Fwd: Kalidasa And Ancient India

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IndiaArchaeology , " JK " <tiptronicus wrote:

 

 

http://www.sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=300030

 

Sanskrit literature is a perfect form of a perfect pleasure. It

becomes a lifelong obsession for most connoisseurs; I know of no other

body of literature that is so wholesome, so cultivating and uplifting,

and so timeless in its appeal to readers. Sanskrit literature easily

spans a period of some 5000 years; even though the language was no

longer being spoken in the streets as far back as 1000 BC, literature

continues to be created in Sanskrit to this day.

 

Kalidasa is undoubtedly among the greatest poets of all time, and

certainly the greatest among Sanskrit poets after Vyasa and Valmiki.

Four poetic works, Raghuvamsa, Kumarasambhava, Meghaduta, and

Ritusamhara, and three dramas, Vikramorvasiya, Malavikagnimitra, and

Abhijnanasakuntala are attributed to him; in addition to these, Indian

tradition attributes to him several other works in diverse

disciplines, ranging from poetics and astrology to mathematics and

astronomy. It goes without saying that he had more than a little

mastery of all these disciplines. His casual references to the

sciences, philosophy, and literary tradition in his works are

particularly enchanting, and show the extent of his mastery over the

various disciplines. His breathtaking reference to Valmiki and the

Ramayana in the Meghaduta (Valmikagrat prabhavati dhanuhkhandam

akhandalasya) and the Sankhya and Vaiseshika philosophies in the

opening invocation of the Raghuvamsa (Vagarthaviva samprktau�) are

only two most famous examples. It is only fitting that his most famous

commentator, Mallinatha Suri should say that he spent his entire life

appreciating Kalidasa (Maghe Meghe gatam vayah)!

 

The purpose of this brief article is to establish the date of Kalidasa

and to examine two of his works for interesting historical

information. I also verified the information against traditional

sources such as the Puranas, and drew several conclusions, which I

hope the readers will find interesting and useful.

 

Kalidasa's Date

 

Almost nothing definite is known about Kalidasa's life, although

legends abound. What one can definitely infer from his works is that

he was a Brahman, a devotee of Siva, but not a fanatic of any Hindu

sect, was widely travelled and very well versed in the arts, sciences

and philosophy of his day. He lived in a city in affluent

circumstances, and was well acquainted with royal courts and court

politics, almost certainly because he was patronised by a powerful

king. Kalidasa has been placed in the Gupta period (5th century AD) by

the early European historians of India (where he continues to be

placed faithfully even today). The following circumstances seem to

have influenced their decision:

 

Association with King Vikramaditya

 

Indian tradition has long associated Kalidasa with a king bearing the

title Vikramaditya. The Guptas had been great patrons of fine arts, so

it would have been quite irresistible to identify the patron with the

Gupta king, Chandragupta II, who also bore the title of Vikramaditya,

and place Kalidasa in the Gupta era.

 

Emperor Skandagupta's victory over the Huns

 

Kalidasa mentions the conquest of the Huns by King Raghu in the poem

Raghuvamsa. One famous Indian king who performed this feat was the

Gupta king, Skandagupta; this apparently strengthened the belief of

the early historians that Kalidasa belonged to the Gupta period.

 

Resemblances with Asvaghosha's works

 

There are close resemblances in certain passages in the poetry of

Kalidasa and Asvaghosha1, the author of the celebrated Buddha Charita.

Asvaghosha has been reliably dated to the 1st century AD, because of

his association with the Kushan emperor, Kanishka. Clearly one of the

poets is imitating the other; Kalidasa was conveniently stamped the

imitator (with no convincing proof), as this further helped in placing

him in the Gupta era!

 

I am certain that Kalidasa belonged to the 1st century BC for the

following reasons:

 

Association with King Vikramarka

 

There is a strong Indian tradition that associates Kalidasa with King

Vikramaditya of the Paramara dynasty (known as Vikramarka in south

India) who ruled Malwa from Ujjain during the 1st century BC. This

ruler gave his name to the Vikrama or Samvat Era, which starts in 57

BC1). He is one of the most celebrated kings in Indian tradition, and

a number of legends are associated with him. Even though tradition

associates a number of Indian notables (the nava-ratnas, nine gems) of

widely divergent periods with Vikramaditya, his association with

Kalidasa is particularly strong. The 19th century western savants

disregarded the Indian tradition as Vikramarka's historicity (based on

epigraphical evidence) was not yet established then. However, later

research has firmly established the credentials of the Paramara

dynasty, so there are few reasons to disregard tradition now.

