your rival wives.deg38 Experienced and mature women accepted the woman's helplessness before her husband and reconciled themselves to the changing situation with dignity. This is obvious from the examples of Dharini, Ausinari and Vasumati. The younger and less experienced queens like Iravati and Hamsapadika fretted and fumed and made a grievance of their neglect. But since it could not be helped in any positive way in the face of the social and religious sanction for polygamy, Kalidasa seems to have come to the conclusion that any bitterness on the part of a woman against her husband would result only in destroying the peace and happiness of family life; hence, he advocates reconciliation and understanding with a largeness of heart. But Kalidasa also arranges a particular kind of assurance that the neglected wife would be treated by her husband with due honour and would never suffer any humiliation. Kalidasa does this in two ways. First by showing that the heroes have a great respect for moral values and integrity, which they translate into their actions. The heroes fall in love with the heroine because the emotion is so natural and overwhelming that they cannot resist it as human beings. This is not like an irresponsible impulse to run after any beautiful girl that crosses one's path. The heroes have great respect for women, especially married ladies. Dusyanta's behaviour in this context is examplary. Sakuntala arrives at the royal palace; due to the effect of the curse Dusyanta does not recognise her; he looks upon her as a stranger's wife (para-kalatra). Dusyanta is astounded by her uncommon beauty. But when the Pratihari speaks with liberty Dusyanta commands her to stop, telling her that, 'One should not look so closely at a married woman.' Further, when Dusyanta is not convinced, under the circumstances, that he had married Sakuntala, and refuses to accept her in his household on purely moral grounds, the Pratihari is forced to admit, 'Ah, what regard

Page #126
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love 113 for principles of religion and morality! Any one else in this situation would have stopped all thinking, considering the extra-ordinary beauty of the young woman !"39 Total respect for married women, wives of other men, is a strong point with Kalidasa's heroes. We also know that it is a supreme moral value which Bharata cherishes, The Vikramorvasiya has a similar interesting situation. Urvasi and Pururavas have gone to the Gandhamadana-vana to enjoy themselves. The attention of Pururavas is driven to a Vidyadhara girl. Urvasi flares into anger and leaves him sudde. nly. I have not come across any comment of this situation which does not read fickleness of Pururavas in it and blames him for the male trait of neglecting one's wife for the sight of a beautiful gir). How low and lustful can a man be, the critics suggest, to fix his eyes on a strange girl when a heavenly beauty like Urvasi and his recently married wife is close by him! It is true that men can be so utterly seifish and mean. The question is whether it is what Kalidasa intended to suggest through his picture. And the answer is in the negative if one were prepared to read Kalidasa's phrases and literary presentation carefully and think of their meaning and suggestive sense. Kalidasa calls this girl Udayavati a Vidyadhara-darika. Darika means, of course, a daughter; but it also denotes a small girl. Had Kalidasa intended to suggest that Udayavati was a young maiden, approaching the age of marriage, he could easily have used the phrase Vidyadhara-stri or Vidyadhari or Vidyadhara-yuvati. The suggestion is thus of a small girl; and this is further confirmed by the detail that she was playing on the bank Mandakini building a 'hill of sand' (sikata-parvata); this is not a sport in which married or marriage-worthy girls indulge; it is the sport of children, Pururavas' attention was caught and fixed by a beautiful child completely lost in its own play. This would happen to any one; and it acquires a special significance when we remember that Pur uravas has no child of his own, at least so far. When the situation is correctly understood one would feel that Urvasi had really no reason to get angry; she should at least have asked for an explanation. But, as Sahajanya says, Urvasi bad a very short temper; her love also was so intense, engrossing and possessive40 that she was unable to tolerate even a momentary inattention even if it were caused by the sight of a beautiful child not her own. A blind and prejudiced criticism is bound to lead us astray and never reveal to us the secrets of a poet's deep and suggestive art. In addition to the correct moral attitude which Kalidasa bestows on his heroes another thing that he does is to show that his heroes behave with great courtesy, respect and understanding with their wives, taking care to soften the emotional hurt to the best of their ability. The heroes seem to carry an awareness of guilt that their heart is with another young woman. They strive to keep the new love a secret, only to spare the feeling of their wives. And when it comes into the open somehow, they lie about it, explain it away, only to spare the emotional hurt again. All this must be understood on the simple human level; for when it is necessary the heroes do not hesitate to throw themselves prostrate at the feet of the wife, and honestly apologise 15

Page #127
114 Appointment with Kalidasa to her, even if she were a younger queen. Such occasions have arisen in the life of Agnimitra and of Pururavas. In Dusyanta's portrayal Kalidasa has avoided these situations. But Dusyanta too is anxious to keep his attraction for Sakuntala away from his queens; and he instructs the Vidusaka not to babble about the happenings in the asrama before the inmates of the palace". Later, with his memory awakened and the pain of Sakuntala's repudiation and the anguish of separation torturing his mind and heart, when Dusyanta commits errors inadvertantly in addressing the woman in the harem, Dusyanta feels so guilty as to lapse in shame and silence$2. Untruth has different facets: Telling a lie for selfish profit or out of malice to hurt some person is one thing; to lie in order to spare the emotional hurt to others is quite another. In a society which has granted unequal authority to the male and with the fostering of the male ego, it requires moral courage and a largeness of heart to fall at the feet of one's wife and beg her pardon. Kalidasa shows that his heroes, however high their position in society may be, have the honesty and humility to bend before their women. Whether in public or in private, they do not insult or humiliate their wives. Though another woman has captured their love their respectful behaviour towards their wives does not change; actually they become more respectful to their wives out of a sense of private guilt43. The picture that Kalidasa presents deserves to be studied carefully on the background of the contemporary polygamous social life and from the angle of human paychology as well. It will strike us as an effort of art to find a way through the social inequalities of the times, and to give to the woman some measure of justice by preserving her status in marriage with courtesy and respect. (7) The reaction of Dusyanta to Hamsapadika's complaint has a deeper meaniny not apparent on the surface; it deserves a separate consideration. Hamsapadika describes Dusyanta as 'a bee greedy for ever-fresh honey' (abhinava-madhu-lolupa). This bee has drunk the juice of the mango-blossom to his heart's content and has now imprisoned himself, forgetting the mango-blossom, in the company of the lotus 44. This is a taunt against Dusyanta's behaviour in his harem. Though metaphorical and veiled its thrust is clear. Dusyanta is not visiting Hamsa padika now, and is spending alf his time in the apartment of Vasumati. The critical interpretation of this complaint against Dusyanta's behaviour generally sees in it the emotional distress of Hamsapadika, the younger queen of Dasyanta, the unsteadiness of his love and his pleasure-loving lustful tendency. There is a further suggestion in this song of Hamsapadika that Sakuntala too would be reduced to the same plight one day, when Dusyanta would discard her, as he did Hamsapadika, in his search for new honey'. The interpretation, thus, presumes that Dusyanta is a selfish lover, caring for only the physial thrill and pleasure of a woman's body. When, later, he suffers the tortures of a real separation (and gets an opportunity of doing an unselfish act in helping the gods) then does his self-centered-ness change; his love is purified; and he becomes fit for a reunion of heavenly love. We know this 'theory of the transformation of physical love into spritual love; we have examined in the case of Sakuntala; we must look into it now so far as it concerns Dusyanta.

Page #128
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love 115 The most relevant question is, again, that of the intention of the poet. And, as in the case of the Vidyadhara-darika incident in the Vikramorvasiya, in the Hamsapadika's song too, critics have not been fully alert in interpreting Kalidasa's words accurately and in understanding his subtle suggestion. Some one gave an interpretation which delighted the car and satisfied the ego of man; and everybody was apparently charmed. It is true that Dusyanta must not have seen Hamsapadika in her personal apartment for a long time. Her hurt and grief are quite natural and true. And it is also natural that she should complain about her husband's apparent indifference to her. But if her grievance is examined without pre-conceived notions and prejudice one cannot fail to notice that it originates from a personal hurt, the denial of a selfish pleasure, and is tinged with jealousy natural to a woman. There is no reason for the readers and the critics to assume that Hamsapadika is the sole judge of Dusyanta's behaviour and that her word is final. Do other women in the harem, including Vasumati, complain about Dusyanta's behaviour ? Kalidasa suggests much more through this song. On analysing carefully the poetic imagery in the song it becomes plain that the 'mango-blossom' is a symbol for Hamsapadika herself, and 'lotus' for Vasumati. The natural difference between a 'blossom (manjari) and a 'lotus' (kamala) further suggests that Hamsapadika is in the prime of her youth, yearning for the fructification of her life, as a blossom must naturally develop into a flower and then into fruit. By contrast a 'lotus' denotes a complete phase of development; Vasumati is a mature woman. The mango-blossom is associated with spring; the lotus is a opened-up flower of all times; this difference also suggests the spring of youth and the advancing day of womanhood, which are to be connected respectively with Hamsapadika and Vasumati. The pleasure of the 'mangoblossom' is of hot kisses; intoxicating, overwhelming, holding the body and the mind a willing prisoner; by contrast the pleasure of the 'lotus' is only of company vasatimatra, of nearness and understanding affection. These are Hamsapadika's own words. The question then is, if Dusyanta were a lustful pleasure-seeker, like the proverbial selfish and greedy bee, should he seek Hassapadika who was bursting with youth and who would give him hot, tantalizing love-response, or should he prefer the elderly Vasumati who could offer him only company and an understanding heart softened with affection ? All critics must agree that Dusyanta does not lack the sense of beauty and love to stumble on a wrong choice ! How can we explain this change in Dusyanta then ? What made him turn to Vasumati in preference to Hamsapadika ? In the correct answer to this question we will discover the essence of Dusyanta's mental state and of his psychological transformation. The fact is, Hamsapadika i revealing a very deep truth about her husband although her personal hurt and sorrow and her youthful inexperience have blinded her to see it; it is that Dusyanta bas turned away from the pleasures of the sex and has prefered the company of a mature mind. Hamsapadika's statement itself is an open answer to the so-called charge that Dusyanta is a selfish, sex-hungry pleasure-seeker. It also shows that the transforma.

