Kalidasa, doyen of Sanskrit literature

by Amal Hewavissenti

“Oh’ cloud, produce lightning to shed a bright flash for lovers to find themselves in the pitch darkness.” (Meghadutha)

His poetry and dramas are clear evidence of his intuition and genre of poetic imagination and original ideas. This genius of Sanskrit literature had been the top figure around whom a number of legends have been woven and for whom appreciative criticism has been meant.

A towering poet

Much of the Asian literature, specially ancient Sinhala literature reflects the impact of his literary imagination. Critics have made much guess work to determine the precise time period in which he lived.

References to a “Kalidasa” living in royal courts at different periods ranging from 8th century BC to 12 century AD have baffled them. Evidence has established that he lived in the court of King Chandragupta II who was responsible for the literary and arts revival during the fourth century AD.

However, certain quotations from his poems and dramas bear a strange resemblance to some ideas in Ashwaghosha thera’s literary works. Controversy remains as to who preceded the other because their ideas are so close to each other. But Ashwaghosha thera appear to have exercised more discipline in portraying eroticism than Kalidasa.

Legends

Kalidasa was a universal poet, whose masterpieces have earned him the label of “great poet” in world literature.

A range of popular legends has blended into the life story of this poet. Indian writers have added high value to some legends which give certain level of depth to the life story of this mysterious man. It is said that Paarwathi cursed Kalidasa for glorifying Uma’s erotic play in his epic “Kumara Sambhawa.”

The evil curse is said to have reduced him to a drifter going after twilight women. One day the King publicly announced that he would offer priceless wealth to anyone who would elect to complete the end half of a Sanskrit verse.

The woman of illfame who was with Kalidasa, confided this to him and he masterfully completed the verse. The woman of illfame, who had secret plans to get the wealth from the King rather than share it with Kalidasa, tactfully killed him.

Another story goes onto say that King Kumaradasa’s, epic Janakiharana was read and lavishly appreciated by Kalidasa. Highly pleased with the great poet’s response to the work, King Kumaradasa made arrangements to bring Kalidasa to Sri Lanka as a royal friend. While he was residing in the Palace as a royal visitor, he fell in love with a maid in the court.

The King is said to have promised a big wealth to him who would undertake to give the complementary part to the riddling stanza given by the King. The maid, whom Kalidasa had fallen in love with, earnestly appealed to him to complete the challenging part of the stanza for her, and forwarded it to the King.

The maid killed Kalidasa by poisoning his food because she wanted to have the wealth for herself. King Kumaradasa who got to know about his friend’s unfortunate death was deeply distressed and committed suicide.

The myth of Goddess Kali

The daughter of Avanthi King Wickramadithya was arrogant because of her advanced scholarship. The King, who was not very with this, gave the princess in marriage to an uneducated Brahamin lad with the purpose of humiliating her. After marriage she often despised him for his low level of life.

Ashamed of this insolence, he went to a Kovil of goddess Kali and engaged in rituals there. The goddess Kali, pleased with his devoutness, gave him a miraculous power to compose poetry.

The man satisfied with what he got, came back home. Hearing the knock on the door at night. The princess asked who he was. The man replied that he was Kalidasa. To her question whether he had any education, he composed three classic poems ie, “Kumar Sambhawa”, “Meghadutha” and “Raghuvansha”.

Thereafter, he did not regard her as his wife, but a mother. Later as a wifeless man he went after twilight women for the rest of his life. His works are suggestive of his in constant touch with royal families.

The protagonists in “Abhignana Shakunthala”, “Wickramorwashi”, and “Raghuwansha” are kings and this is enough to show that he had been keeping company with kings and the royalty. However, he died due to mysterious circumstances even though same sourced refer to his death as a result of conspiracy by those who could not stand his close association with the king.

Climax of poetic intuition

Kalidasa’s master pieces include four epics namely, Meghadutha, Kumara Sambhawa, Raghuwansha, and Rithu Sanhara and the three dramas, Abhingnana Shakunthala, Wickramorwashi and Malavikagnimithra, Abhignana Shakunthala is unarguably kalidasa’s last play, a masterpiece which marks the climax of his poetic intuition. Critics unanimously acclaim it to be the best literary work in Sanskrit literature.

He employs his best skills to turn an insipid story in Mahabharatha into an immortal drama. Plot summary has it that Prince Dushyantha, while on deer hunt, is about to shoot a deer near Kanva rishi’s cottage, when he is stopped by the ascetics.

Once invited, prince Dushyantha visits their cottage and falls instantly in love with Shakunthala, a girl of unparalleled beauty who was adopted by kanva rishi. She becomes pregnant as a result of their love and Dushyantha, after gifting her with his ring, leaves her not to return to her cottage in the jungle.

Kanva rishi sends her together with others, Dushyantha’s palace and what follows later are purely human issues, is Kalidasa creates a great drama of humanity which remains unchallenged in Indian literature.

The most poignant moment of the play emerges when Shakunthala bids farewell to her foster father, animals, trees, her own companions and all the natural agents she has been close to.

Though Kanva Rishi had reached higher intellectual and spiritual levels, he finds it utterly difficult to bear up with the bitter reality of leaving the company of his adopted daughter.

When Dushyantha approaches the cottage of kanva Rishi, he feels his flesh move (a clear sign that he would soon have the company of a maid). The Prince is naturally flabbergasted as to how he would come in contact with the maid in a place like an ascetic’s cottage. This is purely ironic.

Meghadutha

Throughout his poetry and dramas, Kalidasa has given a prominent place to the sensual pleasures as a way of achieving the best in life.

He himself leaves clear truces for the reader’s that he too considered, enjoying sexual pleasures as a powerful factor in life. Meghadutha is considered to be a classic poem that depicts the love of a couple as best as it could. Ragiri, a Yaksha, is cursed by the God Kuvera and is being detained in a hermitage for a year.

The punishment of the curse is to torment him with bereavement from his beloved wife. The Yaksha, having been unable to bear up with the mental affliction, calls a floating could and sends a message of love to his wife living in wait for him far away.

Here the poet graphically describes what the messenger of could meets on its way to meet Ragiri’s wife. Kalidasa, however, is a passionate believer in the bliss of the union of two lovers and to him, the simplest disturbance to such a union is a serious thing.

It is interesting to note that the poet commands the cloud to make lightning shed light on women going in the dark nights towards the home of their lovers. He asks the lightning not to frighten them with stunning sounds. Here, Kalidasa betrays a humane attitude to men suffering with bereavement of love.

Kumara Sambhawa

This classic portrayal of eroticism is identified as a non Pareil Poem that displays the nature of sensual pleasures and their impact on human mind.

The plot of the poem is as follows: The Gods who were oppressed by Asuras when to Maha Brahma. He instructs the Gods to make Ishwar have a son by the Goddess Parwathi. Accordingly, Ishwar’s son defeats Asuras when he grows-up.

Kalidasa glorified the erotic relationship between Ishwar and Parwathi and as a result Parwathi cursed Kalidasa to be powerless in composing poetry.

It is believed that the curse incapacitated Kalidasa and he could not complete his poem. Critics point out that the cream of the poem lies in the famous “Rathi Wilapaya”.

Kalidasa had moulded his characters with a touch of humanity and liveliness and no flat characters are found in his works.

He had portrayed every character with equal level of realism; that is a character in the palace, a hunter in the jungle, a devil in detention or ascetic in a hermitage.

They have all been portrayed with a realistic approach. Kalidasa immortalised in world literature.