Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t18.10

v2.c10.s2.t18.10

*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,