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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t18: Kalidasa

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t18

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Kalidasa

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Kalidasa (lived about the second half of the 4ᵗʰ century CE to the first half of the 5ᵗʰ century CE) was an Indian poet, dramatist and greatest representative of classical Sanskrit literature, famous not only in India but across the world. His poetry and plays in Sanskrit reached great literary heights and he is known as the greatest master in the history of ancient Indian literature. Rabindranath Tagore, a literary giant in modern India, considered Kalidasa as an exemplary model and once wrote poems to express his admiration of this great ancient master. Both Kalidasa and Tagore are regarded as great cultural and literary figures in the history of India, with unparalleled degree of fame, achievement and influence. In 1956, the World Peace Council included Kalidasa as one of the world’s literary figures to be commemorated in that year.

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Life

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Since 18ᵗʰ century CE, a number of Sanskrit scholars in India and across the world have studied and speculated about the life of Kalidasa, and quite a common opinion is that, he lived from about the latter half of 4ᵗʰ century CE to the first half of 5ᵗʰ century CE. This period coincides with Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern and Northern dynasties in China. D D Kosambi, a well-known Indian historian, held such an opinion in his masterpiece

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*‘Kumarasambhava (Jiumoluo chushi)’, front cover of Sanskrit-English version*

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of history, the *Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline*. In this period, China and India had both enormous and varied cultural achievements and it was natural for India to have so great a poet as Kalidasa. A common belief was that Kalidasa was born in the holy city of Ujjayini, present-day Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh in central India. Ujjayini was one of important political, economic, scientific and cultural centres in ancient India. From his works, Kalidasa seemed to be quite familiar with this city, and this indicates that he might have lived there for long. He is said to be one of nine court treasures of Vikramaditya, who was probably also known as Candra Gupta II of Gupta Dynasty. So, Kalidasa might have lived during the reign of both Candra Gupta II and his son Kumara Gupta I (380-455 CE). Although little is known about his life, but there are many legendary stories about him. Based on works of Kalidasa, A L Basham believed this poet to be open and elegant, sympathetic to others’ suffering and to the feelings of women and children, and also fond of plants, birds and animals.

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'Meghaduta (Yun shi)', front cover of the Chinese edition

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Works

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Though many have been attributed to him, Kalidasa only wrote four works including *Meghaduta* (a long lyric poem), *Ritusamhara* (a lyric collection), and two epic poems *Raghubamsa* and *Kumarasambhava*. *Meghaduta* is his most influential and important works, and even if he had not written anything else, this long poem alone is enough to entitle him to a permanent position in the world's literary history.

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In India, *Meghaduta* has been translated into various local languages, and the earliest version in a foreign language was a Tibetan translation jointly written by an Indian called Sumanaśrī and Tibetan translators Byang chub rtse mo and Nam mkha' bzang po. Later a Mongolian version was translated from the Tibetan version. In 1813, the poem was first translated into English by Horace Hayman Wilson. Since then, it has been translated into German, French and other European languages. After reading Wilson's translation, the great German poet Goethe highly praised *Meghaduta*. The understanding of this epic by the Chinese people is inseparable from Goethe's praise.

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*Meghaduta* consists of 115 stanzas, each stanza has four lines, and the entire poem is divided into two parts ie Former Cloud (*Purvamegh*) and Latter Cloud (*Uttaramegh*). It describes a yaksa who hailed from the south longing for his wife in the north. Kalidasa has given a passionate, sentimental and touching description, and achieved perfect unity and harmony between contents and form. Besides, his perspective is original and imaginative, and under his pen, cloud is enlivened and can serve as a messenger. Ancient Chinese believed that fish and wild goose could help send a letter, while making the cloud a messenger is indeed a very romantic and daring idea. This yaksa, an attendant on Kubera, the god of wealth, used to live at Alaka in the Himalaya Mountains, but was exiled for a year to the forest in central India (present-day Madhya Pradesh) for neglecting his duties, and experienced the pain of being separated from his wife. When the rainy season approached, he saw a rain cloud passing by towards the mountains in the north, and since he missed his wife so much, he decided to convince the cloud to take news of his well-being to his wife. The poet, through this yaksa, pointed the path toward Alaka, and gave an elegant portrayal of the lands, rivers and cities along the path to Alaka. The yaksa then told the cloud not to miss the prosperous heavenly city of Ujjayini, and described the wonderful climate, prosperous life there. He also described the location of his home and his pining wife at Alaka. He asked the cloud to tell his wife of his everlasting love for her and his longing wish that they could soon be together. With refined emotion, graceful language,

