The Sanskrit Epics

by Delphi Classics

  Another adverse criticism cannot so readily be disposed of; that of a lack of unity in the plot. As the poem treats of a kingly dynasty, we frequently meet the cry: The king is dead. Long live the king! The story of Rama himself occupies only six cantos; he is not born until the tenth canto, he is in heaven after the fifteenth. There are in truth six heroes, each of whom has to die to make room for his successor. One may go farther and say that it is not possible to give a brief and accurate title to the poem. It is not a Ramayana, or epic of Rama’s deeds, for Rama is on the stage during only a third of the poem. It is not properly an epic of Raghu’s line, for many kings of this line are unmentioned. Not merely kings who escape notice by their obscurity, but also several who fill a large place in Indian story, whose deeds and adventures are splendidly worthy of epic treatment. The Dynasty of Raghu is rather an epic poem in which Rama is the central figure, giving it such unity as it possesses, but which provides Rama with a most generous background in the shape of selected episodes concerning his ancestors and his descendants.

  Rama is the central figure. Take him away and the poem falls to pieces like a pearl necklace with a broken string. Yet it may well be doubted whether the cantos dealing with Rama are the most successful. They are too compressed, too briefly allusive. Kalidasa attempts to tell the story in about one-thirtieth of the space given to it by his great predecessor Valmiki. The result is much loss by omission and much loss by compression. Many of the best episodes of the Ramayana are quite omitted by Kalidasa: for example, the story of the jealous humpback who eggs on Queen Kaikeyi to demand her two boons; the beautiful scene in which Sita insists on following Rama into the forest; the account of the somnolent giant Pot-ear, a character quite as good as Polyphemus. Other fine episodes are so briefly alluded to as to lose all their charm: for example, the story of the golden deer that attracts the attention of Rama while Ravana is stealing his wife; the journey of the monkey Hanumat to Ravana’s fortress and his interview with Sita.

  The Rama-story, as told by Valmiki, is one of the great epic stories of the world. It has been for two thousand years and more the story par excellence of the Hindus; and the Hindus may fairly claim to be the best story-tellers of the world. There is therefore real matter for regret in the fact that so great a poet as Kalidasa should have treated it in a way not quite worthy of it and of himself. The reason is not far to seek, nor can there be any reasonable doubt as to its truth. Kalidasa did not care to put himself into direct competition with Valmiki. The younger poet’s admiration of his mighty predecessor is clearly expressed. It is with especial reference to Valmiki that he says in his introduction:

  Yet I may enter through the door

  That mightier poets pierced of yore;

  A thread may pierce a jewel, but

  Must follow where the diamond cut.

  He introduces Valmiki into his own epic, making him compose the Ramayana in Rama’s lifetime. Kalidasa speaks of Valmiki as “the poet,” and the great epic he calls “the sweet story of Rama,” “the first path shown to poets,” which, when sung by the two boys, was heard with motionless delight by the deer, and, when sung before a gathering of learned men, made them heedless of the tears that rolled down their cheeks.

  Bearing these matters in mind, we can see the course of Kalidasa’s thoughts almost as clearly as if he had expressed them directly. He was irresistibly driven to write the wonderful story of Rama, as any poet would be who became familiar with it. At the same time, his modesty prevented him from challenging the old epic directly. He therefore writes a poem which shall appeal to the hallowed association that cluster round the great name of Rama, but devotes two-thirds of it to themes that permit him greater freedom. The result is a formless plot.

  This is a real weakness, yet not a fatal weakness. In general, literary critics lay far too much emphasis on plot. Of the elements that make a great book, two, style and presentation of character, hardly permit critical analysis. The third, plot, does permit such analysis. Therefore the analyst overrates its importance. It is fatal to all claim of greatness in a narrative if it is shown to have a bad style or to be without interesting characters. It is not fatal if it is shown that the plot is rambling. In recent literature it is easy to find truly great narratives in which the plot leaves much to be desired. We may cite the Pickwick Papers, Les Misérables, War and Peace.

