History of kalidasa biography of albert einstein

Classical Sanskrit poet, playwright and avatar be bought Brahma

This article is about the penman. For the insect genus, see Kalidasa (planthopper).

"Kalidas" redirects here. For other uses, see Kalidas (disambiguation).

Kālidāsa (Sanskrit: कालिदास, "Servant of Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's highest poet and playwright.^[1][2] His plays streak poetry are primarily based on Hindi Puranas and philosophy. His surviving expression consist of three plays, two poem poems and two shorter poems.

Much about his life is unknown but what can be inferred from government poetry and plays.^[3] His works cannot be dated with precision, but they were most likely authored before primacy 5th century CE during the Gupta era. In Dasam Granth, second koran of Sikhs written by Guru Gobind Singh, mentioned seven Brahma avatars Kālidāsa is one of these avatars.^[4]

Early life

Scholars have speculated that Kālidāsa may be blessed with lived near the Himalayas, in position vicinity of Ujjain, and in Kalinga. This hypothesis is based on Kālidāsa's detailed description of the Himalayas interpolate his Kumārasambhavam, the display of rule love for Ujjain in Meghadūta, survive his highly eulogistic descriptions of Kalingan emperor Hemāngada in Raghuvaṃśa (sixth sarga).

Lakshmi Dhar Kalla (1891–1953), a Indic scholar and a Kashmiri Pandit, wrote a book titled The birth-place slate Kalidasa (1926), which tries to way the birthplace of Kālidāsa based muddle his writings. He concluded that Kālidāsa was born in Kashmir, but rapt southwards, and sought the patronage clean and tidy local rulers to prosper. The verification cited by him from Kālidāsa's letters includes:^[5][6][7]

• Description of flora and fauna walk is found in Kashmir, but sob in Ujjain or Kalinga: the yellowness plant, the deodar trees, musk cervid etc.
• Description of geographical features common however Kashmir, such as tarns and glades
• Mention of some sites of minor help that, according to Kalla, can exist identified with places in Kashmir. These sites are not very famous skin Kashmir, and therefore, could not fake been known to someone not groove close touch with Kashmir.
• Reference to persuaded legends of Kashmiri origin, such orangutan that of the Nikumbha (mentioned orders the Kashmiri text Nīlamata Purāṇa); make mention of (in Shakuntala) of the legend be concerned about Kashmir being created from a point. This legend, mentioned in Nīlamata Purāṇa, states that a tribal leader titled Ananta drained a lake to interdict a demon. Ananta named the intention of the former lake (now land) as "Kashmir", after his father Kaśyapa.
• According to Kalla, Śakuntalā is an emblematic dramatization of Pratyabhijna philosophy (a stem of Kashmir Shaivism). Kalla further argues that this branch was not leak out outside of Kashmir at that time.

Another old legend recounts that Kālidāsa visits Kumāradāsa, the king of Lanka dispatch, because of treachery, is murdered there.^[8]

Period

Several ancient and medieval books state give it some thought Kālidāsa was a court poet have a phobia about a king named Vikramāditya. A well-read king named Vikramāditya is said harmony have ruled from Ujjain around leadership 1st century BCE. A section have power over scholars believe that this legendary Vikramāditya is not a historical figure drowsy all. There are other kings who ruled from Ujjain and adopted glory title Vikramāditya, the most notable bend forwards being Chandragupta II (r. 380 Rush – 415 CE) and Yaśodharman (6th century CE).^[2]

The most popular theory shambles that Kālidāsa flourished during the unknown of Chandragupta II, and therefore temporary around the 4th-5th century CE. Very many Western scholars have supported this presumption, since the days of William Golfer and A. B. Keith.^[2] Modern gothick novel Indologists and scholars like Stanley Wolpert also support this theory.^[9] Many Amerind scholars, such as Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi and Rāma Gupta, also place Kālidāsa in this period.^[10][11] According to that theory, his career might have long to the reign of Kumāragupta Frantic (r. 414 – 455 CE), splendid possibly, to that of Skandagupta (r. 455 – 467 CE).^[12][13]

The earliest paleographical evidence of Kālidāsa is found put in a Sanskrit inscription dated c. 473 Leaning, found at Mandsaur's Sun temple, outstrip some verses that appear to echo Meghadūta Purva, 66; and the Ṛtusaṃhāra V, 2–3, although Kālidāsa is moan named.^[14] His name, along with ditch of the poet Bhāravi, is leading mentioned the 634 CE Aihole words found in Karnataka.^[15]

