Shakuntala

Shakuntala
Shakuntala
	"Shakuntala looking back to glimpse Dushyanta", painting by Raja Ravi Varma
Information
Family	Vishwamitra (father); Menaka (mother); Kanva (adoptive father); Pramati (twin brother)
Spouse	Dushyanta
Children	Bharata

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Shakuntala (Sanskrit: Śakuntalā) is the wife of Dushyanta and the mother of Emperor Bharata. Her story is told in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata and dramatized by many writers, the most famous adaption being Kalidasa's play Abhijñānaśākuntala (The Sign of Shakuntala).^[1]

Legends[edit]

Birth[edit]

Once, Vishwamitra started to meditate to earn the status of a Brahmarshi. The intensity of his penance frightened Indra. He feared that Vishwamitra might want his throne. To end his penance, Indra sent Menaka, an apsara, to lure him and bring him out of his penance. Menaka reached Vishwamitra's meditating spot and started to seduce him. Vishwamitra could not control his lust and desire and his penance was broken. Vishwamitra and Menaka lived together for a few years and a daughter and a son was born to them. Later, Vishwamitra realized that all those things were Indra's tricks. He realized that he needed to control his emotions. Vishwamitra left Menaka and Menaka left the baby near Rishi Kanva's hermitage before returning to heaven.^[2]

Upbringing[edit]

Rishi Kanva found that two babies in his hermitage surrounded by Shakunta birds (Sanskrit: शकुन्त, śakunta). Therefore, he named a baby girl to Shakuntala (Sanskrit: शकुन्तला), meaning Shakunta-protected.^[3]^[4]

In the Adi Parva of Mahabharata, Kanva says:

She was surrounded in the solitude of the wilderness by śakuntas,
therefore, hath she been named by me Shakuntala (Shakunta-protected).

And he named the baby boy Pramati; later Pramati became an acharya himself.

Marriage with Dushyanta[edit]

King Dushyanta first encountered Shakuntala while travelling through the forest with his army. He was pursuing a male deer wounded by his weapon. Shakuntala and Dushyanta fell in love with each other and got married as per Gandharva marriage system. Before returning to his kingdom, Dushyanta gave his personal royal ring to Shakuntala as a symbol of his promise to rahul and bring her to his palace.^[5]

Durvasa's curse[edit]

Sage Durvasa curses Shakuntala, painting by B.P. Banerjee

Shakuntala spent much time dreaming of her new husband and was often distracted by her daydreams. One day, a powerful rishi, Durvasa, came to the ashrama but, lost in her thoughts about Dushyanta, Shakuntala failed to greet him properly. Incensed by this slight, the rishi cursed Shakuntala, saying that the person she was dreaming of would forget about her altogether. As he departed in a rage, one of Shakuntala's friends quickly explained to him the reason for her friend's distraction. The rishi, realizing that his extreme wrath was not justified, modified his curse saying that the person who had forgotten Shakuntala would remember everything again if she showed him a personal token that had been given to her.^[1]

Journey to Hastinapura[edit]

Time passed, and Shakuntala, wondering why Dushyanta did not return for her, finally set out for the capital city with her foster father and some of her companions. On the way, they had to cross a river by a canoe ferry and, seduced by the deep blue waters of the river, Shakuntala ran her fingers through the water. Her ring (Dushyanta's ring) slipped off her finger without her realizing it.

Sakuntala leaving for her husband king Dushyanta's palace

Arriving at Dushyanta's court, Shakuntala was hurt and surprised when her husband did not recognize her, nor recollected anything about her.^[6] She tried to remind him that she was his wife but without the ring, Dushyanta did not recognize her. Humiliated, she returned to the forests and, collecting her son, settled in a wild part of the forest by herself. Here she spent her days while Bharata, her son, grew older. Surrounded only by wild animals, Bharata grew to be a strong youth and made a sport of opening the mouths of tigers and lions and counting their teeth.^[7]^[8]

Reunion with Dushyanta[edit]

