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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 Vidüşaka' '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 Viduşaka, 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 Duşyanta. Dugyanta has no child. It is a recurring motif in Kalidasa's writing; king Dilipa and Dasaratha in the Raghu family, Purüravsa 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 Kaṇva's ašram 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 Duşyanta. Duşyanta'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 Hamsapadikā certainly held out a promise; that is why, Dusyanta was very much in love with her at one time; but unfortunately Hamsapadikä remained only at
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