The Recognition of Sakuntala (Oxford World's Classics)

by Kalidasa

  Paurava king: i.e. Duṣyanta himself.

  our hermitage: this speech seems an increasingly formal and desperate attempt to engage the king in conversation, when he is probably in rapt contemplation of Śakuntalā and largely oblivious to everything else.

  erotic attraction: see the Introduction, section on ‘Staging and Stage Conventions’.

  Kauśika: i.e. Viśvāmitra. Cf. the concise and allusive account of Śakuntalā’s birth and parenthood, given here, with the much fuller version, given by Śakuntalā herself, in the Mahābhārata (pp. 117 f.).

  deep meditation: such practices were thought to generate supernatural powers that could rival or surpass those possessed by the gods. Cf. ‘Śakuntalā in the Mahābhārata, pp. 117–18.

  foothold at last: he knows now that they are of the same class.

  the venerable Gautamī: the senior female ascetic.

  Act 2

  the Vidūṣaka: a stock character in Sanskrit drama, sometimes referred to in translation as ‘the Buffoon’. Although he has some things in common with Shakespeare’s clowns, he is in fact a brahmin, although a caricature of one: overweight, bald, and hunchbacked. As in this act, he usually carries a crooked stick.

  attendant girls: the term in Sanskrit is yavanī, usually taken to refer to Greek (Ionian) women from Asia Minor who had settled in Bactria, and who acted as the king’s bow- and arrow-bearers. Some scholars think the term had a wider use and was never restricted to Greeks.

  reed … hunchback: a reference by the Vidūṣaka to himself (he is hunchbacked).

  with relish: traditionally the Vidūṣaka has an excessively sweet tooth.

  considered a vice: according to the Hindu law books, hunting is one of the four most pernicious vices of the ten that afflict kings, on a par with drinking, womanizing, and gambling: see Wendy Doniger, with Brian K. Smith (trans.), The Laws of Manu (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1991), 7–47–50.

  sunstones: crystals that were believed to ignite when caught by the sun.

  arka’s pliant leaf: the arka is a plant with large leaves, associated with the sacrificial ritual, hence its correspondence in the simile to a priestly sage.

  Triśaṅku: a mythical king who wanted to ascend to heaven in his physical body. The royal sage Viśvāmitra (Śakuntalā’s real father) was persuaded to perform the necessary rituals. Indra and the gods, however, would not accept Triśaṇku in heaven and hurled him back, whereupon Viśvāmitra suspended him, head down, halfway between earth and sky, where he remains as a constellation (the ‘Southern Cross’).

  Act 3

  reduced you to ash: Kāma, the God of Love, tried to disturb Śiva when he was engaged in meditation, whereupon the great yogi incinerated him with heat from his third eye, making Kāma bodiless.

  slips her wrist: as in the West, love-sickness is seen as a kind of illness, but in the Indian context it is expressed specifically in terms of bodily emaciation (male and female), which, if unremedied, may result in death. In the play such emaciation, while strengthening the erotic mood, also echoes the result of the austerities performed by the hermitage ascetics.

  double stars of spring,: a constellation. Apparently a reference to the two friends’ service to Śakuntalā, but also, perhaps, through their championing of his suit, their service to the king, since he belongs to the Lunar Dynasty.

  goddess Lakṣmī: the goddess of wealth and good fortune, and so riches personified.

  Kāma’s dart: Kāma is the God of Love.

  earth: the king, as king, is thought to be married to the earth, who is a goddess.

  the law … done: the king is suggesting a gāndkarva form of marriage, glossed by KAṆVA in the ‘Śakuntalā in the Mahābhārata’ episode as ‘done in secret between two lovers, unaccompanied by mantras’ (p. 123). Effectively, it means sexual intercourse by mutual consent, an arrangement which, although unconventional, has legal force as a form of marriage for couples from the princely class.

  Red goose … gander: pairs of sheldrakes—red geese—are said to be inseparable by day, but cursed to be parted at night.

  Act 4

  slight a guest, do you?: hospitality is a fundamental socio-religious duty for Hindus, and its neglect a serious fault.

  fire … wood: this refers to a myth in which Fire (Agni) enters into a tree to prevent himself being burnt up by Śiva’s fiery seed, which he is carrying on behalf of the gods. Fire was thereafter thought to be ever-present in wood, from which it may be kindled for sacrificial and other purposes. The verse is in Sanskrit, which is how Priyaṃvadā, normally a Prakrit speaker, relays it to her friend.

  Hastināpura: Duṣyanta’s capital, said to have been north-east of modern Delhi.

  ‘Great Queen’: the queen whose eldest son becomes heir to the throne.

  mental power: his superhuman yogic power.

  back from bathing now: not a recreational or hygienic bath, but part of a brahmin’s daily rituals.

  Śakuntalā … must leave today: according to traditional Indian critics, this verse, embedded in the play’s core act, represents its aesthetic essence—the epitome and perfection of kāvya.