  We must then regard The Dynasty of Raghu as a poem in which single episodes take a stronger hold upon the reader than does the unfolding of an ingenious plot. In some degree, this is true of all long poems. The Æneid itself, the most perfect long poem ever written, has dull passages. And when this allowance is made, what wonderful passages we have in Kalidasa’s poem! One hardly knows which of them makes the strongest appeal, so many are they and so varied. There is the description of the small boy Raghu in the third canto, the choice of the princess in the sixth, the lament of King Aja in the eighth, the story of Dasharatha and the hermit youth in the ninth, the account of the ruined city in the sixteenth. Besides these, the Rama cantos, ten to fifteen, make an epic within an epic. And if Kalidasa is not seen at his very best here, yet his second best is of a higher quality than the best of others. Also, the Rama story is so moving that a mere allusion to it stirs like a sentimental memory of childhood. It has the usual qualities of a good epic story: abundance of travel and fighting and adventure and magic interweaving of human with superhuman, but it has more than this. In both hero and heroine there is real development of character. Odysseus and Æneas do not grow; they go through adventures. But King Rama, torn between love for his wife and duty to his subjects, is almost a different person from the handsome, light-hearted prince who won his bride by breaking Shiva’s bow. Sita, faithful to the husband who rejects her, has made a long, character-forming journey since the day when she left her father’s palace, a youthful bride. Herein lies the unique beauty of the tale of Rama, that it unites romantic love and moral conflict with a splendid story of wild adventure. No wonder that the Hindus, connoisseurs of story-telling, have loved the tale of Rama’s deeds better than any other story.

  If we compare The Dynasty of Raghu with Kalidasa’s other books, we find it inferior to The Birth of the War-god in unity of plot, inferior to Shakuntala in sustained interest, inferior to The Cloud-Messenger in perfection of every detail. Yet passages in it are as high and sweet as anything in these works. And over it is shed the magic charm of Kalidasa’s style. Of that it is vain to speak. It can be had only at first hand. The final proof that The Dynasty of Raghu is a very great poem, is this: no one who once reads it can leave it alone thereafter.

  Selections from ‘Kumarasambhava’ by Kalidasa

  OR, THE BIRTH OF THE WAR-GOD

  Translated by Arthur W. Ryder

  Kalidasa’s other epic poem is Kumarasambhava, regarded by many as the poet’s finest work and a paradigmatic example of kavya poetry. Its style of description of spring would go on to establish the standard for nature metaphors for many centuries of the Indian literary tradition. The epic poem concerns the birth of Kumara (Kārtikeya), the son of Shiva and Parvati. The period of composition is uncertain, although Kalidasa is thought to have lived in the fifth century.

  The title of the work literally means “Birth of Kumāra”. Composed of seventeen cantos, the epic concerns the Sringara rasa, the rasa of love, romance, and eroticism. It describes the courting of the ascetic Shiva, who is meditating in the mountains, by Parvati, the daughter of the Himalayas. The epic also concerns: the conflagration of Kama (the god of desire)—after his arrow strikes Shiva—by the fire from Shiva’s third eye; the wedding and lovemaking of Shiva and Parvati; and the subsequent birth of Kumara (Skanda), the war god.

  Kartikeya with a Kushan devotee, 2nd century AD

  THE BIRTH OF THE WAR-GOD

  THE BIRTH OF the War-god is an epic poem in seventeen cantos. It consists of 1096 stanzas, or about 4400 lines of verse. The subject is the marriage of the god Shiva, the birth of his son, and the victory of this s
on over a powerful demon. The story was not invented by Kalidasa, but taken from old mythology. Yet it had never been told in so masterly a fashion as had been the story of Rama’s deeds by Valmiki. Kalidasa is therefore under less constraint in writing this epic than in writing The Dynasty of Raghu. I give first a somewhat detailed analysis of the matter of the poem.