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'Selected Verse Dramas of Kalidasa (Jialituosuo shige xiju xuan)', front cover of the Chinese edition

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innovative metaphor and harmonious rhythm, plus a variety of rhetoric skills, this lyrical poem represents the highest achievement of Sanskrit poetry. Upon publication *Meghaduta* became popular across India. Later Sanskrit and folk poets tried very hard to emulate the same style but all failed to match up with Kalidasa.

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*Ritusamhara* is an earliest work of Kalidasa, and has six cantos for six Indian seasons – summer, monsoon, autumn, fall winter, winter and spring, as well as the reaction of lovers to the changing seasonal landscapes. The epic *Raghubamsa* might be a later work of the poet. It is based on Indian epics and *Puranas* and consists of 19 cantos and 1,579 stanzas. Raghu is the great-grandfather of Rama – the hero in the epic *Ramayana*. Though centering on the life of Rama, *Raghubamsa* adds the stories of Rama's ancestors and descendants. The poem narrates the stories from Rama's great-great-grandfather to the 21 kings after him. Rama's story accounts for seven cantos, clearly shorter than the *Ramayana*. The poet intended to express his political aspirations through genealogy. With many charming paragraphs, this long poem is also an excellent model for classic Indian poetry. *Kumarasambhava*, composed on the basis of *Puranas* and other ancient Hindu tales, has 17 cantos, and generally, Kalidasa is believed to have written

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'Vikramōrvaśīyam (Youliposhi)', front cover of the Chinese edition

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only the first eight cantos, with the remaining nine cantos being added by later generations. The poem describes the marriage of Lord Shiva (destroyer of the world) to Uma (goddess Parvati). Shiva at that time abstained from all desires and was conducting penance at the snow mountain, however, since the Tarakasura caused turmoil in the heaven and on the earth. Brahma suggested to the Gods to promote the marriage of Shiva to Uma, so that their son Kumara born out of this union could lead deities to destroy Tarakasura. Kumara was successful in defeating him in a single battle. Though *Vikramorvasiya* is a religious poem about divine characters, however, the poet has created a strong atmosphere of secular life, for example, the portrait of the Himalaya landscape and the divine marriage that has almost the same process as a secular marriage. It also incorporates the poet’s political opinion.

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Kalidasa is not only the greatest poet in classic Sanskrit literature but also the greatest dramatist ever in the entire history of Sanskrit literature. His position in the Indian dramatic literature is no inferior to that of Shakespeare in British dramatic literature. It is still not clear how many plays he wrote but in terms of long epic poems, he was a diligent and prolific poet. In terms of his love and talent for dramas as well as keeping in mind the respect and demand that society had for these, he could have written a considerable number of plays, however, now there are only three plays that can be attributed to him, including *Malavikagnimitra*, *Vikramorvasiya* and *Sakuntala*, and the rest are already lost. His plays, which account for no more than one tenth of Shakespeare’s, are enough to demonstrate that his talent was not inferior to the latter.

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*Malavikagnimitra* is a five-act court comedy in a backdrop of Sunga Dynasty of Magadha in 2^nd century BCE. The story occurs in Pataliputra, a historical city in India. Malavika is a pretty princess, and due to war and the ensuing chaos, becomes a slave at the court of King Agnimitra. When the queen discovers her husband’s love for Malavika, she resolves not to let them meet. One day, in the garden, Agimitra meets Malavika by chance and could not help but reveal his passion for her. Learning of this, the queen has Malavika imprisoned. However, after finding out her identity that she is actually a princess, the queen agrees that Malavika and the King get married. Being a royal love story, this play has some things similar with Bhasa’s *Svapnavasavadatta*, but spiritually, it has not surpassed its predecessors. The play is dramatic and contains many concise and profound statements. Differing greatly from the other two plays, this play’s authorship has been questioned by some scholars, but it might have been an experiment by Kalidasa, that is it was his earliest play.

