Kalidasa: Difference between revisions

'''Kālidāsa''' (Devanagari: काळिदास; ''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a [[Classical Sanskrit]] author who is often considered [[ancient India]]'s greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the [[Vedas]], the [[Ramayana|Rāmāyaṇa]], the [[Mahabharata|Mahābhārata]] and the [[Puranas|Purāṇas]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = Kalidasa - Kalidasa Biography - Poem Hunter|url = http://www.poemhunter.com/kalidasa/biography/|website = www.poemhunter.com|access-date = 2015-10-05}}</ref>  His surviving works consist of three plays, two epic poems and two shorter poems.

Much about his life is unknown except what can be inferred from his poetry and plays.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kālidāsa|title=The Recognition of Sakuntala: A Play In Seven Acts|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=ix|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6miC3HNB90oC|isbn=9780191606090}}</ref> His works cannot be dated with precision, but they were most likely authored before the 5th century CE.

Lakshmi Dhar Kalla (1891–1953), a Sanskrit scholar and a [[Kashmiri Pandit]], wrote a book titled ''The birth-place of Kalidasa'' (1926), which tries to trace the birthplace of Kālidāsa based on his writings. He concluded that Kālidāsa was born in [[Kashmir]], but moved southwards, and sought the patronage of local rulers to prosper. The evidence cited by him from Kālidāsa's writings includes:<ref>{{Harvnb|Gopal|1984|p=3}}.</ref><ref name="Bamzai1994">{{cite book|author=P. N. K. Bamzai|author-link=Prithivi Nath Kaul Bamzai |title=Culture and Political History of Kashmir|volume=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1eMfzTBcXcYC&pg=PR261|date=1 January 1994|publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd.|pages=261–262|isbn=978-81-85880-31-0}}</ref><ref name="Kaw2004">{{cite book|author=M. K. Kaw|title=Kashmir and Its People: Studies in the Evolution of Kashmiri Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QpjKpK7ywPIC&pg=PR388|date=1 January 2004|publisher=APH Publishing|pages=388|isbn=978-81-7648-537-1}}</ref>

Still many scholars posit [[Garhwal division|Garhwal]] in [[Uttarakhand]] to be Kalidasa's birthplace.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tyX2DAAAQBAJ&q=Lakshmi%20Dhar%20Kalla&pg=PT6|title=The Story of Kalidas|last=Shailesh|first=H D Bhatt|publisher=Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting|isbn=9788123021935}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2020}}

Kālidāsa also wrote two ''khaṇḍakāvyas'' (minor poems):

 

* Descriptive:<ref name="J. M. Dent & sons, Limited">{{Cite book|title = Kalidasa Translations of Shakuntala, and Other Works|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JbpfAAAAMAAJ|publisher = J. M. Dent & sons, Limited|date = 1920-01-01}}</ref> ''[[Ṛitusaṃhāra|Ṛtusaṃhāra]]'' describes the six seasons by narrating the experiences of two lovers in each of the seasons.<ref name="Iyer" group="N">Ṛtusaṃhāra was translated into Tamil by Muhandiram [[T. Sathasiva Iyer]].</ref>

* Elegiac: Kālidāsa created his own genre of poetry with ''[[Meghadūta]]'' (''The Cloud Messenger''),<ref name="J. M. Dent & sons, Limited"/> the story of a [[Yaksha|Yakṣa]] trying to send a message to his lover through a cloud. Kālidāsa set this poem to the [[Mandakranta metre|mandākrāntā]] meter, which is known for its lyrical sweetness. It is one of Kālidāsa's most popular poems and numerous commentaries on the work have been written.

