My profession

H.V.Venugopal

Head of the department of Sanskrit

The National Degree college Autonomous, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, India, Karnataka-560 004.

Education: M.A. in Sanskrit and M.A in Kannada, Ph.D., in Sanskrit

Working for SAMUDAYA a Cultural organisation which regularly enacts pro people drama's on Procenium stages and also on Streets from past 34 years.

Enjoys teaching Sanskrit and inspiring students to take part in theatre activities.

winner of SAMSA Award 1999. conferred by Bharata Yatra Kendra, Karnataka Nataka Academy, Kannada mattu Samskruti ilaakhe-Karnataka sarakara 

Member - B.O.S (UG) Sanskrit of The Bangalore University 2005-2008

कालिदास विरचितम् मेघदूतम् – खण्डकाव्यम्

Posted in my Blog :- Aksharasukha on 02 Feb 2010

Meghadootam of Kalidasa (a discussion)

KALIDASA (the poet)

Kalidasa is a celebrated poet in Sanskrit and is most respected among poets in Sanskrit language. The History of classical Sanskrit Literature gives us the information that Kalidasa probably lived in 4th or 5th Century A.D., (some scholors also say that he may have lived before 1st Century B.C) contributed Two Mahakavyas (Raghuvamsham, Kumarasambhavam), Two Khandakavyas (Meghadootam, Ritusamharam), Three Dramas (Malavikagnimitram, vikramorvasheeyam, Abhijnana Shakuntalam).

 WE HAVE BEEN TOLD

Meghadootam, also called as Megha Sandesham, is popularly known as a love story of some one Yaksha who was a servant in the court of Kubera. A story of a dereliction in duties severely punished rolled upon to us as a must know matter in reading this text. A character Yaksha with no specific name given, who is far away from his place as a result of punishment given by the king-wanting to send information to a Yakshi-his wife, who is there in Alaka the abode of Yakshas, that he will be returning soon.

MY QUESTIONS

• Why Yaksha and his wife Yakshi are not given a name?
• Why the story of the curse of Kubera is not discussed at length in the work. With this the separation element in the story will be gaining a strong logical reason.

MY READING

Journey of the Monsoon Clouds in the Indian sub-continent is always a fascinating factor to be watched. This journey repeats every year more or less in the same fashion. Purely a seasonal and a natural phenomena, it is the bestowyer of life for the people of India because India is a country of villages where agriculture is the way of life. This is the most reliable source of water from the sky to the land. The department of Meteorology releases forecast of monsoon every year. Every major daily news papers in our country publish the details of the weather of the day with a satellite picture of the Indian subcontinent showing the movements of the Clouds in the sky. Monsoon, Cyclone and other high drama in the sky is duly reported regularly. The waves coming from the north eastern quarters, moving south west region, and having a dramatic turn in the south west India enters Kerala, passes Karnataka, moving to Central India in between Eastern and Western Ghats. The first peak monsoon cloud touches is the peak in Ramtek (Ramagiryashrama) situated 65 k.m. to Nagpur in the north eastern part of Maharashtra. It moves to Amarkantak(Amrakoota) a place called as Narmada base situated west of Madhyapradesh South eastern part of Vindhya mountain and is a part of Dandakaranya. The cloud moves towards east along south face of Vindhya mountain range and turns towards Aravali range near Ujjain. That will be the western end of Vindhya mountain range. High peaks will not disturb the clouds any way, it is a natural course that clouds turns towards north. Going along western end of Vindhyas again cloud takes an eastern turn after crossing Ganga because of Himalayan mountain obstructs in the north. By this Cloud reaches Kailas Manas. There finishes the journey of Monsoon clouds on Indian subcontinent. The work seems to me to have more meteorological importance than the love story narrated. MY ENQUIRY(a new reading)

MY RESEARCH JOURNEY

I started doubting the fact that is being fed to us from old scholars that Ujjain must be the place of Kalidasa as he describes the town at length in the poem Meghadootam. My doubt was because in those lines poets emotional expression was missing and details speaks the culture and religious practices of the land which helps in understanding the fact that which influences the seasonal outburst of the people. Culture of the land is tuned by the seasonal changes, especially the contribution of the rain, because agriculture is the life source of Indian people.

                                                                                                                                                                                   …………..will be continued