The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the ....
Transcript of The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the ....
![Page 1: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the
Classical Sanskrit Drama
The World’s Classics lecture series
![Page 2: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
The topics about which I shall speak today…
• What is Classical Sanskrit literature?
• Who is Kalidasa? Why should we be interested in him?
• The lyric drama of Kalidasa, Recognition of Shakuntala
• What we can gain from studying Kalidasa’s works.
![Page 3: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
India and the Classics
Modern Indian Languages: 1652; 129 languages spoken by more than a million people
Official Indian Classical Languages: Sanskrit,
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada
![Page 4: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
What makes a language classical?
a. “High antiquity of its early texts/recorded
history over a period of 1500-2000 years; b. A body of ancient literature/texts, which is
considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers;
c. The literary tradition it original and not
borrowed from another speech community”
![Page 5: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Two Distinct but Interrelated Classical Traditions
• 1. Dravidian South : Tamil, Kannada, Telugu
![Page 6: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Indo-European North
• Sanskrit and its ancient sisters
• These will become Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali etc.
![Page 7: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Why do we read the classical literature of India?
• It has shaped the culture of a major civilization of the world.
• It helps us to understand the mind-set of a major portion of the world’s population.
• It is full of excellent works that speak to all of us.
![Page 8: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Classical India: AD 400-1000
• In itself an historical concept = India of the Gupta Emperors
• The area covered is huge.
• Many different cultures and languages.
• Sankrit provides a lingua franca among the educated.
![Page 9: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
The Physical Reality of India of the 1st Millennium of our Era
![Page 10: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Classical India
• The literary legacy of Sanskrit Literature
• The Classical Language as standardized by Panini
• The literature produced in Classical Sanskrit includes works by Dravidian, Nepali and Sinhalese as well as Indian authors.
![Page 11: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
An Immense Literature
• Classical Greek literature represents a fraction
of what we have of Classical Sanskrit Literature.
• Literature in Classical Sanskrit is still being produced.
![Page 12: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
“Classical Sanskrit” is a linguistic concept.
• How much of this literature is “classic”?
• Developing a just aesthetic.
• Evaluating “classical” by enhancing our ability to judge.
![Page 13: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Why has it taken us so long?
• We’ve had access to many Sanskrit texts for 200 years.
• Classical Sanskrit Literature is NOT Classical Greek and Latin Literature.
• Some preconceived ideas
![Page 14: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1835
• “I have no knowledge of either Sanskrit or Arabic. — But I have done what I could to form a correct estimate of their value. I have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanskrit works. I have conversed both here and at home with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite ready to take the Oriental learning at the valuation of the Orientalists themselves. I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. . . ”
![Page 15: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
This opinion is still current among us.
• Sanskrit is not widely taught.
• Many standard references works reflect the
colonialist attitude.
![Page 16: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Looking today at one author…
• Even some 19th–century Europeans considered
Kalidasa a classic…
• Accessible because he is simply a very great writer
• He works in a genre that overlaps some in the West.
![Page 17: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Kalidasa wrote epic, lyric and dramatic poetry
• His themes are drawn
from Indian Mythology.
![Page 18: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
He universalizes the subjects he treats
He occupies the place where Western readers can enter the Sanskrit literary tradition.
We can read his works without requiring
substantial background.
• We may therefore count him among our classics.
![Page 19: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Who was Kalidasa?
• The problem with DATES in Indian literature.
• My position: Kalidasa lived at Ujjain at the
court of Vikramaditya in the 5th cen of our era.
• A period of homogenizing and consolidating of the Sanskrit literary culture.
![Page 20: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Kalidasa wrote kāvya.
• Kavi: a poet
• Kāvya is what a poet does
• Kāvya has many forms: it is itself a literary
genre.
![Page 21: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Sanskrit Literature’s genres
• Scripture
• Tradition/History
• Treatises (texts for instruction)
• Kāvya
![Page 22: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Kāvya Literature
• Includes metrical poetry AND prose
• Can be written in any language…but is best in
Sanskrit!
• The ultimate humanist genre
![Page 23: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
What Kāvya does….
Examining truth of human experience by examining
human responses to the world Human experiences examined as a variety of
emotional responses We learn by feeling; in our emotions lies profound
truth.
![Page 24: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
What Kāvya does….2
• Human emotional responses categorized
• Love, humor, energy, anger, fear, grief, disgust, amazement
• A work of Kāvya focuses upon one emotion and subordinates several others
![Page 25: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
What Kāvya does….3
• …to the audience: how does the reader respond to this poetry?
• Rāsa: “taste” … We sip the emotions offered in the art, we savor them
• The audience does not identify with the characters as it does in the Western tradition.
![Page 26: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Drama especially is where Indian Kāvya overlaps Western Poetry Sanskrit plays are among
the first texts to be translated into European languages
Influence upon Goethe:
“Prelude in the Theater” in Faust
![Page 27: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
We know rather a lot about ancient Indian drama.
Bharata’s “Natya-shastra” = treatise on drama But maybe TOO much for today’s lecture….