Page #129
116 Appointment with Kalidasa tion' had already taken place in Dusyanta's life; it did not come after the pangs of real separation, as some critics have imagined. Kalidasa shows Dusyanta, at the opening of the fifth act, to be a different man somewhat saddened but thoughtful and turned inward. And the change is not recent. Like the word of Hamsapadika, Dusyanta's own confessson to the Vidusaka' 'Once I was in love with her',45 revels it. The thread of Dusyanta's psychological transformation is, thus, woven far deeper in Kalidasa's art design. Aimless pursuit of pleasure, without any definite purpose or achievement, is apt to tire a thoughtful and understanding person. This is a psychological truth, Kalidasa's portrayal of Dusyanta is of a thoughtful person, who has the habit of weighing the pros and cons of an issue; he would debate it in his mind before deciding the line of his action. In his first meeting with Sakuntala, in discussing the fascination he felt for her with the Vidusaka, and in the scene of Sakuntala's repudiation, we get vivid glimpses of Dusyanta's thoughtful mind, his readiness to discuss, his sense of balance and justice. The change in Dusyanta is partly due to such a process of thinking. He must have realised at some stage in his life that pleasure cannot be the end of a man's life; the hunger of sex, if it is there, is not satisfied by the enjoyment of many women. But, in addition to this thoughtful trait, Kalidasa has filled a different colour in his portrait of Dusyanta. Dugyanta has no child. It is a recurring motif in Kalidasa's writing; king Dilipa and Dasaratha in the Raghu family, Pururavsa and Dusyanta are shown by the poet to be without children till some observance of piety or boon blesses their life. A man does ont show the pain of his childlessness openly, like a feels her life blighted by the lack of a child. But sometimes something happens, and the misery of the man comes to the surface, shaking him completely. The hermits in Kanva's asram are aware that Dusyanta has no child, even though they are living far away from him. Dusyanta's old mother is going through religious vows and observances hoping to get a successor to the family 47. I am not suggesting that Duyanta was attracted to Sakuntala solely with the hope that she might give him a son. Kalidasa is not a shallow and vulgar artist. And yet, when Dusyanta describes Sakuntala as the pratistha, stability and glory, of his family,48 the listeners cannot escape the double meaning of the word. May be, Dusyanta's sub-conscious mind prompted this word which indirectly speaks of his hidden pain. It comes out in the open in the sixth act when the case papers of Dhanamitra are brought over to Dusyanta. Dusyanta's reaction at this time reveals the shocking depth of his personal misery. One is therefore tempted to think that in being attracted to Sakuntala Dusyanta was not merely a pray to her heavenly beauty; there was also a hope of another fulfilment in his sub-conscious mind. Kalidasa's picture would suggest this; for, the question of the child and successor to the family runs through the whole play. And it is also the answer to the apparent neglect of Hamsapadika. The truth, as revealed by Kalidasa's own picture, is that that Hamsapadika certainly held out a promise; that is why, Dusyanta was very much in love with her at one time; but unfortunately Hamsapadika remained only at

Page #130
Lit Supreme Theme: Stigara or Love It manjart; the expected development did not come; she too failed, like Vasumati, to give Dusyanta a son. So, Dusyanta turned his back on sensual pleasures and sought some peace of mind and consolation in the mature company of his elder queen. must be remembered that at the juncture in the play when the song of Hamsapadika is presented, Dusyanta has no memory of Sakuntala. Kalidasa's picture of Dusyanta at this stage is, therefore, of a hero 'whose heart conceals a profound agony'49. This is the poet's own answer to the supposed lustful character of Dusyanta and the socalled transformation-sublimation interpretation raised on it. (8) what then is the significance of the torture of separation through which the heroes of Kalidasa go? Once it is seen that the poet did not intend the suffering as a punishment for physical attachment, which the poet regards as natural, and a means, as it were, for sublimating the physical love, which the poet nowhere condemns, the significance of the suffering appears to be quite plain. In the polygamous society which gave man not only a power over woman but also a sort of license for free sex behaviour, the sufferings of heroes are an assurance and guarantee to the heroines that their husbands' love for them is constant, steady and abiding. This is art rendering poetic justice to the woman who was unfairly treated by the social and religious laws. What Kalidasa could not, or did not, do in the social sphere he endeavoured to achieve in the sphere of art. The pain and sorrow of Aja at the sudden death of Indumati terminated; only at his own death. Aja was quite wise and intelligent. He was capable of understanding the philosophy of life and death which Vasistha preached him in weighty and convincing words. And yet, Aja's love for Indumati was so deep and intense that he could not live without her. He waited with fortitude till his little son Dasartha came of age; but he was not prepared to wait for natural death; he ended his life by committing suicide50. This may be an exceptional example in Sanskrit literature; but Kalidasa seems to have noted it deliberately to illustrate the profound attachment of love between husband and wife. Urvasi's sudden disappearance is such a terrible mental shock to Pururavas that it snaps the balance of his mind and takes away his sanity. The ravings and the sufferings of the mad Puraravas wandering through the woodland searching for his lost beloved, like Rama wandering in the Dandaka forest in search of Sita, are, fortunatey, visible to the heart' of Urvasi who was transformed into a creeper; they are an eloquent testimoney to the intense and unchangeable love of Pururavas for Urvasi. Kalidasa contrives to reunite them on the background of this mad but moving demonstration of love. Sakuntala is not so lucky. The dramatic design of the paly does not provide her the opportunity to eye-witness the sufferings of Dusyanta and the fact that he still clings to the memory of that love, although he sees no possibility of getting Sakuntala back. But her mother's friend Sanumati sees all this, hears the actual words of Dusyanta, remaining invisible but close at his back; the poet arranges this in his dramatic construction. Sakuntala can take the report of Sanumati on fullest trust and feel assured of Dusyanta's love for

Page #131
118 Appointment with Kalidasa her. Yet, the information is indirect, received on trust; Sakuntala has not been able to see thiogs for herself, with her own eyes. As if to remove this artistic lacuna in his dramatic design Kalidasa builds the re-union with special touches. Kalidasa shows Dusyanta, the emperor of the acean-bounded earth, a personal friend of the Gods, an incomparable hero who has just achieved an uncommon victory and has been specially honoured by Indra, falling at the feet of Sakuntala and begging her pardon. Dusyanta had not knowingly or deliberately rejected Sakuntala; in fact, he was not personally responsible for her repudiation; the dramatic design makes it abundantly clear. And yet Dusyanta is pained by the agony he inflicted unconsciously on his beloved wife; he wipes the tear with his own fingers from the eye of overwhelmed sakuntala and asks for her forgiveness once again 52. I think it is a scene of which the gods would be proud. That the husband should beg ore's pardon with a repentent and full heart, and wipe one's tears with his own hand, is a moment of such great happiness in a woman's life that she would be prepared to suffer any amount of agony, even stand on the threshold of death, to capture it. What does a woman want in her life except the deep and abiding love of her husband, which nothing can change and which sufferings can only intensify ? It is a triumph of Kalidasa's art that he captured this rare moment and left it for all times. The re-union of the loving husband and wife after a long agonising separation is in a sense heavenly, though not in the sense that the first union is physical, on animal level, and badly needing a sublimation, as a class of critics have assumed. Separation, whatever its cause may be, is a test of mutual love; it intensifies love; it brings about a better and deeper understanding between the husband and wife or the two lovers, and the understanding binds them closer together, in an abiding bond of affection. The closeness they feel for each other is not limited to the physical pleasure, though it will continue in the nature of things as long as the couple is healthy and their bodies respond; but it now gets the wider basis and perspective of the total life. They become real partners in life sharing joys and sorrows and achieve a unique unity of hearts. Let us not make the mistake of imagining that in this wider and broad-based understanding the physical pleasure evaporates into nothingness and the couple lead the life of spiritual candidates. What happens is that the love ripens into profound and total affection.53 Bhavabhuti's Rama, who has been fortunate to have achieved the unique oneness of love with Sita, experiences a physical thrill at the casual touch of Sita and his body tingles with the horripilation of joy. And Sita assures him that there is nothing surprising about it; it only proves that his love has remained steady and constant.54 Overcome with the ecstasy of love Rama offers his arm as a pillow to the sleepy Sita and she clings to him closely and goes to sleep on his arm,55 The significance of love between man and woman and the agony of separation they are prepared to endure is, thus, the enlargement of the horizon of mutual understanding, in which the intensity of love and its unchangeable constancy are fully tested.