Kālidāsa wrote three plays. Among them, ''[[Abhijñānaśākuntalam]]'' ("Of the recognition of Śakuntalā") is generally regarded as a masterpiece. It was among the first Sanskrit works to be translated into English, and has since been translated into many languages.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kalidas|url=https://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kalidas.html|access-date=2021-04-07|website=www.cs.colostate.edu}}</ref>

Kālidāsa has had a great influence on several Sanskrit works, on all Indian literature.<ref name="Gopal1984p8" /> He also had a great impact on [[Rabindranath Tagore]]. Meghadūta's romanticism is found in Tagore's poems on the monsoons.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-09-16|title=Rabindranath Tagore on Kalidasa's Meghadoota|url=https://rrkelkar.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/rabindranath-tagore-on-kalidasas-meghadoota/|access-date=2021-04-07|website=Cloud and Sunshine|language=en}}</ref> Sanskrit plays by Kālidāsa influenced late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century European literature.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Translations of Shakuntala and Other Works - Online Library of Liberty|url = http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1261|website = oll.libertyfund.org|access-date = 2015-10-05}}</ref> According to [[Dale Carnegie]], Father of Modern Medicine [[Sir William Osler]] always kept on his desk a poem written by Kalidasa.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carnegie|first=Dale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qKFaDwAAQBAJ&q=How+To+Stop+Worrying+And+Start+Living+By+Dale+Carnegie|title=How to Stop Worrying and Start Living|date=2017|publisher=Manjul Publishing House|isbn=978-81-8322-802-2|language=en|author-link=Dale Carnegie}}</ref>

[[Bāṇabhaṭṭa]], the 7th-century Sanskrit prose-writer and poet, has written: ''nirgatāsu na vā kasya kālidāsasya sūktiṣu, prītirmadhurasārdrāsu mañjarīṣviva jāyate''. ("When Kālidāsa's sweet sayings, charming with sweet sentiment, went forth, who did not feel delight in them as in honey-laden flowers?")<ref>{{Harvnb|Kale|p=xxiv}}.</ref>

[[Jayadeva]], a later poet, has called Kālidāsa a ''kavikulaguru'', 'the lord of poets' and the ''vilāsa'', 'graceful play' of the muse of poetry.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kale|p=xxv}}.</ref>

Kālidāsa has been called the Shakespeare of India. The scholar and philologist [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]] is said to be the first to do so. Writing about this, author and scholar MR Kale says "the very comparison of Kālidāsa to [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] is the highest form of eulogy that could be bestowed upon him."<ref>{{Harvnb|Kale|p=xxvi}}.</ref>

The Indologist Sir [[Monier Monier-Williams|Monier Williams]] has written: "No composition of Kālidāsa displays more the richness of his poetical genius, the exuberance of his imagination, the warmth and play of his fancy, his profound knowledge of the human heart, his delicate appreciation of its most refined and tender emotions, his familiarity with the workings and counterworkings of its conflicting feelings - in short more entitles him to rank as the Shakespeare of India."<ref>{{Harvnb|Kale|pp=xxvi-xxvii}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|"Here the poet seems to be in the height of his talent in representation of the natural order, of the finest mode of life, of the purest moral endeavor, of the most worthy sovereign, and of the most sober divine meditation; still he remains in such a manner the lord and master of his creation."|Goethe, quoted in Winternitz<ref name="WinternitzWinternitz2008">{{cite book|author1=Maurice Winternitz|author2=Moriz Winternitz|title=History of Indian Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ql0BmInD1c4C&pg=PA238|date=1 January 2008|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0056-4|pages=238}}</ref>}}

Philosopher and linguist [[Wilhelm von Humboldt|Humboldt]] writes, "Kālidāsa, the celebrated author of the Śākuntalā, is a masterly describer of the influence which Nature exercises upon the minds of lovers. Tenderness in the expression of feelings and richness of creative fancy have assigned to him his lofty place among the poets of all nations."<ref>{{Harvnb|Kale|p=xxvii}}.</ref>

