Introduction, part 1

INTRODUCTION. In a country, the The neglect of the study of history by the early Aryans in India. I tendency of the teachings of the sages whereof is to strip this universe of its reality and to invest it with the dreamy unsubstantiality of an illusion,--to direct all efforts to shake off all earthly pursuits with a view to seeking what is true, real and beautiful, -the union of the soul with God-, in such a country that the cultivation of that branch of knowledge, which busies itself in dealing with the fates of dynasties of kings, with wars, battles and treaties, with social revolutions and the growth and decay of nations through ages, would be considerably neglected, is not strange. Hence it is that the Indo-Aryans have no history in the proper sense of the term. The so-called histories, the Puranas are but attempts at popularising the serious teaching of the Vedas and the Upanishads. The records of the actions of the heroes of several ages, and the various stories found in them betray a singular want of that critical spirit which constitutes the essence of history. And moreover they do not furnish a connected account of the race, its rise and decay. And where history is wanting, it is a matter of considerable difficulty to settle with accuracy, the date of a poet. The materials to be drawn upon in this direction being but traditions, stories, and incidental references by other persons whose dates have been ascertained, the result at best would be a little better than a guess. The tradition runs that Kalidasa † was one of the nine Date of Kalidasa. gems of the court of Vikramaditya, a great patron of learning and a wise, just and powerful ruler. It is said that his capital was Ujjayini in dhanvantariksapanakamarasimhasadu vetalabhattaghata karpara kalidasah | khyato barahamihiro nrpateh sabhayam ratnani vai vararucirnavavikramasya || + It is said that there were three poets of the name of Kalidasa- eko'pi niyate hanta kalidaso na kenacit | srngare lalitodvare ' kalidasatayo kimu ||

II ABHIJNANA SAKUNTALAM. Malwa. The stories about him are so many, of such a diversified nature, and most of them so incredible that to cull out the truth from them might have worthily been one of the Labours of Hercules. A. D. There is an era, named Samvat said to have been introduced by Vikramaditya, the beginning of which is 56 B. C. "But some scholars have recently come to the conclusion that what is called the Era of Vikramaditya 56 B. C. was, a date arrived at by taking the great battle of Korur in which Vikrama finally defeated the Mlechhas i. e., 544 A. D. and then by throwing back the beginning of the new era 600 years before that date i, e. 56 B. C." The celebrated Chinese Pilgrim Hiouen-thsang travelled in India during 629-645 He notices the reign of Siladitya Harshavardhana in Kanyakubja. His reign is fixed at about 645 A. D. Banabhatta the celebrated author of the Kadamvari states that Siladitya Harshavardhana was the son and successor of Siladitya Prata pasila, who reigned for fifty years. ' (550-600 A. D.) This Siladitya Pratapasila was the successor of Vikramaditya the Great. Thus the age of Vikramaditya falls before 550 A, D an account rendered highly probable by the historic evidence of the great battle of Korur 544 A. D.; and strengthened by the fact that Dr. Buhler could not produce a single inscription where the Vikrama era was used before 754 A. D. Another circumstance might be cited in favour of this * "With regard to the introduction of the Vikrama era, I challenged the production of any single inscription prior to 543 A. D. dated according to the Vikrama era. No such inscriptions were then known, and yet it was supposed that this era had been in use ever since 56 B. C. However, as Professor Kielhorn has shown, some such inscriptions have since been found, and that fact is very important. They are few, and why during nearly six centuries there should be so few inscriptions dated by the Vikrama era has still to be accounted for. Besides, Professor Kielhorn fully admits that the era of Vikrama does by no means prove the historical reality of a king Vikramaditya and his nine literary gems in the first century B. C. On the contrary, he holds that the Vikrama era is simply the era of the kings of Malavas, and the name Vikrama era is due to a mere misunderstanding. A king Vikrama is never mentioned before 1050 after the era of Vikrama," Max Muller's "India, what can it teach us"? Preface to the second Edition.

