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Supreme Theme : Srngåra or Love
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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 conținuously with careful touches; and when He was convinced that it could not be further perfected, then he must have breathed life into the picture; Sakuntalā 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 Kālidāsa 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) Kālidāsa 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. Kālidāsa 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 bhāna, 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 Mālavikā the colour of a passing romantic escapade. What queen Dhāriņi and Irāvatī 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
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