  First canto. The birth of Parvati. — The poem begins with a description of the great Himalaya mountain-range.

  God of the distant north, the Snowy Range

  O’er other mountains towers imperially;

  Earth’s measuring-rod, being great and free from change,

  Sinks to the eastern and the western sea.

  Whose countless wealth of natural gems is not

  Too deeply blemished by the cruel snow;

  One fault for many virtues is forgot,

  The moon’s one stain for beams that endless flow.

  Where demigods enjoy the shade of clouds

  Girding his lower crests, but often seek,

  When startled by the sudden rain that shrouds

  His waist, some loftier, ever sunlit peak.

  Where bark of birch-trees makes, when torn in strips

  And streaked with mountain minerals that blend

  To written words ‘neath dainty finger-tips,

  Such dear love-letters as the fairies send.

  Whose organ-pipes are stems of bamboo, which

  Are filled from cavern-winds that know no rest,

  As if the mountain strove to set the pitch

  For songs that angels sing upon his crest.

  Where magic herbs that glitter in the night

  Are lamps that need no oil within them, when

  They fill cave-dwellings with their shimmering light

  And shine upon the loves of mountain men.

  Who offers roof and refuge in his caves

  To timid darkness shrinking from the day;

  A lofty soul is generous; he saves

  Such honest cowards as for protection pray,

  Who brings to birth the plants of sacrifice;

  Who steadies earth, so strong is he and broad.

  The great Creator, for this service’ price,

  Made him the king of mountains, and a god.

  Himalaya marries a wife, to whom in course of time a daughter is born, as wealth is born when ambition pairs with character. The child is named Parvati, that is, daughter of the mountain. Her father takes infinite delight in her, as well he may; for

  She brought him purity and beauty too,

  As white flames to the lamp that burns at night;

  Or Ganges to the path whereby the true

  Reach heaven; or judgment to the erudite.

  She passes through a happy childhood of sand-piles, balls, dolls, and little girl friends, when all at once young womanhood comes upon her.

  As pictures waken to the painter’s brush,

  Or lilies open to the morning sun,

  Her perfect beauty answered to the flush

  Of womanhood when childish days were done.

  Suppose a blossom on a leafy spray;

  Suppose a pearl on spotless coral laid:

  Such was the smile, pure, radiantly gay,

  That round her red, red lips for ever played.

  And when she spoke, the music of her tale

  Was sweet, the music of her voice to suit,

  Till listeners felt as if the nightingale

  Had grown discordant like a jangled lute.

  It is predicted by a heavenly being that she will one day become the wife of the god Shiva. This prediction awakens her father’s pride, and also his impatience, since Shiva makes no advances. For the destined bridegroom is at this time leading a life of stern austerity and self-denial upon a mountain peak. Himalaya therefore bids his daughter wait upon Shiva. She does so, but without being able to divert him from his austerities.

  Second canto. Brahma’s self-revelation. — At this time, the gods betake themselves to Brahma, the Creator, and sing a hymn of praise, a part of which is given here.

  Before creation, thou art one;

  Three, when creation’s work is done:

  All praise and honour unto thee

  In this thy mystic trinity.

  Three various forms and functions three

  Proclaim thy living majesty;

  Thou dost create, and then maintain,

  And last, destroyest all again.

  Thy slow recurrent day and night

  Bring death to all, or living light.

  We live beneath thy waking eye;

  Thou sleepest, and thy creatures die.

  Solid and fluid, great and small,

  And light and heavy — Thou art all;

  Matter and form are both in thee:

  Thy powers are past discovery.

  Thou art the objects that unroll

  Their drama for the passive soul;

  Thou art the soul that views the play

  Indifferently, day by day.

  Thou art the knower and the known;

  Eater and food art thou alone;

  The priest and his oblation fair;

  The prayerful suppliant and the prayer.

