Bharat of Kalidasa

Sources of Ancient Indian Culture in Kalidasa’s works

 

 “Every work of his is a veritable testament of the best in the genius and culture of ancient India”

           ‘ Ancient India – History and Culture’ B.G.Gokhale

This is part of a small, juvenile exercise I had done while trying to understand the ancient Indian culture through Kalidasa. Since I can in no way better the two books on the "Idea of India", Bhagwat Saran Upadhyaya's 'India in Kalidasa' and C.Rajendran's 'Narrating the Nation', I will leave you with just an introduction that can serve as an inspiration to read both the books. Both are available online, and provide such fascinating insights into what Kalidasa saw, the idea of Bharata.  This is especially for those who have never formally studied Kalidasa. Scholars kindly excuse.

Bharat of Kalidasa

“Looking at the chart of India as furnished by Kalidasa, we can see the country divided into three main parts, namely the great mountain wall of the Himalayas, the great low lying plane of the midland, formed by the valleys of three main rivers, Sindhu, Ganga and Brahmaputra, and the great plateau of peninsular India”

Why is geography important, and geographical references in Kalidasa an important source? In recent times there have been several works that have tried to focus on the “Idea of India” through its geography, through the ancient pilgrimage routes and memories, its rivers. There have also been attempts to undermine that civilization unity when historians and sociologists questioned the idea of a political India that took shape on independence, a democratic state in the twentieth century. 

Kalidasa shows an extensive knowledge of the territorial contours of not exactly the political nation of India we know now, but the broader Bharata, incidentally also the name that derives from an important character from his renowned play Abhijnana Shakuntla.

Kalidasa is fairly accurate in his geographical details and displays an emotional connect with the geographical area of what is India now, and gives region specific details including its flora and fauna, names of hills, rivers etc., 

“When we read   his works like  Raghuvamśa and Meghasandeśa, above everything else, they sometimes appear to be traveller’s documents since they contain interesting descriptions of the various regions of the vast sub-continent,” says C.Rajendran in his paper ‘Narrating the Nation’.

Raghuvamsa, in the category of Padya literature paints a canvas of palm-lined beaches and the elephants of Kalinga (Odisha), the gardens of Brindavan and Ujjain, the cool breeze from the Western Ghats, the charming waves of river Narmada in Mahishmati, the dark waters of river Yamuna in Mathura, as many scholars have pointed out.

As Raghu’s Digvijaya, march past, conquering kingdoms one after another as part of the Visvajit sacrifice, the geography unfolds in myriad details, a virtual exploration of India. It is the vision of the conqueror as he marched past each of the regions.

Researches think the path of Raghu’s invasion match that of Samudragupta, father of  his master – but, the family tree of dynasty doesn’t match with those shown in different puranas.

The landscape of Kalinga to the Pandyan kingdom in the south, to the descriptions of Cauvery and Tamraparani rivers are all found in Raghuvamsa. Even the mythological reference to the creation of what is the present day Kerala to Parasurama is found. This is a prevalent belief in the region even today.

Raghu’s companion Sunanda describes various kings assembled to court Princess Indumati giving a broad picture of the famous kingdoms of that period – Magadha, Anga, Avanti, Anupa, Surasena, Kalinga, Vidarbha, Nagapura, and Uttarakosala.

“Of special interest is Avantī, the place where in Ujjayinī, the fond city of the poet is located. As in Meghasandeśa, where Ujjayinī  is described at great length, here also Kālidāsa mentions the Mahākāla temple and the gardens of the city  and the beautiful garden  shaken by the  breeze from River Śiprā… Ujjayinī  is selected for special treatment and her mansions having damsels of haunting glances  are mentioned.” 

Travels continued across the western region, and then over to the foreign land of Yavanas, and then back to the Himalayas, Pragjyotishpura in Kamarup (Assam) with detailed description of the trees, the scenery and the rivers.

The same visual delight of Himalayas get painted in a larger canvas in another classic, Kumarasambhava. “This is a classic example of the fusion of geography and mythology and relevant to Kālidāsa’s vision of India itself. Kālidāsa here brings forth the extraordinary features – mythological and material – of Himālaya which make it different from just any other mountain,” says Rajendran.

