Kalidasa: India’s Foremost Classical Dramatist and Poet

Shakuntala stops to look back at Dushyanta, Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906).

Kalidasa, the greatest of India’s dramatists and poets, has been given the title of Indian Shakespeare by his first English translator, Sir William Jones, the first president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, founded in 1784. His Abhijnanasakuntala (Recognition of Sakuntala) won unqualified praise from Goethe.

Not much is known of Kalidasa‘s life, but there is sufficient evidence to conclude that he lived at the court of Chandragupta II (c 376-415) of the Gupta dynasty. Chandragupta II was a great patron of the arts.

Kalidasa wrote three dramas namely Malvikagnimitra, a comedy of harem love and intrigue ending in the marriage of Shunga king Agnimitra and princess Malvika; Vikramorvasi (Urvasi won by valour), narrating the ancient story of love, separation and final union of the king Puruavas and the nymph Urvasi, and Abhijnanasakuntala. He was the author of two long poems Kumarasambhava (Birth of the War-god), Raghuvamsa (Dynasty of Raghu) and two shorter poems, Meghduta (Cloud Messenger) and the Rtusamhara (Garland of the Seasons).