Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Lesson: Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Lesson Developer: Mehul Bhushan

Department/College: English Department, SGTB Khalsa

College

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Dusyanta and Sakuntala

(https://www.google.co.in/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=sakuntala&tbs=sur:fmc&gws_rd=c
r&ei=Iyv_VKCKKdONuATNw4LwCg#imgdii=_&imgrc=AB6qtN70eM4NkM%253A%3BqP
O9hF4DJthsrM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcom
mons%252Fa%252Fab%252F1940s_Vintage_Hindu_Print_Dushyant_%252526_Shakuntala.jpg
%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FShakuntala%3B533%3B800)

Kalidasa's Abhijnanashakuntalam is considered a masterpiece of classical literature in India.

It has been admired greatly in the west too. Having been the subject of numerous

commentaries and critical studies in many Indian languages including Sanskrit, it has

generated a vast body of artistic responses from early medieval to contemporary India.

However, precious little is known about the actual conditions of production or performance

of Abhijnanashakuntalam or its author Kalidasa. Kalidasa has been widely acknowledged as a

master poet of Sanskrit. The richness of his poetry has attracted many legends to his

name across centuries. One of these is Taranatha's recounting of a tale about Kalidasa's

transformation from a fool to a great poet, who gains unlimited knowledge through the divine

grace of Goddess Kali whence, he came to be known as Kalidasa.i

Kalidasa’s great reputation in literature has been consolidated through a coherence of style,

technique, language and sentiment found in six works, which have been generally

attributed to him. Of these, there are three plays or dramas in which Kalidasa has been referred

to as the author of the plays, found at the very beginning of the prologue to these plays. The

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

plays are Malvikagnimitra, Vikramovarsiya and Abhijnanashakuntalam. The title of each play is

either a combination of the names of the hero and the heroine of the play as is the case in

Malvikagnimitra (Malvika and Agnimitra), or the central idea in the play such as the

Vikramovarsia translated as Urvasi, who was won by valour. The three poems include two long

lyric narratives-Kumarasambhava and Raghuvamsa, and Meghaduta which is a monologue of

nature in the lyric mode.

There is a lack of certainty regarding Kalidasa’s exact dates. However, an upper limit of

AD 634 has been provided through external historical sources in which Kalidasa has been

praised as a great poet of classical literature. Many literary accounts relate stories about Kalidasa

serving as Chandragupta II’s envoy or ambassador to other kingdoms. Scholars have pointed

out that the poet’s knowledge of the geography of cities and villages of north

India may be a case in point. In Meghaduta for instance, Kalidasa’s beautiful description of

hills, rivers and city life of Malwa and Ujjayini shows his attachment to, and his experience of

court and administrative life in this region.ii

The many references in Kalidasa’s works to court life and culture, structures and

processes of administration, thus point to his intimate knowledge of Gupta dynasty’s rule under

Chandragupta II, who ascended the throne around AD 375. For example, various references to

the word ‘vikrama’ as in the title of his drama, Vikramovarsiya may refer to Chandragupta II,

who had explicitly fashioned himself and was known widely as ‘Vikrama’ and ‘Vikramaditya’.iii

His capital was Pataliputra, one of the earliest capitals in ancient Ganga valley civilization.

Due to such views about Kalidasa being a court poet during the reign of Chandragupta II, it has

also been argued by many literary scholars that Kalidasa enjoyed royal patronage. His audiences

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

included people belonging to the court. This is suggested strongly by the fact that the figure of

the King plays a central role in the three plays and his long poems too. And this is also borne out

in the sense that one gets of the geographical, historical and linguistic conditions of life in his

plays. Therefore Kalidasa’s life is shrouded in mystery which scholars have tried to reconstruct

through various textual and historical evidences, but the fact remains is that he has acquired a

great name for himself amongst spectators and audiences across centuries.