Page #132
Supreme Theme : Singara or Love 119 If this were the connotation of 'spiritual love' so called there would be no ground for any dispute or discussion. But the advocates of the transformation' thesis insist on treating the first love and union as simply physical, that is to say, as something low and condemnable, and briog in the Vedanta principle of purifying man and woman of the gross physical urge and lift them to the impersonal level of spirituality so that they may be united in Brahman. I have endeavoured to show that this philosophy, undisputed as a philosophy of life, is not the philosophy of love. It is not applicable at all in the context of art, and Kalidasa does not countenance it in his poetic design or dramatic construction even by a veiled suggestion. The philosophy of the Spirit shuns love of man and woman as an obstacle in the way of individual emancipation; but it is an essence of art presentation. An important trend in the general Sanskrit literature is of other-worldliness, which teaches renunciation of physical and material pleasures so that the path to individual salvation (moksa) becomes clear. The literature of art, poetry and drama, as well as the arts like sculpture and painting, did not neglect the spiritual trend of thought. But they did not neglect life also. They stood for faith in life, and the realisation of all the four aims of human existence (purusartha), so that while life could be fully lived and enjoyed the soul's graduated and terminal progress towards spiritual liberation could also be achieved. This is the philosophy that art teaches and Kalidasa too holds up. Is it surprising that a poet and a philosopher like Goethe understood this message correctly ? He says that Heaven and Earth are combined in Sakuntala. It is not the rejection of earth or its 'transformation into heaven; it is the union of earth and heaven. Are we to understand that the significance of Kalidasa's art presentation, which a German poet could grasp precisely, went over the heads of the Indian way of spiritualizing each and everything with the pretence of raising it to the higher level of life ? But what can one say of such critical attempts at falsifying a poet, particularly a poet of the calibre of Kalidasa ? The picture of love between man and woman on the contemporary social background became disputable in the literary criticism of the present times, Kalidasa's treatment and philosophy of love came to be distorted; and so, a complete reassessment of the ideas was felt to be necessary for a better and a correct understanding of Kalidasa's art, if not for anything else. One must now try to see that the roma tic love between man and woman is not the only subject of Kalidasa's treatment and that it is not the only aspect of married love that the poet visualises, Love is as all-embracing as life and reflects the multi-coloured variety of life. The affection of a father and the love of a mother for her child are a part of this love. The love for the child is, in fact, an experience which bestows a sense of fulfilment on human life. It is for this reason that Kalidasa has given a moving expre

Page #133
120 Appointment with Kalidasa ssion to the deep pathos in the life of his heroes who were not yet blessed with a child. Dilipa and Sudaksina bear an intense agony in their hearts; and with the birth of Raghu their happiness knows no bounds. The child Raghu repeating the words of the nurse with muted and indistinct sounds, holding her finger and rambling through the palace apartments, bending his head before the elders in salutation as taught, becomes the treasure of joy to Dilipa; and, what wonder, if taking the child on his lap Dilipa feels that his entire body is bathed in ambrosial waters !56 Dusyanta, deprived of a son so far, goes through a similar experience when he meets Sarvadamana in the hermitage of Marica. Laughing for no reason and showing in the process his tiny sparkling teeth resembling Kunda buds, continuously pra. ttling nonsense in indistinct words whose sweetness is beyond measure, trying to jump into the lap of the parent unaware of his dust-soiled limbs : this is the picture that Dusyanta's imagination builds; and he feels that blessed are the parents who have children to give them such incomparable joy !57 Like Dusyanta who was lost in watching the childlike and childish pranks of Sarvadamana, Pururavas too must have been moved watching the Vidyadhara girl absorbed in her childlike play on the river beach. The measure of a father's love for his son is found in Kalidasa's pictures of Aja who postpones suicide only to let his son grow up and of Dasaratha who dies by the shock of separation from his beloved Rama. The love for the child softens a confirmed ascetic like Kanva so that he speaks and acts, not like a controlled sage but, like a loving father. And Kanva admits the enormity of tender feelings the householders must have for their children born of their flesh and blood.58 A mother's joy about her child is beyond description; looking after the interest and happiness of her daughter is a never-ending commitment of a mother's life; and a son's achievement is her personal pride. So, we find Dharini rejoicing at the victory of her son in the battle and distributing presents with both hands; Uma's austere penance touches her mother with serious concern; and Menaka who had to abandon her child rushes from heaven to the earth when she finds her in a terrible plight after being rejected by her husband Dusyanta. Love for the offspring must be in the blood of a woman. Urvasi is a celestial nymph and beyond the pale of mortal week. ness; but the sight of Ayus overwhelms her and her breasts become wet with oozing milk 59 Sakuntala is a true daughter of nature. Nature teaches one to love every thing. Sakuntala nourishes the Vanajyotsna creeper as her own daughter and gets her married to Sahakara tree at the proper time. Watching this couple of the tree and the creeper with the eyes of a mother Sikuntala gets herself lost. When the moment of her departure to her husband's house comes, Sakuntala asks her companions to take care of her Vanajyotsna. The young one of a deer ate darbha blades mistaking them to be common grass; the little deer's mouth was all bruised and bleeding; Sakuntala took him in her lap and applied the oil of ingudi to the inside of his mouth to heel the wounds. This young one of the deer returns the love of Sakuntala in equal measure. He holds the skirt-end of her garment in his mouth and tries to pull her back when she is leaving the hermitage for good,50 This love between Saku.

Page #134
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love 121 ntala and nature's kids will not fail to moisten the eyes of any spectator. Sakuntala is similarly concerned with the pregnant doe; she insists on being informed after the doe has delivered safely. The picture of a loving mother is also an important part of Kalidasa's treatment of love. Kalidasa has not described the love between friends elaborately. But the few suggestive touches found in his writing are sufficient to indicate the span of such unselfish love. The cheerful companions of Sakuntala, Anasuya and Priyam ada, ready to make fun of her at times but looking after her like a mother-creeper after her flower, breaking down into tears at the moment of separation from her, and prepared to sacrifice anything to safeguard her interests; Citralekha, the loving and understanding companion of Urvasi; Bakulavalika, the companion-maid of Malavika; and the Vidusaka, particularly Gautama, serving his royal friend faithfully in spite of occasional blunders and foolishness: these pictures are likely to be sharply etched on our memory. An unexpected context reveals Kalidasa's concept of friendship: Rati mourning for her Madana says, "Men's love for their women may be unsteady; but it is not so in the case of their friends'.61 Rati appeals that Madana should return to life if not for her at least for the sake of his friend Vasanta. For, a man's love for a friend is unchangeable. What truer description of friendly affaction can be given than this? The love of man and woman is, however, the favourite theme of literature. The complexity of this aspect of love is very engaging and offers a perpetual challange to art presentation. Kalidasa's treatment of this love reveals its many facets. The first love which leads to marriage and union is a romantic and thrilling experience. A lover's mind passes through a whole range of emotions like doubt, despair, jealousy, anxiety and anguish, till the moment of fulfilment arrives. The plays of Kalidasa and his picture of Parvati in the Kumarasambhava show this rainbow of transitory mental states. This picture of love before it is crowned with marriage is always poetic, alluring and delightful in literary presentation. Like the romantic love, married love or the love of husband and wife has also engaged the attention of Kalidasa. An impressive picture of the married love is to be found in the lives of Dilipa and Sudaksina, Aja and Indumati, Rama and Sita, Rati and Madana. Aja's love is a measure of the solidarity and depth of a husband's love for his wife. An understanding couple is a picture of two bodies in which one soul is residing. The wife is not merely the mistress of the house; she is the truest conpanion and friend, a wise counsellor who steers the ship of the couple's life through the stormy sea of worldly existence62. In social life a woman's position may well be secondary to man; but in the domain of family life the woman, as a wife, rules the household and her husband. And as a true companion she is on the footing of equality with the man; for, friendship is not founded on inequality and difference. This is the answer of art to the social inequality between man and woman. The social life 16

