Appointment with Kalidasa

Author(s): G K Bhatt
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 39

Appointment with Kalidasa
to Rāma. He had put his brothers in charge of different parts of his kingdom. He now ended his life in the river Sarayü. Many citizens followed suit, such was their love for their king.
Śatrughna had dealt with the brood of Lavaņa demons on the bank of Yamunā; his sons Satrughāti and Subāhu were now given the charge of Mathurā and Vidiśā, the newly founded Kingdoms on the Yamunā. Bharata had put down the rebellion of the Gandharvas in the Sindhu region and installed his sons Taksa and Puşkala to administer the kingdom of Takşaśilā and Puşkalāvati. Laksmana's sons, Angada and Candraketu, were ruling over Kārāpatha. Rāma had himself given the kingdom of Śarāvati to Lava and of Kuśāvati to Kuśa. After the decease of Rāma Kusa as the eldest son became the chief ruler. But as he prefered to live in Kuśāvatī, the city of Ayodhyā had a faded and dumb look. One night Kuśa had a vision. He was awake in his bed. Suddenly his bedchamber was flooded with brilliant light. A woman dressed like a virahiņi stood before Kusa with folded hands. She was the presiding deity of Ayodhyā. She described the desolate condition of the city and urged him to go back to Ayodhyā to restore her to her former glory. Kusa accepted the plea He returned to Ayodhyā and rebuilt the city. He asked some Brahmins to look after the kingdom of Kuśāvati and conducted his owo state affairs from Ayodhyā.
Once as he was enjoying the water sport on the Sarayü, his bracelet fell in the river. It was given to Rāma by the sage Agastya, and Rāma had given it to his son. Kuśa 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 Nāgas came up from the waters, returned the bracelet to Kuša, 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 Arthaśāstra 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