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61 pages

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Believed to be Kalidasa's first work, Malavikagnimitram is the love story of King Agnimitra and the court dancer Malavika. The tale unfolds through humorous palace interludes, vivid descriptions of fine arts and the cunning machinations of court players. Even in this early work, Kalidasa's characteristic penchant for romance, art and natural beauty is evident at every delightful turn of the plot. He transforms a simple tale of forbidden love into an engrossing courtly drama filled with beauty, humour and wit. // Srinivas Reddy's engaging translation captures to perfection the joyous vigour of the young dramatist's voice.

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Publié par	Penguin Books Ltd
Date de parution	01 juin 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789351187219
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

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Kalidasa

MALAVIKAGNIMITRAM
The Dancer and the King
Translated from the Sanskrit by Srinivas Reddy
Contents
Dedication
Note on Transliteration
The M lavik gnimitram of K lid sa: The Making of a Mah kavi
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Act V
Notes
Bibliography
Follow Penguin
Copyright
for my grandmothers Ammamma and Nannamma Raja Rajeshwari and Jaya Lakshmi
Note on Transliteration
Standard international diacritics for the transliteration of Sanskrit words and proper names have been used in the notes and introduction. For ease of reading, no diacritical marks have been used in the translated text. Below is a rough guide to pronunciation.
a like the u in cup i like the i in kin u like the u in put like the r in drill e like the ay in day o like the o in go
like the a in father like the ee in need like the u in flute
ai like the ai in aisle au like the ow in cow
Sanskrit consonants come in a variety of forms and are categorized according to their point of articulation. In addition, all consonants (barring nasals, semi-vowels and sibilants) come in unaspirated and aspirated forms. The latter forms should be pronounced with a burst of breath after the initial consonant. Lastly, the , or visarga, is pronounced with a slight echo of its preceding vowel.
Un-aspirated Voiceless Aspirated Voiceless Un-aspirated Voiced Aspirated Voiced Nasals Semi-vowels Sibilants Velar k kh g gh Palatal c ch j jh y Retroflex h h r Dental t th d dh n l s Labial p ph b bh m v

