When I had finished reading Mrichchkatika I had decided I would be reading Kalidasa’s Abhignana Shakuntalam. The first play impressed me much, how did this one fare? So let’s get to it! Kalidasa was a Sanskrit playwright from 4th-5th AD and was a court poet at Ujjain.
Based on this play, Kalidasa can be called a romantic poet. I am saying this in comparison with two of his contemporaries (more or less,) Shudraka & Bhasa. Kalidasa in this play chooses a story from Mahabharata’s Adi Parva. Mahabharata was the most political literature available to Kalidasa and he chose to explore it as a love story. This story of Shakuntala and Dushyant has immense potential as a socio-political story.
Consider this, Consider this Shakuntala is the daughter of a rishi, a sage, and an apsara, a nymph. Vishwamitra, Shakuntala’s father was the son born through a boon to be a Brahmin to Kshatriya parents. Vishwamitra had to struggle to be called a brahmin because of the complexity of his birth. And Menaka was a celestial nymph. Although it seems mythological in concept but the story is rife with suggestions about casteism. Add to this King Dushyant forgets having been married to Shakuntala, and gets married to another woman. When Shakuntala visits Dushyant he refuses to recognise her, of course there is the plot factor that it was a curse, though it is very telling of a society that takes a man’s word as final. Kalidasa during this time, would have referred to India as Bharata, Dushyant Shakuntala’s son. However, Kalidasa chooses to ignore all these aspects in favour of romance.
It is possible that I may have expected a lot more from poet so celebrated by Eastern scholars as well as Western. Even Arthur William Ryder the author who translated both Shakuntala and Mrichchkatika talks about the rage of Kalidasa in England among the Indophiles. It is also possible that Mrichchkatika may have raised the bar for a good Sanskrit play for me but this is the impression that has on me… This play lacks humour, action and social observation, all of which is exchanged in favour of romance. Although it would be unfair to conclude anything about Kalidasa from one play so I will read more and then let’s see!