After dealing with the mythology of creation of Himalayas in Kumarasambhava Kalidasa mentions the trees for example bringing to us the image of Shiva of Daraukavana – the one who mediated under the Deodar or Devadaru trees. “Kalidasa refers to the Deodar which is perpetually tossed by the wind from Bhagirathi”. 

Another tree mentioned is the Birch with its red mineral dye used by Vidyadhara damsels to write their love letters.

Elephants, plenty around the Himalayan region are mentioned to be rubbing their trunks against the branches of the fragrant Sarala trees to ease their itch.

From the Daraukavana of Shiva in Kumarasambhava one can go to his abode of Kailasa, which finds the pride of place among the Himalayan peaks in reality as Shiva’s abode and as much in Meghasandesa.

“The peak, white as moon lotuses is imagined as the accumulation of the roaring laughter of Siva. The fragrant peak of Gandhamadana is described as the park of the city of Osadhiprastha.” (Rajendran) 

POLITICS & SOCIETY

“Works of Kalidasa are not to be taken as merely poetical presentation of certain stories of some kings of certain puranic tales…they reflect the political conditions of Kalidasa’s days” 

Division of state into seven angahs or limbs does not specifically refer by name but inferred, king or the lord, ministers, political allies, treasury, the nation, fort and the forces.

During Kalidasa’s time Kingship was hereditary, and the king had a divine status. Many of Kalidasa’s references are reflective of the raja dharma of the times, and parallels between his characterisation of king and inscriptions that give details of the kings of his era have been compared.

“Kalidasa’s handling of the polity, therefore is natural traditional. Following  Manu, the poet also considers the king to be an extraordinary being,” says Raj Kumar in ‘Essays on Indian Politics’.

While there are many references to the king as the protector of his subjects, there is a beautiful description of the divine nature of Dilipa’s intervention to save a forest in Raghuvamsa. A forest fire develops guilt on Dilipa’s presence and extinguishes to provide prosperity. This is supposed to be reflected in the way the Gupta’s administered their kingdom and the idea of protection has found epigraphical evidence for example in the Junagadh rock inscription of Skanda Gupta.

Similar instance of protection by the King is found in Malavikagnimitra in a verse “An object of wish on the part of the subjects, such as the removal of public calamities, there was none that could not be accomplished while Agnimitra was their protector”. Again the connection here to the Junagadh rock inscription on Skanda Gupta: “while he, the king is reigning, verily no man among his subjects falls away from religion; there is no one who is distressed, in poverty, misery …”

Malavikagnimitra has a real historical character in King Agnimitra, son of Pushyamitra Sunga who killed Bhadrata, the last king of Mauryan dynasty in 185 A.D. Agnimitra’s lineage is traced to belonging to Baimbika Kula and Kashyapa Gotra.

The Asvamedha reference is authentic, either performed by Pushyamitra himself or one by Samudragupta, considered father of Kalidasa’s master. It brings out the idea of society as seen in the first century A.D.

The great sacrifice performed by Pusyamitra is regarded as reflecting the sacrifice performed by Samudra Gupta, the conquests of Raghu as described in the fourth canto of the Raghuvamsa are regarded as reflecting the conquests of the same Gupta emperor, all reflecting on the closeness of power as being depicted in Kalidasa and as prevalent during his times.

“Along with the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhāsa’s plays and the early inscriptional praśastis, the Raghuvamśa was among the earliest literary works that dealt directly with political issues” – Upinder Singh.

Hence Raghuvamsa is considered an important reference to the political process of the time, the creation and consolidation of mature monarchical structures and empires.

Kalidasa explains not just the qualities of the king, the nature of monarchy, and his divine powers as perceived at that time, but also gives a connect between the ideals of kingship and the realities of the monarchical power politics.

Commentators have drawn reference to books of statecraft and the guiding principles therein reflected in Kalidasas works – Arthashastra, Sukraniti, Nitisara and Dharmashastras.

Some of the names of the states Arthashastra and Nitisara uses can be found in Kalidasa – Rajya, Maharajya, Adhirajya, Dvairajya, Samrajya, and the Sarvabhauma or the Chakravarti systems. Malavikagnimitra gives example of Dvairajya, a kingdom divided into two and ruled by two brother kings.