Page #135
122 Appointment with Kalidasa in those days was governed by ideas of high and low order; the political life was ruled by monarchial form of government; but in the life of true love, Kalidasa seems to suggest, there will always be real democracy, where each individual, man or woman, possesses a status of equality and human dignity. Another facet of the love of husband and wife is seen in Kalidasa's theme of the re-union of separated lovers. For some reason the husband and the wife are separated; the terrible anguish of separation they bear with patience and fortitude; and then the day of reunion dawns, and the temporarily broken lives are bound together in an assurance of abiding mutual love. The Yaksa and his wife, Puraravas and Urvasi, Dusyanta and Sakuntala are such pairs of lovers separated and re-united in love. The reunion of Yaksa with his wife is withheld for touching artistic effect; but the suggestion is too obvious to be missed. Dusyanta and Pururavas enjoy this moment of great happiness, and Kalidasa's art rises to the skill of making it unforgettable. Kalidasa's treatment of love has the associated advantage of revealing the nature of man and woman with equal variety and charm. There is a grandeur about the Raghu kings. Dusyanta too is a grand figuro; but the picture of his mind softens him and brings him nearer to us. Dusyanta is grave but prone to the influence of beauty and emotion by nature, Pururavas is inclined to love with terrible intensity and mad. ness; his emotions are strong and gushing. Yaksa in the Meghadata and Dasartaha in the Raghuvamsa are other examples of passionate lovers. Aja is in the same category; but he is a man of few words; his suicide cannot be explained without assuming the intensity of his love. Agnimitra is a picture of common longing and yearning for love. The heroines of Kalidasa present a similar variety of portraits. Malavika is a fresh, innocent girl; she only knows to love, and love with all her mind and heart. Sakuntala has the disarming innocence of a girl brought up in the environment of nature; but nature has been her worthy preceptor also. She has acquired the 'untaught cleverness' necessary for woman, a fearlessness, and a tremendous capacity to endure the shocks and sorrows of life. Sita is the daughter of mother Earth, from whom she has inherited the generosity of heart and the capacity of endurance. Indumati's unerring grasp of life is revealed in her choice of Aja as her husband and life-partner. Uma reveais in her life the uncommon courage and strength that love can lend to it. Urvasi is an image of intense, clinging and rebellious love; her unchecked and impetuous passion draws her, of her own accord, towards Pururavas, and in the process she loses herself so completely as to forget the laws of heaven and the prohibition of god Kartikeya, as she forgets the rules of dramaturgy in playiog her role. It is probable that Rati shared such intoxicating love; how else could she have been ready to throw herself on the burning pyre of Madada ? The over-all picture of love that Kalidasa presents in his writing contains rivalries and jealousies of a royal harem, its frettings and fumings, charges and counter-char

Page #136
Supreme Theme : Singara or Love 123 ges; but it also shows the pleasing glow and affection of family life and the assurance of the love of husband and wife. There is a dreamy charm, in this picture, of the magic city of Alaka; the grandeur and holiness of the Himalayan precincts; the pious, innocent and fearless peace of an ascetic's hermitage; also the exciting thrill and wonder as heaven and earth seem to come together; and the bliss of ecstasy that follows the gushing union of the two worlds. (6) What then does Kalidasa aim at conveying through his pictures of love ? Kalidasa is certainly aware of the different facets of love. His treatment distinctly shows that the love of man and woman has an important and significant place in the life of the universe. He has never looked upon, therefore, the physical attraction between the two sexes as anything that is low, sinful and condemnable. The physical basis of love is determined by nature and biology; and it is not confined to human relations. Nature and the entire worldly creation of life is enveloped in this relation and bound by the silken thread of this love. Kalidasa docs not stop with the discovery of emotional similarity and correlation between nature and man. In his artistic creation there are couples like creeper and tree, deer and doe, the male and the female bee, the male and famale swans, river and ocean, river and cloud, cloud and lightning, couples who like the human husband and wife are passionately attached to each other and love one another with an intensity of love. The characters created by the poet are fully conscious of the emotional attachment existing in the universe. So, the Yak sa sincerely wishes that the cloud may not be separated from the lightning even for a moment.63 Yaksa and Pururavas discover several loving couples in nature; Sakuntala arranges the marriage of her Vanajyotsna creeper with the Sahakara tree, and celebrates the first blossoming of the creepers like the festivity of child-birth.64 Nature too comes into youth. The signs of physical changes that appear in a girl with the advent of youth are visible in Vernal Beauty (Personified as a girl).,65 Vernal Beauty adorns herself like a young maiden;06 and wind is tempted to make overtures of love to the youthful creepers, because wind had fallen in love once with Anjana.67 The animals and birds are not able to escape the appeal of love when nature is stepping into the spring of life. The doe goes near the black antelope and scratches her itching left eye on the tip of his horn with complete trust and without fear.68 When the antelope is scratching the doe with his horn she closes her eyes in the bliss of physical pleasure.69 When the male and the female bee are perched on a single flower, the male lets the female bee sin the flowery juice first and takes his drink only after her.70 But as separated lovers the female bee, though thirsty, does not touch the flower; she waits like a devoted wife for her companion's arrival and their reunion 71

Page #137
124 Appointment with Kalidasa Kalidasa is not hankering after poetic beauty and allure merely in these pictures. His words and their suggestive sense drip with his own philosophy of love. The love of Prakrti and Purusa is the law of Universe. It is the impulse and inspiration for creation of new life. The entire creation including the world of man is wrapped up in this emotion of love. Ratior love is the sthayi bhava or the basic stable emotion of life; and the physical union is the grace and gesture of nature; it is, in a way, a compulsive act for creation and continuity. The fruit of this loving union is "kumara-sambhava', the off-shoot of new life. That is why, Siva who had been practising penance 'for some reason' in the solitude of Kailasa comes down to stand before Uma and declares himself to be her servant in love. Kalidasa, thus, gives a comprehensive and deep meaning to the love of man and woman, understanding it as universal urge and impulse of new creation and the most tender tie that holds the living world together. To regard the emotion of love, nay, the passion of love, as something low and needing purification (at the hands of literary critics?) is going against the laws of nature and of universe, and is irrelevant to the purpose of art whose stuff is life. The love of man and woman is not merely a gratification of physical craving or urge. It is an impulse which, as it leads to creation, bestows strength on the partners. There is no emotion like love which envelopes the totality of life, agitates it from the very bottom, and brings an awareness of the depth and the height of life. It is love which establishes equality between man and woman, makes her superior to man; enables her to acquire the large-heartedness and the all-enduring quality of mother Earth. It is this love which is the inspiration for the valour of the heroes. Kalidasa illustrates this from the example of Aja. Aja is returning from the svayamvara with his bride Indumati; the disappointed kings unite to attack him with the intention of taking Indumats away from his hands; Aja defeats them single handed and throws them into sleep by using the sammohana missile; and shows the spectacle to Indumati;72 the gesture and the words cannot conceal his just pride and her great delight; they are a witness to Aja's valour and to Indumati's confidence in and respect for her husband. It is love that has the strength to lead one from the nariow selfish interests to the larger and impersonal interests of humanity, from duality to oneness. On the walls of the temples in India are carved some beautiful sculptures which depict the conjugal love of couples, human, semi-divine and devine. The ignorant and those who reject the joy of life may put any interpretation on them, or be surprised or shocked by them. But what they mean in the context of art is plain. Love is a process of alchemy which makes a person lose himself; it ends separateness, the sense of difference or duality. What is bhakti or religious devotion after all ? The poeticians define bhakti as 'love for gods and the divine'.73 Art does not see, therefore, any opposition between rati or love and bhakti or devotion. The joy of both takes away selfconsciousness and transports one. It appears from Kalidasa's writings that this is what he means by love; this is the high significance he bestows on love which basically may be only a biological

Page #138
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love 125 urge. Kalidasa shows the intensity and the intoxication of love. But let it be remembered that nowhere does he preach or support an excessive indulgence of love. A child is the fruit of the love of the parents; the child divides the love of the father and mother, and yet enhances it, intensifies it.74 A child is the fulfilment of family life. Kalidasa seems to suggest that the physical attachment of man and woman must necessarily pave the way for the love for a child. And a poised, balanced enjoyment of life is the foundation of his life's philosophy. Naturally, youth, its demands and pleasur's have a legitimate place in human life. Lord SriKrsna, describing His divine manifestations in the Gita, states that He is Kama among the creatures that is un pposed to religious piety', as 'Kandarpa (God of love), the l'ocreator'.75 Kalidasa's philosophy of love is raised on this faith and foundation of the Gita. Kalidasa painted a pupil like Kautsa, completely devoted to his preceptor and desiring nothing for himself; and sarngarava who had the courage and fuarlessness to tell a sovereign emperor to his face what he thought of him and his actions; the poet drew the picture of domestic life with its accent on the love of husband and wife and their love for their child in deep colours; and with the same intensity he presented the picture of ascetics, devoted to their penance and defying heavenly pleasures and enjoyments. He offered a sincere prayer himself for his own salvation, but when the moment of life's fulfilment had arrived for him. A full enjoyment, in accordance with the principles of religion, of all the stages of life and a joyful, happy outlook on life, that is the form and the keynote of Kalidasa's literature, In this attitude there is no denial of life in spite of its shortcomings and sorrows; there is neither rejection por condemnation of the impulses of life like love. What Kalidara stands for is a poised and full enjoyment of life and what it offers to man. The philosophers who reject the experiences of material life may be able to build a system of higher spiritual values. But it is only an artist who accepts with open arms and a smile what little joys life can offer who can create art; and he alone can let higher values blossom through it. The literature and art of Kalidasa hold out this promise for us. NOTES 1 cr. anahitaifafati tagesfaga zikSAsamaye'pi mude ratalIlA-kAlidAsoktI / / Govardhanacarya, Aryasaprasatz, introductory v. 36. and, eko'pi jIyate hanta kAlidAso na kenacit / zaGagAre lalitogAre kAlidAsatrayI kimu // Rajsckhara, quoted in Suktimuktavali.