 

Kalidasa has consistently called Pururavas " Vikrama " in the drama

Vikramorvasiya. It is generally conjectured that Kalidasa did this to

honour his patron. He included the name in the title of the drama

itself to ensure propagation of his patron's name. In addition, the

name Mahendra is mentioned together with Vikrama several times in the

Vikramorvasiya2; we know from the Kathasaritsagara that Vikramaditya's

father was known by this name. It is a tribute to the fine tastes of

both the poet and his patron that they were satisfied with such subtle

references!

 

Kalidasa lived in Ujjain Kalidasa was clearly closely associated with,

or lived in Ujjain, the capital of Vikramarka. His love for this city

and the Malwa country is particularly apparent in the Meghaduta, from

the way he holds forth lovingly on this city in the poem. The Yaksha's

request to the cloud messenger to make a detour to visit Ujjain, the

description of the dance of the devadasis in the Mahakaleswara Temple,

and the incomparable descriptions of the city and of the river Sipra

leave no one in doubt of this.

 

Raghu's victory over the Huns

 

I don't think Kalidasa was recording Skandagupta's victory over the

Huns in the Raghuvamsa, because he also mentions that Raghu conquered

Yavanas (Ionians i.e., Greeks) and Parasikas (Persians), besides

several Indian kingdoms; Kalidasa merely named all the kingdoms and

nationalities known at his time to impress his readers with the extent

of Raghu's conquests.

 

Kalidasa's poetic style is not medieval

 

Kalidasa's poetry is stylistically very different from early medieval

Sanskrit poetry, such as that of Dandin and Bharavi. Kalidasa's poetry

is chartacterised by simple and fine language, small compound phrases

(samasas), simple metres, extremely apt and beautiful similes (of

which he is justly famous), fine humour and understated irony. This

style has been called the Vaidarbhi by later aesthetes3. On the other

hand, the work of early medieval Sanskrit poets is highly stylised and

technical, depends on the use of complex samasas, rather far-fetched

figures of speech, and tricky slokas that read the same in reverse or

play on a single letter etc (Bharavi's Kiratarjuniya is a rather fine

example of this genre). Such stylisation usually takes several hundred

years of continuous tradition to evolve.

 

Internal evidence in the Meghaduta

 

Kalidasa mentions certain specific, but not major, incidents that

occurred in Ujjain during the reign of king Pradyota in the first

chapter of the Meghaduta, such as the mischief of the royal elephant

Alagiri. He also mentions such details as the location of the king's

ornamental palm grove, and " village elders well versed in the legends

of Udayana (Udayana kathakovida grama vriddhan). " Now Udayana was the

famous king of Vatsa, contemporary of the Buddha and much celebrated

in Indian tradition, who eloped with Pradyota's daughter, Vasavadatta.

Details such as the above are usually lost over time; their mention in

the Meghaduta argues for a date for Kalidasa closer to Udayana than

the Guptas.

 

Internal evidence in the Sakuntala

 

The fourth act of the Sakuntala mentions the practice of the king

annexing the properties of the issueless. It has been established that

this was a practice widespread in India during the late BC years,

whereas adoption was recognised and accepted by the time of the Guptas.

 

Internal evidence in the Malavikagnimitra This is the clincher. In the

drama Malavikagnimitra, King Agnimitra's father, Pushyamitra is

regularly referred to as senapati (commander-in-chief) by all the

characters. We now know that Pushyamitra was the commander-in-chief of

the last Maurya emperor, Brhadratha before he usurped the throne in

185 BC; he later abdicated in favour of his son, Agnimitra. It is

quite likely that he continued to play his old role and was called by

his old title even after Agnimitra became king. But how could Kalidasa

have known this, if he were writing several centuries later, in the

Gupta period? Why did he select Agnimitra, a relatively obscure king,

as his hero? These things make sense only if we agree that Kalidasa

lived and wrote the drama very close to the reign of Agnimitra.

 

Historical Aspects of Kalidasa's Works

 

If we accept Kalidasa belonging in the first century BC, he becomes an

important ancient source of information other than the Puranas and the

Buddhist and Jain traditions. Kalidasa's encyclopedic knowledge of

ancient India's arts, sciences and culture (of which no one who has

read any part of his works would have any doubt) makes him a very

valuable source. Almost all his works have a connection with the early

history of India, and need to be researched seriously from this

viewpoint. I have been able to read only the Raghuvamsa and the

Meghaduta from this angle. The Raghuvamsa The Raghuvamsa deals with

the lives of the kings of the Ikshvaku dynasty of north Kosala, to

which Rama belonged. It starts with Dilipa II and ends with Agnivarna,

covering some 27 kings. Pargiter's standardised Ikshvaku dynasty lists

96 kings before the Bharata war: from Ikshwaku himself to Brhadbala,

who died at the hands of Abhimanyu in the Bharata war. The Raghuvamsa

differs somewhat from the standardised list: Raghu is the son of

Dilipa, Dirghabahu being absent; the king Dala is known as Sila; Uktha

is absent, and Vajranabha is known as Unnabha; Pushya is absent, and

in his place are found Kausalya, Putra and Poushya.

