Kālidāsa has probably provided us with the finest pictures of the pure life led by sages in hermitages. It is among the many things that he has pioneered. From his description of life in hermitages, it is clear that a sage is one who is more humane than most humans. It is because of this that he becomes divine in the larger sense. It is not as if he has no concerns; it is just that he is concerned about everything around him. And it is not as if he has given up everything; it is just that he accommodates everything.
Author:Vasuki H A
Adhyāyas 54-61 : Ādivaṃśāvataraṇa -parva
Kumārasambhavam
The epic opens with a magnificent hyperbole describing the great Himalayan mountains:
स्थितः पृथिव्या इव मानदण्डः ||
The Himalayas is like a great measuring scale used to measure the earth.
The narrative then moves to describing his daughter Pārvatī. We can look at a few descriptions of Pārvatī.
One of the fascinating things about travelling across India especially on our national highways is the sheer number of milestones of history, seemingly casually erected so elevated and steep that one is compelled to pause or stop and listen to their stories. We’re reminded of the scene in Dr. S L Bhyrappa’s Aavarana where Razia (or Lakshmi) mulls at a train station about visiting the temples destroyed in the vicinity and learning all about their tragic histories.
A paper titled “The Perspective of Practical Vedānta in the Works of M. Hiriyanna” was presented by Arjun Bharadwaj at the international conference “New Frontiers in Sanskrit and Indic Knowledge” (NFSI) on 12th June 2017 organized by the Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth. The current article contains excerpts from the paper.
Kālidāsa is known as the master of similes. The Sanskrit tradition has proclaimed it as ‘Upamā Kālidāsasya.’ The variety, depth and appropriateness of his similes remains unsurpassed to this day. A study of his similes is itself an education in many branches of knowledge. Instead of confining ourselves strictly to the similes, we can look at the superset called sādṛṣyamūlālaṅkāra. Dṛṣṭānta (Analogy) and atiśayokti (hyperbole) also fall into the same category. The following selection from his works will be a veritable treat to rasikas.
Adhyāyas 4-12. Pauloma-parva
The adhyāyas from 4 to 12 form the Pauloma-parva. Just like the anukramaṇikā (prologue), this section starts with a prose passage.
रोमहर्षणपुत्र उग्रश्रवाः सूतः पौराणिको नैमिषारण्ये शौनकस्य कुलपतेर्द्वादशवार्षिके सत्रे |
(Sūta-paurāṇika Ugraśrava, the son of Romaharṣaṇa during the twelve year long satra conducted by Śaunaka in the Naimiṣāraṇya,....)
III
We shall now turn to the role of idiomatic language in poetry. As we all know, idiom is the life of any language. It is the hallmark of a great poet to employ idioms in his verses. At the same time, this is also a challenge, as idioms are generally easier to fit into a prose passage. Here are a few examples from languages other than Sanskrit:
The focus of this article, as evident from the title, is on the role played by meter, idiom, diction and figures of speech—features that enrich the total aesthetic appeal of a poem—in classical Indian poetry. Art is created when emotions are sublimated and imagination is brought into action. Emotions moulded by imagination (pratibhā)—with or without the assistance of erudition (vyutpatti) and practice (abhyāsa)—result in a work of art, while mere emotions end up in their worldly destination of pain and pleasure.
A paper titled “The Perspective of Practical Vedānta in the Works of M. Hiriyanna” was presented by Arjun Bharadwaj at the international conference “New Frontiers in Sanskrit and Indic Knowledge” (NFSI) on 12th June 2017 organized by the Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth. The current article contains excerpts from the paper.