Many scholars have written commentaries on the works of Kālidāsa. Among the most studied commentaries are those by [[Mallinātha Sūri|Kolāchala Mallinātha Suri]], which were written in the 15th century during the reign of the [[Vijayanagara Empire|Vijayanagara]] king, [[Deva Raya II|Deva Rāya II]]. The earliest surviving commentaries appear to be those of the 10th-century Kashmirian scholar Vallabhadeva.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Vallabhadeva|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VGUaAQAAIAAJ|title=The Raghupaãncik-a of Vallabhadeva|last2=Goodall|first2=Dominic|last3=Isaacson|first3=H.|date=2003|publisher=E. Forsten|isbn=978-90-6980-138-4|language=en|jstor=10.1163/j.ctt1w76wzr.11}}</ref> Eminent Sanskrit poets like [[Bāṇabhaṭṭa]], [[Jayadeva]] and [[Rajashekhara (Sanskrit poet)|Rajasekhara]] have lavished praise on Kālidāsa in their tributes. A well-known Sanskrit verse ("Upamā Kālidāsasya...") praises his skill at ''upamā'', or [[simile]]s. [[Anandavardhana]], a highly revered critic, considered Kālidāsa to be one of the greatest Sanskrit poets ever. Of the hundreds of pre-modern Sanskrit commentaries on Kālidāsa's works, only a fraction have been contemporarily published. Such commentaries show signs of Kālidāsa's poetry being changed from its original state through centuries of manual copying, and possibly through competing oral traditions which ran alongside the written tradition.

Kālidāsa's ''[[Abhijñānaśākuntalam]]'' was one of the first works of Indian literature to become known in Europe. It was first translated to English and then from English to German, where it was received with wonder and fascination by a group of eminent poets, which included [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]] and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Haksar|first=A. N. D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cytqBgAAQBAJ|title=Madhav & Kama: A Love Story from Ancient India|date=2006-01-01|publisher=Roli Books Private Limited|isbn=978-93-5194-060-9|pages=[https://books.google.co.in/books?id=cytqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT86&hl=en&newbks=1 58]|language=en}}</ref>

The [[Kannada]] films ''[[Mahakavi Kalidasa]]'' (1955), featuring Honnappa Bagavatar, B. Sarojadevi and later ''[[Kaviratna Kalidasa]]'' (1983), featuring [[Dr. Rajkumar|Rajkumar]] and [[Jayaprada]],<ref>{{Citation|title=Kavirathna Kaalidaasa (1983) - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309764/|access-date=2021-04-07}}</ref> were based on the life of Kālidāsa. ''[[Kaviratna Kalidasa]]'' also used Kālidāsa's [[Shakuntala]] as a sub-plot in the movie.[[V. Shantaram]] made the Hindi movie ''[[Stree (1961 film)|Stree]]'' (1961) based on Kālidāsa's [[Shakuntala]]. R.R. Chandran made the Tamil movie ''[[Mahakavi Kalidas (1966 film)|Mahakavi Kalidas]]'' (1966) based on Kālidāsa's life. [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Chevalier]] Nadigar Thilagam [[Sivaji Ganesan]] played the part of the poet himself. ''[[Mahakavi Kalidasu]]'' (Telugu, 1960) featuring [[Akkineni Nageswara Rao]] was similarly based on Kālidāsa's life and work.<ref>{{Citation|last=Rao|first=Kamalakara Kameshwara|title=Mahakavi Kalidasu|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261033/|type=Drama, History, Musical|others=Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, S. V. Ranga Rao, Sriranjani, Seeta Rama Anjaneyulu Chilakalapudi|publisher=Sarani Productions|access-date=2021-04-07}}</ref>

* {{cite book|author=Śāstrī|title=A Concise History of Classical Sanskrit Literature|first=Gaurīnātha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYxpvZLg4hAC|year=1987|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0027-4|location=|pages=|ref={{SfnRef|Sastri|1987}}}}

* {{cite book|author=Gopal|title=Kālidāsa: His Art and Culture|first=Ram|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwHk-Y9S9UMC&pg=PR3|date=1 January 1984|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=|location=|pages=}}