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Dusyanta. The hero of the piece is Dusyanta, a scion of the illustrious line of Puru. Kalidasa depicts him as an ideal man, an ideal king. In him we have a hero of the "rara" type, and our poet has represented him as gifted with all those noble qualities which go to make such a hero, viz., generosity, selfrestraint, fortitude, courage, modesty, amiability, righteousness and graceful bearing.

Young and handsome, the king is gifted with a physique which commands the admiration of all who come in contact with him. His charioteer finds in him a second Pinakin, his general compares him to a mountain-roaming elephant unaffected by the stress and strain of the chase, and Aditi is full of admiration for his well-built body'. Overflowing with youthful vigour, he takes a keen interest in all pastimes which involve severe physical strain and hardship. With all his manly qualities, he is not lacking in those finer accomplishments which make a man charming and agreeable. and graceful bearing, Priyamvada finds in companion and a pleasant talker'. He has a culture and refinement worthy of his position and takes a lively interest in such fine arts as music and painiting. Natural sights and sounds have always a great fascination for him, and so keen are his powers of observation that even the minutest details cannot escape his notice." Of sweet address him a delightful As a man he is an embodiment of all that is noble and divine in human nature. The pre-eminent traits of his character are his nobility of mind, his sense of honour and his wonderful self-control. And these come out prominently in his conduct towards Sakuntala during their first meeting in the hermitage. Though fascinated by her youthful charms, he struggles hard to keep the unholy desire under control until he has ascertained her parentage and other facts relating to her. He is a dutiful and obedient son, and his tender regard for the feelings of his mother expresses itself in his solicitude when he receives a command from her to return to the capital, just after he has given his word to the hermits to protect them against the oppressions of the demons'. He is an ideal husband and a passionate lover. According to the custom of the time he had a large harem, and though his love towards Sakuntala was essentially distinct from that shown towards his other wives, he was not unkind and never failed in his duties towards them.' He had great consideration for their feelings and did his best not to hurt them in any way either by deed or word. An incident in the sixth act admirably brings out this trait of the 2. After VII. 26. 3. Act I. p. 92. 5. Acts I, 14; VII. 8. 1. Act. II. 4. 4. Acts. V. p. 406; VI. 17. 6. Act II. p. 208-9. 7. p. 410.

king's character. Writhing in the agonies of remorse after the cessation of Durvasa's curse, the king tries to beguile himself a little by portraying his beloved on the canvas when he is informed of the approach of queen Vasumati and he removes the picture in great haste lest the same might offend her(R). As a king, he has a lofty sense of the duties and responsibilities of that exalted position. The paramount ruler of a vast country, he considers his kingdom as his household and looks after the welfare of his subjects with a fatherly tenderness and care. He is always ready to relieve the distressed and to protect the good against the oppressions of the wicked. He is a mighty monarch who holds the entire earth under his sway by his prowess, and the fact that even Indra, the king of gods, occasionally seeks his help, bears testimony to his uncommon military genius. Though commanding respect and obedience from all classes of his subjects, he has the greatest reverence for Brahmins and ascetics. He is always anxious to see that their rites and practices are performed without let or hindrance and whenever any interruption or obstruction is apprehended, he is ready to protect them at all costs. So great is his regard for the hermits that at the very mention of the name, he withdraws the arrow he was going to put to the bow-string and enters the hermitage in an humble attire and leaves his retinues outside lest they should disturb the tranquillity of the place and cause inconvenience to the inmates of the hermitage'. He is just and upright ruler personally supervising the affairs of the state with a view to ensuring the proper administration of justice. His decision with regard to the disposal of the deceased merchant's property testifies to his strong sense of justice. But nowhere are the strength of his character and his unflinching devotion to virtue brought out into such prominent relief as in his conduct towards Sakuntala, when accompanied by Gautami and the disciples of Kanva, she appears at the king's court as his wedded wife. Under the influence of Durvasa's curse the king does not remember his marriage with her and consequently refuses to accept her in spite of the assurance given him by Sakuntala herself and the disciples of Kanva. Nothing can make him swerve even an inch from the path of virtue. 8. Act VI. After 216 n; 10. Act VI before 218 n. 9. After 19 n. 54 10