Abhijnanashakuntalam and Classical theatre and Culture

The Prologue to the play Abhijnanashakuntalam, states that it is a ‘navena natakam’. ‘Nataka’

or drama was said to be different from epic poetry, narrative poetry or fiction in that it was styled

as a spectacle with emphases on both aural and visual means of communication of meaning of

the play. In fact, the audience of a play was referred to as ‘preksaka’(spectator) and not a

‘srtotr’(audience). iv

Here, one must understand that the origin of Sanskrit drama is shrouded in mystery. Yet it is an

important field of literature in India which has had a full, varied and rich development and

reception history across time. In fact, many historians argue that it throws

light on the life, culture and the customs of Hindu society, in particular, during the five or six

centuries that preceded the conquest of the region by Muslims.

According to Bharata's principles of dramaturgy, drama is a vehicle of education presented in the

form of a delightful spectacle combining aural and visual elements. "It teaches duty to

those who violate duty, desire to those addicted to love; it reprimands those who behave

rudely, promotes restraint in those who are disciplined. It gives courage to cowards. It

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

enlightens fools and gives learning to learned men.” v Kalidasa's literary compositions too are

complex and multi-layered works which dramatize conflicting philosophies of art and life and

are an important site for exploring issues of caste, class, gender, kingship, motherhood and

romance.

Kalidasa’s plays accord well with the principles of drama enshrined in Bharata’s

‘Natyashastra,” which is the earliest work on dramaturgy in India. His plays present a tension

between desire on the one hand and duty, on the other. This tension is explored in the play

through the presentation of how the hero and the heroine conduct themselves in relation to

prescribed norms of behaviour in society. For instance, King Dusyanta is seen as forgetting his

duties as a King when he falls in love with Sakuntala in the forest. Also Sakuntala is punished by

Durvasa when she forgets the codes of behavior in the asrama and does not greet him in the

appropriate manner as is the norm in the asrama. This conflict is presented in the play through

the aesthetic representation of this conflicting relationship between heroic sentiment(vira rasa)

and the erotic(srngararasa).

It is crucial to understand that the production and presentation of 'rasa' is central to classical

theater in India. The 'rasa' or the 'mood' is essentially the distilled sentiment or the dominant

mood in a particular situation, that the poet presents to provide the audience with insight into the

situation. the experience of rasa thus, heightens the pleasure of the experience of

drama. The eight 'rasas' are the heroic, the erotic, the comic, the furious, the pathetic, the

disgusting, the horrible and the marvellous. The heroic and the erotic are central to Kalidasa's

drama and Sanskrit drama in general. In the play 'Malvikagnimitra' for instance, Kalidasa presents

the view that drama’s representation of the balance between duty or the gentle mode and desire

or the wild mode of human action is derived from Siva's androgynous body and Nature.vi This

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

invocation of the benediction of both Gods and Kings in his drama further points towards the

idea that Kalidasa was a court poet and that drama in his time was dominated by kings and

Brahmanas in royal courts. Yet it has been suggested that a medley of spectators enjoyed the

performance which can be discerned from Kalidasa’s use of various dialects of Prakrit in the

play which was the language of the common people.

Most scholars agree on the view that Kalidasa's play Abhijnanashakuntalam is largely based on

the Sakuntala narrative of the epic The Mahabharata. Yet this appropriation includes significant

modifications to the original narrative in the epic. The differences between the epic version of

the Sakuntala story and Kalidasa's modified one in his play helps to illuminate and

throw light on various questions of kingship, caste, class and gender that made up the social

fabric of life and existence in the Gupta period.vii

Traditionally, the conflict between the 'asrama' and court life of the king and also the conflict

between ‘vira rasa’ and ‘srngara rasa’, is embodied in the figures of the hero and heroine of the

play. It, has been considered as an important theme of Abhijananashakuntalam.

