THE GREAT KALIDAS

kalidas is considered to be one
of the greatest Indian literary
personalities of all time, and his
works form the cornerstone of
Indian mythology. Little is known
about his personal life , but legends abound. He
is known to be familiar with Greek Astronomy,
and has used a few Greek terms in his work.
According to one such popular legend, Kalidas
wasn't always so wise and learned. In fact,
there was a time he was considered to be one
of the stupidest people in the kingdom!
One sunny day, Kalidas was sitting on a branch
of a tree, trying to saw it off. But the dimwitted
man was sitting on the wrong end of the branch,
so when he finally sawed through the branch,
down he tumbled! This act of sheer stupidity
was observed by some shrewd pundits minister
passing by.
Now these pundits wanted to play a trick on the
arrogant princess, to teach her a lesson. She
was determined to marry someone who would
defeat her in a debate about the scriptures. The
princess had heaped considerable abuse on
them over a period of time, and they were
determined to extract their revenge. So, when
they chanced upon Kalidas, they decided to
present him to the queen as a suitable match
for her.
In order to conceal his stupidity, the pundits
asked Kalidas to pretend that he was a great
sage, who was observing a vow of silence.
Kalidas readily agreed, and they presented him
to the queen, saying that Kalidas would only
communicate by way of gestures. When the
queen asked Kalidas a few questions to test his
intelligence, Kalidas gesticulated wildly and the
astute pundits 'interpreted' these gestures as
extremely witty answers and retorts. The
princess was suitably impressed, and the couple
was married without much delay.
Kalidas's stupidity could be concealed for only
so long, and the night of the wedding Kalidas
blurted out something inane. The princess
realized that she had married a prize fool.
Furious, she threw him out of her palace, and
her life.
The dejected Kalidas wandered around, till he
came to the bank of the river. He contemplated
taking his life when he suddenly saw some
women washing clothes on the edge of the river
bank. He observed that the stones which the
women were pounding with clothes, were
smooth and rounded, while the other stones
were rough and ragged. This observation hit him
like a thunderbolt, and it dawned upon him that
if stones could be worn through and change
their shape by being pounded upon by clothes,
then why couldn't his thick brains change, by
being pounded upon by knowledge!
Kalidas thus grew determined to become the
wisest and most learned man in the country,
and to achieve this end he started indulging in
intellectual pastimes, reading, meditating and
praying to his goddess Kali to grant him divine
knowledge. His wish was fulfilled.
Kalidas's contribution to Indian literature is
tremendous. Though his writings were in
Sanskrit, they have been translated into
numerous languages. While numerous writings
have been attributed to him, only seven works
are proved to be genuinely his.
1. Malavikaagnimitra (Malavikaa and Agnimitra)
2. Vikramorvashiiya (The story of Urvashi and
Pururavas)
3. Abhigyanashakuntala (Shakuntala)
Of these plays, Kalidas is best known for the
play Shakuntala, which has gone on to receive
worldwide attention. Shakuntala was first
translated into English, then into German, and
then into several other western languages. The
other four works were poems.

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