![Page 28: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
Kalidasa’s Abhijñānashākuntalam
• “The Recognition of Shakuntala” • Schiller’s assessment: "In the whole world of
Greek antiquity there is no poetical representation of beautiful love that approaches it even from a distance.”
![Page 29: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
The Mythic Plot
• A folktale embedded in the epic tradition
• Explains the parentage of Bharata, a great Indian epic hero
![Page 30: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Dushanta is a perfectly noble king.
• His kingdom stretches from Pakistan to Bengal.
• Virtuous, pious and true-hearted.
• On a hunting expedition.
![Page 31: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
In the āshram of the muni Kanva
![Page 32: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
He meets Shakuntala,
![Page 33: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
She is the daughter of Menaka and Vishvamitra.
![Page 34: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Like all drama drawn from ancient myths…
• One story leads to another…
![Page 35: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
Dushanta and Shakuntala fall in love and marry…
He must return quickly to protect his kingdom He gives her a ring He promises to send for her soon He leaves her pregnant.
![Page 36: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
While thinking of her husband
• Shakuntala neglects to give welcoming attention to Durvasa.
• Durvasa’s curse.
![Page 37: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Shakuntala goes to Dushanta’s court
• But he doesn’t recognize her
• She has lost the ring he gave her
• He refuses to accept her into his court.
![Page 38: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
Menaka spirits her pregnant daughter away to a secret fairyland.
• Meanwhile, Dushanta finds the ring and remembers.
• Lamentation, distress, but no Shakuntala for seven years.
![Page 39: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
One day Dushanta is asked by the gods to come to heaven to fight demons.
• On his way back to earth, his charioteer stops at the ashram of the super-sage Marica.
• He finds there his son and Shakuntala.
• Reconciliation and happily ever after.
![Page 40: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
Compared to the spare plots of Greek tragedy, this play is very long
• It has seven long acts.
• Probably one act was performed on each
successive day.
• Action covers many years.
![Page 41: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
But Kalidasa is not trying to create the perfect symmetrical plot.
He is presenting distilled emotion through poetry.
![Page 42: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Some examples of Kalidasa’s lyrical treatment of this myth.
• When Dushanta approaches the ashram of Kanva he is overwhelmed by the tranquility of the place:
Grains of wild race fallen from tree-hollows where parrots nest, lie scattered under the
trees; those stones there look moist, glossy, from the oil of ingudi-nuts split and pounded on them; all around, deer browse in their tranquil haunts, unafraid of the chariot’s approach; yonder, drops of water dripping off the edges of bark-garments in long lines, trace the paths to pools and streams. [Chandra Rajan’s translation]
![Page 43: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
When Dushanta enters the ashram, the ascetics use a metaphor of a
frightened elephant: ‘Crazed with fear at the sight of a
chariot, Scattering terror-stricken antelope-
herds, Holding aloft skewered on one trunk A branch sliced off a tree by a violent
blow And in fury dragging along tangled
chains Of trailing wild creepers that form
fetters round him, a tusker rampages in our Grove of Righteousness…the very embodiment of hindrance to penance.’
![Page 44: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
Kalidasa is a master of imagery
• Dushanta tries to describe Shakuntala:
“Contemplating Brahma’s imaging power ineffable
and her beauty, she flashes on my eye, a jewel among women Of another order of Creation, extraordinary; As if the Mighty Creator gathering rarest
elements of beauty pictured perfection first, Then quickened it with the Breath of Life.”
![Page 45: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
Love-sick Shakuntala
• “With ushira-balm spread thick over her breasts
And a single bracelet of tender lotus stalks That hangs pale and withered on her wrist.. How exquisite she looks in her pale loveliness: Summer’s heat can strike as savage as love… But to burn young girls into such splendor I cannot think that lies in Summer’s power.”
![Page 46: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
Shakuntala rejected by Dushanta “Her eyes red with anger look straight at
me, Her words flung out harsh, not smoothed
into a drawl: Her lower lip like a ripe bimba-fruit Is all quivering as if struck by an icy blast; Her eyebrows, graceful curves, Knot together in a twisting frown. When I cruelly denied our secret love Then did she dart flaming glances on me, Fiercely bending the graceful curve of
her brow, It seemed she snapped the bow of Love
itself.”
![Page 47: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
Dushanta sees his little son for the first time
This boy strikes me as the tiny germ Of might valor that waits Like a fiery spark for kindling, Before it bursts into a blazing fire. With fingers close knit, palm slightly
hollowed, the hand he stretches out in eager expectation
To hold the wished-for plaything, resembles
A single lotus bud, its petals tightly shut,
Just prized open by Dawn’s first flush of rose.
![Page 48: The Lyricism of Kalidasa and the Classical Sanskrit Drama · The Lyricism of Kalidasa . and the . Classical Sanskrit Drama. ... Kannada . What makes a language classical? ... humor,](https://reader030.fdocuments.net/reader030/viewer/2022021512/5aec59d67f8b9a45568e3395/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
Why read Kalidasa?
• An entrée into an immense and very great
literature.
• A new way of viewing human experience: by savoring and contemplating the truth within human emotions.