King Dusyanta embodies the virtues of 'vira rasa’. The hunting episode at the very beginning of

the play shows Dusyanta engaged in a royal pastime for his pleasure. The deer raised by the

asrama, has been reared and sanctioned for predatory sport of the royal family, who wielded

power in civilised society of the city or court. He is promptly stopped by a Brahmana of Kanva's

asrama, who tells him that the deer has been raised by Sakuntala and is therefore part of the

asrama. This signals a conflicting relationship between the asrama, ensconced within the ambit

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

of wild nature and the court, which is the civilized, but violent space.

Romila Thapar argues that this duality of home and exile in the forest, or ‘grama’ and ‘aranya’,

are important features of the epic genre and, which might have been the crucial structural, social

and spatial dichotomy on which Kalidasa has modelled his drama. This can be seen in the

characterisation of King Dusyanta representing culture, as the man of the court while Sakuntala

who belongs to the asrama is the embodiment of nature. Possibly this duality then symbolizes

the opposition between forces of nature and culture. Sakuntala has been portrayed in the play as

a child of nature. From her clothes and duties in the asrama to the natural gifts and adornments

that she receives when she departs for Dusyanta’s court, Sakuntala is seen as close to the natural

environment of the asrama.

The play is structured or built around a range of such dualities- of location as in the opposition

between asrama and the court, of the characters themselves and even the events. These

oppositions are woven into the opposition between ‘sambhoga srngar’ or union in love and

‘vipralamba srngar’ or separation in love. In the play, the dramatic tension is produced by such

dualities and also the division of the action between Kanva’s asrama and King Dusyanta’s court.

In fact, this dramatic tension is only resolved in the more distant duality of location in the play

which is the asrama of Marica and the court of Indra.

This dichotomy between the asrama and the court is symbolized in the ‘hunt’. The grama and

the court are that which are disciplined and ordered settlements. The creation of such a

dichotomy between the court and the forest could possibly be a result of the changing forms of

social organization based on clearing away of forested lands for agricultural cultivation which

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

required more complex and settled forms of living. So, grama or court was a more complex and

settled, ordered way of living than asramas in the forest.

However, it is significant to note that Kalidasa has created an interesting play of these

dichotomies. There is a deliberate inversion of the functions of asrama and the royal court. The

court should have been the location of blossoming of romantic love since it witnesses a more

domestic and settled way of life, which is not the case in Kalidasa’s play. In the play, it has

become the location for separation in love. On the other hand, it is the asrama which has become

the location for romantic love despite the fact that it is the site for the performance of rituals and

austerities. Moreover, a similar duality is evident in the figures of the raja, the King and the rsi or

the ascetic figure. The rsi moves out of a complex system of social duties and obligations of the

grama to establish alternative forms of living in the liminal space of the asrama, which will help

him perform rituals and accumulate his power. On the other hand, the raja is the protector of his

realms and ‘varnasramadharma’ and therefore, is also the upholder of social structures and

obligations. The hunt actually symbolizes a way of extending the dominion of the King over his

realms.

In the play, one can see that the grama or the court is the place where there is a hierarchical

social order. It is a place where the officers are corrupt and tend to be violent as opposed to the

asrama. The guards accuse the fisherman in the grama of stealing the ring and also make fun of

his lower stature in society. Such kinds of vignettes about routine, social life in the grama do not

coincide well with a picture of the Gupta period as the Golden Age in which all people

prospered.

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

This duality is also seen at the level of a tussle between ascetics and the King to gain greater

power in society. The power of the rsi is also conceded in the play just as that of the King. It

controlled human life and destiny and this is made apparent in rsi Durvasa’s curse which results

in the separation of the King and Sakuntala. Yet the King is seen as the protector of asramas and

ascetics from evil forces. In fact, the King’s acquisition of ritualistic merit can be seen as the

Kshatriya’s desire to maintain his control over his realms and challenge the greater power that

ascetics were gradually acquiring in society. Dusyanta is called upon to protect the asrama,

whether it is Kanva’s asrama or the distant one of Marica’s asrama, from the wild animals and

rakshasas in the play which suggests that he played an important role in the performance of

rituals and religious austerities.

King Dusyanta during the ‘hunt’ scene.