Page #139
126 Appointment with Kalidasa 2 Dhvanyaloka, Uddyota III. This is preceded by the observation : dvividho hi doSaH kaveH avyutpattikRto azaktikRtazca / tatra avyutpattikRto doSaH zaktitiraskRtatvAt kadAcinna lkssyte| yastu azaktikRto doSaH sa jhaTiti pratIyate / 3. anaucityAdRte nAnyad rasabhaGgasya kAraNam / prasiddhaucityabandhastu rasasyopaniSat parA // Dhvanyaloka, III. 4 Dhvanyaloka, III. 5 Raghuvamsa IV. 51-52. sa nirvizya yathAkAmaM taTeSvAlonacandanau / stanAviva dizastasyAH zailau malayada1rau // asahyavikramaH sahya duuraanmuktmudnvtaa| nitambamiva medinyAH prastAMzukamaladhayat // 6 Ibid, XI. 20 : rAmamanmathazareNa tADitA duHsahena hRdaye nizAcarI / gandhavaddhiracandanokSitA jIvitezavasatiM jagAma sA // 7 I do not know who originated this approach. But vide Rabindranath Tagore's essay on Sakuntala, and Dr Belevalkar, Prof. A. B. Gajendragadkar and others who follow it enthusias tically. 8 Cf. Sakuntala, I 24.18-19: kiM nu khalu imaM prekSya tapovanavirodhino vikArasya gamanIyAsmi sNvRttaa| 9 bid. I-24.5 : api tapo vardhate / 10 Cr. the Vidusaka's remark, act II: kRtaM tvayA upavanaM tapovanama iti pazyAmi / 11 Cr. the example of Vasavadatta and Udayana. 12 'paritrANAya sAdhUnAM vinAzAya ca duSkRtAm' in the words of the Gita. 13 cf. Sakuntala, act IV. Priyanvada reporting : tAvadenAM lajjAvanatamukhIM pariSvajya tAtakAzyapena evam abhinanditam / diSTrayA dhUmAkulitadRSTerapi yajamAnasya pAvake eva AhutiH ptitaa| vatse, suziSyaparidatteva vidyA bhazocanIyAsi saMvRttA / / The reference to Dusyanta comes in V. 15 : tvamarhatA prAgrasaraH smRto'si naH zakuntalA mUrtimatI ca sakriyA / samAnayaMstulyaguNa vadhUvara cirasya vAcyaM na gataH prajApatiH // The whole verse deserves to be noted for Kanva's, and. of course, Kalidasa's opinion about the love marriage of Dusyanta and Sakuntala. 14 For the details mentioned after the statement, see Sakuntala: ziSyaH-velopalakSaNArthamAdiSTo 'smi tatrabhavatA ......kAzyapena / prakAzaM nirgatastAvadavalokayAmi kiyadavaziSTaM rajanyA iti yAvad upasthitAM homavelAM gurave nivedayAmi / act IV; vaikhAnasaH-rAjan samidAharaNAya prasthitA vayam / I: anasUyA-halA zakuntale, tvatto'pi tAtakAzyapasya AzramavRkSakAH priyatarA iti tarkayAmi / yadanena nalamAlikA kusumapelavA tvamapi eteSAM AlavAlapUraNe niyuktA / act IB I. 14d etc. 15 Cr. Sakuntala, act IV, interlude; Priyativada's words : adya sa rAjarSiH iSTi parisamApya RSi bhirvisarjitaH Atmano nagaraM pravizya......| The arrival of Durvasas is announced a few moments after in the same scene.

Page #140
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love 127 16 Ibtd. Priyamvada draws attention to Sakuntala : anasUye pazya tAvat / vAmahastopahitavadanA Alikhiteva priyskhii| bhartRgatayA cintayA AtmAnamapi naiSA vibhAvayati, kiM punaH Agantukam / 17 Tbid. Anasuya's words : eSa durvAsAH sulabhakopo mhrssiH| tathA zaptvA caTulotphulladurvArayA gatyA pratinivRttaH / ...sakhi, prakRtivakraH saH kasya anunayaM pratigRhaNAti / 18 Ibid. Anasaya's plea to Durvasaa : yadA anunIto nivatituM necchati tadA vijJApito mayA / bhagavan prathamamiti prekSya avijJAtatapa:prabhAvasya duhitRjanasya bhagavatA eko'parAdho marSitavyaH / 19 Ibid. Priyamvada's comment; ko'nyo hutavahAd dagdhuM prabhavati / 20 Ibid. Priyamvada's remark when the two friends decide to keep the curse to themselves : ko nAma uSNodakena navamAlikAM siJcati / 21 To Dusyanta's query about Kanva the Vaikhanasa replies : idAnImeva duhitara zakuntalAmatithi satkArAya niyujya daivamasyAH pratikUlaM zamayituM somatItha gataH / act I. 22 See Sakuntala's admission after Dusyanta's apology to her. Sakuntala, VII 24. ff.: uttiSThatu uttiSThata aayputrH| nUnaM me sucaritapratibandhakaM purAkRtaM teSu divaseSu pariNAmamukham AsId yena sAnukozo'pi AryaputraH mayi virasaH sNvRttH| Also follow the dialogue when Matali brings Dusyanta and Sakuntala in the presence of Marica, act VII. 30. ff. Dusyanta's apologetic confession to Mirica about how he came to reject Sakuntala, how he recollected and recovered her, Marica's explanation of the whole happening, and Sakuntala's own private thoughts--the entire piece is Kalidasa's own explanation of the curse and the character of Dusyanta. And it shows how the purification or sublimation idea is a mis-construction and a perversion of the poet's own intent, 23 Vikramorvasiya, III. 15. 24 bid. III. 15.3 : sakhe nArAyaNorusaMbhavA seyaM varorUH / 25 lbid. This is confirmed by Pururavas' statemnent in III. 16. He guessed it was Urvati from the pleasure her touch produced in him. 26 Ibid, I, 10 : asyAH sargavidhau prajApatirabhUccandro nu kAntipradaH kAraikarasaH svayaM nu madano mAso nu puSpAkaraH / 27 Sakuntala, II. 9 : citre nivezya parikalpitasattvayogA rUpoccayena manasA vidhinA kRtA nu| strIratnasRSTiraparA pratibhAti sA me dhAturvibhutvamanucintya vapuzca tasyAH // 28 Vikramorvaisya, III. 16.10 : katham ihaiva yuvayoH astamitaH sUryaH / 29 Sakuntala, II. 79 : bho vayasya, te tApasakanyakA abhyarthanIyA dRzyate / 30 Tbid: II. 8.1-2 : (vihasya) yathA kasyApi piNDakha-- rairudvejitasya tintiNyAm abhilASo bhavet , tathA strIratnaparibhogiNo bhavataH iyam abhyarthanA / 31 . II.12.1-2 : tena hi gRhItapAtheyo bhava / kRtaM tvayA upavanaM tapovanamiti pazyAmi / 33 Tbid., III. 21.2-3 : paurava rakSa vinayam / madanasaMtaptA'pi na khalu AtmanaH prabhavAmi / 33 bid., III, I7.17-18 : (priyaMvadAmavalokya) halA, kiM antaHpuravirahaparyutsukasya rAjarSeH uparodhena /

Page #141
Appointment with Kalidasa 34 ahid, III. 18 idamananyaparAyaNamanyathA hRdayasaMnihite hRdayaM mama / yadi samarthayase madirekSaNe madanabANahato'smi hataH punaH // 35 fold, III. 19 parigrahabahutve'pi dve pratiSThe kulasya me samudravasanA cova sakhIca yuvayoriyam // 36 Malavikagnimitra, III. 15 : 128 anAturotkaNThitayoH prasidhyatA samAgamenApi ratirna mAM prati / parasparaprAptinirAzayorvaraM zarIranAzo'pi samAnurAgayoH // 37 Cf. Sakuntala, VII. 4 : sidhyanti karmasu mahatsvapi yanniyojyAH saMbhAvanAguNamadehi tmovraannaam| kiM vA'bhaviSyadaruNastamasAM vibhettA taM cet sahasrakiraNo dhuri nAkariSyat // 38 Jbid, IV. 18 'kuru priyasakhIti sapatnIjane' do ; 39 Sakuntala, act V. Read : pratihArI... nanu darzanIyA punarasthA AkRtirlakSyate / rAjA bhvtu| anirvarNanIyaM parakalatram / And after V. 19, pratihArI- (svagatam) aho dharmApekSitA bhartuH / IdRzaM nAma sukhopanataM rUpaM dRSTvA ko'nyo vicArayati / 40 Cf Vikramorvasiya, IV. Pravesaka: asahanA khalu sA / dUrArUDhazcAsyAH praNayaH / 41 Cf. sakuntala II. 18. and the prose speach preceding it. Read : parihAsavijalpitaM sakhe paramArthena bha gRhyatAM vacaH // 42 byd. VI. 5ol dAkSiNyena dadAti vAcamucitAmantaHpurebhyo yadA gotreSu skhalitastadA bhavati ca vrIDAvilakSazciram // : 43 cf. Citralekha's assurance to Urvasi, Vikramorvaszya, act III ; nAgarikA adhikaM dakSiNA bhavanti / 41 Sakantala V. 1. the song, rendered in Sanskrit, is as follows ; abhinava madhulolupastvaM tathA paricumbya cUtamaJjarIm. / kamalaya satimAtranirvRto madhukara vismRto'syenAM katham // 45 Ibid v1.4: sakRtkRtapraNayo'yaM janaH / 46 11., 1. 12: The blessing 'putramevaMguNopetaM ckrvrtinmaapnuhi|' is meaningless if Dutyanta had a son and the fact was known in his kingdom. 47 Ibtd. II. the reference to 'putra piNDapAlana upavAsa' is brought through the special messenger, Karabhaka coning from Dusyanta's mother. ayi mugdhe, anyasaMkrAnta premANA 48 Ibid., III, 19. See note (35). 49 The phrase is Bhavabhai's Urrara-rama-carita, III. 1 anirbhinno gabhIratvAd antagUM ucanavyathaH / ; puTapAkapratIkAzaH... 50 See Raghuvansa, VIII. 76-95.

