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Supreme Theme : Srngåra or Love
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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 Kālidāsa's heroes. We also know that it is a supreme moral value which Bhārata cherishes,
The Vikramorvašīya has a similar interesting situation. Urvaśī and Purūravas have gone to the Gandhamādana-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 Purüravas 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 Kālidāsa intended to suggest through his picture. And the answer is in the negative if one were prepared to read Kālidāsa's phrases and literary presentation carefully and think of their meaning and suggestive sense. Kālidāsa calls this girl Udayavati a Vidyadhara-dārikā. Därikā means, of course, a daughter; but it also denotes a small girl. Had Kālidāsa 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 Vidyādhara-yuvati. The suggestion is thus of a small girl; and this is further confirmed by the detail that she was playing on the bank Mandākini building a ‘hill of sand' (sikatā-parvata); this is not a sport in which married or marriage-worthy girls indulge; it is the sport of children, Purüravas' 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 üravas 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 Sahajanyā says, Urvası 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 Kālidāsa 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
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