(https://www.google.co.in/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=sakuntala&tbs=sur:fmc&gws_rd=c
r&ei=Iyv_VKCKKdONuATNw4LwCg#imgdii=n0tN8iDRqE9bJM%3A%3B0ecUYegeP-
ATeM%3Bn0tN8iDRqE9bJM%3A&imgrc=n0tN8iDRqE9bJM%253A%3B7n4a7LTzMZFw8M
%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252F2%
252F2b%252FSakuntala_med_Ringen%252C_Skuespil_af_Kalidasas_s._46.png%3Bhttp%253
A%252F%252Fcommons.wikimedia.org%252Fwiki%252FFile%253ASakuntala_med_Ringen%
252C_Skuespil_af_Kalidasas_s._46.png%3B1317%3B951)

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Moreover, The King’s 'desire' to kill the deer instead of performing his 'duty' of protecting it as

he should protect all his subjects, draws out the conflict between pleasure(kama) and

duty(dharma). This conflict between 'kama' and 'dharma' is transformed into the

aesthetic conflict between two major ‘rasas’-the heroic and the erotic. The association of

Sakuntala with the deer that she has reared herself, suggests another predatory conquest or

pastime of the King.

King Dusyanta and Sakuntala

(https://www.google.co.in/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=sakuntala&tbs=sur:fmc&gws_rd=c
r&ei=Zir_VI7lHY6IuATigYLQDg#imgrc=zWKuZ_T7R63RUM%253A%3BmfHp-

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

2JSEhMBSM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcomm
ons%252F4%252F4c%252FSakuntala_med_Ringen%252C_Skuespil_af_Kalidasas_s._59.png%
3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcommons.wikimedia.org%252Fwiki%252FFile%253ASakuntala_m
ed_Ringen%252C_Skuespil_af_Kalidasas_s._59.png%3B1156%3B972

According to this aesthetic interpretation of the play, the ‘hunt’ pursued by the King is therefore

seen as a war against the innocent people of the asrama including the heroine Sakuntala, who are

the keepers of Nature. Natural space of the asrama is seen as being corrupted and harmed by

this royal pastime. Madhavya, the King’s companion, accuses him of turning the ‘penance grove’

into a ‘pleasure garden’.

Indeed, the King’s own transformation from the protector of his realms to a ‘rasika’ in hot

pursuit of Sakuntala is seen as a threat to the King’s martial prowess-his ‘dharma’ and

‘purusartha’. It is notable that the role of the Hero and the Heroine in Kalidasa’s plays are

crucial to exploring both the poet’s and his audiences’ emotional responses to different

situations.viii

Sakuntala or the ‘nayika’ of Abhijnanashakuntalam, who is the embodiment of erotic desire, is

central to the representation of srngara rasa in the play. She is the desiring subject in accordance

with the ‘rasa’ theory, and also the object of male desire. Her actions and emotions

are mapped by the gaze of the upper caste and upper class male rasika of royal lineage-

Dusyanta. It is Dusyanta, who is constantly commenting on the gap between Sakuntala’s inner

erotic desires and her ostensible, confused ‘demeanour’. For instance,

“Sakuntala (pretending anger): Anusaya I am leaving.”ix

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

And it is this so-called unbridled impulse of Sakuntala that has been implicitly chastised in the

play through the device of Durvasa’s curse and also in the court by the King. And though

Gandharva marriage is recognized as a legitimate form of marital union, Sakuntala’s negotiation

of her own marriage in the space of the green forest is criticized by men in the court,

which is the space of power and patriarchal authority. Her conduct goes against what is

prescribed to a good upper caste woman in a feudal patriarchal order. In fact, it is the device of

the royal signet ring, a symbol of royal authority that helps sanctify the King’s desire for and his

marriage with Sakuntala, and as well as his bereavement upon her loss. Sakuntala has to undergo

strict ritualistic penance in Marica’s asrama, and through it she is made to conform to the ideal

of ‘pativrata’, thereby bringing about a balance between ‘vira rasa’ and ‘srngara rasa’.

