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Kalidasa For The 21st Century Reader
A fresh and very readable translation of the world's greatest Sanskrit writer, Kalidasa. Kalidasa (circa fourth century CE) is widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language. Not much is known with certainty about his life, and though many are aware of his timeless Sakuntalam and Meghadutam, very few have actually read him, even in translation. The aesthetics of poetry may have changed over 1500 years-we no longer compare women's faces to lotuses or their figures to vines-but it is difficult not to be moved by the sheer beauty and lyricism of Kalidasa's description of the exiled yak?a beseeching a cloud to carry his message across the mountains to his lover, or his evocative narration of the meeting of doomed lovers in the forest. Mani Rao's supple, contemporary translation removes the distance between Kalidasa and the modern reader; she helps 'read' the poetry for us while remaining loyal to the text. Selections from all seven of the great poet's works (which are considered by Sanskrit scholars to be authentically his creations) are included in this volume- Meghadutam, Kumarasambhavam and ?tusa?haram; the heroic exploits narrated in Raghuva?sam which gives us a remarkable picture of ancient India; as well as the celebrated dramas Abhijnana Sakuntalam, Vikramorvasyam and Malavikagnimitram. This is a translation that belongs to today; Kalidasa renewed.