Meanwhile, a fisherman was surprised to find a royal ring in the belly of a fish he had caught. Recognizing the royal seal, he took the ring to the palace and, upon seeing his ring, Dushyanta's memories of his lovely bride came rushing back to him. He immediately set out to find her and, arriving at her father's ashram, discovered that she was no longer there. He continued deeper into the forest to find his wife and came upon a surprising scene in the forest: a young boy had pried open the mouth of a lion and was busy counting its teeth. The king greeted the boy, amazed by his boldness and strength, and asked his name. He was surprised when the boy answered that he was Bharata, the son of King Dushyanta. The boy took him to Shakuntala, and thus the family was reunited.^[1]

Variants[edit]

An alternate narrative is that after Dushyanta failed to recognize Shakuntala, her mother Menaka took Shakuntala to Heaven where she gave birth to Bharata. Dushyanta was required to fight at the side of the devas, from which he emerged victoriously; his reward was to be reunited with his wife and son. He had a vision in which he saw a young boy counting the teeth of a lion. His kavach (armband/armour) had fallen off his arm. Dushyanta was informed by the devas that only Bharata's mother or father could tie it back on his arm. Dushyanta successfully tied it on his arm. The confused Bharata took the king to his mother Shakuntala and told her that this man claimed to be his father. Upon which Shakuntala told Bharata that the king was indeed his father. Thus the family was reunited in Heaven, and they returned to earth to rule for many years before the birth of the Pandava.^{[citation needed]}

Ancient renditions of the myth of Shakuntala (2nd century BCE, Sunga period)
The Bhita plaque. The Indian plaque of Ai Khanoum The Kulu vase.

Adaptations[edit]

Theatre, literature and music[edit]

Kalidasa[edit]

The Recognition of Sakuntala is a Sanskrit play written by Kalidasa.^[9]

On the Marathi stage, there was a musical drama titled Shakuntal based on the same story.

Opera[edit]

Sakuntala is an incomplete opera by Franz Schubert, which originated late 1819 to early 1820.^{[citation needed]} Italian Franco Alfano composed an opera named La leggenda di Sakùntala (The legend of Shakuntala) in its first version (1921) and simply Sakùntala in its second version (1952).^{[citation needed]}

Ballet[edit]

Ernest Reyer (1823–1909) composed a ballet Sacountala on an argument by Théophile Gautier in 1838.^{[citation needed]}
The Soviet composer Sergey Balasanian (1902–1982) composed a ballet named Shakuntala (premiere 28 December 1963, Riga).^[10]

Other literature[edit]

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar created a novel in Sadhu Bhasha, Bengali.^{[citation needed]} It was among the first translations from Bengali.^{[citation needed]} Abanindra Nath Tagore later wrote in the Chalit Bhasa (which is a simpler literary variation of Bengali) mainly for children and preteens.^{[citation needed]}

By the 18th century, Western poets were beginning to get acquainted with works of Indian literature and philosophy.^{[citation needed]} The German poet Goethe read Kalidasa's play and has expressed his admiration for the work^{[original research?]} in the following verses:

Willst du die Blüthe des frühen, die Früchte des späteren Jahres,
Willst du, was reizt und entzückt, willst du was sättigt und nährt,
Willst du den Himmel, die Erde, mit Einem Namen begreifen;
Nenn' ich, Sakuntala, Dich, und so ist Alles gesagt.

Wouldst thou the young year's blossoms and the fruits of its decline
And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed,
Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name combine?
I name thee, O Sakuntala! and all at once is said.

—Goethe, 1791^[11]

—translation by Edward Backhouse Eastwick^[12]

In 1808 Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel published a German translation of the Shakuntala story from the Mahabharata.^[13]

Film and TV[edit]

A significant number of Indian films have been made on the story of Shakuntala. These include: Shakuntala (1920) by Suchet Singh, Shakuntala (1920) by Shree Nath Patankar, Shakuntala (1929) by Fatma Begum, Shakuntala (1931) by Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani, Shakuntala (1931) by J. J. Madan, Shakuntala (1932) by Sarvottam Badami, Shakuntala (1932), Shakuntala (1940) by Ellis Dungan, Shakuntala (1941) by Jyotish Bannerjee, Shakuntala (1943) by V. Shantaram, Shakuntala (1961) by Bhupen Hazarika, Shakuntala (1965) by Kunchacko, Shakuntala (1966) by Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao, Stree by V. Shantaram.^[14]