Kalidasa

Nothing much is known about the date and place of birth of Kalidasa. One hears so many stories about him, but all of them lack authenticity. It is said that Kalidasa was born on Ist century B.C. He was best known for his beauty and innocence. He was a member of ‘Navaratna’ or ‘nine gems’ in the court of Vikramaditya. A local princess Vidyotama, who vowed to marry only a man who defeated her in debate, outwitted all the scholars in the kingdom. These insulted scholars managed to present the dim-witted Kalidasa as a learned man and even got her married to him. But when the truth was discovered she was ashamed of his uneducated ignorance and coarseness. Kalidasa left his home in pursuit of knowledge and to become worthy of his intellectual wife. He beacame a devoted worshipper of the goddess Kali, and was rewarded by Her with a sudden and extraordinary gift of wit and wealth.

No doubt, Kalidasa was an extraordinary genius of the age of classical Sanskrit. The sweetness and beauty of his language, the novelty in his style are unprecedented. His way of using similes is marvellous and unique. According to Sri Aurobindo “the speech of Kalidasa is an accomplished art, an intellectual and aesthetic creation consummate, deliberate, finely ornate, carved like a statue, coloured like a painting, nor yet artificial, though there is a masterly artifice and device, but still a careful work of art laboured by the intelligence.”(Sri Aurobindo: ‘The Foundations of Indian Culture’, SABCL, Vol. 14., p. 294 )

Though many literary works are attributed to the name of Kalidasa, his major works are seven in number. They are: the three dramas – Abhjnanashakuntalam, Malavikagnimitram and Vikramorvashiyam; the two epics– Kumarasambhavam and Raghuvamsham; the two lyric poems Ritusamharam and Meghadutam.

All his works bear the testimony of Kalidasa being a poet of the people. He wrote about the people and for the people. Kalidasa was the poet of sensuous beauty and emotion. He has dealt with all human emotions in a very delicate way.

According to Sri Aurobindo, “Kalidasa’s… poems, each in its own way and within its limits and on its level a masterpiece, are a brilliant and delicately ornate roll of pictures and inscriptions with that as their single real subject.”(Sri Aurobindo: ‘The Foundations of Indian Culture’, SABCL Vol. 14, pp. 299-300) Sri Aurobindo continues to pay his great respect to Kalidasa when he says: “His was a richly stored mind, the mind at once of a scholar and observer possessed of all learning of his time, versed in the politics, law, social idea, system and detail, religion, mythology, philosophy, art of his time, intimate with the life of courts and familiar with the life of the people, widely and very minutely observant of the life of Nature, of bird and beast, season and tree and flower, all the lore of the mind and the lore of the eye; and this mind was at the same time always that of a great poet and artist.”

Just by reading a translation of Abhijnanashakuntalam and Meghadutam, the German poet Goethe was led to exclaim:

Kalidasa is truly known as Kavikulaguru (Preceptor of All Poets).

या सृष्टिः स्रष्टुराद्या वहति विधिहुतं या हविर्या च होत्री
ये द्वे कालं विधत्तः श्रुतिविषयगुणा या स्थिता व्याप्य विश्वम्।
यां आहुः सर्वबीजप्रकृतिरिति यया प्राणिनः प्राणवन्तः
प्रत्यक्षाभिः प्रपन्नस्तनुभिरवतु वस्ताभिरष्टाभिरीशः।।१।।
EIGHT forms has Shiva, lord of all and king:
And these are water, first created thing;
And fire, which speeds the sacrifice begun;
The priest; and time's dividers, moon and sun;
The all-embracing ether, path of sound;
The earth, wherein all seeds of life are found;
And air, the breath of life: may he draw near,
Revealed in these, and bless those gathered here.

यास्यत्यद्य शकुन्तलेति हृदयं संस्पृष्टमुत्कण्ठया
कण्ठः स्तम्भितवाष्पवृत्तिकलुषश्चिन्ताजडं दर्शनम्।
वैक्ल्व्यं मम तावदीदृशमिदं स्नेहादरण्यौकसः
पीड्यन्ते गृहिणः कथं नु तनयाविश्लेषदुःखैर्नवैः।।६।।
Shakuntala must go to-day;
I miss her now at heart;
I dare not speak a loving word
Or choking tears will start.

My eyes are dim with anxious thought; Love strikes me to the life:
And yet I strove for pious peace--
I have no child, no wife.
What must a father feel, when come The pangs of parting from his child at home?

पातुं न प्रथमं व्यवस्यति जलं युष्मास्वपीतेषु या
नादत्ते प्रियमण्डनापि भवतां स्नेहेन या पल्लवम्।
आद्ये वः कुसुमप्रसूतिसमये यस्या भवत्युत्सवः
सेयं याति शकुंतला पतिगृहं सर्वैरनुज्ञायताम्।।९।।

She would not drink till she had wet
Your roots, a sister's duty,
Nor pluck your flowers; she loves you yet
Far more than selfish beauty.

’Twas festival in her pure life
When budding blossoms showed;
And now she leaves you as a wife--
Oh, speed her on her road!

शुश्रूषस्व गुरून्कुरु प्रियसखीवृत्तिं सपत्नीजने
भर्तृर्विप्रकृतापि रोषणतया मा स्म प्रतीपं गमः।
भूयिष्ठं भव दक्षिणा परिजने भाग्येष्वनुत्सेकिनी
यान्त्येवं गृहिणीपदं युवतयो वामाः कुलस्याधयः।।१८।।
Obey your elders; and be very kind
To rivals; never be perversely blind
And angry with your husband, even though he
Should prove less faithful than a man might be;
Be as courteous to servants as you may,
Not puffed with pride in this your happy day:
Thus does a maiden grow into a wife;
But self-willed women are the curse of life.

अर्थो हि कन्या परकीय एव तामद्य संप्रेष्य परिग्रहीतुः।
जातो ममायं विशदः प्रकामं प्रत्यर्पितन्यास इवान्तरात्मा।।२२।।

A girl is held in trust, another's treasure;
To arms of love my child to-day is given;
And now I feel a calm and sacred pleasure;
I have restored the pledge that came from heaven.