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*Vikramorvasiya* (ull name is *Urvashi Won by Valor*) is a five-act mythical and romantic play and

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'Shakuntala (Shagongdaluo)', front cover of the Chinese edition

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a mature writing of Kalidasa. It is based on a very famous legend in ancient India, which is recorded in many documents from *Rigveda* to *Kathsaritsara*. As the play narrates, the valiant King Pururavas saves Urvashi, a beautiful nymph who was kidnapped by the devil, and falls in love with her. After he returns back to his palace, the King could not forget her, and neither can Urvashi after returning to the heaven. Both suffer from love sickness. Urvashi secretly comes down to the earth to meet the King in his garden. Just at that moment, a messenger comes to ask Urvashi to return to the heaven and perform a celestial play. These two lovers feel sad and reluctant to part. Urvashi distracted, makes a mistake during the performance and is banished from heaven. Sympathetic to her plight, Indra allows Urvashi to return to the King and see her son and then return to heaven. Urvashi and the King thus become wife and husband. However, she turns into a vine for forgetting a prohibition, and the King is heartbroken and goes about looking for her. With the help of a magical ruby, Urvashi returns to her

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'Shakuntala (Shakundaluo)', front cover of the Chinese edition, translated by Mi Wenkai and painted by Zhang Daqian

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original form. Then one day, her son who is being brought up by someone else, is sent back because of violating rules. Seeing her son, she feels a mixture of grief and joy and is overwhelmed by the separation that is to come. At this time, a messenger brings an order, and Indra allows the pair to live together forever. Under Kalidasa's pen, an old tale acquires a kind of originality: a nymph throws away celestial fetters to seek for love and thus becomes the incarnation of bravery. She is similar to the girl-weaver in the Chinese legend of the Cowherd and Girl-weaver. *Vikramorvasiya* not only has an attractive, tortuous and dramatic plot but also is filled with poetic beauty and artistic appeal.

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*Sakuntala* (or *Shakuntala*, full name: the *Recognition of Shakuntala*) is a seven-act love story, a masterpiece of Kalidasa and the greatest classic of Sanskrit dramas. It is Kalidasa's longest drama, and is written when he was at the height of his literary production. He has devoted all passion and talent to this play, and a normal length no doubt could not satisfy his needs. The play contains nearly 40 characters and 200 verses. This passionate play is a truly poetic drama. It is about a legendary story in ancient India, already told in the epic *Mahabharata* and further refined in the *Padma-purana*. With Kalidasa's innovation, this story turns to be far more amazing.

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In Act I, King Dushyanta while hunting and chasing after a small deer to comes upon a scenic hermitage. He wants to visit the sage Kanva, but by chance meets his adopted daughter Shakuntala, who is a beautiful young girl. The King is captivated with her beauty, and Shakuntala also falls in love with the gallant Dushyanta. In Act II, the King falls in love with Shakuntala and no longer wants to hunt, and he stays back under the pretext of protecting the hermitage, while in fact, he wants to court Shakuntala. In Act III, sad and unhappy, Shakuntala leans on a stone sprayed with flowers, telling her secret love for Dushyanta to two of her companions: she loves the King but is afraid of being rejected by him. Hearing this, the King, who was in hiding closeby, steps before her to confess his affection. The two companions find an excuse and leave the two lovers alone. In Act IV, the King marries Shakuntala in a traditional way and then leaves for the capital city. Before leaving, he gives her a ring imprinted with his name to Shakuntala, and promises to send for her later on. After the King leaves, Shakuntala is lovelorn and is distracted and fails to receive a visiting sage with proper courtesy, and the latter in anger casts a curse on Shakuntala that she will be totally forgotten by her lover until he sees the token he has given her. As expected, a long time elapses but the King still does not sent for Shakuntala. At this time, Kanva decides to send the pregnant Shakuntala to the royal palace. Act V has the climax, Shakuntala goes to the capital city to see her husband, but the King has forgotten her all together. Shakuntala remembers the token the King has given to her, but finds that she has lost the ring. Hearing this the King rejects Shakuntala and accuses her to be a liar. Abandoned by the King, Shakuntala is taken by her birth mother to a celestial palace. In Act VI, a fisherman of Dushyanta's kingdom is arrested when he is selling a ring with the King's name inscribed on it. The fisherman claims that he found this ring in the belly of a fish. On seeing this ring, the King’s memory is restored and he is filled with remorse for his behaviour towards Shakuntala. In Act VII, the King helps fight with demons and returns to the earth after victory, but on the way back to earth he meets Bharata, who is actually his son with Shakuntala. The family is reunited joyfully. The play, has a strict structure, distinctive characters, fresh and graceful language, embodies the aesthetic taste of traditional Indian poetry.

