Shakuntala-

 Shakuntala-

The literary work of art and Kalidasa’s ability to inculcate the distilled and universalized emotional essence of rasa is unparalleled in the Sanskrit literary tradition.

In the background, Dusyanta, a king in northern India, is racing along in his chariot, preparing to shoot a deer. Suddenly, a forest-dwelling ascetic warns him not to shoot, since the deer belongs to the nearby hermitage of Kanva, a great sage. The ascetic invites King Dusyanta to visit the hermitage, which is under his royal protection. He explains that Kanva isn’t home, but the sage’s daughter, Shakuntala, is receiving guests.

When King Dushyanta enters the hermitage, he notices Shakuntala and her two friends, Anasuya, and Priyamvada, watering the sacred trees. He hides in the shadows to observe them, instantly drawn to Shakuntala’s beauty. When Dusyanta reveals his presence, a confused Shakuntala is immediately attracted to him, too. Though Shakuntala is modest and shy, the King questions Shakuntala’s friends about her and offers her his signet ring.

Shakuntala, who’s desperately lovesick, tells her feelings for him to her friends. When Shakuntala recites a love poem she’s composed for him, he emerges from hiding and openly declares his love for her. Their mutual declarations effectively constitute a secret marriage. Before long, Shakuntala is pregnant.

After Dusyanta is forced to return to his capital, Shakuntala is so distracted that she unintentionally offends Durvasa, a short-tempered sage, when he visits the hermitage. Durvasa puts a curse on her that will cause King Dusyanta to forget Shakuntala, but when Priyamvada intervenes, he grants that the sight of a memento—the signet ring—will lift the curse. After Kanva returns, he celebrates Shakuntala’s good fortune and sends her to join her husband, escorted by seers.

In the capital, when King Dusyanta receives word that a party from Kanva’s hermitage is on its way, he is surprised and uneasy. To Shakuntala’s grief, the baffled and defensive King denies having any connection with her. When she tries to show him the signet ring as a reminder, she discovers it’s missing from her finger. Dusyanta yields and agrees to house Shakuntala until she gives birth, but before he can do so, Shakuntala is spirited away to the celestial realm by nymphs.

A poor fisherman discovers the King’s signet ring in the belly of a fish and is threatened with execution, but he is let go with a reward after the King, seeing the ring and remembering everything, confirms his story. Soon thereafter, a nymph and friend of Shakuntala’s mother spies at the palace to find out why the spring festival has been cancelled. She learns that the King, overwhelmed by depression and guilt over Shakuntala, has forbidden the celebration. King Dusyanta continues to grip over the situation until Matali, the god Indra’s charioteer, appears at the palace and takes him away on an urgent mission to fight demons.

Six years pass. King Dusyanta successfully defeated the demons and was duly honoured by Indra. When Matali and the King tour the earth in a flying chariot, they descend to visit Marica’s hermitage, a celestial realm of the demigods. Here the King is astonished to meet a little boy who greatly resembles him. When he picks up the boy’s protective amulet—able to be touched only by the boy and his parents—he confirms that the boy, Sarvadamana, is indeed his child, the prophesied world ruler. Then Shakuntala enters, and, though it takes her a moment to recognize the King, they are soon tearfully reunited. The three of them talk with Marica the sage, and he explains Durvasas’s curse, telling the couple not to blame themselves or one another. Marica confirms Sarvadamana’s destiny and blesses the family, sending them home to live in Dusyanta’s court.

Kalidasa's the poet's best-known work, Abhijnashakuntalam (Shakuntala and the ring of recollection), often referred to as Shakuntala, is also based on an epic narrative and is hence characterized as a heroic romance. It tells of King Dushyanta's crucial meeting with the daughter of a royal sage and a celestial nymph, Shakuntala, in her adopted father's hermitage. Although the king marries her in secret, he is cursed to forget about the union until the ring he had given her is found in the belly of a fish. When the king's memory is restored, he reunites with Shakuntala as the tension between desire (kama) and duty (dharma) is reconciled through a blending of erotic and heroic sentiments.