In Raghuvamsa, Raghu as a Chakravarti is described – An emperor, Samrat Raghu moved in great state followed by his vassals and feudatory chiefs, that it was said Raghu’s feet became yellow at the fingers on account of the particles of honey and the pollen dropped down from the garlands of kings. A parallel to this is found in the Kahaum stone pillar inscription describing hundreds of chieftains bowing to Skanda Gupta in his front court causing strong blow of wind.

Another rule of conquest, the dharma of the times that gets reflected in Raghuvamsa is Kalidasa’s praises for conquests of a righteous conqueror. The Dharmavijayi took over the sovereignty of the conquered enemy but not his land.  Kautilya mentions three types of invaders, apart from the righteous Dharmavijayi were the demon like and the greedy.

As mentioned earlier, the performance of Asvamedha gets frequent mention in Kalidasa, the sacrifice as a way in which world conquest was attempted.

Vivid description of that from Malavikagnimitra: “The horse of a particular colour was consecrated by the performance of certain ceremonies, and was then let loose to wander for a year. The kind or his representative followed the horse with an army, and when the animal entered a foreign country the ruler of that country was bound either to fight or to submit. If the liberator of the horse succeeded in obtaining or enforcing the submission of all the countries over which it passed, he returned in triumph with all the vanquished rajas in his train; if he failed, he was disgraced, and his pretensions ridiculed. After his successful return a great festival was held, at which the horse was sacrificed.”

A letter of Pushyamitra, gives details of wanderings of the horse abroad: “ The horse which was let loose by me to go about unobstructed consecrated for the Raja (horse) sacrifice, having appointed Vasumitra, surrounded by a hundred princes , its guardian, and which was to return after one year, was seized which wandering on the southern bank of the Sindhu by a cavalry squadron of the Yavanas. There ensued a fierce fight between the two armies. Then Vasumitra, the mighty archer, having defeated the enemies, rescued the noble horse that was being forcibly led away….”

Apart from the nature of kingdom, the powers and position of the ruler, the King or Chakravartin, Kalidasa also talks comprehensively on the offices, ministries and constitution of ministries.

Remarks referring to three specific ministries by Kalidasa are cited – Chief Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs,  and the Minister for Finance, Law and Justice.

One of the poets critics says that could have endured from the time of Asoka to the time of Kalidas was the post of Dharmadhikari, in charge of department of religion. Appointed by the King the duty of Dharmadhikari was to look after the ascetics in the forests. Asoka had appointed set of Dharmamahamatras whose duty was to look after the promotion of religion preached by him through his edicts.

Going from the Kingdom, Kings to the justice system, Kalidasa  refers to severe code of penal law and fewer references to Civil Law. The capital punishment for the fisherman in Sakuntala was in keeping with the Manusmriti.

Malavikagnimitra showed that women weren’t spared either and punished severely for offences.

In Sakuntala references to Civil Law could be found – King ordering his Minister of Justice to look into the cases filed to him by the citizens and then to submit a report thereon to him.

Issues of Dayabhaga, inheritance of property by widows is discussed in Sakuntala – the inheritance system prevailing at the time of Kalidasa.

Other aspects of a State like taxes, trade, business and State undertakings all get a place in Kalidasa, and the parallel statecraft details can be traced to Arthashastra.

For example mention of mines as a rich source of income, building of bridges by the government and revenue from them, traders bringing in big tax income.

Raghuvamsa talks of ‘bali’ taxes having been levied and realized from people for their own benefit.. “The budget of the state was so adjusted that the people derived benefit from it in a thousand ways. The sun draws water from the earth, affirms the poet, only to restore it to her a thousand times as much. The king no less a benefactor, must act in the manner of the sun”.

From the statecraft and order to move on to see the social aspects dealt by Kalidasa, it becomes clear he dealt with the Varnasrama dharma as a follower of the model, and portraying King as the protector of the Varnasrama Dharma. The aspects of Varana and Jati are dealt with and an instance is the dialogue between possibly the Kshatriya gurad and the fisherman in Sakuntala.

