Mani Rao [Rao - KГѓLIDГѓSA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY READER: SELECTED POETRY AND DRAMA

Also by Mani Rao

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Echolocation (2003)

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The Last Beach (1999)

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Translators Dedication

Kali Ma

Tongue unshy

Your necklace chatters

Skirt tassles sigh

Mercy, Kali

Everyones Ma

Nobodys Lover

Sister Daughter

Slaughter

Contents

A Note on Sanskrit Pronunciation

For the most part, Sanskrit diacritics are used in this translation for proper names. The guide below is not comprehensive, but ought to help you say most of the names correctly. Basic tips: A dash over a vowel makes it a longer syllable. Curl your tongue back when there is a dot under the letter, except for , and (see chart below for those). h after consonants calls for aspiration, or an out-breath.

Vowels:

a as in u in c u t
as in f a ther
i as in b i t
as in b ee t
u as in p u t or f oo t
as in br u te or c oo l
e as in b a y or f a te
ai as in s i gh or ai sle
o as in h o pe
au as in s ou nd or fl au tist
(which is a vowel in Sanskrit) similar to b ru nch, or ri g
nasalise the preceding vowel so that o as in the French b o n
softly echoes the preceding vowel

Consonants: as for English except for

v as w all
as sh ame (whereas s as in s o)
similar to di sh

c as ch urch or ch utney
t as pas t a
as su ng
as ca ny on
has no equivalent in English, but it is a retroflex , the tongue needs to curl backwards to touch the palate and then hit the back of the teeth.
d as in the , as in d art
kh, gh, ch, jh, th, dh, ph, bh are aspirated consonants, the h is pronounced along with an out-breath. This sound has no exact equivalent in English, but the following examples will help approximate the sound. Thus, k as in s k ate but kh similar to Khan , g as in gate but gh as in the country, Gh ana; ch as in mu ch honey; and so on.

Thus: yaka is pronounced yuck-sh(as di sh )-u(as b u t).

Introduction

Indian Poetrys Genius
Popular legends describe Klidsas transformation from fool to genius. One day, this fool sits on a tree in the wrong spot, about to chop the very branch he sits upon, and is noticed by the kings minister who holds a grudge against the kingdoms princess. The minister gives the fool a makeover, presents him at court as an erudite prince, and succeeds in marrying him off to the gullible princess. When the princess finds out the truth, she abandons the fool at the local Kl temple. The fools simplicity and devotion win over Goddess Kl, who writes upon his tongue and transforms him into a brilliant poetthereafter, this fool is called Klidsa, devoted servant of Kl. The legend is telling; that only a divine intervention can create such talent tells us just how highly Klidsa is regarded by posterity.

The miraculous transformation from fool to genius also makes the poet endearing rather than formidable. A Sanskrit verse illustrates Klidsas place as the foremost among poets with a humorous story around counting by hand. In the old Indian way of counting on a hand, the palm faced up and the little finger got tallied first. Once, when poets were being counted, the first to be counted, on the little finger, was Klidsa. The next in line was the ring finger, but there was no other poet who could follow Klidsa naturally, this finger was anmik , which means nameless.

Klidsas poems and plays made a strong impression on centuries of Indian publics, poets and critics. One may find arguments about the exact reason for Klidsas towering status in Sanskrit literature, but rarely any negative criticism or disagreement about his status. The twelfth-century poet Jayadeva called Klidsa the guru of the family of poets. Treatises on Sanskrit poetics turn so often to lines from Klidsas poems and plays for examples of figures of speech and use of metre, it seems as if Klidsas compositions literally shaped the ars poetica of Sanskrit literature and dramatics. Examples from across Klidsas poems and plays can fill a treatise on the gra rasa , the erotic emotion of Indian poetics. But if Klidsa has a knack for gra , he also knows of complications when duty clashes with desire. Klidsas literary skill is matched by his knowledge of human nature and observational skill. Touching moments in the play Abhijna kuntalam , and the poems Raghuvamam and Meghadtam show a compassionate understanding of emotional states. kuntalam and tusamhram , and even Kumrasambhavam , show a sensitivity to the lively beauty in nature; when Klidsa compares the physical beauty of women to natural objects, the compliment seems directed to nature. Mlavikgnimitram and Vikramorvayam show a sympathy for obsessive love along with an understanding of love-politics.

Klidsas metrical skill is impeccable. Technical choices, for sure, create related effectsin Meghadtam , the mandkrnt metre of seventeen syllabic lines creates a slow, meandering rhythm, apt for the clouds voyage. But the way Klidsa works with the metre is so deft, the reader never feels that a word is contrived, or chosen for its syllable length or phonetic features rather than for aptness of meaning and suggestion. There is a lot of information in the long lines of Meghadtam , but each detail informs the other, and it all adds up to more than the sum of the parts. The antelope runs to avoid the rain, meanwhile the earth responds to the same rain, and the antelope sniffs the rising fragrancewhat we have is a montage, all these things come together at once.

Life and Times

Who is Klidsa? is a perplexing question. We do not know when and where Klidsa lived, in what kingdom or era, who his parents were, or his contemporaries, nor even if his name is a pseudonym. This prolific poet did not write about himself directly. Rjaekhara, a tenth-century poet known for his figures of speech, noted that Klidsa remained unbeatable. Seventh-century writer Babhaa praised the delights of Klidsas poetry in his poem-chronicle Haracarita. Seventh-century CE philosopher Kumarla Bhaa cited from Klidsas play kuntalam . An inscription at Aihole dated 634 AD mentions Klidsa by name, along with the poet Bhravi. That, then, gives us an estimate of when he was born, that Klidsa lived before the early seventh century CE . The upper limit is less easy to fix. One source names Klidsa, along with eight others, as one of the nine gems of King Vikramas court. But we do not know if there was more than one Klidsa, nor exactly who King Vikrama wasvikrama could simply be an appellation that means victorious. One King Vikramditya defeated the akas and established the Samvat Era that began in the first century bce; another Vikramditya was King Yaodharman, who defeated the Has in the sixth century CE . Yet another Vikramditya was the Gupta king, Chandragupta II, who ruled from Ujjayin in the fourth century CE .