Page #142
Supreme Theme : Srngara or Love 129 51 Cr. Vikramorvaszya, IV, 713.3 ; Urvaki's statement; 'antaHkaraNapratyakSIkRtavRttAnto mhaaraajH|' 52 See Sakuntala, VII. 22. 23, 24 (and the stage direction 'pAdayoH patati'), 25. 53 Cf. Bhavabhuti's famous pronouncement, Uttara-rama-carita, I. 39: advaitaM sukhaduHkhayoranugataM sarvAsvavasthAsu yad vizrAmo hRdayasya yatra jarasA yasminnahAryo rasaH / kAlenAvaraNAtyayAt pariNate yat snehasAre sthitaM bhadra tasya samAnuSasya kathamapyekaM hi tat prApyate // 54 Uttara-rant-carita, I. 34 ff. rAmaH-priye kimetat / ... sItA-sthiraprasAdA yUyamita idAnIM kimaparam / See verses I. 35, 36. 55 Ibid., I. 36, 37, 38. 56 Raghuvamsa, III. 25-26 : uvAca dhAcyA prathamoditaM vaco yayau tadIyAmavalambya cAgulim / abhUcca namraH praNipAtazikSayA piturmudaM tena tatAna so'rbhakaH // tamaGkamAropya zarIrayogajaiH sukhairniSiJcantamivAmRtaM tvaci / upAntasaMmilitalocano nRpazcirAt sutasparzarasajJatAM yyau|| 57 Sakuntala, VII. 17; AlakSyadantamukulAnanimittahAsaiH avyaktavarNaramaNIyavacaHpravRttIn / akAzrayapraNayinastanayAna vahanto dhanyAstadaGgarajasA malinIbhavanti / / cf. also. VIII. 16, 19. 58 Ibid., IV.6; yAsyatyaya zakuntaleti etc., especially, vaklavyaM mama tAvadIdRzamaho snehAdaraNyaukasaH poDyante gRhiNaH kathaM nu tanayAvizleSaduHkhenavaiH // 59 Cf. Vikramorvasiya, V. 12; iyaM te jananI prAptA tvdaaloknttpraa| snehaprasnavanirbhinnamudvahantI stanAMzukam / / 60 Sakuntala, IV. 14. 61 Kumarasarnbhava, IV. 283 ayi saMprati dehi darzanaM smara paryutsuka eSa maadhvH| dayitAsvanavasthitaM nRNAM na khalu prema calaM suhajjane // 62 Cf. Raghuvamsa, VIII. 67. Aja says, mourning about Indumati : gRhiNI sacivaH sakhI mithaH priyaziSyA lalite klaavidhau| karuNAvimukhena mRtyunA haratA tvAM vada kiM na me hRtam / / 63_Uttara-megha, v. 55 ; 'mA bhUdevaM kSaNamapi ca te vidyutA viprayogaH / ' 64_cf. Sakuntala, IV. 9c; 'Aye vaH kusumaprasUtisamaye yasyA bhavatyutsavaH / '

Page #143
130 65 Cf. Vikramorvasiya, II. 7; apre zrInakha pATalaM kurabarka zyAmaM dvayorbhAgayor bAlAzokamupoDharAgasubhagaM bhedonmukhaM tiSThati / ISadvaddharajaHkaNAdhakapizA cUte navA mArI mugdhatvasya ca yauvanasya ca sa madhye madhuzrIH sthitA || 66 Cf. Malavikagnimitra, III. 5 ; 67 Cf. Vikramorvasiya, II. 4; Appointment With Kalidasa raktAzokaruvA vizeSitaguNo bimbAdharAlataka pratyAkhyAtavizeSakaM kuravakaM zyAmAvadAtAruNam / AkAnsA tilakakiyAspi tilakemadvirephA sAvajJeva mukhaprasAdhanavidhau zrIrmAdhavI yoSitAm // niSiJcan mAdhavImetAM latAM kaundIM ca lAsayan / snehadAkSiNyayoryogAt kAmova pratibhAti me // And II. 20cd. : jAnIte.... kAmArtaM janam, aJjanAM prati bhavAn AlakSita prArthanaH / 68 Cf. Sakuntala V1. 174 'bage kRSNamRgasya vAmanayanaM kaNDUyamAnAM mRgIm / ' 69 Kumarasambhava, III. 36b : zRGgeNa sparzanimIlitAkSIM mRgImakaNDUyata kRSNasAraH / 70 Told 111. 36a madhu dvirephaH kusumaikapAtre papau priyAM svAmanuvartamAnaH / The bee seems to know the posh etiquette, 'Ladies first' ! 71 Sakuntala, VI. 19 : eSA kusumaniSaNNA tRSitApi satI bhavantamanuraktA / pratipAlayati madhukarI na khalu madhu vinA tvayA pibati // 72 Cf. Raghuvamsa, V11. 31-69. 73 Cf. Mammata, Kavyaprakasa, IV. 35; ratirdevAdiviSayA vyabhicArI tathAJjitaH / bhAvaH proktaH ... / Visvanatha, Sahityadurpage 111 260b-261a saJcAriNaH pradhAnAni devAdiviSayA ratiH // udbuddha mAtraH sthAyI ca bhAva ityabhidhIyate / 74 cf. Raghuvansa, III. 24 : rAnAmnariva bhAvayandhanaM babhUva yatprema parasparAzrayam / vibhaktamapyekasutena tattayoH parasparasyopari paryacIyata // 75 'dharmAviruddho bhUteSu kAmo'smi bharatarSabha / ' Gita, VII. 11; 'prajanazcAsmi kandarpa', Gula X.28. Note: For the convenience of the general reader, titles of works are cited in full, without using abbreviations. Prakrit passages and verses from the plays are quoted in Sanskrit translation. // Sivam astu Kalyanam astu //

Page #144
Abhijhana 37 Abhinanda 2 Abhinavagupta 83 Abninava-madhu-lolupa 114 Abhisarika 95 Agasti/Agastya 26, 48 Aghoraghanta 58 Agnimitra 1, 6, 9, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 51, 53, 64, 67, 70, 72, 96, 103, 104, 107 108, 109, 111, 112, 114, 122 Agnivarna 1, 27, 77 Aihole Inscription I Airavata 18 Aja 7, 22, 23, 24, 51, 69, 117, 120, 121, 122, 124, 129 Alaka 13, 14, 54, 62, 123 Alexander 5 Amaravati 7 Amatya-parisad 72 Anandavardhana 83, 93, 94 Anasaya 36, 37, 50, 56, 60, 121, 127 Anjana 123 Arthasastra 26, 47, 72, 74, 89 Arundhati 18 Arya,aptasati 125 Asiksita-patutvo 110 Asrama-dharma 76 Asti kascit vagvisesah 43 Asvaghosa 5, 9, 65 Asvamedha 25, 31, 67 Atithi 26 Atreyi 48 Aucitya (art-propriety) 94 Aufrecht 8, 11 INDEX Ausinari 33, 103, 108, 112 Ayanagar, Krishnaswami 8 Ayodhya 7, 25, 26, 54 Ayus 35, 120 Bactria (Balhika) 3 Bakulavalika 29, 30, 51, 121 Bana 1, 4, 40, 41, 49, 62 Barhut (sculpture) 6, 7 Belwalkar 126 Bhagiratha 21 Bhakti 124 Bhana 107 Bharatamuni 25, 26, 33, 84, 85 Bharata-natya-manjari 91 Bharatavak ya 67, 69 Bharavi 1 Bharthari 93 Bhasa 40, 41, 50, 80, 105 Bhau Daji 2 Bhavabhuti 1, 40, 41, 46, 48, 51, 58, 60 66, 79, 118, 128, 129 (book 90) Bhavani 58 Bhita (medal) 6. Bhoja (of Dhara) 1, 4, 46; (of Krathakaisika) 22 Bhojaprabandha 1, 43 Bhutesara Yaksi 7 Brahma 16, 18, 67 Brahman 68, 119 Brahmanism 75 Buddha (Buddhist Religion) 65, 67, 75; (Buddhist Republic) 71 Buddhacarita 65 Buhler 4 Caksuta kratu 84 Camunda 58 Candraketu 58 Candrapida 73 Carlyle 48