 

The Raghuvamsa is the only detailed chronicle of the great Ikshvakus

outside of the Puranas. Many of the incidents mentioned in the poem do

not find any mention in the Puranas, indicating that Kalidasa had

other sources as well. It is interesting to note that Kalidasa

favoured the Puranic genealogy over that given in the Ramayana5,

despite his great reverence for Valmiki. Evidently he had reasons to

suspect the Ramayana genealogy; we now know the Ramayana genealogy to

be mixed-up and incorrect 4,5,6.

 

The poem begins with Dilipa's service to the divine cow, Nandini with

the desire of begetting a son. Raghu is born, succeeds to the throne

and undertakes a conquest of India. His son, Aja marries the fair

Indumati, who is killed by a garland falling from heaven! Chapters

9-15 cover the well-known Ramayana story; the 16th chapter deals with

the reign of Rama's son, Kusa, and 17th chapter deals with Kusa's son,

Atithi. The quality of the poetry, and the stately pace of the poem

upto this point bear ample stamp of the master. The 18th chapter is

decidedly uncharacteristic; some 19 kings are swiftly dealt with in

this chapter, with no more than a couple of slokas for each. The

poetry bears a definitely inferior mark. The 19th chapter, which again

bears Kalidasa's stamp, is entirely devoted to the amorous escapades

of the philanderer, Agnivarna, and ends with uncharacteristic

abruptness with his death from tuberculosis.

 

The Puranas mention nine more Ikshvaku kings after Agnivarna till the

Bharata war. The sudden ending of Raghuvamsa with Agnivarna lends

considerable credence to an Indian traditionwhich holds that the

present version is truncated; the original apparently contained

twenty-five, and not the nineteen chapters available today. There are

some who hold the view that Kalidasa died before he completed the

Raghuvamsa, but I do not to this view. In my opinion,

Kalidasa's last work was the Kumarasambhava; he was clearly a devotee

of Siva, and wrote the Kumarasambhava as a meritorious act in his last

days. The Raghuvamsa might have preceded the Kumarasambhava. It seems

to me that the chapters 18-25 might have been lost during the first

centuries of this era; the available 18th and 19th chapters might have

been reconstructed by later transcribers.

 

The last chapter ends on a hopeful note with the coronation for

Agnivarna's unnamed pregnant queen, after the king dies of

consumption. The coronation of a pregnant widow is clearly a very

remarkable event, and could hardly have been made up. The Ikshvaku

line actually continued beyond the Bharata war; the Puranas list some

27 kings (Brhatkshaya to Sumitra II) after Brhadbala, who died in the

war4. Thus the dynasty should have ended some 500 years after the

Bharata war, assuming on average 20 years per sovereign. Other solar

dynasties (those of Videha and Sravasti) continued into historical

times; in fact, the Buddha belonged to the Sravasti dynasty.

 

Kalidasa displays an excellent knowledge of the geography of India and

its surroundings when describing the conquests of Raghu. He mentions

that Raghu crossed the river Kapisa on a bridge of elephants while

invading Kalinga (later in the poem, Kusa uses the same stratagem to

cross the Rewa). This confirms that at least during Kalidasa's time

elephants must have been used thus. During later times, bridges of

boats tied together were used to cross rivers during campaigns. Raghu

performed a Digvijaya and subseqently the Visvajit sacrifice; the only

other to perform a similar feat among later Ikshvakus was Rama, who

performed the Asvamedha sacrifice. However, in spite of the assertions

of the Ramayana and the Puranas, the Ikshvaku kingdom was quite small;

most kingdoms in those days were little more than small principalities

consisting of hamlets around a capital where the king lived.

Impenetrable jungle that usually separated neighbouring kingdoms

prevented them from attacking each other, and only the most

resourceful and ambitious kings undertook conquests.

 

Rama is clearly the most illustrious sovereign of the Ikshvaku

dynasty. His long banishment was not without its benefits, as it

apparently helped him bring the Dakshina Kosala (approximately the

present Chattisgarh region) under his sway, and establish friendly

relations with the few Vanara and Rakshasa kingdoms in the deep South.

