KALIDASA, the most illustrious name among the writers of the second epoch of Sanskrit literature, which, as contrasted with the age of the Vedic hymns, may be characterized as the period of artificial poetry. The extremely corrupt form of the Prakrit or popular dialects spoken by the women and the subordinate char acters in his plays, as compared with the Prakrit in inscriptions of ascertained age, led Weber and Lassen to agree in fixing on the 3rd century A.D. as the approximate period of the writings of Kalidasa.
He was one of the "nine gems" at the court of King Vikra maditya or Vikrama, at Ujjain, and the tendency is now to regard the latter as having flourished about A.D. 375; others, however, place him as late as the 6th century. Kalidasa is in the first rank of Oriental poets. Kalidasa's fame rests chiefly on his several dramas, but he is also distinguished as an epic as well as a lyric poet.
He wrote three plays, the most famous of which is Sakuntalei. There are two recensions of the text in India, the Bengali and the Devanagari, the latter being generally considered older and purer. Sakuntald was first translated into English by Sir William Jones (Calcutta, 1789), who used the Bengali recension. It was soon after translated into German by G. Forster (i791; new ed. Leip zig, 1879). An edition of the Sanskrit original, with French trans lation, was published by A. L. Chezy at Paris in 1830. This formed the basis of a translation by B. Hirzel (Zurich, 1830) ; later trans. by L. Fritze (Chemnitz, 1876). Other editions of the Bengali recension were published by Prema Chandra (Cal cutta, 186o) for the use of European students and by R. Pischel (2nd ed., Kiel, 1886). The Devanagari recension was first edited by 0. Bohtlingk (Bonn, 1842), with a German translation. On this were based the successive German translations of E. Meier (Tubingen, 1851) and E. Lobedanz (8th ed., Leipzig, 1892). The same recension has been edited by Dr. C. Burkhard with a Sans krit-Latin vocabulary and short Prakrit grammar (Breslau, 1872) and by Professor Monier Williams (Oxford, 2nd ed. 1876), who translated the drama (5th ed., 1887). There is another transla tion by P. N. Patankar (Poona, 1888). There are also a South Indian and a Cashmir recension.
The Vikramorvasi, or Urvasi won by Valour, abounds with fine lyrical passages, and is of all Indian dramas second only to Sakun tald in poetic beauty. It was edited by R. Lenz (Berlin, 1833) and translated into German by C. G. A. Hofer (Berlin, 1837), by B. Hirzel (1838), by E. Lobedanz (Leipzig, 1861) and F. Bollensen (Petersburg, 1845). There is also an English edition by Monier Williams, a metrical and prose version by Professor H. H. Wilson, and a literal prose translation by Professor E. B. Cowell (1851). The latest editions are by S. P. Pandit (Bombay, 1879) and K. B. Paranjpe (ibid. 1898).
The third play, entitled Meilavikeignimitra, has considerable poetical and dramatic merit, but is confessedly inferior to the other two. It possesses the advantage, however, that its hero Agnimitra and its heroine Malavika are more ordinary and human characters than those of the other plays. It is edited by 0. F.
Tullberg (Bonn, 1840), by Shankar P. Pandit, with English notes (1869), and S. S. Ayyar (Poona, 1896) ; translated into German by A. Weber (1856), and into English by C. H. Tawney (2nd ed., Calcutta, 1898).
Two epic poems are also attributed to Kalidasa. The longer of these is entitled Raghuvamsa, the subject of which is the same as that of the Ramayana, viz., the history of Rama, but beginning with a long account of his ancestors, the ancient rulers of Ayodhya (ed. by A. F. Stenzler, London, 1832; and with Eng. trans. and notes by Gopal Raghunath Nandargikar, Poona, 1897, verse trans. by P. de Lacy Johnstone, 1902). The other epic is the Kumeira sambhava, the theme of which is the birth of Kumara, otherwise called Karttikeya or Skanda, god of war (ed. by Stenzler, London, 2838; K. M. Banerjea, 3rd ed. Calcutta, 1872; Parvanikara and Parab, Bombay, 1893; and M. R. Kale and S. R. Dharadhara, ibid. 1907; Eng. trans. by R. T. Griffith, 1879). Though con taining many fine passages, it is tame as a whole.
His lyrical poems are the Meghadiita and the Ritusamhdra. The Meghadfita, or the Cloud-Messenger, describes the complaint of an exiled lover, and the message he sends to his wife by a cloud. It is full of deep feeling, and abounds with fine descriptions of the beauties of nature. It was edited with free English translation by H. H. Wilson (Calcutta, 1813), and by J. Gildemeister (Bonn, 1841) ; a German adaptation by M. Muller appeared at KOnigs berg (1847), and one by C. Schutz at Bielefeld (1859). It was edited by F. Johnson, with vocabulary and Wilson's metrical trans lation (London, 1867) ; later editions by K. P. Parab (Bombay, 1891) and K. B. Pathak (Poona, 1894). The Ritusamhdra, or Col lection of the Seasons, is a short poem, of less importance, on the six seasons of the year. There is an edition by P. von Bohlen, with prose Latin and metrical German translation (Leipzig, 1840) ; Eng. trans. by C. S. Sitaram Ayyar (Bombay, 1897).
Another poem, entitled the Nalodaya, or Rise of Nala, edited by F. Benary (Berlin, 1830), W. Yates (Calcutta, 1844) and Vidya sagara (Calcutta, 1873), is a treatment of the story of Nala and Damayanti, but describes especially the restoration of Nala to prosperity and power. It has been ascribed to the celebrated Kalidasa, but was probably written by another poet of the same name. It is full of most absurd verbal conceits and metrical extravagances.
So many poems, partly of a very different stamp, are attributed to Kalidasa that it is scarcely possible to avoid the necessity of assuming the existence of more authors than one of that name. It is by no means improbable that there were three poets thus named; indeed modern native astronomers are so convinced of the exist ence of a triad of authors of this name that they apply the term Kalidasa to designate the number three.
On Kalidasa generally, see A. A. Macdonell's History of Sanskrit Literature (Iwo), and on his date, G. Huth, Die Zeit des K. (Berlin,