He also deals with the four Ashramas of life and its adherence in society at that time. “Kalidasa, in fact could not imagine a life which did not consummate in the last stage of a dvija, that of a sanyasi.

His Raghu installs his son in his place and retires to a life of penance for ‘never indeed do those born in the solar-line continue to live as a householder in the presence of an able successor,” says Upadhyaya.

So also the types of marriages prevalent during the times – graphic description of Svayamvara can be seen in Raghuvamsa, Prajapatya mentioned by the poet as an ideal marriage where the father of the bride giver her away in marriage as does Parvati’s father to Shiva in Kumarasambhava. 

CULTURE

“All that Sanskritic culture was, its celebration of the real, and its conception of itself were epitomized in this drama fashioned by the culture's greatest spokesman and poet.” – on Abhijnana Shakuntalam 

From the practices of various forms of marriage, referred to above one can never forget to add the Gandharva Vivaha, for Kalidasa’s the hero and heroine of his magnum opus opt for one. Critics may discuss if Kalidasa approve of the consummation of a relationship without a marriage proposal. Those who say Kalidasa doesn’t seem to approve quote the fact he states “it has been reported that such a vivaha existed” in Abhijnana Sakuntalam. It is also not known if this type of marriage was prevalent during Kalidasa’s time.

“The custom had become long obsolete and from the above injunctions of the poet himself it is evident that it was at least not prevalent during the time of the poet, except, perhaps, in case of a few laxities which he seems to deprecate,” says Upadhyaya.

Abhijnana Shakuntalam has been put through lot of research and writing from the point of view of culture, role of women and patriarchy during the time of Kalidasa in how he differed from the version of Shakuntala’s story in Mahabharata.

Feminists contend that from a bold and confident Shakuntala, she is transformed in to a shy and dependant woman in Kalidasa’s play.

 “She is admired by her wit rather than by her delicate beautiful sexy body as is the case with Kalidas’s Shakuntalam. One Shakuntala can only have two identities because Kalidas was writing at a time when women were considered as beautiful artifact to decorate the life of a man. If we go back to look at other female characters during the time of The Mahabharata we find the women capable enough to challenge the patriarchy,” says Prof.Neelam Tikkha in a paper ‘One Woman two identities’.

From the feminist and patriarchy angles, researches have gone at length to point out the aspects where Kautilya and Kalidasa converge – one of the areas is the “amusement” of kings like hunting which both of them approve of, and gambling that both disapprove. In Raghuvamsa, the poet depicts the actors of Agnivarna on consequences of the evils of gambling, drinking, association with women, and in contract praises the king for keeping away from them.

Marriage dress, consummation, dowry, practice of multiple wives the rich and the kings took have all found elaborate mentions in his works.

The silk robes women wore with woven forms of swans for wedding to the hunting dresses and dresses the ascetics wore can be seen from Malavikagnimitra to Sakuntalam.

 Interesting are the motifs in sarees of swans for wedding dress of ladies and that of flamingos in ‘uttariayam’ of men. Textile designs still in use, though the male ‘uttariyam’ are plain and simple and flamingos, swans have stayed on in saree designs.

Plenty of references to relate to what has come down to us from Kalidasa’s times in terms of food – varieties of sugar, plentiful wine and even Modak and Sikharini, Madhurpaka: categories of food, the one to be chewed to be eaten (bakshya), to be eaten without chewing (bhojya),things to be licked (lehyani), things to be drunk (peya), and things to be sucked (cosya).

Elaborate details of architecture, some of them like the necessity of a garden and such to be found in the must have Vatsyayana mentions in Kalidasa’s works. From the broader Vastu Shastra to details of having horticulture gardens, and zoological parks find mention.

“The Vedic civilization of India, which has its origins in the Indus-Saraswati river basins, is not only alive but continues to thrive till date. This has happened because some of the most fundamental ideas of Vedic culture and civilization have been disseminated among the people of this ancient land by way of powerful symbols, festivals and their manifestations in the various art forms of this country. And Kalidasa is the most beautiful and yet, the most authentic representative of this phenomenon of cultural pollination.”