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Raja Ravi Varma Sakuntala

The desiring subject and the object of male desire

(https://www.google.co.in/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=sakuntala&tbs=sur:fmc&gws_rd=c
r&ei=Iyv_VKCKKdONuATNw4LwCg#imgdii=_&imgrc=YeyIiFUvVOzppM%253A%3BqPO
9hF4DJthsrM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcomm
ons%252Ff%252Ffa%252FRaja_Ravi_Varma_-_Mahabharata_-
_Shakuntala.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FShakuntala%3
B485%3B815)

The device of the ring and the role of memory is also an important link to an aesthetic experience

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

of the play. According to the tenth century Kashmiri philosopher Abhinavagupta, Kalidasa’s

conception of memory and its role in drama is linked to his view that memory is not merely the

recollection of past events, but provides an alternative insight or a fresh perspective into the past

events that help one to recreate and thus, transcend personal experience to enter into the realms

of beauty and imagination and see one’s action from a different perspective. For example,

Abhinavagupta notes that in the fifth act of the play. When the King encounters Sakuntala he is

forced into confronting his inner clouded, rather muddied memory and tries to understand why

he felt the pain of ‘separation’ from Sakuntala.xiAt another level, his inner struggle upon his

meeting with Sakuntala reminds the audience of the first meeting of the King and Sakuntala and

heightens the celebratory pleasure that they get from the reunion of the hero and heroine of the

play.

Ideologies of Kingship, Love and Marriage in Abhijnanashakuntalam

However, it must be noted that this aesthetic appreciation of the play based on ‘rasa’ theory of

dramaturgy leaves many questions unanswered in the play regarding the historical conditions of

its production. Romila Thapar in her path breaking work, ‘Sakuntala- Texts, Reading, Histories’

argues that Kalidasa’s adaptation of the original Sakuntala narrative from the epic introduces

many changes in the play which not only reflect changes in the story but also in the historical

context of the play. She notes that the character of Sakuntala too underwent a remarkable change

in the play in contrast to the Sakuntala of the epic. Kalidasa’s reworking of the theme from the

epic version includes romance, anguish of separation, tragedy and happiness at the end in the

reunion of the lovers. This presentation of a wide range of emotions is a crucial aspect of the

experience of the play and is different from the epic version of the narrative. Her treatment of the

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Sakuntala narrative involves studying the play as a work of literature in relation to its historical

context. She points out that, “an item of literature, as a narrative, relates to history, not for what it

says which is anyway fictional, but for what it might indicate for being historically significant.”xii

She therefore looks at the many changes in the representation of the central figure of Sakuntala

across time and space to study not just the historical context of the narrative and its many

versions but also to highlight the varied gender relations through time.

Abhijnanashakuntalam can be located within the context of material reality of

concretization of patriarchy and monarchy in the Gupta period, in which it is believed to

have been produced and performed. The Gupta period is generally thought of as the ‘Golden

period’ in the history of India, Yet, it was also a period in which due to a shift from pastoralism

to a more stable agriculture-based economy, communal property was converted to private

property that was now largely owned by the King. This was done in a big way through granting

of common lands to Brahmanas, who supervised these lands or ‘agraharas’ under the control of

the King. This, in turn, led to hardening of caste and patriarchal structures under royal

patronage.xiii

It is notable that the court and life, in general, in the Gupta period was exceedingly dominated by

a nexus of power in Kshtriya king and the Brahmanas who wrote long genealogies, praising the

King and thereby, legitimizing his rule. In return, they enjoyed royal favours and patronage. For

instance, the benediction to Siva at the beginning of the play not only helps in putting

the play in a religious context and thereby, granting it religious sanctity but also points to a view

of kingship according to which the King, like Siva, occupied a central position in relation to

divine, natural and social worlds.