He and his brothers tried vigorously to extend the Ikshvaku domination

to other parts of the country; they founded new cities that became

very important in later times, but the kingdoms they founded do not

seem to have survived. The Raghuvamsa records that Bharata obtained a

principality in the Indus region. His sons founded Takshasila and

Pushkalavati in the north-west. Lakshmana founded the present Lucknow,

which was to become the capital of the Awadh much later; his sons

obtained kingdoms in the " Karapatha-Desa " in the north. Satrughna

conquered the Yadavas then establishing themselves in central India,

and established Mathura and Vidisa, where his sons reigned. Rama

himself took the unusual step of dividing his kingdom between his

sons, installing Kusa at the new capital of Kusavati in Dakshina

Kosala. This was clearly an attempt to establish a firm foothold on

this newly conquered region; it would not have been possible to

control it from remote Ayodhya.

 

In fact, Ayodhya was abandoned to control the extended dominions

better. Lava was established at the new capital of Saravati (which

later became Sravasti) in the Kosalas. Lava appears to have soon lost

his capital, for we do not hear of him or his capital any more; it is

Kusa who continues the line. In fact, he returns to Ayodhya soon after

his installation at Kusavati, after the deity of Ayodhya complains of

her abandoned state and appeals to him to return. He later fights and

subdues the Naga king, Kumuda, and marries his sister Kumudvati, who

ultimately gave birth to his heir Atithi.

 

Many Indian kings of the ancient period had trouble with the powerful

and warlike tribes of Nagas, who appear to have been spread all over

the country. The relation between the Naga and Takshaka tribes is

something that needs to be researched in depth. The Nagas of later

times who killed Parikshit II and were vanquished by his son

Janamejaya III were clearly Takshakas based in the north-west, with

Takshasila as their capital. They appear to be Scythians to me. The

Mahabharata mentions other Nagas as living south of the river Yamuna;

the present Andhras are supposed to be the descendants of these Nagas.

 

The eighteenth chapter, which deals with many kings, also reveals a

few unexpected gems. One is the coronation of Sudarsana at the age of

six after the sudden death of his father Dhruvasandhi in a royal hunt;

a more interesting fact is the abdication of king Pariyatra " so he may

give himself to the pleasures! " Evidently debauchery was strongly

disapproved in a reigning king. However, we also see the hero of the

ninteenth chapter, Agnivarna, devoted himself completely to debauch,

while still a monarch. He ignores affairs of state completely, and

when requested repeatedly to appear at the jharokha by his subjects,

deigns only to stick his foot through the widow! I wonder where

Kalidasa got such details; it is hardly likely that he made them up.

 

The Ikshvakus are the most ancient dynasty of India. As I had occasion

to mention elsewhere, the solar dynasties are older than the lunar

dynasties; they always enjoyed the pre-eminence due to ancient

dynasties. In more recent times, the house of Mewar, claiming descent

from Rama's older (?) son Lava, enjoyed the highest prestige among all

the royal houses of the country, above even other solar dynasties such

as that of Amber, which claims descent from the younger son of Rama, Kusa.

 

The Meghaduta

 

The Meghaduta would have been a very remarkable piece of work in any

age. It has no storyline, and depends entirely on exceedingly

beautiful descriptions of places, incidents, sentiments and people,

for its extraordinary impact on the reader. A Yaksha in the service of

Kubera is banished to Ramagiri for some offence; thus separated from

his beautiful wife, the love-lorn Yakshaimplores a passing cloud to

carry his message to his wife in Kubera's city Alaka, on the slopes of

Mount Kailas.

 

The Meghaduta is divided into two chapters. The first chapter

delineates the path the cloud-messenger should follow to reach Alaka,

with some of the loveliest descriptions of places, incidents and

people one can find anywhere in world literature. The second chapter

is a beautiful description of Alaka, the Yaksha's house there and his

wife, and the Yaksha's own feelings. However, the later half of the

second chapter seems to have suffered some damage. I think several of

the slokas in this part are not those of Kalidasa; there are both

sudden discontinuities in narration, and tiresome repetitions of the

same ideas and sentiments -- both very uncharacteristic of Kalidasa.

Clearly some of those who transcribed his works over the ages had been

working overtime inserting their own inferior pieces into the master's

work.