  Śarmiṣṭhā to Yayāti: Śarmiṣṇhā was Yayāti’s queen by a gāndharva marriage, and her husband’s favourite, although initially a junior wife; their youngest son was Duṣyanta’s ancestor, Puru, a universal emperor. See the Mahābhārata, 1. 70–80.

  Vedic metre: this is essentially a marriage rite without the bridegroom, accompanied by an appropriately Vedic-sounding mantra.

  kusha:=darbha grass (see note to p. 7).

  Without her mate: see note to p. 40.

  Act 5

  Queen Vasumatī: Vasumatī and Haṃsapadikā are two of Duṣyanta’s queens, between whom he is obviously transferring his affections now his memory of Śakuntalā has been wiped by the sage’s curse. Hamṣsapadikā’s song, however, is clearly meant to evoke the king’s treatment of Śakuntalā in the minds of the audience.

  my tuft of hair: the tuft of hair or topknot worn by brahmins is one sign of their orthodox status, and is only shaved if they take full renunciation. It marks the place where the soul is supposed to leave the body at death.

  I feel… beggar’s gaze: i.e. someone in a state of purity suddenly subject to pollution from contact with a low-caste or polluted individual.

  my right eyelid tremble so?: in contrast to the king’s trembling arm in Act 1 (p. 10), throbbing on the right side of the body is consided an evil omen for a woman.

  and then says this… : the end of a stream of formal greetings.

  with her husband: Śārṇgarava’s words here seem to echo those of KAṆVA in the Mahābhārata episode, ‘Besides, it’s not good for women …’ (p. 125).

  bodily signs of a Universal Emperor: see note to p. 9.

  Act 6

  a pure profession!: said sarcastically, of course. Because it involves the pollutions of violence and death, fishing is an occupation associated with the lowest, and therefore most impure castes.

  dog of death: a reference to the God of Death’s canine companions.

  You’re really … of wine: in the Bengali recension the equivalent speech (in a different Prakrit) is given to Jānuka (the Second Policeman), and it seems much more likely to be his than that the Chief would suddenly become familiar with a low-caste fisherman. Directors might wish to reallocate the speech on these lines.

  spring festival: held in honour of Kāma, the God of Love.

  of his five: floral arrows.

  deserted young wives: i.e. women thought to be particularly vulnerable to the pangs of love.

  tossing the curtain aside: so entering suddenly and angrily.

  hide behind the creepers: since she has already made herself invisible, it is not clear why she needs to do this, unless to give a dramatic echo to the king’s concealment in Act 1.

  good actions at once?: i.e. the karmic recompense for his previous good deeds manifesting, and so exhausting itself suddenly. This is based on the i
dea that all significant actions, in this and previous lives, have future but finite consequences, good and bad, depending on the moral quality of such actions (‘the law of karma’).

  his first love’s feelings: those of Queen Vasumatī.

  the ritual to ensure the birth of a son: a reference to the puṃsavaṇa rite—a life-cycle ritual performed in the third month of pregnancy. On the importance of sons in classical Indian and Hindu culture, see the Introduction, section on ‘Aesthetic Theory and the Meaning of Śakuntalā The legal assumption underlying this passage is that when a man dies without a male heir, it is the king rather than the man’s family that inherits.

  the offering: part of the offering made by their eldest male descendant (the king, in this case) at the ceremony for the dead, known as the śrāddha rite, the purpose of which is to feed the ancestors in the afterlife.

  Brahminicide!: to kill a Brahmin, ‘a god on earth’, is far worse than other kinds of homicide (according to Brahminical Law).

  a goose … of water: the wild goose has the proverbial ability to separate milk from any water it may be mixed with.

  Kālanemi: a demon opposed to the gods.

  Nārada: a great seer who appears in numerous epic stories.

  Act 7

  Jayanta: Indra’s son.

  Viṣṇu … claws: in his incarnation (avatāra) in the form of the man-lion, the great god Viṣṇu destroyed the demon king Hiranṣyakaśipu, who was claiming Indra’s throne.

  the wind, Parivaha: according to Hindu cosmology, the atmosphere is divided into seven paths, each with its own wind; Parivaha is the sixth wind, created by the second of the great god Viṣṇu’s cosmic strides in his dwarf (Vāmana) incarnation: i.e. his stride through the atmosphere (the others encompassed earth and heaven). For a brief account of this myth, see the entry under ‘Vāmana’ in Margaret and James Stutley, A Dictionary of Hinduism (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977). Parivaha is the wind that bears the three streams of the heavenly Ganges (the Milky Way), and the seven stars of the Great Bear.