Page #145
132 Carudatta 49, 53 Chalita (dance) 28 Citrabandha 84 Citralekha 32, 33, 121, 128 Citraratha 32 Courtesan 44, 48, 49 Cupid 110 Cyavana 35 Daksayani 77 Dandaka 25, 117 Darika 113 Appointment With Kalidasa Dasaratha 24, 25, 58, 77, 105, 106, 117, 120, 122 Dhanamitra 38, 71, 72, 77, 105, 116 Dharini 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 82, 91, 103, 107, 109, 112, 120 Dhvarmasastra 72, 77, 86 Dhvani 93 Divanyaloka 83, 91, 126 Dilipa 20, 21, 40, 55, 67, 74, 77, 116, 120, 121 Dohada 28, 29 Driya-kavya 85 Durvasas 36, 37, 97, 101, 102, 126, 127 96 Dusyanta 6, 36, 37, 38, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 83, 87, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 114, 115 116, 117, 118, 120, 122, 126, 127, 128 Dutt, Rameshchandra 2 Ekotarasati 10 Elizabethan England 105 Fauche 1 Fine Arts 51 Gajendragadkar 90, 126 Ganadasa 28, 80, 82, 84 Gandhamadana-vana 34, 113 Gandharva (marriage) 36, 37, 111 Ganga (Ganges) 21, 24, 34 Gardabhilla 5 Garuda 26 Gauri 34 Gautama (Vidusaka) 28, 29, 30, 31, 57, 62, 107, 111, 121 Gautami 38 Girnar (inscription) 3 Gita 64, 68, 69, 75, 88, 89, 90, 125 126, 130 Gita-govinda 60 Goethe 39, 119 Gosthi 49 Govardhanacarya 125 Gupta Age 3, 4; Kings 64; Period 2, 6; Candragupta 3, 4, 5; Kumaragupta 3; Samudragupta 3; Skandagupta 3 Guru-daksina 80, 82 Gurukula 48, 50, 51, 79, 100 Hamsapadika 37, 53, 61, 69, 83, 97, 103 112, 114, 115, 116, 117 Hanumat 25 Haradatta 28, 80 Harsacarita 8, 49, 60 Harsavardhana (Sri Harsa) 1, 32, 70 Hemak uta (mountain) 32, 38, 69, 87, 97 Himalaya (Himavat) 16, 18, 19, 20, 50 58, 59 Hinduism 67 Hindu religion 69 Huen-Tsang 2 Hun(s) 2, 3 Indra 6, 13, 20, 21, 24, 26, 32, 33, 35 38, 47, 72, 87, 112, 118 Indumati 22, 23, 24, 51, 69, 117, 121, 122, 124 Iravati 28, 29, 30, 80, 103, 107. 112 Jain (religion) 65 Janakiharana (epic) 44 Jayadeva dramatist 40, 51, poet 41 Jones, William 2 Jyotirvidabharana 2, 8, 60

Page #146
Index 133 Kadambari 62 Kaikeyi 25, 58 Kailasa (mountain) 13, 14, 52, 124 Kali 43, 45, 48 Kalidasa (book by Karmarkar) 9; (by Mirashi) 8,9 Kalidasa (dramatist, poet): art : 15, 40, 41, 52, 54, 66, 83, 84, 85, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102 103, 104, 106, 118, 119, 126; Bana's tribute : 1 beauty, sense of : 52, 54, 55, 87, 106; connections : with Asvaghosa 5; Candragupta II 4; courtesans 49; Matrgupta 2; with royalty 46, 47, 48, 70, 74; date (and times) : 1-9, 64, 65; dramas, dramatic skill etc. : 31, 32, 35, 37, 39, 85; descriptions : 58; heroes : 54, 71, 107, 108, 109, 110, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118; humour (Vidusakas) : 56, 57; life's philosophy 19, 44, 59, 66, 76, 86, 87, 124; love (treatment of) 18, 19, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 110, 111, 112, 113, 118, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125; nature (treatment of) 16, 54, 55, 58, 59, 66; personal, personality 18, 42, 43, 44 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 54, 55, 57, 59, 66, 70, 74; polygamy 105, 108; popularity etc. 1, 6, 7, 11, 18, 40, 41; religion 67, 68, 69; royalty (attitude to) 47, 70, 73, 74; social philosophy 75, 76, 77, 78, 107 values (dramatic, moral etc.) 73, 74 85, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113; works 1, 11, 12, 18, 20, 25, 27, 31, 35, 37, 51, 52; women 50, 79, 103 Kalpa (valli) 6, 7. 14, 20 Kama (Madana) 16, 17, 19, 54, 125; (purusartha) 78 Kamasutra 4, 48, 49 Kandarpa 125 Kane, MM Dr. 60 Kanva 4, 9, 36, 37, 48, 50, 52, 58, 73, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 108, 109, 112, 116, 120, 126, 127 (Tata Kasyapa 99) Karabhaka 128 Karmakanda 66 Karmarkar 5, 7, 9, Kartikeya 122 Kashmir 2 Kasi (Varanasi, Benaras) 42, 43, 50 Kautilya 71, 72, 73, 74 Kautsa 22, 71, 80, 125 Kavyaprakasa 60, 87, 91, 130 Keilhorn 4 Keith 2, 4 Keshavasuta (Marathi poet) 62 Kingship 71, 72 Kubera 13, 14, 22, 26, 32, 67, 71, 77 Kumara 93 Kumaradasa 44 Kumara-Kartikeya 15, 18, 34 Kumara-sambhava 3, 11, 15, 19, 44, 54, 57, 58, 62, 67, 68, 87, 88, 93, 94, 96, 97, 121, 129, Kumbhodara 21 Kuntalesvara-dautya (poem) 4 Kusa 25, 26, 48 Kushan (art) 7 Laksmana 25, 26, 78 Laksmi 21

Page #147
131 Appointment With Kalidasa Loksmisvayamvara (play) 33 Lalitavistara 3 Lanka 7, 25, 44, 54 Lassen 2 Lasya 68, 84 Lava 25, 26, 48, 58 Lawrence, D. H. 45 Love marriage (Gandharva, Svayam vara) 78 Lucy Poems 41 Madana 103, 121, 122 Madhavya (Vidusaka) 108 Magadba 71, 80 Mahabharata 3, 35, 48, 64, 72 Mahakala (temple) 58, 67 Mabendraditya 5 Mujumdar, R. C. 8 Malatimadhava 61, 63, 90 Malavagana 5 Malavika 28, 29, 30, 31, 53, 80, 82, 107, 109, 111, 121, 122 Malavikagnimitra 1, 6, 4, 11, 27, 32, 51, 60, 61, 62, 68, 80, 84, 85, 88, 90, 91, 128, 130 Malini (river) 59, 96 Mallinatha 12, 18 Mammata 40, 50, 66, 91, 130 Manavaka (Vid usaka) 57 Mandakini (river) 113 Mandasor (inscription) 4, 5, 9 Maajharmya palace 108 Marica (sage) 38, 69, 77, 87, 97, 109, 120, 127, (also, Kasyapa) Matali 38, 74, 87, 127 Matarga (nokra, Thamrga) 7; (sage) 22, Matsgupta 2 Meghaduta 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 44, 47, 50, 52, 54, 57, 61, 62, 63, 67, 87, 90, 95, 96, 122, 129 Mena 16 Menaka 38, 120 Merutunga (Jain writer) 5 Mihirakula 2 Milton 46 Mirashi 2, 5, 6, 8 Moksa 69, 76, 77, 86, 119 Mrcchakatika 62 Naga(s) 26 Nagarjunakonda (sculpture) 7 Nandargikar 5,9 Nandi 16, 67, 68 Nandini (daughter of Kamadhenu) 20, 21, 40, 77 Narada 24, 35 Narayana (sage) 106 Natya 84, 85 Natyasastra 84 Padmavati 80 Pancavati 66 Panini 6 Para-kalatra 112 Parivrajika (Pandita-Kausiki) 28 30, 31, 81, 85 Parvati 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 57, 67 68, 83, 84, 93, 94, 95, 121 Patanjali 6 Pathak 2, 3 Peshwas (in Maharastra) 105 Poetic justice 107, 110, 117 Polygamy 105, 112 Prabandha 85 Prabhavatigupta 4, 6 Prahasana 107 Prajapati 16, 67 Prakrti-purusa 13, 47. 124 Pramadavana 29, 30, 31 Prasannaraghava 51, 60, 61 Pratibha (sakti) 94 Pratibari 112 Pratistha 110, 116 Pravarasena II (Vakataka) 4, Matt Enduta 50, 52,

