A History of Sanskrit Literature: Classical Period, Vol. I c5.55

c5.55

It is significant that in the choice of theme, character and situation, Kālidāsa follows the essentially poetic bent of his genius. Love in its different aspects and situations is the dominant theme of all his three plays, care-free love in the setting of a courtly intrigue, impetous love as a romantic and undisciplined passion leading to madness, and youthful love, at first heedless but gradually purified by suffering. In the lyrical and narrative poem the passionate feeling is often an end in itself, elegant but isolated; in the drama, there is a progressive deepening of the emotional exprience as a factor of larger life. It therefore, affords the poet, as a dramatist, an opportunity of depicting its subtle moods and fancies in varied circumstances, its infinite range and intensity in closeness to common realities. His mastery of humour and pathos, his wisdom and humanity, come into play;