By common assent, Kalidasa is one of the world's supreme
poets. Apart from Sunkuntala,
however, which was known to Goethe
and Apollinaire,
Kalidasa's work is not well represented in European books
or the Internet. Scholars even dispute Kalidasa's dates,
though he clearly wrote for a highly-civilized princely
court, either of the 5th century AD
Guptas or the 1st century BC Paramara
dynasty. Only a
few works are undisputably by Kalidasa – plays:
Malavikaagnimitra, Vikramorvashiiya and Abhigyaanashaakuntala;
epic poems: Khumaarasambhava and Raguvamsha; lyric poems:
Meghdoot and possibly Ritusamhaara.
Reading Kalidasa and Sanskrit
Though
dead in the sense that it is not spoken today, Sanskrit
has been a literary language for three millennia or more.Some of the world's great literature – including
the Bhagavat-gita
– is written in Sanksrit, and that enormous body of
work still influences life on the subcontinent. Though there
exist many primers,
dictionaries
and audio
resources, Sanskrit takes a long time to learn (if not
the seven years that Chinese requires), and the metre of
its poetry has the further difficulty of being quantitative.
Nineteenth century translation by Raj officials were somewhat
trite and sanitized.
Most contemporary efforts are workmanlike,
only hinting at the splendour
of the original, but one exception is McComas Taylor's beautiful
translation of Meghaduta.
Kalidasa today
Indian literature does not have the following among
English-speakers enjoyed by continental or even Chinese literature.
The reasons are probably 1. introverted view of Modernism,
2. indifferent translations, 3. Christian opposition
to a frankly sensuous if not sensual imagery, 4. an impersonal
and non-demotic nature. Sanskrit poetry is literature of a
very high order: it is not personal expression but a fusing
of spiritual, sensuous and intellectual matters in a non-western
tradition. To these excellent reasons for reading it, should
be added a closer integration of poet and landscape, and the
spiritual basis of its civilization.