INTRODUCTION. III conclusion. Barahamihira, the celebrated astronomer, spoken of in the memorial verse as a contemporary of Kalidasa died in 587 A. D. Amara Sinha, the celebrated lexicographer, a Buddhist by religion, was also one of the "nine gems," and was treated with equal respect with the followers of the Brahmanic religion. This shows that at the time there was toleration in religion. The period of Indian history that is marked by a rise of this spirit of toleration is about 500 a. D. It culminated in the reign of Siladitya Harshavardhana. These facts point to the probable conclusion that the age of Vikramaditya was the first half of the sixth century A. D. Kalidasa, the court-poet of Vikramaditya, flourished in that century. But when and where he was born can not be definitely said. Dr. Bhau Daji is of opinion that Kalidasa was Gauda Saraswata Brahmana; and he identifies "The main thesis of Professor Max Muller is, that in the middle of the sixth century A. D. the reign of a king Vikramaditya of Ujjayini, with whom tradition connected the name of Kalidasa and other distinguished authors, was the golden age of Indian court-poetry. This renaissance theory is based on Fergusson's ingenious chronological hypothesis that a supposed king Vikrama of Ujjayini, having expelled the Scythians from India, in commemoration of his victory founded the Vikrama era in 544 A.D. dating its commencement back 60 years to 57 B. C. The epigraphical researches of Mr. Fleet have destroyed Fergusson's hypothesis. From these researches it results that the Vikrama era of 57 B. C. far from having been founded in 544 A. D!, had already been in use for more than a century previously under the name of the Malava era (which came to be called the Vikrama era about Soo A. D.) It further appears that no Sakas (Scythians) could have been driven out of Western India in the middle of the sixth. century, because that country had already been conquered by the Guptas more than a hundred years before. Lastly, it turns out that, though other foreign conquerors, the Huns, were actually expelled from Western India in the first half of the sixth century, they were driven out, not by Vikramaditya but by a king named Yasodharman Vishnuvardhan. "Thus the great king Vikramaditya vanishes from the historical ground of the sixth century into the realm of myth. With the disappearance of Vikrama from the sixth century A. D. the memorial verse af...has lost all chronological validity with reference to the date of the authors it enumerates. None of the other arguments by which it has been attempted to place Kalidasa separately in the sixth century have any cogency. One of the chief of these is derived from the explanation given by the fourteenth century commentator, Mallinatha, of the word dingnaga occurring in the 14 th stanza of Kalidasa's Meghaduta.... The explanation, to begin with, is extremely dubious in itself. Then it is uncertain whether Mallinatha means the Buddhist teacher Dingnaga. Little weight can be attached to

IV ABHIJNANA SAKUNTALAM. him with Matrigupta, the friend of Vikramaditya who ruled in Kashmir after the death of Hiranya. "The earliest known authentic reference to Kalidasa is an inscription dated 556 Saka or 634 A. D., in which he and Bharavi are spoken of as being renowned poets. Bana's reference to him in the beginning of the Harshacharita shows that he must have flourished before the first half of the seventh century-the time usually assigned to Bana." Mallinatha's explanation of the 14 th slokat of Meghaduta makes Nichula the Buddhistic tradition that Dingnaga was a pupil of Vasubandhu, for this statement is not, found till the sixteenth century. The assertion that Vasubandhu belongs to the sixth century depends chiefly on the Vikramaditya theory, and is opposed to Chinese evidence, which indicates that works of Vasubandhu were translated in A. D. 404. Thus every link in the chain of this argument is very weak. "The other main argument is that Kalidasa must have lived after Aryabhatta (A. D. 499) because he shows a knowledge of the Scientific Astronomy borrowed from the Greeks. But it has been shown by Dr. Thibaut that an Indian astronomical treatise undoubtedly written under Greek influence, the Romaka Siddhanta, is older than Aryabhatta, and can not be placed later than A. D. 400. It may be added that a passage of Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa (XIV. 40) has been erroneously adduced in support of the astronomical argument, as implying that eclipses of the moon are due to the shadow of the earth : it really refers to the spots in the moon as caused, in accordance with the doctrine of the Puranas by a reflection of the earth. "Thus in the present state of our knowledge there is good reason to suppose that Kalidasa lived not in the sixth, but in the beginning of the fifth century A. D. The question of his age, however, is not likely to be definitely solved till the language, the style and the poetical technique of each of his works have been minutely investigated, in comparison with datable epigraphic documents, as well as with the rules given by the oldest Sanskrit treatises on poetics. " Sanskrit Literature. Macdonell- * yenayoni na vesma sthiramarthavidhi vivekina jinavesma | sa vijayatam ravikirttih kavitasritakalidasa bharavi korttih || + nirgatasu na va kasya kalidasasya muktisu | prautirmadhurasardrasu manjarausviva jayate || * sthanadasmat sarasniculadutpatodanmukhah kham | dinnaganam pathi pariharan sthulahastavalepan ||