Velar: Back of the tongue touching the soft palate
Palatal: Body of the tongue raised against the hard palate
Retroflex: Tip of the tongue curled back against the palate
Dental: Tongue touching the back of the upper teeth
Labial: Articulated by the lips
The M lavik gnimitram of K lid sa: The Making of a Mah kavi
nirgat su na v kasya k lid sasya s kti u pr tir madhura-s ndr su ma jar u iva j yate 1
Pleasure blooms in K lid sa s poems, like a full bouquet of fragrant flowers!
The M lavik gnimitram of K lid sa is arguably the least refined work of the most celebrated Sanskrit poet. Although this dubious distinction has preserved the text in the minds of Indian literati for centuries, it has simultaneously relegated it to a position of triviality. Even today the work remains underappreciated, finding mention only in the context of enumerating the great poet s oeuvre. Nonetheless, a close reading of the text reveals several remarkable passages and, more importantly, a window into the mind of a master poet in the making.
The seven works attributed to the early fifth-century Sanskrit poet K lid sa comprise three plays, two epics and two long poems. Of these, the text at hand is certainly one of his earliest productions, if not his very first. Before the start of Act I, a director calls out to his assistant and announces that a new play ( n aka ) by K lid sa should be staged for the spring festival. The assistant, or p rip r vika , 2 replies: Oh no! How can we disregard the works of widely celebrated poets like Bh sa, Saumilla and Kaviputra, and choose this composition by K lid sa, a modern poet? The assistant questions the choice of K lid sa, a contemporary poet, or vartam na kavi as he calls him. From the poet s perspective, K lid sa skilfully uses the meta-language of the prast van , or prologue, to humbly place himself within a well-established literary tradition. 3 The poet Bh sa has been well-studied by scholars as an exemplar of early Sanskrit dramatics, particularly after a stash of thirteen of his plays were unexpectedly discovered in south India in the twentieth century. Of Saumilla and Kaviputra, however, we find mention only here, and sadly none of their works survive-thus pointing to a vibrant history of literary composition with unfortunately scanty textual evidence. The quotation at the beginning of the introduction is accredited to the famed seventh-century poet B a and evidences how influential K lid sa had become to later poets of antiquity and the Sanskrit literary tradition at large.
Returning to the prologue, the cultured brahmin director recites the following verse in response to the assistant s query:
Not all old poetry is good, nor new bad. The wise search to discern one from the other, while foolish minds are guided by the opinions of others. 4
This view encapsulates K lid sa s vision of bringing newness ( navam ) into an established tradition ( pur am ). In short, he exudes a confidence in regard to his contributions, and an unmistakeable self-awareness of his propriety.
Although the language of M lavik gnimitram is undoubtedly less polished than K lid sa s later works, all the qualities of his mature talents are evident here in embryonic form. Contrary to popular legends that speak of K lid sa s astonishing conversion from dimwit to genius, his surviving works evidence a writer whose poetic skills evolved, developed and refined over time. As Devadhar puts it, the countless legends about him are no more than a mere farrago of absurd anachronisms . 5 All the stories tell the tale of the poet s miraculous transformation into a mature wordsmith through the grace of the powerful goddess K li whom he worshipped as a humble servant or devotee ( d sa ). In truth, he was not born a master poet, nor was he magically transformed into one as the stories seem to suggest-K lid sa, like all great artists, evolved. An early work like M lavik gnimitram demythologizes the legend of K lid sa and makes him a living poet who honed his craft over a lifetime and developed a deeper, more refined poetic sensibility in later works like the Kum rasa bhavam. This empiricist outlook in no way discredits the poet s deep and sustained devotion to the goddess and her cosmic consort, iva-a genuine sentiment that flows through all his works. As Miller remarks: The powerful images of nature that dominate his poetry and drama are ultimately determined by his conception of Siva s creative mystery. This is implicit in the doctrine of iva s eight manifest forms ( a a - m rti ), which he states in the benediction of the kuntala .
The water that was first created, the sacrifice-bearing fire, the priest, the time-setting sun and moon, audible space that fills the universe, what men call nature, the source of all seeds, the air that living creatures breathe- through his eight embodied forms, may Lord iva come to bless you! 6
A similar praise of iva s iconic form is available from the poet s earlier imagination in the n ndi , or benedictory verse, of M lavik gnimitram . Juxtaposing these two examples highlights a continuity in both theme and register, allowing us to track the formation of a distinctive poetic style that we now recognize as the inimitable voice of K lid sa.
He stands with sole supremacy as his suppliants reap rich rewards and yet he clothes himself in garments made of hide. His body is united with his beloved, yet he transcends even renouncers whose minds dwell beyond the senses. He sustains the entire universe with his eight forms, and yet displays no vanity. May our Lord dispel the cycle of darkness and give light to the perfect path. 7
In the following pages I hope to highlight some of the other fascinating elements that make K lid sa s M lavik gnimitram not only a great work of world literature, but also a portal into the budding mind of a poetic genius and the dynamic cultural milieu that produced him.
History
Unlike K lid sa s two other dramas-the Abhij na- kuntalam and the Vikramorva yam, which are paur nika, or mythological, in subject- M lavik gnimitram is a historical drama. The eponymous hero of the drama is known to historians as the second emperor of the u ga dynasty, an empire that dominated north India for over a century during a fascinating period of transition between the influential Maurya and Gupta state formations. An important element of this era was a rich social and cultural environment in which various religious communities, artistic traditions and scientific pursuits benefited from the generous support of state patronage. At some level, the ungas represent the contentious shift from a Mauryan administration that sponsored Jain and Buddhist communities to the golden age of Hindu classicism of the Gupta period. Ever since Alexander s invasion of India in 326 BCE, the northern subcontinent was populated and ruled by a diverse mixture of Greek, Scythian, aka and Huna groups who were in constant power negotiations with indigenous regional polities. The u ga empire was founded in 187 BCE when the brahmin general Pu yamitra orchestrated a military coup, assassinated the last ruling Mauryan king, B hadratha, and established rule from the imperial capital of P aliputra (today s Patna). K lid sa s play is set in Vidi (near modern-day Bhopal) where Pu yamitra s son Agnimitra has been stationed as a viceroy. In Act V we learn in a letter that Pu yamitra has consecrated the holy horse sacrifice or a vamedha-yaj a, one of the many consecration ( r jas ya ) rites prescribed by Vedic injunction. The event seems to have been remembered by Pata jali in his Mah bh ya II.123.3 which states, iha pu yamitra y jay ma : Here we are conducting a sacrifice for Pu yamitra. 8 Not much else is known about the event, but the poet goes on to mention that Agnimitra s son Prince Vasumitra aided in defeating Greek ( yavana ) cavalrymen on the banks of the Indus River. In addition, Pu yamitra encourages Agnimitra to keep a mind free of anger ( vigata-ro a-cetas ), referencing some kind of strained relationship between father and son.
Historians have traditionally read Pu yamitra s actions as part of a revolt against the Buddhist Mauryans, and as an attempt to establish a brahminical Vedic-based cosmology of kingship. Shankar Pandit s observations are typical: The real ground for anger seems to be due to the religious opinions of the two. Agnimitra was indulgent towards the Buddhists while Pu yamitra tried to uproot it out of Indi