Translations of Shakuntala and Other Works | Page 5

and metric. The
subject is drawn from time-honoured mythology. The poem is divided
into cantos, written not in blank verse but in stanzas. Several
stanza-forms are commonly employed in the same poem, though not in
the same canto, except that the concluding verses of a canto are not
infrequently written in a metre of more compass than the remainder.
I have called The Cloud-Messenger an elegiac poem, though it would
not perhaps meet the test of a rigid definition. The Hindus class it with
The Dynasty of Raghu_ and _The Birth of the War-god as a kavya, but
this classification simply evidences their embarrassment. In fact,

Kalidasa created in The Cloud-Messenger_ a new _genre. No further
explanation is needed here, as the entire poem is translated below.
The short descriptive poem called The Seasons has abundant analogues
in other literatures, and requires no comment.
It is not possible to fix the chronology of Kalidasa's writings, yet we are
not wholly in the dark. Malavika and Agnimitra was certainly his first
drama, almost certainly his first work. It is a reasonable conjecture,
though nothing more, that Urvashi was written late, when the poet's
powers were waning. The introductory stanzas of _The Dynasty of
Raghu_ suggest that this epic was written before _The Birth of the
War-god_, though the inference is far from certain. Again, it is
reasonable to assume that the great works on which Kalidasa's fame
chiefly rests--Shakuntala_, _The Cloud-Messenger_, The Dynasty of
Raghu_, the first eight cantos of The Birth of the War-god--were
composed when he was in the prime of manhood. But as to the
succession of these four works we can do little but guess.
Kalidasa's glory depends primarily upon the quality of his work, yet
would be much diminished if he had failed in bulk and variety. In India,
more than would be the case in Europe, the extent of his writing is an
indication of originality and power; for the poets of the classical period
underwent an education that encouraged an exaggerated fastidiousness,
and they wrote for a public meticulously critical. Thus the great
Bhavabhuti spent his life in constructing three dramas; mighty spirit
though he was, he yet suffers from the very scrupulosity of his labour.
In this matter, as in others, Kalidasa preserves his intellectual balance
and his spiritual initiative: what greatness of soul is required for this,
every one knows who has ever had the misfortune to differ in opinion
from an intellectual clique.
III
Le nom de Kâlidâsa domine la poésie indienne et la résume
brillamment. Le drame, l'épopée savante, l'élégie attestent aujourd'hui
encore la puissance et la souplesse de ce magnifique génie; seul entre
les disciples de Sarasvatî [the goddess of eloquence], il a eu le bonheur

de produire un chef-d'oeuvre vraiment classique, où l'Inde s'admire et
où l'humanité se reconnaît. Les applaudissements qui saluèrent la
naissance de Çakuntalâ à Ujjayinî ont après de longs siècles éclaté d'un
bout du monde à l'autre, quand William Jones l'eut révélée à l'Occident.
Kâlidâsa a marqué sa place dans cette pléiade étincelante où chaque
nom résume une période de l'esprit humain. La série de ces noms forme
l'histoire, ou plutôt elle est l'histoire même.[4]
It is hardly possible to say anything true about Kalidasa's achievement
which is not already contained in this appreciation. Yet one loves to
expand the praise, even though realising that the critic is by his very
nature a fool. Here there shall at any rate be none of that cold-blooded
criticism which imagines itself set above a world-author to appraise and
judge, but a generous tribute of affectionate admiration.
The best proof of a poet's greatness is the inability of men to live
without him; in other words, his power to win and hold through
centuries the love and admiration of his own people, especially when
that people has shown itself capable of high intellectual and spiritual
achievement.
For something like fifteen hundred years, Kalidasa has been more
widely read in India than any other author who wrote in Sanskrit. There
have also been many attempts to express in words the secret of his
abiding power: such attempts can never be wholly successful, yet they
are not without considerable interest. Thus Bana, a celebrated novelist
of the seventh century, has the following lines in some stanzas of
poetical criticism which he prefixes to a historical romance:
Where find a soul that does not thrill
In Kalidasa's verse to meet

The smooth, inevitable lines
Like blossom-clusters, honey-sweet?
A later writer, speaking of Kalidasa and another poet, is more laconic
in this alliterative line: Bhaso hasah, Kalidaso vilasah--Bhasa is mirth,
Kalidasa is grace.
These two critics see Kalidasa's grace, his sweetness, his delicate taste,
without doing justice to the massive quality without which his poetry

could not have survived.
Though Kalidasa has not been as widely appreciated