KA'LIDA’SA’S KUMARASAMBHAVA. Cantos I-YII. EDITED WITH the commentary of Mallina'tha, a literal English translation, Notes and Introduction BY M. RB. Kale, » a. Author of (A Higher Sanskrit Grammar? ge, &e. ge. Thouroughly revised and enlarged BOLD BY THE STANDARD PUBLISHING Gu., BOMBAY. 1917. Pricr Rs. 2-12-0.All rights reserved by the Author. Printed by C. S. Deole at the Bombay Vaibhav Press, Servants of India Society's Buildings, Sandhurst Road, Girgaon, Bombay; and Published by Vishnu Pandurang Tendulkar, Proprietor of The Standard Publishing Company, 99, 100, Shantaram’s Chawl, Girgaum, Bombay.INTRODUCTION. *I Tue Poer. HIS LIFE AND WORKS. — At the outset it must be admitted that we have absolutely no trustworthy information regarding the perso- His Lite. na] history of Kalidasa, the brightest jowel of the mine of Indian poots, The curiosity of the querist who would ask—‘Where and when was he born’? «Who were his parents’? ‘When did he die ? &c.’-must ever reamin unsatisfied, The poet has studiously observed utter silence about himself in bis works. Read them howsoever we may, we find no allusion, no incident mentioned that may directly shed any light oithor on his person or any remarkable event of his life. In the words of Iazlitt ‘he was the loast of an egotist that it was possible to be,” His pootical productions alone stand as an immortal monument of his surpassing poetic excel- lence, And we must content ourselves with gathering what little information we can about a post of such world-wide repute from external sources and a few incidents found here and there in his works which have a distant bearing upon the history of his life, Reserving for a future section the question about the date of the poet, we proceed hore to state the few facts that can thus be known about him. A time-honoured tradition, supported by internal and extornal evidonce, associates the name of Kilidisa with that of the epoch-making king, Vikramaditya of Ujjayini, The keen interest and the filial love with which poet in his Meghadate describes the Mabdkila and Sipri, and the other beauties of Ujjayini, unmistakably point to the con- clusion that he must have been a native of that city, And the various covert references to the name of Vikramain his Vik. in fully eulogistic terms, which aro doubtless meant to immor- talize that king, are inexplicable if that monarch be not regard- edas the poet’s patron, Kélidisa also botrays considerable acquaintance with court-life in his works, This circumstance coupled with the fact that there is no allusion in his writings to the Goddess of Wealth having ever frowned upon him shows that he was in affluent circumstances and had not the misfor- “* The first two sections are mostly taken v-rdafim from our introduction, to Vike and Rag.