A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.s8.5

c11.s8.5

Youth and manhood are no time for deep philosophic views, and the Kālidāsa of the *Ṛtusaṁhāra*, *Meghadūta*, and *Kumārasambhava* remains within narrower limits. We feel, however, a growing sense of the greatness and glory of Çiva; the remote figure of the *Meghadūta* is definitely brought nearer to us in the *Kumārasambhava*. Even Brahman and Viṣṇu are less than he, and the term Lord, Īçvara, is his *par excellence*; moreover, despite his all-embracing majesty, he is intensely personal. Yet neither Brahman nor Viṣṇu is forgotten; to Brahman in the *Kumārasambhava* itself, to Viṣṇu in the *Raghuvañça* two noble prayers are addressed in which in the true spirit of kathenotheism either appears as the greatest of gods, as more than the world, as beyond all comprehension. The inconsistency, however, is rather apparent than real; it is possible to ascertain with fair certainty the view Kālidāsa took of the universe, and this affords a reconciliation of his diverse views.