MAHAKAVI KALIDASA

MAHAKAVI KALIDASA
Kālidāsa was a Classical Sanskrit writer, widely
regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the
Sanskrit language of India.
His plays and poetry are primarily based on the
Vedas, the Mahabharata and the Puranas.
Mahakavi Kalidas who is honoured as one of the
greatest poets of the world, and is described as the
Shakespeare of India, belonged to the Gupta period.
An inscription, discovered most recently, in 1964,
establishes his birth in Ujjayini and shows him as a
contemporary of King Vikramaditya, who was
obviously Chandragupta Vikramaditya.
 Early Life
• According to legends, Mahakavi Kalidas was a
Brahmana by birth, and was ignorant and
uneducated. Through the trick of some persons
he could marry a princess. But when he was
discovered to be a fool, he left the house in
search of learning and through the grace of a
goddess, ultimately became a celebrated poet.
• Tradition has led the people to believe that
Kalidas was one of the nine gems or Navaratna
of the court of King Vikramaditya of Ujjayini.
Historians have accepted him as one of the
greatest Sanskrit poets and Dramatists.
 THE GUPTA EMPIRE
• First Chandra Gupta – The founder of
the Gupta Empire
• Samudra Gupta
• Second Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya
– Kalidasa was apparently in his
court.
• Kumaragupta
Notable works-
Abhijñānaśākuntalam
Raghuvaṃśa
Meghadūta
Vikramōrvaśīyam
Kumārasambhava
Kavya was the major form of classical
literature in Sanskrit.
 GREAT KAVYA OF
KALIDASA
Raghuvamsa (Dynasty of Raghu)
- Epic poem, which is a Mahakavya,
describes of Rama’s ancestors, of Rama himself,
and of Rama’s successors in Ayodhya.

Meghaduta (The Cloud Messenger)

- Lyric poem about separated lovers
 FAMOUS DRAMAS
MALAVIKAGNIMITRA - he deals with the theme of love
between prince Agnimitra and the princess Malavika

SHAKUNTALA
(Shakuntala and the Ring of Recollection)
- poetic drama, tells the story of a love affair
between a king and a woodland maiden Shakuntala
- a universal drama of the passion, separation,
suffering and reunion of lovers.
 Puranas
A genre of mythological narratives
Five topics of Puranas:
1. The creation of the universe
2. The destruction and re-creation of the
universe
3. The genealogy of the gods and holy sages
4. The reign of the Manus (legendary Hindu
figures)
5. The histories of the kings who trace their
ancestry the sun and the moon
 SAKUNTALA
•The Sakuntala of Kalidas has been regarded as the
greatest of all the classical Sanskrit dramas.
•It is said that when Sir William Jones translated
`Sakuntala’ of Kalidas into English and published it in
1789, it created a sensation among the Europeans that
such a wonderful drama could have been written in
ancient times, describing human emotion and feeling in
such a super way.
•The work was translated to German, French, Danish,
Italian and other languages.
•The celebrated German poet Goethe was so powerfully
impressed by this magnificent work that he regarded it as
the greatest drama ever written in any literature.