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Romila Thapar argues in her incisive analysis of the many adaptations of the Sakuntala narrative

across time that the Sakuntala narrative having undergone various modifications in its biography,

signals or reflects different social and cultural perceptions that can only be understood by

studying the various versions of this narrative at different points in history. Moreover, she points

out that the Sakuntala narrative for instance, when adapted from the epic story in the

Mahabharata into a play by Kalidasa reflects a completely different historical scenario which can

be seen in the many transformations in the play like the introduction of the devices of the curse

and the ring. For instance, the asrama of Kanva is not the pure, secluded space in the forest

untouched by the corruption prevailing in the Court and the city. The asrama was infact an

incipient form of the institution of ‘agraharas’ or tax free lands that had been granted by the King

to the Brahmanas for cultivation. Hence, the asrama added to the revenue and wealth of the

King. This is reflective of the change in perception in the Gupta period towards forested lands.

These forests were now being seen not as completely wild spaces in relation to the ordered world

of the court and city, but as potential sources of agriculture and revenue. The Brahmans who

were part of Kanva’s asrama, were attuned well to nature but had not been entirely unaware of

the mores and values of city life.xiv

In the epic version of the Sakuntala narrative, the role of Brahamanas in moving the action

forward is limited. The play, however, is peopled by Brahmanas who have a major role in

moving the plot forward to its conclusion. This reflects the material basis of the King’s

legitimacy to rule over the ‘kshetra’ and expand his territories in collusion with the Brahmanas.

For instance, Kanva’s asrama is not the complete opposite of the court of the King. Rather it is

located at the interstices of the Court and the forest and occupies a liminal space. Probably,

the native inhabitants of the forests who were largely known as ‘kimpurusa’ had to be subdued

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

and brought under the control of the Brahmanas like Kanva, who supervised and developed these

forests into agricultural fields.xv This would have augmented the King’s property and wealth,

and therefore increased his dominion over new lands. In turn, the king performed his spiritual

duty of protecting the rituals and the asramas of Brahmanas like Marica’s from threat of wild

animals and ‘rakshasas’ who lived in these forested lands and could actually be the original

native inhabitants driven away from their habitat by the King and his men. Dusyanta’s

‘purusartha’ and his spirituality were in reality the multifarious ways of controlling his kingdom

which was based on feudal and monarchical social structures.

Even the conceptualization of the figure of the woman, as Romila Thapar has rightfully pointed

has undergone a transformation. The free-spirited, forthright Sakuntala of the epic who bargains

with Duhasanta has undergone tremendous change in the play. She is shown as a sweet, innocent

and submissive child of the forest and asrama who grapples with emotions of love and sexual

desire and knows no deceit. Sakuntala in the epic was empowered to the extent that she was the

carrier of the son and heir of Duhsanta. In the play, however, due to the foregrounding of

romantic love, Sakuntala who is completely controlled by the gaze of patriarchal society is made

to conform to the ideal of ‘pativrata’ wife so as to be accepted by the King and people of Court

and city, which in itself show a hardening of patriarchal structures in society. In the final act too,

Sakuntala forgets all the ill treatment that she met at the hands of the King Dusyanata and

consoles herself by telling herself that he had not spurned her and it was not his fault that he lost

his memory. She tries to exonerate her husband.

Furthermore, his way of articulating his love for Sakuntala also has a very worldly, material

basis to it despite the fact that it has been presented as a much idealized love. Sakuntala’s beauty

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

in the play has been described in terms of her fertility. For instance, she is described in beautiful

poetic terms as sea-girdled earth.xvi This is part of the evocation of srngara rasa, which gives

erotic power and sexual agency to the heroine Sakuntala. Clearly then this poetic description of

Sakuntala as central to srngara rasa only obfuscates or mystifies the King’s interest in

controlling her sexuality for obtaining further control over lineage and property rights through

the begetting of a legitimate heir (Bharata) for his successor. This heir will ‘turn the wheels’ of

his kingdom. In fact when he is shown the ring, Dusyanta regrets Sakuntala’s departure and also

the loss of a son and an heir. He harbours numerous fears such as the idea that his Puru lineage

might terminate with him if he does not beget a son. Control of the womb is inextricably linked

to control over land and property.