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Group photo of Wu Xiaoling (first from the left) with the cast and crew of the play Shakuntala performed by the China Youth Arts Theatre, 1957

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Group photo of Wu Xiaoling (fourth from the left) with the cast and crew of the play *Shakuntala* performed by the China Youth Art Theatre, 1982

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*Shakuntala* has been translated into a number of modern Indian dialects. In 1789, it was first translated into English by the British scholar William Jones, and in 1791, from the English version it was translated into German. Soon after, this Indian play caused a sensation in vulture western countries, and won high praise from the German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder and the great poet Friedrich Schiller.

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Influence in China

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Lu Xun wrote *On the Power of Satanic School of Poetry* in 1907, and mentioned Kalidasa in this long article with great admiration. He said, “Ancient India had four *vedas*, which are fascinating and profound; *Mahabharata* and *Ramayana* are two epics with charming beauty. Later, the poet Kalidasa appeared and was known for legends and lyrics, and praised as a greatest master by eminent German poet W. von Goethe”.

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Su Manshu wrote *Yanzikan Suibi* in 1913, and in No. 54 essay, he referred Kalidasa as “the poet-sage of India” and “Indian Shakespeare” in the eyes of British poets. Su Manshu became the first modern Chinese scholars to pay attention and comment on Kalidasa and his works. He translated Goethe’s Epigram on the *Shakuntala* into Chinese: “*Wouldst thou the young year’s blossoms and the fruits of its decline. And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed, Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name combine? I name thee, O Sakuntala! and all at once is said.*” He also wished to translate *Shakuntala* and *Meghaduta* into Chinese. In “A Letter to Liu San”, he said, “I spend two hours and a half everyday to learn Sanskrit from an interpreter called Mishra, who was also a learned Sanskrit scholar, and who has been here for two months, and I have met with and learned much from him. I wish to translate *Meghaduta*, a long epic written in Sanskrit by the great master Kalidasa and equivalent to Chinese Lisao. However, I am now preoccupied, and may have to do this in the future”. Evidently, Su Manshu had an idea of working with Indian Sanskrit scholars to translate *Meghaduta*.

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Due to the praises by Goethe, Lu Xun and Su Manshu, the Chinese people began to know about Kalidasa. His works have aroused the interest and passion of many translators. In 1925, Jiao Juyin translated Act IV and Act V of *Shakuntala* from its English version, titled it as “The Lost Ring” and published it at “Literature Weekly” of *Peking Gazette*. Wang Zhewu serialised *Shakuntala* in volume 6 of “National News Weekly” from the French version. In 1933, Wang Weike translated the complete *Shakuntala* from its French version. In 1936, Zhu Mingqu published, in Shantou of Guangdong, a translation of Shakuntala that was written on the basis of Esperanto. In 1945, Lu Qian, a Chinese historian of drama published *Peacock Lady*, translated from an English version. Wang Yankong published a translation through Zhiyong Middle School Press, Guangzhou in 1947, which was reprinted in 1950. Mei Wenkai translated *Shakuntala* on the basis of an English version and first published it through Tongyou Publishing House of Taiwan in 1950, with cover painting by the reputed painter Zhang Daqian who was familiar with Indian arts.

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Lu Qian’s translation has an elegant language and was reprinted in 1954, after his death. Wang Weike’s translation is rhythmic and characterised by dramatic language, and was also reprinted in 1954 through the People’s Literature Publishing House. When the Premier Zhou Enlai visited India in the 1950s, he sent as a gift Wang Weike’s silk hardcover to his Indian friends. Mei Wenkai’s translation, has had considerable influence in both Taiwan and China, has also been reprinted many times.

