Sant kalidas a short glimpse

Kalidas was a great Sanskrit poet and playwright.  We all have very little information about Kalidasa's personal life.  Most scholars accept the fact that Kalidasa was a great poet and playwright between the fourth and fifth centuries AD.  Most of his plays and poems (poetry) are mainly based on Hindu mythology and philosophy.  He was an absolute worshiper of Goddess Kali and his name meaning Kalidasa literally means servant of Goddess Kali.

 Malavikagnimitram is considered to be the first play in the current plays of Kalidasa.  Which narrates the story of King Agnimitra, who falls in love with Malavika, an exiled maid.  Soon the queen learns of her husband's love for the maid, she angrily locks Malavika into a prison.  But Niyati supports the maid and, incidentally, Malavika proves to be the original princess and thus their love affair is approved.

 Kalidasa's second play is Abhigyan Shakuntalam, which is considered to be Kalidasa's masterpiece.  The play is world famous and has also been translated into English and German.  Abhigyan is based on Shakuntalam king Dushyant, who falls in love with Shakuntala, a beautiful girl with a simple background.  The two happily get married and suddenly destiny takes a drastic turn and the king returns to his capital due to some important work.  On the other hand, a sage curses Shakuntala that the king will forget him.  The sage later calms down upon hearing Shakuntala's pardon and tells him that when the king sees the ring given by him, the king will remember Shakuntala.  That ring of Shakuntala is lost while bathing in the river.  When Shakuntala comes to know that she is pregnant, the situation becomes more serious.  In the end, true love prevails, as the fisherman finds the ring, and upon seeing it, the king is reminded of his love.

Sant kalidas

 Among Kalidasa's current plays, Vikramorvashiyam is his last play.  It is considered his most mysterious drama.  The play is based on Raja Pururava, who falls in love with Apsara Urvashi, a devaloka.  Urvashi then writes a love letter to her lover on a birch leaf and goes back to perform dance in Devaloka.  Engaged in her lover's thoughts, she takes her lover's name into mind while performing the play, making the play worse.  Urvashi is punished as the play gets spoiled and she is banished from heaven.  She gets distracted due to unfortunate events and eventually moves to her lover on earth and lives happily with him.

 Apart from plays, he also wrote poems.  Some of his poetic works are Raghuvansham (the dynasty of "Raghu") and Kumarasambhavam ("Birth of the War God") as well as Meghdootam ("dense messenger").