Therefore, both land and love were associated with concerns over property rights and marital

laws which represented the King’s power to rule the land in the Gupta period.

In fact, the epic version of the story presents Sakuntala as assertive and a free-spirited woman

who not only negotiates the terms of her marriage but also accuses Dusyanta for his unrighteous

conduct when he rejects both Sakuntala and her son. She was the very opposite of ideal

‘pativrata’ wife. The woman was a crucial link to various clan-based alliances in society at the

time when Adiparavan of the Mahabharata, which contains the Sakuntala story, must have been

compiled.xvii However, in Kalidasa’s play the heroine Sakuntala is denied her role as a wife and

mother of the King’s successor through clouding of the King’s memory due to the curse. It is

because of the sub plot of the curse that the text remains silent on the question that the King’s

rejection of Sakuntala could also be due to the fact that he is trying to seek a legitimization of

this relationship with a woman who, according to the customs and traditions of patriarchal

society in the Gupta period, should not have expressed her physical or emotional desires. The

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

strategies of controlling sexuality and particularly, female sexuality, apart from a recuperation

of alternative forms of family and marriages has been hidden by the discourse of romantic love

and the play of memory and desire in Kalidasa’s drama. As mentioned earlier, Sakuntala in the

play is therefore, made to undergo strict ritualistic penance to make her conform to the ideal of

chaste, ‘pativrata’ woman.

Durvasa’s curse

https://www.google.co.in/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=sakuntala&tbs=sur:fmc&gws_rd=cr
&ei=Iyv_VKCKKdONuATNw4LwCg#tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACQAeqrTe9HjOIjg2AEfZ6TI3
ncGzBK_16LlSSmdDOLnOrRdsT_1eysa-mjxcYPGOwmweQqkrcW3I6zfQh-
4r1qumierioSCTYAR9npMjedEbWyVPbWM48WKhIJwbMEr_1ouVJIRDmDWLg8QFaEqEg
mZ0M4uc6tF2xEwV5LuDHqBWioSCRP97Kxr6aPFEfpYsT9UVwjeKhIJxg8Y7CbB5CoRJM7
nVH-
sRe8qEgmStxbcjrN9CBFzZ8u_1QXK38yoSCX7ivWq6aJ6uEcveA73sUD5u&q=sakuntala&im
gdii=_&imgrc=kXMfjX-
BNR7FYM%253A%3BRJHENEz07HAhIM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.or
g%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252F9%252F9a%252FDurvasa_Shakuntala.jpg%3Bhttp%2
53A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FDurvasa%3B655%3B899

The subplots of the curse and the ring fill out the play but also bring out the tension between

Dusyanta and Sakuntala over the issue of paternity of the child. Dusyanta cannot be blamed for

rejecting Sakuntala and her son. These subplots therefore help to avoid commentry on the

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

Dusyanata’s ill treatment of Sakuntala. On the other hand, Sakuntala of the play unlike her

counterpart in the epic, does not defend the rights of her son as Dusyanta’s heir.

Further, Abhijnanashakuntalam has been canonized and is widely known as a Sanskrit

play. But it is a lesser known fact that it uses many different forms of Prakrit. Lyric poetry was

entirely composed in courtly Sanskrit while drama, having connection with popular tradition

rather than belonging to purely academic culture, was multilingual.xviiiIn fact, Sanskrit in

the play Sakuntala is largely used by the King and the Brahmanas, while different dialects of

Prakrit are used by various female characters, fishermen, rakshasas and others of lower ranks in

society. Even the use of languages in the play reflects inequitable distribution of power,

cultural artifacts and knowledge in society and therefore, brings out the hierarchies of caste,

class and gender in Gupta period.

And although, according to popular perception, Sakuntala is the heroine and lead character of the

play, in accordance with the norms of a feudal and rigid patriarchal order, it is King

Dusyanta, who wields power in the world of the play. Clearly, the articulation of the heroic King

of near supernatural qualities was possible within the space of Court culture and politics.