Page #148
Index 135 Priyamvada 22, 36, 37, 56, 121, 126, 127 Priyaprasadana (vrata) 33 Puranas 48, 50, 64 Pururavas 8, 32, 33, 34, 35, 49, 53, 54, 55, 57, 77, 96, 104, 106, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 120, 122, 123, 127 Purusartha 69, 77, 78, 119 Purusottama 33 Puspaka (aerial car) 25, 54 Pusyamitre 31, 67 Putra-kamesti 77 Putra-pinda-palana (vrata) 36, 77, 128 Raghu 3, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 54, 58, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 80, 95, 120, 122 : family 116; kings 1, 67, 112 Raghuvamsa 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19, 27, 40, 44, 46, 48, 54, 58, 60, 61, 62, 66, 67, 68, 69, 83, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95, 122, 126, 128, 129, 130 Raja, Kunhan 2 Rajamuni 73 Rajasekhara 1, 32, 40, 60, 125 Rama 7, 25, 26, 66, 67, 68, 78, 95, 103, 104, 105, 117, 118, 120, 121 Ramacarita (poem) 2 Ramagiri 13, 15, 54 Ramakatha 83 Ramayana 7, 25, 48, 64 Rasa (theory) 94 Rasa-dhvani 83 Rati (sthayibhava) 16, 17, 19, 94, 96, 124 Rati (Madana's wife) 103, 121, 122 Ravana 25, 68 Ravikirti 1 Ray, Sharadaranjan 5, 6, 9, 87 Rrusarhara 11, 12, 54, 55, 62, 92 Rudrasena (Vakataka) 4, 6 Sahajanya 113 Sahityadarpana 60, 87, 130 Samasyapurti 49 Samkhya (philosophy) 47 Sammohana (missile) 124 Samudragpha 29, 30, 31 Samvat (era) 5 Sangamaniya-mani 34 Sanskrit Drama (book) 91, 103 Sanskrit Literature 103 Sanumati 38, 117 Sarasvati (Goddess of Learning) 33 (river) 21 Sarvadamana 38, 50, 57, 77, 120 Saundarananda 9, 65 Shaw, Bernard 45 Senapati (Dusyanta's) 70 Setubandha (also, Ravanavaho) 4 Shakespeare 55, 91, 103, 105 Shastri, Haraprasad 2 Sindhu 3, 22, 26 Sita 7, 25, 78, 103, 117, 118, 121, 122 Sivaramamurthy. C. 6, 7, 9 Smrti (works) 76, 77, 86 Snataka 79, 80 Somatirtha 36, 102 Subhasitaratnabhandara 50 Sudaksina 20, 21, 77, 120, 121 Sudarsana 26 Sugriva 25 Suktimuktavali 8, 125 Sumati 31 Sumitra 25 Sunanda 23 Surabhi 20 Sutiksna 78 Sutra (works) 65 Svapnavasavadatta 50, 60, 80, 90 Svayamvara 110, 124 Saci-tirtha 38 Sakarati (Sakari) 2, 4, 5 Sakuntala 7, 36, 37, 38, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 70, 76, 77, 78, 96. 97, 98 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 106, 107,

Page #149
136 Appointment with Kalidasa Udayana, Vatsaraja 6, 14, 50, 51, 126 Udayavati 113 Ujjayini 4, 5, 14, 50 67 Uma 68, 84, 96, 98, 103, 120, 122, 124 Unity (one Gods: 103, 120, 122, 124 79, 85, 87, 88 20 108, 109, 110, 112, 114, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 122, 123, 126, 127 Sakuntala-upakhyana 35 Sakuntala 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 35, 39, 54, 55, 56, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 75, 76, 79, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 97, 101, 105, 110, 119, 126, 127, 128, 129 Sambuka (Sudra) 65. Sankaracarya 65 Saradvata 76, 78 Sarayu 26 Sarmistha 28 Sarngarava 78, 125 Sarvilaka 49 Satakarni 78 Satakas (Niti, Srngara, Vairagya) 93 Satavahana (period) 7 Satrughna 25, 26 Siladitya (of Valabhi) 2 Siva 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 39, 53, 57, 58, 67, 68, 83, 84, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 103, 124 Sravana 25 Sri Kisna 125 Srngara 50, 92, 93, 94 Srngaraprakasa 4, 8 Srotriya 67 Sudraka 40, 49 Sukanasa 73 Sunga (dynasty) 1; (kings) 5; (period) 6, 7; 64, 67 Svetasvatara (Upanisad) 67 Tadaka 25, 95 Tagore, Rabindranath 7, 10, 106, 126 Taittiriya Upanisad 90 Tandava (dance) 58, 68, 84 Tapasa-kanya 108 Taraka 15, 16, 18 Tolstoy, Leo 45 Trinity 67, 68 Uduyana (plays) 70, 80 Unlimited Monarchy 72 Upadhyaya, Baladeva 9 Upanisads 64, 66, 68, 82 Urvasi 32, 33, 34, 35, 49, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 106, 108, 109, 113, 117, 120, 121, 122, 127, 128, 129 Uttararamacarita 58, 60, 62, 63, 66, 87, 128, 129 Vaidya, C. V. 2 Vaikhanasa (ascetic) 127, (Smsti) 6; (vrata) 6, 99 Vakataka (kings) 64 Valmiki 11, 25, 48, 58, 83, 104 Vamana 9 Vanajyotsna 56, 120, 123 Vanksu (Oxus) 3 Varahamihira 2 Vararuci 42 Varnas (four) 108 Varoru 106 Vasanta 16, 121 Vasantasena 49, 53 Vasavadatta 51, 126 Vasistha 20, 24, 58, 69, 74, 77, 117 Vasulaksmi 28, 30 Vasumati 112, 114, 115, 117 Vasumitra 31 Vatsabhatti 4, 5, 9 Vatsyayana 4, 49 Vedanta 95, 96, 101, 119 Vedas 64 Vedic : gods 67; literature 65; religion 66; tradition 65 Vernal beauty 123 Vidarbha (kings) 72; (prince) 111 Vidusaka 33, 36, 37, 56, 57, 70, 77, 80, 106, 108, 109, 111, 114, 116, 121, 126

Page #150
Vidyadhara (darika) 113, 115, 120 Vikrama 3, 32, 35 Vikramaditya 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 46 Vikrama Sarhvat 2 Vikramorvatiya 3, 5, 8, 11, 32, 52, 61, 62, 68, 106, 108, 113, 115, 127, 128, 129, 130 Vipralambha (ringara) 15, 50 Vira-rasa 95 Visnu 16, 25, 33, 67, 68 Visvajit (sacrifice) 22, 67 Visvamitra 25, 36 Index Visvanatha 60, 87, 130 Vyangya-artha 110 Vyanjana 99, 100 Vyasa 72, 104 Wordsworth 41 137 Yaksa 13, 14, 15, 47, 50, 54, 55, 77, 78, 96, 103, 122, 123 Yaksapata 7, 14, 54 Yama 95 Yamuna 26, 34 Yassodharman 2 Yoga 68, 69

Page #151
30% Page 1 1 3 2222233333 8 10 18 25 25 27 27 29 29 30 30 31 34 34 35 35 35 37 37 38 38 40 40 40 Line 6 21 8 7 15 22 10 5 20 13 last 24 27 3 10 13 and 26 14 26 2 11 17 16 33 20 26 6 7 8 34 5 11 20 30 10 22 26 CORRECTIONS For Cions together, Balbika Quated Culture construction lost is brial Reghu uachallenged Eerth good veriety blossmed while Gautma favourabla royl low-lavel davelopment rescal responese took name offectively my be however: brid on it, harmany pratistha arrived fisherman come imortal praver admiress Read Coins together; Balhika Quoted Culture constructions lost in bridal Raghu unchallenged Earth god variety blossomed While Gautama favourable royal low-level development rascal response took the name effectively may be however, bird on it; harmony pratistha arrives a fisherman comes immortal prayer admires

Page #152
Corrections 139 quality-the mole-bill which quality the mole-hill-which varification gosthis different Sukuntala Ram picture Pururava's of situation His the Majesty me calling dear verification gosthis a different Sakuntala Rama pictures Pururavas of a situation His Majesty me, calling deer (from bottom) 20 32 last 21 19 24 74 (from bottom)5 Page Heading 81 19 (from bottom) 11 82 (from bottom) 4 83 Page Heading 84 (from bottom) 10 87 87 88 Page Heading 88 Note 29 92 10 4 (Sanskrit quotation) 10 (from bottom/ Sanskrit quotation) 15 zabhapradhAneSu cent Kalidasa valldity lilerature for him, by way taxes ruled Appointmet self confidence Gandasa also my Thaught Gandasa (footnote no.)79 world or heaven Appointmet manovamanaH raligious lurk visa ya zamapradhAneSu cent., Kalidasa validity literature for him; by way of taxes ruled Appointment self-confidence Ganadasa also may Thought Ganadasa 97 world of heaven Appointment manorvartmanaH religious lurks visaya 15 23 93 visayena visaye na V describisng pleasureseek - yogis describing pleasure-seekyogins 6 (from bottom)

Page #153
140 Appointment With Kalidasa 102 103 164 106 108 108 108 109 109 109 110 111 113 114 couple is the only (Vaikhanasa to his lips dusty composition dramas ? clown-companion Vid usaka is seeking a form terminated State Rulers casual rest 9 (from bottom) 9 (from bottom) 6 (from bottom) 5 (from bottom) 21 deep 4 (from bottom) 114 2 (from bottom) 3 (from bottom) conple is only (Vaikhanass to lips dusy compositioa dramas. clowncompanion Viduska is a form terminate state Rulers causal rests peep feeling woman examined prefered word of Vid usaka' revels Pururayasa ont asram pray Hamsapadika (8) what and a Dasartha testimoney paly times, challange Dasartaha (Personified devine Belevalkar 2941T Funtar statemnent feelings women examined it preferred words of Vidu saka, reveals Pururavas 115 116 116 116 116 116 116 116 117 117 117 117 117 117 out 7 (from bottom) 9 (from bottom) 6 (frou bottom) 10 (from bottom) 21 119 asrama prey Harsapadika (8) What and not a Dasaratha testimony play times; challenge Dasaratha (personified divine Belwalker navamAlikAkusumapelavA statement 121 122 19 123 124 126 126 13 (from bottom) 10 (from bottom) 17 4 (from bottom) 23 127

Page #154