MAGHADUTA

(THE CLOUD MESSENGER)

by Kalidasa
KALIDASA
◦ Devanagari: कालिदास; fl. 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author
who is often considered ancient India's greatest playwright and dramatist. His
plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the 
Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas.[1] His surviving works consist of three plays,
two epic poems and two shorter poems.
◦ Much about his life is unknown except what can be inferred from his poetry
and plays.[2] His works cannot be dated with precision, but they were most
likely authored before the 5th century CE.
The Meghaduta 
◦ was written in four-line stanzas, each line having seventeen syllables, in a metre called
"mandakranta" ("the slowly approaching", as they translate it).

◦ Meghadūta (Sanskrit: मेघदूत literally Cloud Messenger)[1] is a lyric poem written by Kālidāsa

 (c. 4th–5th century CE), considered to be one of the greatest Sanskrit poets. It describes how
a yakṣa (or nature spirit), who had been banished by his master to a remote region for a year,
asked a cloud to take a message of love to his wife. The poem become well-known in Sanskrit
literature and inspired other poets to write similar poems (known as "messenger-poems", or 
Sandesha Kavya) on similar themes.
The great scholar of Sanskrit literature, Arthur Berriedale Keith,
wrote of this poem: "It is difficult to praise too highly either the
brilliance of the description of the cloud’s progress or the pathos of
the picture of the wife sorrowful and alone. Indian criticism has
ranked it highest among Kalidasa’s poems for brevity of expression,
richness of content, and power to elicit sentiment, and the praise is
not undeserved."
 Meghaduta – “Cloud Messenger”

Meghaduta is a love poem in 120 verses composed by Kalidasa. It is a unique verse in Sanskrit
literature. The work is divided into two parts, Purva-megha and Uttara-megha.
In this beautiful verse, Kalidasa represents the conversation between Yaksa (a servant of King
Kubera, who is exiled from Alakanagari for neglecting his duties) and the Cloud. He asked the
passing cloud to deliver a message to his lovely wife. He describes the beautiful landmarks and
sights throughout the cloud’s journey to Alakanagari at Himalaya.
Due to the curse by King Kubera, the yaksa stayed on Ramgiri mountain far away from his
lover. It was the time of monsoon, all over the speard of greenery and the clouds in the sky
dispirates him to meet his love. He passes his message to the clouds who act as the messenger.
Also, the beauty of monsoon and the nature, the relation of clouds with mountains are narrated
stunningly.
MAGHADUTA THE CLOUD MESSENGER
SAMPLE LITERARY PIECES

https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sha/sha17.htm