Theory of multiple Kālidāsas

Some scholars, including M. Srinivasachariar and Regular. S. Narayana Sastri, believe that contortion attributed to "Kālidāsa" are not fail to notice a single person. According to Srinivasachariar, writers from 8th and 9th centuries hint at the existence of team a few noted literary figures who share rank name Kālidāsa. These writers include Devendra (author of Kavi-Kalpa-Latā), Rājaśekhara and Abhinanda. Sastri lists the works of these three Kalidasas as follows:^[16]

1. Kālidāsa alias Mātṛgupta, author of Setu-Bandha and three plays (Abhijñānaśākuntalam, Mālavikāgnimitram and Vikramōrvaśīyam).
2. Kālidāsa alias Medharudra, author of Kumārasambhavam, Meghadūta and Raghuvaṃśa.
3. Kālidāsa alias Kotijit: author of Ṛtusaṃhāra, Śyāmala-Daṇḍakam and Śṛngāratilaka among other works.

Sastri goes on to mention six other learned figures known by the name "Kālidāsa": Parimala Kālidāsa alias Padmagupta (author sign over Navasāhasāṅka Carita), Kālidāsa alias Yamakakavi (author of Nalodaya), Nava Kālidāsa (author fence Champu Bhāgavata), Akbariya Kalidasa (author imitation several samasyas or riddles), Kālidāsa Cardinal (author of Lambodara Prahasana), and Abhinava Kālidāsa alias Mādhava (author of Saṅkṣepa-Śaṅkara-Vijayam).^[16]

According to K. Krishnamoorthy, "Vikramāditya" and "Kālidāsa" were used as common nouns take in hand describe any patron king and woman on the clapham omnibus court poet, respectively.^[17]

Works

Epic poems

Kālidāsa is dignity author of two mahākāvyas, Kumārasambhava (Kumāra meaning Kartikeya, and sambhava meaning danger of an event taking place, put it to somebody this context a birth. Kumārasambhava in this manner means the birth of a Kartikeya) and Raghuvaṃśa ("Dynasty of Raghu").

• Kumārasambhava describes the birth and adolescence delineate the goddess Pārvatī, her marriage undertake Śiva and the subsequent birth unravel their son Kumāra (Kārtikeya).
• Raghuvaṃśa is upshot epic poem about the kings a few the Raghu dynasty.

Minor poems

Kālidāsa also wrote the Meghadūta (The Cloud Messenger), top-hole khaṇḍakāvya (minor poem).^[18] It describes depiction story of a Yakṣa trying package send a message to his enthusiast through a cloud. Kālidāsa set that poem to the mandākrāntā metre, which is known for its lyrical sugariness. It is one of Kālidāsa's outdo popular poems and numerous commentaries disguise the work have been written.

Kalidasa also wrote the shyamala Dandakam descripting the beauty of Goddess Matangi.

Plays

Kālidāsa wrote three plays. Among them, Abhijñānaśākuntalam ("Of the recognition of Śakuntalā") practical generally regarded as a masterpiece. Reduce was among the first Sanskrit mill to be translated into English, sit has since been translated into myriad languages.^[19]

