Kalidasa When we hear this name, first of all the imagination of such a person is formed in our mind, who is cutting the branch of the tree on which it is sitting. Perhaps it is because we know only a part of Kalidasa’s life, but Kalidasa’s identity is very different. The real identity of Kalidasa is one of the greatest authors of the Sanskrit language. If we talk about some of the great Sanskrit writers from the time of primitive and between the times of modern times, then Kalidas is one of them. He is still known as the greatest poet of Sanskrit, but unfortunately most of the people still know him as an idiot.
We will tell you in detail about every important incident related to the life of the great writer Kalidas, which you should know.
Birthplace of Kalidads
Unfortunately no one knows the place and date of birth of Kalidasa, but on the basis of his creations and the facts given by some scholars, his birthplace can be estimated, but there is no confirmation of its veracity. There are two mainly speculations which is accepted more than other speculations. There are mainly two speculations that are more acceptable than the other speculations for his birthplace
1. According to one estimate, he must have been born around Ujjain and in Kalinga. This can be said because in his composition Meghdoot, he has mentioned Ujjain and And on the basis of his second creation Raghuvansh (6th sarg), in which he has mentioned the Kalinga emperor Hemangada, some other scholars tell his birthplace as Kalinga.
2. There is also a speculation about his birthplace that he must have been born in the region of Himalayas. Its basis has also been made on the basis of the book written by him, Kumārasambhava, in which he has described the beautiful Himalayas. A Sanskrit scholar (Lakshmi Dhar Kalla (1891–1953)) who is also a Kashmiri Pandit by origin, he strongly emphasized that he must have been born in the Himalayan region. Behind this he says that the way in which he has mentioned Himalayas in Kumārasambhava and talked about some such places which are known only to the natives of the Himalayan region.
Early Life of Kalidasa
The birth of Kalidasa is believed to have been between 4th to 5th century. There is no exact details about Kalidasa’s birthday and birthplace, due to which not much information is available about his early life. It is believed that he was a very goofy person in his early life.
There are some things related to his early life, but all these things are not confirm, only on the basis of speculation.
Kalidasa's marriage
Kalidas was married to a princess named Vidottama. Vidhotma was the princess of Malava kingdom and she was very beautiful. Princess Vidottama had a promise that the one who would defeat him in debate would marry him. For this, Princess Vidottama’s Swayamvara was created, in which many intelligent participants participated, but all of them were defeated by Princess Vidottama.
Some people say that when Princess Vidottama defeated everyone in the debate, a group of participants became very angry with her and took a revenge on her. In this episode, he introduced Kalidas as a great scholar and called for debate.
When the debate began, Vidyottama raised a finger and pointed. (When Vidottama pointed one finger, his argument was that God is one and he is non-dual.) In response, Kalidas pointed with two fingers. Scholars have interpreted this to mean that God is one, but in the form of nature and the universe, he can assume any other form, meaning nature and man, soul and God are two eternal.
(But in reality, when Vidyotma showed a finger, Kalidas felt that Vidyotma was indicating to him that she would break one of his eyes, in response to which he pointed both the fingers towards Vidyotma that if you will break one of my eyes , then I will blow both your eyes)
Hearing the answer to the first question, Vidyotma was very impressed, then he showed his full hand to Kalidas. (When Vidyottama showed his full hand, it means that you are establishing monism in the form of Prakriti, Jagat, Jiva, and Maya, it is composed of five elements and these five elements (sky, earth, air, water and fire) They are different, so how can they be composed?)
In response to this question, Kalidasa showed Vidyottama a punch. Which the scholars interpreted as – as long as the sky, earth, air, water and fire remain separate, then the creation cannot be done, but as soon as it mixes together and takes the form of a fist, then the creation would have been done. Is. After this answer, Vidyotma accepts defeat and agree to marry with Kalidas.
(But in reality, when Vidyotma showed his hand to Kalidas, Kalidas felt that Vidyotma was pointing to slap him, which he responded by showing him a punch and indicated that if you slap, I will punch.)
When Kalidas and Vidyottama got married, after some time Vidyottama came to know that her husband was a foolish intelligent person and then later both of them separated.
How did Kalidasa attain enlightenment?
There is a lot of story about how Kalidas become a great poet. According to a story, when Vidyotma came to know that Kalidasa was a foolish person, then she separated from him, after which Kalidasa went to the temple of Maa Kali and worshiped Maa Kali.
Such a story is prevalent that one day people forgot to perform the evening aarti in the temple of Maa Kali and when they felt that due to the delay, Maa Kali would be angry with them, they sent Kalidas to worship Maa Kali because he was very foolish person. Kalidas was not aware that people were sending him for Kali Maa Aarti so that he would not have to face her anger.