  Mārīca … demons: Mārīca (also known as Kaśyapa and Prajāpati) is the grandson of the divine demiurge Brahmā, and plays an essential part in creation. (His parentage of gods and demons is mentioned here.) He and Aditi are the parents of Indra, the king of the gods. KAṆVA is a descendant of Mārīca and, in the play, his terrestrial analogue.

  the responsibilities of a devoted wife: cf. the direct ‘sermon’ on this delivered by Śakuntalā herself in the Mahābhārata episode (pp. 128 ff.).

  Throbs in my arm: a repetition and reminder of the omen the king feels on entering the terrestrial hermitage in Act 1. See note to p. 10.

  this cub: cf. ‘Śakuntalā in the Mahābhārata’ p. 125.

  palms are webbed: one of the physical signs of a world-ruler (cakravartin); see note on p. 9; cf. ‘Śakuntalā in the Mahābhārata?, pp. 124 f. for further physical indicators; see also A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India (New York: Grove Press, 1959), 83 ff., on the concept of the world-ruler or universal monarch.

  Lucky … speech: this verse seems to be drawn directly from Śakuntalā’s speech about sons in the Mahābhārata episode, ‘What greater joy for a man than a little son …’ (p. 130).

  Where is she?: because of an ambiguity in the Prakrit used, the boy thinks he has heard them call his mother’s name, sakunta being the name of a bird. Cf. ‘Śakuntalā in the Mahābhārata’, p. 121. For a more detailed linguistic explanation see Miller (ed.), Theater of Memory, 342.

  a single braid: a sign of her separation from her husband.

  Rohiṇī: the favourite wife of the Moon.

  previous life … time: see note to p. 78.

  Marīci and Dakṣa: the parents of Mārīca and Aditi. See note to p. 92.

  Twelve forms: the Ādityas, or forms of the sun in each of the twelve months; children of Mārīca and Aditi.

  Paulomī: Indra’s wife.

  Bharata, Sustainer: the legendary ruler of the world (traditionally viewed as comprised of seven islands) who gives his name to India (Bharatavarṣa or Bhārata). See ‘Śakuntalā in the Mahābhārata’, pp. 136f.

  Free me … Forever: a wish that the great god Siva should liberate him from the cycle of rebirths (saṃsara) to which, conditioned by his actions (karma), he will otherwise remain bound—an epilogue to mirror the play’s opening benediction.

  ŚAKUNTALĀ IN THE MAHĀBHĀRATA

  a Paurava forefather: i.e. he belongs to the Puru or Lunar Dynasty (see notes on the play, p. 9). The translation starts at Mahābhārata, 1. 62. 3: in the wider context of the epic the sage Vaiśaṃpāyana is telling King Janamejaya about the origins of the Puru or Lunar Dynasty, to which the latter belongs.

  To the Āryan limit: i.e. to the edge of the civilized world, defined by the acceptance of the fourfold class structure of the Āryans. ‘Āryan’ (‘Noble’) was the self-designation of the people whose language and culture dominated northern India from the middle of the second millennium BCE.

  Mount Mandara: a mythical white mountain, used by the gods and anti-gods to churn the ocean, according to a famous myth.

  Indra: see note on The Recognition of Śakuntalā, p. 8.

  Garudṣa in flight: Garuda is a bird-deity, and Viṣṇu-Krṣṣnṣa’s vehicle or mount. He is usually depicted with wings or talons and a beaked human face.

  Vedic chant: mantras drawn from the early Vedic texts (considered to be revelation), and an essential part of ritual; evidence, in this case, of the presence of forest-dwelling ascetics.

  Nara and Nārāyaṇa’s: two legendary seers, whose hermitage was supposed to have been on the upper Ganges (Gaṅgā).

  Citraratha’s field: Citraratha is the king of the celestial nymphs and musicians; his field is the grove he constructed for the king of the gods Indra.

  Indra’s heaven: the very place where the king is honoured in Kālidāsa’s play: see The Recognition of Śakuntalā, p. 90.

  world of Brahmā: the highest of the worlds in traditional cosmology.

  Pacing their sacrificial enclosures … : vv. 32–7 (on types of ritual specialists and their duties) omitted.

  Śrī herself: good fortune, personified as a goddess.

  the Law: the Sanskrit is dharma, a multivalent term signifying the divine order underlying the universe, and its manifestation in human and social structures. See Introduction, section on ‘Aesthetic Theory and the Meaning of Śakuntā.

  semen retention: a standard ascetic practice for generating supernormal powers, which would be dissipated by ejaculation.

  Vasiṣṭha: an ancient seer and bitter rival of Viśvāmitra. Viśvāmitra caused Vasiṣṭha’s sons to be destroyed by a demonic spirit—see Māhābhārata, 1. 165.

  became a brahmin: to increase his power, since he believed his warrior’s power to be too weak; see Mahābhārata, 1. 165, and note on The Recognition of Śakuntalā, p. 13.

  Just for a wash: vv. 31–4 (giving more details of Visvāmitra’s previous deeds) omitted.

  Mount Meru: the mountain at the centre of the cosmos; the earth’s axis.