Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c13.24

c13.24

Whether the author of the Mṛichchhakaṭikâ actually preceded or followed Kâlidâsa it is not possible to say. Probably the two lived about the same time. But the date of Kâlidâsa is still one of the vexed problems of Indian history. Few will place him to-day as late as the sixth century A.D., but there is a tendency among some Indian scholars to establish the correctness of the traditional date, the first century B.C. Astronomical evidence places him in the fourth century A.D., which may be taken as the soundest working hypothesis. Kâlidâsa has been claimed by Kashmir, Gujarata, Bengal, the Deccan as well as the northern Gangetic region. But if, as many scholars think and as appears extremely probable, the Raghuvamśa contains veiled references to the Gupta emperors, the author may be presumed to have enjoyed the patronage of the Imperial Court or at any rate to have come into contact with it. Probably he spent some time at Ujjayinî, the chief town of Mâlawâ. On these hypotheses of the date and *locale*, Kâlidâsa is immensely important as revealing the culture and ideas of one of the most brilliant periods of Indian history.¹ By universal consent, he is the greatest of Indian dramatists and greatest of classical Sanskrit poets. He sets forth, *inter alia*, the political ideals of his age with extraordinary literary grandeur. In the Raghuvamśa he sings afresh the glories of the solar race which had been celebrated by Vâlmîki, the Purâṇas, and had been depicted, probably before him, by Bhâsa.