The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c15.156

c15.156

It is probably the institutions of the Gupta age which are reflected in the works of Kâlidâsa, the Kâlidâsa. greatest of Hindu classical poets and dramatists. His date has long been a matter of acute controversy. There are still a few scholars who argue for the correctness of the tradition that he lived in the first century B.C. Again, a few are still inclined to place him in the sixth century A.D. But the general consensus of opinion, relying on internal literary and astronomical evidence, favours the 4th century A.D. as the earliest and the 5th as the latest date of the poet. This, at any rate, is at present the soundest working hypothesis. Kâlidâsa is claimed by Kashmir, the Gangetic plains, Bengâl, the Deccan and even Ceylon. But if, as appears probable, his Raghuvamśa contains some veiled references to Gupta emperors, he may be presumed to have enjoyed the patronage of the Gupta court or at any rate to have come into contact with it. It may be that he spent some time at Ujjayinî, the capital of Mâlwâ. Bhoja in his Śringâraprakâśikâ says that Kâlidâsa was sent on a political embassy to the Kuntala king. There is no contemporary record to check the statement but internal evidence certainly suggests that the poet lived in intimate touch with men and affairs at a court and was by no means a man of the cloister.¹