Sakuntala.-In Sakuntala, the heroine, we have a picture of an ideal woman. And the exquisiteness of the picture is to be found in the fact that Sakuntala combines in herself physical charm with the beauty of the soul, passion with goodness and virtue-in short, (in the words of Goethe) she "combines the young blossoms of the Spring with the ripe fruits of Autumn". How admirably this combination of Heaven and Earth has been effected will become apparent if we compare the two contrasted pictures of the heroine presented by the poet at the beginning and at the end of the drama. Sakuntala of the First Act is a hermit's daughter, full of youth, beauty and vivacity, "subtle and evasive, throbbing with love, veiled with reserve,' , " with "her two companions running over with playfulness, the newly flowering forest-creeper, the bee intoxicated with perfume and the fascinated king peeping from behind the trees." At the end of the drama she appears as the image of patience and goodness, penitent and sober, invested with the dignity of a mother, clad in a dusty robe, her face 路 pale with austerities and her soul purified by her long penance. Born of a nymph-mother and a hermit father, Sakuntala is possessed of a beauty that is not to be found among mortals," a beauty that is quite natural and has nothing artificial about it. She looks exquisitely charming even in her simple garments. Like "a violet by a mossy stone half-hidden from the eye", she dwells among hermits far away from the artificialities of town-life. Sweet and lovely as a flower, she is quite ignorant of the wiles of the world. Simplicity and purity are deepseated in her nature, and these were the direct outcome of her trustfulness-a virtue which was the cause at once of her downfall and her redemption. It was her trustfulness which allowed her to be carried away by the passion of love without the least suspicion, resulting in her humiliation and disgrace. It was again this trustfulness which sustained her through the most trying period of her life and kept her "constant to patience, forgiveness and loving kindness" and ultimately leads to her reunion with her lover. A daughter of Nature, brought up in an atmosphere of freedom, she still presents a picture of feminine modesty and timidity. So great is her modesty that, though consumed by her passionate love for the king, she keeps 11. Act I, 23.

it concealed from her dearest friends. Her timidity and shyness are revealed in her conduct towards the king when left alone in his company". The sweetest side of her character is her kind and affectionate nature. Brought up in the hermitage where peace and love reigned supreme, she had learnt to love the entire creation. Her heart is overflowing with the milk of human kindness which extends not merely to the animals in the hermitage, but also to the trees and creepers therein." She regards them as her kith and kin and is interested in their joys and sorrows. She cannot drink water without watering the trees and creepers; she never plucks a tender leaf even to decorate herself, and her joy knows no bounds when the trees first put forth their blossoms". It is at the time of her departure for her husband's place that her inate affection for every creature in the hermitage fully reveals itself. Though eager to meet her lover, she finds it difficult to tear herselfaway from the hermitage". With a heavy heart she bids farewell to the trees and creepers of the hermitage and entrusts them to the care of her friends. She is anxious for the doe that has her confinement near at hand and asks her father to send her information of her safe delivery. When she starts from the hermitage, the motherless fawn whom she brought up with motherly tenderness, does not leave her, and with tearful eyes she gently caresses it and persuades it to remain in the hermitage". A child of Nature, she is "obedient to Nature's impulses like plants and flowers". At the first outburst of passion on the occasion of the king's visit, she could not restrain herself, and allows herself to be carried away by it. Her love for the king is so absorbing that her lover became all the world to her and she forgets every thing except the loved one. With all the impetuosity of her passion, her sense of righteousness and feminine dignity is remarkable. When Dusyanta repudiates his marriage with her and accuses her of falsehood, modesty and shyness give place to rage and indignation. She is an embodiment of the Hindu ideal of a woman. Despite her righteous indignation at the king for his disavowal of the marriage and her consequent humiliation, her affection for him 12. After 106 n, p. 180. 13. After 22 n, p. 61. 14. Act IV, 9; 15. After 135 n, p. 368. 16. Act IV. 14.

s not in the least diminished, and with a resignation characteristic of a Hindu wife, she blames her destiny", and not the king, for her miseries. The parting advice of her foster-father with regard to the duties of an ideal Hindu wife is firmly rooted in her mind and she tries to realize that ideal in her own life. Abandoned by her husband she leads a life of penance and rigid self-discipline and finally comes out of the trial in all her glory and purity. Kanva.-Kanva, the foster-father of Sakuntala presents a perfect picture of a typical ascetic who combines divine vision with practical wisdom, rigid self-discipline with a susceptibility of the softer sentiments of the human nature. Underneath the calm and unruffled surface we find a strong under-current of human passion which reveals itself in the parental affection for his adopted daughter. It was an accident that he found Sakuntala deserted by her parents and it was out of pity that he carried the helpless infant to his hermitage. Though he is thus only the foster-father of Sakuntala, his affection for her is genuine and real. He brings her up like his own daughter and is anxious to give her away in marriage to a husband worthy of her. It was out of his solicitude for her welfare that he was away from the hermitage on a pilgrimage to the sacred waters to pacify her evil stars at the time when the king visited the hermitage. On his return he learns with staisfaction the fact of Sakuntala's marriage with the king, and like a true father immediately arranges to send her to her husband's place. But nowhere is the intensity of his affection better revealed than at the time of Sakuntala's departure from the hermitage. With all his asceticism and self-control he finds it very difficult to part with Sakuntala. The very thought of separation perturbs his mind, his heart is smitten with anguish. But his asceticism and self-control soon restore the equilibrium and throught out the rest of the pathetic scene we find him calm and collected and not overwhelmed with grief like any ordinary parent. Though leading the life of an ascetic far away from the turmoil of the world, he is not ignorant of the affairs of the world and has a clear grasp of the duties and responsibilities of a non-ascetic life". His parting advice to Sakuntala and his message to the king are wonderful specimens of worldly wisdom 17. Act V. 30; after VII. 24. 18. p. 387; iv. 19.