  Brahma receives their worship graciously, and asks the reason of their coming. The spokesman of the gods explains to Brahma how a great demon named Taraka is troubling the world, and how helpless they are in opposing him. They have tried the most extravagant propitiation, and found it useless.

  The sun in heaven dare not glow

  With undiminished heat, but so

  As that the lilies may awake

  Which blossom in his pleasure-lake.

  The wind blows gently as it can

  To serve him as a soothing fan,

  And dare not manifest its power,

  Lest it should steal a garden flower.

  The seasons have forgotten how

  To follow one another now;

  They simultaneously bring

  Him flowers of autumn, summer, spring.

  Such adoration makes him worse;

  He troubles all the universe:

  Kindness inflames a rascal’s mind;

  He should be recompensed in kind.

  And all the means that we have tried

  Against the rogue, are brushed aside,

  As potent herbs have no avail

  When bodily powers begin to fail.

  We seek a leader, O our Lord,

  To bring him to his just reward —

  As saints seek evermore to win

  Virtue, to end life’s woe and sin —

  That he may guide the heavenly host,

  And guard us to the uttermost,

  And from our foe lead captive back

  The victory which still we lack.

  Brahma answers that the demon’s power comes from him, and he does not feel at liberty to proceed against it; “for it is not fitting to cut down even a poison-tree that one’s own hand has planted.” But he promises that a son shall be born to Shiva and Parvati, who shall lead the gods to victory. With this answer the gods are perforce content, and their king, Indra, waits upon the god of love, to secure his necessary co-operation.

  Third canto. The burning of Love. — Indra waits upon Love, who asks for his commands. Indra explains the matter, and asks Love to inflame Shiva with passion for Parvati. Love thereupon sets out, accompanied by his wife Charm and his friend Spring. When they reach the mountain where Shiva dwells, Spring shows his power. The snow disappears; the trees put forth blossoms; bees, deer, and birds waken to new life. The only living being that is not influenced by the sudden change of season is Shiva, who continues his meditation, unmoved. Love himself is discouraged, until he sees the beauty of Parvati, when he takes heart again. At this moment, Shiva chances to relax his meditation, and Parvati approaches to do him homage. Love seizes the lucky moment, and prepares to shoot his bewildering arrow at Shiva. But the great god sees him, and before the arrow is discharged, darts fire from
his eye, whereby Love is consumed. Charm falls in a swoon, Shiva vanishes, and the wretched Parvati is carried away by her father.

  Fourth canto. The lament of Charm. — This canto is given entire.

  The wife of Love lay helpless in a swoon,

  Till wakened by a fate whose deadliest sting

  Was preparation of herself full soon

  To taste the youthful widow’s sorrowing.

  Her opening eyes were fixed with anxious thought

  On every spot where he might be, in vain,

  Were gladdened nowhere by the sight she sought,

  The lover she should never see again.

  She rose and cried aloud: “Dost thou yet live,

  Lord of my life?” And at the last she found

  Him whom the wrathful god could not forgive,

  Her Love, a trace of ashes on the ground.

  With breaking heart, with lovely bosom stained

  By cold embrace of earth, with flying hair,

  She wept and to the forest world complained,

  As if the forest in her grief might share.

  “Thy beauty slew the pride that maidens cherish;

  Perfect its loveliness in every part;

  I saw that beauty fade away and perish,

  Yet did not die. How hard is woman’s heart!

  Where art thou gone? Thy love a moment only

  Endured, and I for ever need its power;

  Gone like the stream that leaves the lily lonely,

  When the dam breaks, to mourn her dying flower.

  Thou never didst a thing to cause me anguish;

  I never did a thing to work thee harm;

  Why should I thus in vain affliction languish?

  Why not return to bless thy grieving Charm?

  Of playful chastisements art thou reminded,

  Thy flirtings punished by my girdle-strands,

  Thine eyes by flying dust of blossoms blinded,

  Held for thy meet correction in these hands?

  I loved to hear the name thou gav’st me often

  ‘Heart of my heart,’ Alas! It was not true,