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Stage photo of the play *Shakuntala*

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In the late 1950s, nearly 40 years after the death of Su Manshu, Chinese began to translate Kalidasa’s original Sanskrit works. In 1956, the People’s Literature Publishing House published *Shakuntala* translated by Ji Xianlin and *Meghaduta* translated by Jin Kemu. Then, to commemorate Kalidasa’s 1500ᵗʰ anniversary, the People’s Literature Publishing House published a special collection of a plays translated by Ji Xianlin and a poem translated by Jin Kemu, organised by the World Peace Council. Ji Xianlin’s translation of *Shakuntala* was reprinted in 1959, and his translation of *Vikramorvasiya* was published in 1962. In 1980, he revised his translation of *Shakuntala*, which was included into a collection of foreign literary masterpieces and reprinted. Ji Xianlin and Jin Kemu’s translations, so far, are the most widespread and influential Chinese versions.

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Meanwhile, there is another Chinese version of *Meghaduta* that is important but less known. In 1957, a Chinese expert on Sanskrit named Xu Fancheng published a Chinese translation of *Meghaduta* in Pondicherry (now Puducherry). He adopted an original style by “composing his own poems on the basis of original meanings and adding or deleting something”, while he used a traditional Chinese five-character or seven-character form.

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Along with translation, Chinese started and expanded the study of Kalidasa and his works. Some important academic opinions are recorded in the preface and postscript of various translations and relevant history of literature, for instance, “About *Vikramorvasiya*” written by Ji Xianlin and attached to his translation, which was published in 1962, and “An *Introduction to the Translation*” attached to his *Shakuntala* translation published in 1980. In “*A History of Sanskrit Literature*” published in 1964, Jin Kemu used a whole chapter to give a thorough account of Kalidasa’s outstanding achievements. Huang Baosheng wrote some chapters for the *History of Ancient Indian Literature*, where he discussed Kalidasa’s poems and plays. Wu Wenhui published two articles on *Malavikagnimitra*.

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*Shakuntala* has been staged twice in China. In the spring of 1957, based on Ji Xianlin’s translation, Wu Xue, a director of China Youth Arts Theatre, presented a dramatic performance of *Shakuntala* for the first time. This was greatly appreciated by the audience, and was a great event in the history of India-China cultural exchange. On May 19, the Indian ambassador to China, Ratan Kumar Nehru held a cocktail party to celebrate the 5ᵗʰ anniversary of the establishment of China-India Friendship Association and the successful performance of *Shakuntala* by China Youth Arts Theatre, which was attended by Premier Zhou Enlai. In 1982, China Youth Arts Theatre performed *Shakuntala* for the second time in Beijing, receiving a wave of praises.

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There are new translations of Kalidasa’s works. In 2005, Wu Wenhui translated and edited “A Selected Collection of Kalidasa’s Poems and Plays”, which is published by Sun Yat-sen University Press and contains Chapter 1-7 of *Kumarasambhava*, Chapter 10-15 of *Raghubamsa* and the complete *Malavikagnimitra*. In 2010, China Tibetan Study Press published “*Chinese-Tibetan Translation, Annotation and Study of Kalidasa’s Ritusamhara*”, with Chinese translation and annotation by Luo Hong, a young scholar who is proficient in Sanskrit and Tibetan, and Tibetan translation and annotation by La Xianjia, a Tibetan scholar. This is a combination of the complete Chinese and Tibetan versions of *Ritusamhara*. In 2011, Luo Hong re-translated *Meghaduta*, which is published by Peking University Press. This new translation is a combination of Chinese version and Sanskrit one, providing readers with a more accurate and detailed annotated version, and thus is a good source of reference and academic value. In 2012, Yu Huaijin, a young scholar, obtained a doctorate degree of Peking University through a dissertation on *Kumarasambhava*. She also translated the entire Sanskrit poem and attached it to the dissertation.

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There are two lines in Act III of *Shakuntala*, “You will not leave my heart no matter how far you are away/ the shadow of a tree will not leave the root no matter how long it is before dark”. Many Chinese know and quote them, and this is enough to show the great influence of Kalidasa’s works in China.

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(*Liu Jian*)

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