Kālidāsa

Kālidās (Devanāgarī: कालिदास), was the author of Meghadoot, Shākuntal, and other works in Sanskrit. He has a similar place in Sanskrit as a poet and a dramatist, as Shakespeare in English.^[1]

Kālidās's plays and poetry are based on Hindu mythology and philosophy.

File:Kalidas smarak.jpg

The Kalidas Smarak at Ramtek

Life

There is very little that one knows about the life of Kālidās pretty sure. It is not clear where he lived and the time range when he might have lived lasts from 130 BC to 600 CE.

Kālidās did not mention in his works any king as his patron.^[2]

Works

Plays

Kālidās wrote three plays: Mālawikāgnimitra ("Mālavikā and Agnimitra"), Abhijñānashākuntala ("The Recognition of Shakuntala"), and Vikramorwasheeya ("Pertaining to Vikram and Urwashi"). Abhijñānashākuntala, that is regarded as a masterpiece was the first to be translated into English and German.

Mālawikāgnimitra tells the story of King Agnimitra, who falls in love with the picture of an exiled servant girl named Mālavikā. When the queen discovers her husband's passion for a servant girl, she becomes very angry and orders that this girl is sent to prison; but it turns out that the girl is a princess, therefore the affair is accepted in the end.

Abhijñānashākuntala tells the story of a king, Dushyanta, who meets in the forests Shakuntalā, the adopted daughter of a wise man who lives with him in a cottage in the forests. Dushyanta and Shakuntalā fall in love with each other and get married. Dushyanta stays with Shakuntalā in the forests for while until he gets called back to his court for some pressing matter. After many difficulties there follows a happy end.

Vikramōrwasheeya is more mystical than the above two plays.

Poetry

Kālidās wrote two very good epic poems, Raghuvamsha ("Dynasty of Raghu") and Kumārasambhawa ("Birth of Kumar Kartikeya"), and the lyrical Meghadoota ("Cloud Messenger") and Rutusamhāra ("The Exposition on the Seasons").

Some historians credit Kālidās with a few other works, including the following; however, scholars commonly believe that they were the creations of some other authors writing under the name Kālidās:

ShrungaraTilaka
ShrungaraRasāshta
SetuKāwya
KarpuraManjari
PushpabānaWilāsa
ShyāmalaDandaka
PrashnottaraMālā
JyotirWiddyābharana

Notes

↑ There have been a few other authors in Sanskrit of lesser statures having the same name, Kālidās; the authors of Nalodaya and Shrutibodha were two among them.
↑ But some historians think he was a poet-dramatist at the court of a king named Vikramāditya. There were, however, several kings in ancient India who had assumed the name Vikramāditya. One among them was the famous Chandragupta II Vikramāditya of the Gupta dynasty, who had assumed the throne of Magadh around 378 CE.

Other websites

Kalidasa: Translations of Shakuntala and Other Works by Arthur W. Ryder
Biography of Kalidasa
Kalidasa and Ancient India
Works by Kalidasa at Project Gutenberg
Clay Sanskrit Library publishes classical Indian literature, including the works of Kalidasa with Sanskrit facing-page text and translation. Also offers searchable corpus and downloadable materials.
Kalidasa at The Online Library of Liberty

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[1] There have been a few other authors in Sanskrit of lesser statures having the same name, Kālidās; the authors of Nalodaya and Shrutibodha were two among them.

[2] But some historians think he was a poet-dramatist at the court of a king named Vikramāditya. There were, however, several kings in ancient India who had assumed the name Vikramāditya. One among them was the famous Chandragupta II Vikramāditya of the Gupta dynasty, who had assumed the throne of Magadh around 378 CE.

[1]

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