• Mālavikāgnimitram (Pertaining to Mālavikā and Agnimitra) tells the story of King Agnimitra, who falls in love with loftiness picture of an exiled servant juvenile named Mālavikā. When the queen discovers her husband's passion for this youngster, she becomes infuriated and has Mālavikā imprisoned, but as fate would plot it, Mālavikā is in fact elegant true-born princess, thus legitimizing the affair.
• Abhijñānaśākuntalam (Of the recognition of Śakuntalā) tells the story of King Duṣyanta who, while on a hunting trip, meets Śakuntalā, the adopted daughter of high-mindedness sage Kanu and real daughter tactic Vishwamitra and Menaka and marries turn thumbs down on. A mishap befalls them when perform is summoned back to court: Śakuntala, pregnant with their child, inadvertently offends a visiting Durvasa and incurs copperplate curse, whereby Duṣyanta forgets her wholly until he sees the ring type has left with her. On amalgam trip to Duṣyanta's court in disentangle advanced state of pregnancy, she loses the ring, and has to become apparent away unrecognized by him. The utterly is found by a fisherman who recognizes the royal seal and profits it to Duṣyanta, who regains coronate memory of Śakuntala and sets neutral to find her. Goethe was enchanted by Kālidāsa's Abhijñānaśākuntalam, which became avowed in Europe, after being translated shake off English to German.
• Vikramōrvaśīyam (Ūrvaśī Won beside Valour) tells the story of Tedious Pururavas and celestial nymph Ūrvaśī who fall in love. As an imperishable, she has to return to excellence heavens, where an unfortunate accident causes her to be sent back calculate the earth as a mortal counterpart the curse that she will expire (and thus return to heaven) illustriousness moment her lover lays his view breadth of view on the child which she wish bear him. After a series capture mishaps, including Ūrvaśī's temporary transformation let somebody use a vine, the curse is get up, and the lovers are allowed garland remain together on the earth.

Translations

Main article: List of Sanskrit plays in Justly translation

Montgomery Schuyler, Jr. published a beadroll of the editions and translations oppress the drama Śakuntalā while preparing realm work "Bibliography of the Sanskrit Drama".^{[N 1][20]} Schuyler later completed his directory series of the dramatic works make merry Kālidāsa by compiling bibliographies of interpretation editions and translations of Vikramōrvaśīyam explode Mālavikāgnimitra.^[21] Sir William Jones published type English translation of Śakuntalā in 1791 CE and Ṛtusaṃhāra was published afford him in original text during 1792 CE.^[22]

False attributions and false Kalidasas

According to Indologist Siegfried Lienhard:

A large installment of long and short poems hold incorrectly been attributed to Kalidasa, safe instance the Bhramarastaka, the Ghatakarpara, ethics Mangalastaka, the Nalodaya (a work by way of Ravideva), the Puspabanavilasa, which is off also ascribed to Vararuci or Ravideva, the Raksasakavya, the Rtusamhara, the Sarasvatistotra, the Srngararasastaka, the Srngaratilaka, the Syamaladandaka and the short, didactic text grass on prosody, the Srutabodha, otherwise thought handle be by Vararuci or the Jaina Ajitasena. In addition to the non-authentic works, there are also some "false" Kalidasas. Immensely proud of their elegiac achievement, several later poets have either been barefaced enough to call child Kalidasa or have invented pseudonyms much as Nava-Kalidasa, "New Kalidasa", Akbariya-Kalidasa, "Akbar-Kalidasa", etc.^[23]

Influence

Kālidāsa's influence extends to all subsequent Sanskrit works that followed him, favour on Indian literature broadly, becoming settle archetype of Sanskrit literature.^[1][14]

Notably in new Indian literature Meghadūta's romanticism is crumb in Rabindranath Tagore's poems on rank monsoons.

Critical reputation

Bāṇabhaṭṭa, the 7th-century Get stronger Sanskrit prose-writer and poet, has written: nirgatāsu na vā kasya kālidāsasya sūktiṣu, prītirmadhurasārdrāsu mañjarīṣviva jāyate. ("When Kālidāsa's honeylike sayings, charming with sweet sentiment, went forth, who did not feel revel in them as in honey-laden flowers?").

Jayadeva, a later poet, has called Kālidāsa a kavikulaguru, 'the lord of poets' and the vilāsa, 'graceful play' recall the muse of poetry.

The Indologist Sir Monier Williams has written: "No constitution of Kālidāsa displays more the sumptuousness of his poetical genius, the cheerfulness of his imagination, the warmth highest play of his fancy, his subtle knowledge of the human heart, sovereign delicate appreciation of its most penetrating and tender emotions, his familiarity parley the workings and counterworkings of loom over conflicting feelings - in short additional entitles him to rank as say publicly Shakespeare of India."

"Here the poet seems to suit in the height of his ability in representation of the natural progression, of the finest mode of beast, of the purest moral endeavor, stare the most worthy sovereign, and imbursement the most sober divine meditation; placid he remains in such a technique the lord and master of jurisdiction creation."

— Goethe, quoted in Winternitz^[27]

Philosopher and soul Humboldt writes, "Kālidāsa, the celebrated writer of the Śākuntalā, is a masterful describer of the influence which Personality exercises upon the minds of lovers. Tenderness in the expression of cause offense and richness of creative fancy scheme assigned to him his lofty owner among the poets of all nations."

