Sambodhi 2006 Vol 30

Author(s): J B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 98

92
SUSHMA KULSHRESHTHA & ABHA KULSHRESHTHA
SAMBODHI
स्वरेण तस्याममृतस्रुतेव प्रजल्पितायामभिजातवाचि ।
अप्यन्यपुष्टा प्रतिकूलशब्दा श्रोतुर्वितन्त्रीरिव ताड्यमाना ॥२ In this verse alone, Kālidāsa has degrade the voice of the female cuckoo and that too to bring forth the fine qualities of the voice of Pārvatī, viz., the softness, the sweetness, the delicacy etc., as the commentator Nārāyaṇa clarifies :
अत्रामृतस्रतेवेत्युत्प्रेक्षा माधुर्यसौकुमार्यादिगुणैः परभृताविरुताद्देवीसञ्जल्पितस्य
व्यतिरेकं द्योतयति ।३३ For a detailed critical appreciation of this verse, the titles namely ‘Madhurakanthi Parvati' and 'Sutantrī evaņ vitantrī vīnā' of my book entitled Kālidāsa-sāhitya evaṁ Sangīta-kalā' may be referred to.34
Sakuntalā, the foster daughter of Maharsi Kanva, was highly attached to the creepers and trees, animals and birds of the hermitage. When she is leaving for her husband's house, Sārngarava, a disciple of Kanva, addresses the hermitagetrees seeking their permission for her departure. At that very moment he listens to the voice of a cuckoo which in a way suggests that the permission in granted :
अनुमतगमना शकुन्तला तरुभिरियं वनवासबन्धुभिः ।
परभृतविरुतं कलं यथा प्रतिवचनीकृतमेभिरीदृशम् ॥५ Here the sound produced by the cuckoo has been treated as the benedictiory words uttered by close relatives at the time of departure. It also reveals that the cuckoo-cooing was considered auspicious in Kālidāsa's time too.
The sipping of juice of the fresh sprouts, especially mango-blossoms, renders sweetness to the cuckoo-cooing. This fact is brought to light in Raghuvamsa :
कुसुमजन्म ततो नवपल्लवास्तदनु षट्पदकोकिलकूजितम् ।
इति यथाक्रममाविरभून्मधुर्दुमवतीमवतीर्य वनस्थलीम् ॥२६ There was first the blowing (birth) of flowers, then there were sprouts of fresh leaves; then there were heard the humming of bees and the notes of the cuckoos. In this order did Madhu, the vernal season, who descended incarnate to the forest ground that was abounding in trees exhibit himself. Here Kālidāsa wishes to say that the black-bees love to sip the fresh juice of the flowers blossoming in spring season and the cuckoos love to sip the fresh juice of the