India's greatest Sanskrit poet may never have existed as one person
Kalidasa, writing before the fifth century CE during the Gupta era, produced three plays, two epic poems, and two lyric poems that define classical Sanskrit literature. Abhijnanashakuntala enchanted Goethe. Yet scholars debate his birthplace, his royal patron, and whether one man wrote all seven works.
Nothing certain is known of his life beyond inference from poetry. Geographical clues have placed his origin in Bengal, Kashmir, Vidarbha, Malava, and Uttarakhand—each theory contested. Historian V. V. Mirashi argues Ujjayini was his birthplace from the affectionate length of its description in Meghaduta. The most popular dating places him under Chandragupta II around the fourth to fifth century CE.
Paleographical evidence includes a c. 473 CE Mandsaur inscription with verses imitating Meghaduta and Ritusamhara without naming him. His name first appears alongside Bharavi in a 634 CE Aihole inscription. Surviving works accepted by most scholars are Kumara-sambhava, Raghuvamsha, Meghaduta, Ritusamhara, and plays Abhijnanashakuntala, Malavikagnimitra, and Vikramorvashiya.
Some scholars go further. M. Srinivasachariar reads eighth- and ninth-century writers as describing three separate poets named Kalidasa, and K. Krishnamoorthy suggests that Vikramaditya and Kalidasa became generic labels for any patron king and any court poet. The best-loved play turns on a lost ring: King Dushyanta marries Shakuntala, a curse from the sage Durvasa erases her from his memory, and only when a fisherman returns the royal signet does he remember her. William Jones put Shakuntala into English in 1791 and printed the Ritusamhara in Sanskrit a year later, and a German version made from the English captivated Goethe. The Meghaduta, in which an exiled yaksha sends a cloud to carry word to his beloved, is set in the mandakranta metre prized for its sweetness. Even the name, meaning servant of Kali, proves little about Bengal, since his opening prayers all address Shiva.
Source: Kalidasa