 

The Meghaduta demonstrates Kalidasa's excellent knowledge of the

geography, nature, history, culture and traditions of India. The

Yakshaasks the cloud to travel north from Ramagiri (near Nagpur) to

Amrakuta (Amarkantak -- the origin of the Narmada), thence via the

Dasarna country (present Chattisgarh) to Vidisha, then make a detour

due east and travel to Ujjain. From there he is to travel to Deogiri,

thence to Dasapura (Mandasaur) on the Charmanvati (Chambal) river;

thence via Brahmavarta (the region between the Saraswati and

Drshadvati rivers) and Kurukshetra to Kanakhala (Kanakheda) on the

Ganga. From there he is advised to travel north through the Krauncha

Randhra (the present Lipulekh pass?) on to Mount Kailas. The

remarkable thing about this route is that it is mostly straight

(except for the detour for Ujjain), suitable for one who does not need

a road! I think such a delineation would not have been possible

without recourse to accurately drawn maps. In addition, the

descriptions of places and local landmarks make it very clear that

Kalidasa must have visited all or most of the places on the route, at

least upto the Himalayas.

 

The main historical references in the Meghaduta are to King Pradyota

of Malwa, Udayana of Vatsa, and Rantideva of Dasapura. I have already

mentioned Udayana earlier in this article; he belonged to the great

Kuru line, and was the 25th king after Yudhishthira according to most

Puranas4. The Kurus lost their traditional capital, Hastinapura a few

generations after Yudhishthira, moved south and established themselves

at Kausambi in the Panchala country, which later came to be called

Vatsa4,5. This move must have been caused by invasions from the

north-west, most probably by Takshakas, who had earlier killed

Parikshit II. The Kuru line apparently ended with Kshemaka (who was

killed by Mahapadma Nanda), some four generations after Udayana.

 

Udayana succeeded to the throne as a minor, and was imprisoned by his

powerful southern neighbour, Pradyota of Ujjain. Popular tradition, as

well as Swapna Vasavadatta say that he ran away with Pradyota's

daughter Vasavadatta, and regained Vatsa. Pradyota was another

legendary king reputed to have possessed an invincible sword and

elephant called Mahasena and Alagiri respectively7; founder of the

short Pradyota dynasty, he spent his entire life in campaigns, giving

no peace to his neighbours.

 

Rantideva is a difficult king to place; even his name is doubted

(Morton Smith thinks it should be Antideva)! Traditional non-Puranic

sources such as the Katha Saritsagara say that he was the 60th king in

the Kuru line after Bharata; but he is nowhere to be found in the

Puranic lists, as per which the last Kuru king, Kshemaka himself is

only the 48th after Bharata. I think this is another evidence of gaps

in the traditional dynastic lists I alluded to elsewhere, as I see no

reason to disbelieve the traditional sources. He is, however, a

celebrated king in the Puranas for having performed " thousands " of

Gavalambha Yagnas (Vedic sacrifices in which cows were sacrificed),

and for his support to Brahmans. In fact, the river Chambal is

supposed to have formed " from the blood draining from the skins of the

thousands of cows sacrificed in his Yagnas3! " I don't think this is a

clever attempt to derive the name of Chambal (Charmanvati -- born of

skins); it is quite likely that the skins of sacrificial animals might

have been dropped close to the river. The Puranas give all kinds of

fanciful explanations as to why Rantideva had to sacrifice cows7,

evidently made up to sanctify him in the eyes of Hindus of a later

period. However, I think that as usual Kalidasa was stating a

historical fact of a historical king. Rantideva must have been a very

ancient king indeed to have been able to sacrifice cows without

qualms; he should be at least several generations earlier to Udayana.

 

Conclusions

 

Careful study of the work of ancient poets can be a very useful source

of information that can be helpful in weaving together a fair and

accurate ancient history of India. I believe much more can be done in

this direction in India than has been done so far. I'd consider my

effort in writing this small article well-spent if it stimulates

others to undertake similar endeavours.

 

Bibliography

 

1. M.R. Kale, Introduction to critical edition of Malavikagnimitra. He

also quotes the passages.

2. C.R. Devadhar, Introduction to the critical edition of Raghuvamsa,

Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1997. He quotes the passage.

3. Vidwan K.V. Narasimha Raju, Critical edition of Meghaduta (in

Telugu), Samskrta Bhasha Prachara Samiti, Hyderabad, 1995.

4. R. Morton Smith, Dates and Dynasties in Earliest India, Motilal

Banarsidass, Delhi, 1973.

5. F.E. Pargiter, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Motilal

Banarsidass, Delhi, 1997.

6. J. Tod, W. Crooke (Ed), Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol I,

Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1994.

7. V. Srinivasa Rao, Purva Gathalahari, a Puranic index in Telugu,

Venkatrama & Co., 1986.

 

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