When Kalidas performed the aarti of Mother Kali, Mother Kali was very happy with them and asked to ask for a boon. Kalidas only asked for knowledge from Mother Kali as a boon. So Maa Kali blessed him that you will have knowledge of all the books you will read tonight. Then he kept turning the pages of all the Rakhi books in the temple overnight. In the morning, when some people were studying, some wrong pronunciation came out of their mouth, after hearing which Kalidas said – अशुद्धं बक्तं (meaning you are speaking wrong).
Hearing this, people were surprised that how did they know this, then they mentioned the whole incident and told how they got knowledge by the blessings of Kali Maa.
There is also a story that when Vidyottama came to know that her husband was a fool, then Vidyottama gave him the knowledge of Sanskrit and when he got the knowledge, he started seeing Vidyottama as a guru and on the relationship of husband and wife with him. After raising objections, the two parted ways. It is believed that Vidyotma got very angry with his conduct and cursed him that you will die at the hands of a woman.
Work of Kalidasa
The great poet kalidasa had composed many compositions but among all the compositions seven compositions are very famous around the world. All his works are based on Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads. He has tried to explain Vedas, Purana Upanishads in a different way through his works. We can divide his composition in three category.
1. Mahakavya (Epic)
2. Khandkavya (Block Poetry)
3. Natak (Play)
Mahakavya by Kalidasa:-
Kumarasambhavam by Kalidasa:-
Raghuvansham by Kalidasa:-
Khandkavya by Kalidasa:-
Meghaduta
Ritusamhara
Play by Kalidasa
Malavikagnimitra
The play Malavikagnimitra is composed by Kalidas. This play is based on love affair. Kalidas has written this play in 5 part. The characters of this play are Malavika and Agnimitra. Agnimitra is fascinated by the beautiful appearance of Princess Malavika.
Abhigyan Shakuntalam
The play Abhigyan Shakuntalam is one of the world famous writings of Kalidasa. Kalidas has written this play in 7 parts. The characters of this play are King Dushyant and Shakuntala who both fall in love with each other. This play is also called the best drama of all Sanskrit literature.
vikramorvasiyam
Vikramorvasiyam is one of the famous plays written by Kalidasa. This play has 5 sections. The main characters in this play are Urvarshi and Pururavas. Pururavas who is also called Vikram falls in love with Urvarshi who is a god Apsara.
Influence of Kalidasa
At present, we can understand the influence of Kalidasa in two ways. We can understand his influence by dividing the time into two parts. If we talk about Kalidasa in the early times, then his influence would have been in Sanskrit at that time, just like Sexpire was in English in the West culture at that time. The influence of Kalidas can also be seen on the great poet of India, Rabindra Nath Tagore, because the influence of his work is found in Tagore’s writings on monsoon. The plays written by Kalidasa also influenced European literature in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is said that according to Dale Carnegie, the father of modern medicine, Sir William Osler always had a poem written by Kalidasa on his desk.
But today in the present era where Sanskrit is a spoken language but the people practicing it are almost non-existent. When something is not in use, it loses its effect, in the same way, Kalidasa is not as effective in today’s context because people who are interested in Sanskrit are now almost non-existent.
Criticism of Kalidasa
Kalidasa’s criticism is mainly for two things, in which he is accused of making obscene depictions of the married life of Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva when he was composing Kumarasambhavam, as a result of which he was cursed by Goddess Parvati. And after that he could not complete the epic Kumarasambhava.
Another story is such in which it is said that he had made an obscene description of the mole on the body of Goddess Kali.
Story about Kalidasa's Death
There is no evidence related to the death of Kalidasa, but there is a story which has been told by many people, according to which when Vidyottama comes to know that her husband is a great fool, then she gives him the knowledge of Sanskrit and Kalidasa also becomes adept. Now Kalidasa had started considering his wife Vidyottama as his guru and he was hesitant to have a relationship of husband and wife with her, then Vidyottama cursed him that he would die at the hands of a woman.
There are many stories on Kalidas’s death by a woman, some believe that he was killed by a Vaishya, while some people also believe that he was killed by Kamini, a courtesan in Sri Lanka.
General View on Kalidasa
Even today people’s opinion about Kalidasa is not the same, perhaps it is because one period of his life is very bad and the other quite golden. But even today people call a fool as Kalidasa, then one should not hesitate to say that even today his fame is not that rich because of a bad part of his life somewhere. Kalidasa is definitely a great personality for those who are interested in Sanskrit, have knowledge of poetry and writing.
If we read the composition written by Kalidasa, then it is understood that love and nature have been at the center in all his creations. Some people consider him to be a nature lover by making the basis of his creation.
But in today’s context when Sanskrit is no longer such an influential language because changing times have changed everything from language to language in the world. Sanskrit is a respected language, but it is the respect of an elderly person in the house. Like an elderly person has a lot of belongings in a family but it is not useful, then he loses his influence. In the coming tomorrow, when Sanskrit will remain only in books, then perhaps we will not be able to remember Kalidasa as a great fool.
Note – The information given on the life of Kalidas does not have a solid historical background, the information given about the life of Kalidas is based on social stories and information available in some books.
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