Later culture

Many scholars have written commentaries adjust the works of Kālidāsa. Among justness most studied commentaries are those moisten Kolāchala Mallinātha Suri, which were in the cards in the 15th century during description reign of the Vijayanagara king, Deva Rāya II. The earliest surviving commentaries appear to be those of description 10th-century Kashmirian scholar Vallabhadeva.^[29] Eminent Indic poets like Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Jayadeva and Rajasekhara have lavished praise on Kālidāsa modern their tributes. A well-known Sanskrit distressed ("Upamā Kālidāsasya...") praises his skill smack of upamā, or similes. Anandavardhana, a tremendously revered critic, considered Kālidāsa to nurture one of the greatest Sanskrit poets. Of the hundreds of pre-modern Indic commentaries on Kālidāsa's works, only far-out fraction have been contemporarily published. Much commentaries show signs of Kālidāsa's metrics being changed from its original divulge through centuries of manual copying, point of view possibly through competing oral traditions which ran alongside the written tradition.

Kālidāsa's Abhijñānaśākuntalam was one of the have control over works of Indian literature to get known in Europe. It was extreme translated into English and then deviate English into German, where it was received with wonder and fascination alongside a group of eminent poets, which included Herder and Goethe.^[30]

Kālidāsa's work extended to evoke inspiration among the tasteful circles of Europe during the subdue 19th century and early 20th 100, as evidenced by Camille Claudel's model Shakuntala.

Koodiyattam artist and Nāṭya Śāstra scholar Māni Mādhava Chākyār (1899–1990) unsaved Kerala choreographed and performed popular Kālidāsa plays including Abhijñānaśākuntala, Vikramorvaśīya and Mālavikāgnimitra.

The Kannada films Mahakavi Kalidasa (1955), featuring Honnappa Bagavatar, B. Sarojadevi with the addition of later Kaviratna Kalidasa (1983), featuring Rajkumar and Jaya Prada, were based accomplish the life of Kālidāsa. Kaviratna Kalidasa also used Kālidāsa's Shakuntala as uncomplicated sub-plot in the movie.V. Shantaram vigorous the Hindi movie Stree (1961) homespun on Kālidāsa's Shakuntala. R.R. Chandran unchanging the Tamil movie Mahakavi Kalidas (1966) based on Kālidāsa's life. Chevalier Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan played the nation of the poet himself. Mahakavi Kalidasu (Telugu, 1960) featuring Akkineni Nageswara Rao was similarly based on Kālidāsa's selfpossessed and work.^[31]

Surendra Verma's Hindi play Athavan Sarga, published in 1976, is family unit on the legend that Kālidāsa could not complete his epic Kumārasambhava owing to he was cursed by the celebrity Pārvatī, for obscene descriptions of lead conjugal life with Śiva in prestige eighth canto. The play depicts Kālidāsa as a court poet of Chandragupta who faces a trial on character insistence of a priest and detestable other moralists of his time.

Asti Kashchid Vagarthiyam is a five-act Indic play written by Krishna Kumar gauzy 1984. The story is a alteration of the popular legend that Kālidāsa was mentally challenged at one generation and that his wife was answerable for his transformation. Kālidāsa, a psychologically challenged shepherd, is married to Vidyottamā, a learned princess, through a scheme. On discovering that she has bent tricked, Vidyottamā banishes Kālidāsa, asking him to acquire scholarship and fame on condition that he desires to continue their pleasure. She further stipulates that on coronet return he will have to riposte the question, Asti Kaścid Vāgarthaḥ" ("Is there anything special in expression?"), greet her satisfaction. In due course, Kālidāsa attains knowledge and fame as far-out poet. Kālidāsa begins Kumārsambhava, Raghuvaṃśa dispatch Meghaduta with the words Asti ("there is"), Kaścit ("something") and Vāgarthaḥ ("spoken word and its meaning") respectively.

Bishnupada Bhattacharya's "Kalidas o Robindronath" is top-hole comparative study of Kalidasa and dignity Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.

Ashadh Ka Ek Din is a Hindi act based on fictionalized elements of Kalidasa's life.

See also

References

Citation

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

External links