and perfect knowledge of men and things. His advice to Sakuntala is really "an axcellent compendium of every wife's duties" and portrays in an elegant and forceful language the Hindu ideal of womanhood. The message he delivers to the king through his disciples is another instance of his remarkable power. The whole message is couched in a language which is remarkable for its restrained and dignified tone with due deference to the king as the lord of the earth. We have a last glimpse of the sage after the departure of Sakuntala when consoling the weeping companions of Sakuntala, he enters the hermitage with a heavy heart though not without an inward feeling of relief at the thought of having sent Sakuntala to her husband.' Sarngarava and Saradvata Saragarava and Saradvata are two of Kanva's disciples, and the fact that they are selected for the momentous task.of escorting Sakuntala to her husband's place shows that they occupied a position of pre-eminence among the disciples.* Of the two again, Sarigarava seems to be the older and maturer in wisdom, because it is he who is placed at the head of the escorting party and it is to him that Kanva delivers the message for the king. The two disciples, however, differ widely in their disposition and temperament. Sarngarava is haughty, conceited easily excitable and impatient of contradiction, while Saradvata is sober, considerate and self-possessed. The former regards the ascetic life as the best, and looks down upon other orders of life, while the latter, though realizing the supremacy of the ascetic life is full of consideration and sympathy for the life of the ordinary people. The sight of the king's court creates different impressions in the minds of the two. Sarigarava compares the place to a house which is in flames and should immediately be shunned, while Saradvata pities the conditions of the people there whom he regards as asleep and in fetters.' When the king fails to remember his marriage with Sakuntala and is in a state of hesitation, Sarngarava grows impatient and considers the king's silence as an indication of the perversity born of power.* Again, when the king disbelieves the story of his marriage even after the assurance given by the ascetics and Sakuntala herself, and expresses his inability to accept her as his wedded wife, his 1. IV, 22; 2. VI, 9; 3. V. 11; 4. V. 18.

self-control gives way to indignation and wrath and he charges the king with meanness and insincerity.' Saradvata's selfpossession and practical wisdom save the situation all throughout. It is Saradvata who suggests that Sakuntala should speak for herself in order to convince the king of the marriage.* After the king's repudiation of the marriage, when Sarngarava indulges in a vehement expression of his wrath by uttering imprecation on the king for his meanness and insincerity and by rebuking Sakuntala for her thoughtlessness, Saradvata with his characteristic coolness, asks Sarngarava to put a stop to that altercation and asks the party to depart leaving Sakuntala whom the king as her husband and lord could accept or reject just as he liked." Anasuya and Priyamvada Anasuya and Priyamvada, the two companions of Sakuntala are "the best types of sincere sisterly affection." They are of the same age as Sakuntala, and their beauty is not much inferior to hers.' What endears them most to us is their disinterested and sincere attachment to Sakuntala who is to them all in all, the centre of all their thoughts and anxieties. The sole aim of their existence seems to be nothing other than ministering to the happiness of their friend in every possible way. They help her in watering the plants and in looking after the trees and creepers of the hermitage entrusted to her care by her fosterfather. Their anxiety at the state of her health when she is smitten with love which, out of modesty, she conceals from her friends, their importunate entreaties to her to reveal to them the cause of her affliction, their ingenious contrivance of the secret interview between their friend and her lover, themselves keeping guard over the meeting while the two lovers are engaged in delightful conversation-all these go to show their genuine affection for Sakuntala. When they overhear the curse of Durvasah upon their friend who was oblivious of everything else in her overpowering passion for the king, their anxiety knows no bounds and they do their level best to appease the sage and ward off the curse. Though they are eager to see their friend united with her lover, yet it is with great sorrow that they part with 1. V. 20; 2. After V. 20; 4. After 34 n; 207 n. 3. 3. V. 26;

her and return to the hermitage which bereft of SSakuntala, has now lost all its charms for them. The two friends, however, form a contrasted pair. Priyamvada is more vivacious, gay, saucy and quickwitted, while Anasuya is more thoughtful and grave. Priyamvada is characterized by strong feeling and is prone to act on the impulse of the moment without bothering much about the future; while Anasuya is characterized by maturer understanding and is very considerate and cautious and thinks more of the future than the present. The mutual attraction between Sakuntala and Dusyanta is hailed with great joy by Priyamvada who tries to bring about a speedy union between the lovers to complete the happiness of their friend, while Anasuya cares more for the future consequences of the union than the immediate happiness of Sakuntala and tries to ascertain by clever talks with the king the possibility of happiness resulting out of the union. When they overhear the curse of Durvasah, both are, no doubt, greatly shocked; but while Priyamvada is bewildered and at a loss to ascertain what to do, Anasuya soon recovers self-possession and tries to think out the means of warding off the curse. 7