Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t18.30

v2.c10.s2.t18.30

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*.