It is important to note that Abhijnanashakuntalam has had a vibrant history of

reception and cannot just be reduced to a work of art representing the society in the

Gupta period when it was produced. Indeed, the play has been at the centre of a variety of

theoretical and critical commentaries on drama and literature in both India and the West. From

being translated for the Mughal court under Emperor Farrukh Siyar in 1716 AD to being

acclaimed and translated in German by renowned German poet Goethe, the play has occupied a

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

central position in discussions of poetry and drama.xix It has also provided the ground for many

nationalist debates in the nineteenth century in India and became important in discussions of

cultural policies of European imperial powers. Thus, the play has played an important role

in its contribution to a construction of tradition and culture in India.

Glossary

1. Asrama: A Sanskrit term refereeing in a very general sense to residences of people

who live and perform austerities in secluded habitatas, including forests after withdrawal

from society

2. Agrahara: Lands granted by Kings to Brahmans for the purposes of cultivation and

agriculture

3. Dharma: The order of things in the world. The word dharma has many connotations.

Here, it could possibly means ethical conduct and the duty of a King

4. Navena Natakam: According to Sanskrit terminology, it means ‘new play’

5. Preksaka: Refers to the spectators of a play who behold or look at the performance of

drama

6. Purusartha: The goal of one’s life, which one strives for throughout one’s time spent on

earth

7. Rakshasas: Demonic beings or unrighteous spirits who cause destruction to the

civilization and the world

8. Rasa: Denotes the ‘flavour’, essence, juice of an emotional sentiment or mood

9. Rasika: an aesthete, spectator band connoisseur who experiences the various flavours
of an emotional sentiment or situation and is enlightened as a spectator

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

10. Vikrama: One who is wise, brave, strong and also emerges victorious in many tough
situations like war. Generally, the term is associated with kings.

Notes
i
Barbara Stoler Miller, ed., Theater of Memory (New York: Columbia University Press,1984), 3.
ii
Barbara Stoler Miller, 5.
iii
Barbara Stoler Miller, 11.
iv
Saswati Sengupta, DeepikaTandon, eds., Revisiting Abhijnanashakuntalam: Love, Lineage and
Language in Kalidasa’s Nataka (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2011) , 3.
v
Barbara Stoler Miller, 15.
vi
Barbara Stoler Miller, 15.
vii
Romila Thapar, Readings in Early Indian History (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013),
441.

viii
Barbara Stoler Miller, 17.
ix
Saswati Sengupta, DeepikaTandon, eds., 10.
x
Raja Ravi Verma, Shakuntala - Looks Of Love, 1898

xi
Barbara Stoler Miller, 39-40.
xii
Romila Thapar, Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories, (New York: Columbia University Press,
2010), 44-83
xiii
RomilaThapar, ed.,Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History, (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2000), 41-57
xiv
Romila Thapar, Readings In Early Indian History 441-446
xv
Saswati Sengupta, DeepikaTandon, eds., 149-151
xvi
Saswati Sengupta, DeepikaTandon, eds., 10-12

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Kalidasa Abhijnanashakuntalam

xvii
Romila Thapar, Readings In Early Indian History, 441-443
xviii
Barbara Stoler Miller, 22-24.
xix
Romila Thapar, Readings In Early Indian History, 443-445

Bibliography

Macdonnel, Arthur. A History of Sanskrit Literature. New York, D Appleton and Company,
1900.

Miller, Barbara ed. Theater of Memory. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984.

Sengupta, Saswati and DeepikaTandon, eds. Revisiting Abhijnanashakuntalam: Love, Lineage

and Language in Kalidasa’s Nataka. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2011.

Thapar, Romila ed. Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2000.

Thapar, Romila. Readings in Early Indian History. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013.
xix
Thapar, Romila. Sakuntala:Texts, Readings, Histories. New York: Columbia University Press,
2010.

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi