Kālidāsa and His Age


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Contributed articles on life and works of Kālidāsa and the difference of opinion regarding his birth date.




Kalidasa's Similes In Sangam Tamil Literature: New Clue To Fix His Age


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KALIDASA is one of the greatest poets in the world. He became famous because of his apt similes and imageries in his seven works. He was a playwright and poet. His age is still an unsolved mystery. He is dated between second century BCE and 4th century CE, that means any date in a range of 600 years! Foreigners placed him in Gupta period around 4th century CE. But great Indian scholars dated him around first or second century BCE. I wrote a thesis to get Ph.D.in this matter. But the Sanskrit University asked me to put it in Sanskrit and I am yet to do it. After reading all the 18 books of Sangam Tamil literature and all the seven dramas and poems of Kalidasa, I came to conclusion that Kalidasa lived in Pre-Sangam period. Indian tradition also links him with the greatest of the Indian Emperors, Vikramaditya. After the original Vikramaditya of first century BCE died, hundreds of Hindu Kings called themselves Vikrama or Aditya or Vikramaditya. The proof for my thesis lies in the Kalidasa’s 200++ similes found in Sangam Tamil literature. Sangam poets even used the same epithet to the Himalayas (Kaanchana Srnga- Por Kotu) ‘Golden Peaked’. The first ten slokas of Kumara Sambhava of Kalidasa are used by Sangam poets to describe Himalayas and sages.




The Loom of Time


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Kalidasa is the major poet and dramatist of classical Sanskrit literature - a many-sided talent of extraordinary scope and exquisite language. His great poem, Meghadutam (The Cloud Messenger), tells of a divine being, punished for failing in his sacred duties with a years' separation from his beloved. A work of subtle emotional nuances, it is a haunting depiction of longing and separation. The play Sakuntala describes the troubled love between a Lady of Nature and King Duhsanta. This beautiful blend of romance and comedy, transports its audience into an enchanted world in which mortals mingle with gods. And Kalidasa's poem Rtusamharam (The Gathering of the Seasons) is an exuberant observation of the sheer variety of the natural world, as it teems with the energies of the great god Siva.







The Birth-place of Kālidāsa


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The Classical Age


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Contents: Introduction, The Empires of Ancient India, The Vakatakas, Post- Mauryan India, Political Order and Ideas, Social and Political Thought and Institutions, Kulyavapa, Dronavapa and Adhavapa, South India, The Age of Imperial Kanauj, The Mudrarakshasa the Web of Diplomacy, Valmiki, Vyasa and Kalidasa, R.C. Dutt s Translation of the Epics, Classical Literature, Conclusion.







Śakoontalá


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