INTRODUCTION. V and Dingnaga as contemporaries of Kalidasa. The date assigned to Dingnaga, the pupil of Asanga, is the middle of the sixth century A. D. Thus from other independent references it appears that Kalidasa lived about (530-600 A. D.) About the life of Kalidasa very little is known. The stories extant about him describe him to be the veriest fool. He rose to be a great poet through the favour of the Goddess of Learning. However incredible these stories may be, they embody the opinion of posterity regarding the great poet. That opinion is this that except through Divine Grace or the inspiration of the Muse, a man can not rise to such eminence by learning and culture alone. Dr. Bhau thinks that his native place will be found at last in Kashmir or its neighbourhood. He had no doubt suffered from the pangs of poverty and neglect and travelled a good deal. + Kalidasa professed the Saiva form of worship. His works are:-The Raghuvamsam; the KumarasamHis principal works. bhavam; the Meghadutam; the Ritusanharam, the Sakuntala, the Mala vikagnimitram; the Vikramorbasi and some other minor poems. The Nalodayam is thought to be one of his works: It is believed that he wrote a treatise on astronomy; and * "Kalidasa is mentioned with Bharavi as a famous poet in the inscription dated A. D. 585-6 (507 Saka era) and for the present I see no reason to place him much earlier. Avinita, who wrote a commentary on fifteen Cantos of Bharavi's Kiratarjuniyam, is said to have lived about 470 A. D. But even if we accept this date, Bharavi and Kalidasa need not have lived before the fifth or fourth century A. D." Max Muller's India, what can it teach us. New Edition p. 91. This verse is supposed to be written by Matrigupta, who in the opinion of Dr. Bhau was the same as Kalidasa:- sotenoda sitasya masamasivam cintarnave majjatah santagnim sphutitadharasya ksamatah cutcamakucermama | nidra kvapyavamaniteba dathita santanya duram gata satpatrapratipaditeva vasudha na ciyate sarvari || Raj-Tarangini. Dr. Bhau has shown that the Jyotirbidabharana was composed by some later author.

VI ABHIJNANA SAKUNTALAM. one on Sanskrit Prosody. The Prakrita poem Setukavya supposed to have been written on the occasion of Pravarasen's constructing a bridge across the Bitasta (Hydaspes) is considered to be from his pen. From the above works of various descriptions can be Estimate of the poet. judged the versatile nature of the genius of their author.. He was a poet, a dramatist and an astronomer. And his works testify to the superior order of his scholarship,-his acquaintance with the important systems of philosophy, the Upanishadas, and the Purans ;-his close observation of society and its intricate problems; his delicate appreciation of the most refined feelings, his familiarity with the conflicting sentiments and emotions of the human heart,'-and his keen perception of and deep sympathy with the beauties of nature. His imagination was of a very high order and of a constructive nature. His description of aerial voyages in Raghuvamsam and Sakuntala is so exquisitely beautiful and so true to nature that one can not but be struck with the vast range of the constructive pi upabha and reproductive capacity of his imagination. umara Though a poet, he was in point of scientific researches far in advance of his age. His power of depicting all shades o character, high and low,-from the king to the common fisherman, is astonishing. His similes are so very apt that they touch directly the heart and at once enlist the sympathy of the reader. He is called the poet of the sentiment of Love. True that this sentiment was his forte, but it is by no means true that he could not successfully handle the other sentiments . Yet it must be admitted that in his descriptions of objects of nature.-viz, hills and forests-his imagination flags and fails to inspire into the mind of the reader that solemn, awful and sublime aspect of nature which is so often called up by Bhavabhuti's description. * Observo- (i) puposa vrddhim haridasvadodhiteranupravesa divabalacandramah | (ii) mahodadheh pura dhavendudarsanat guruh praharsah prababhuva natmani | (iii) chaya hi bhumeh sasino malatvenaropita suddhimatah prajabhih | (iv) saukaravyatikaram maricibhirdurayatyamvanane vivakhati | indracapaparivesasunyatam nirjharastava piturvrajantyami || - 877 F am wahd

infan INTRODUCTION. VII His diction is chaste and pure, and free from extravagance and is marked by that felicity of expression, spontaniety and melody which have earned for him the epithet "the favoured child of Muse,"-and have secured for him that high place among poets which the admiration of his readers-Eastern and Western-bears testimony to. His notes are a clear burst of bird-song.