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seasons the horizon of his observation was much enlarged. But wherever a common thing is described the germ is to be found in the Rtusamhāra and the developed ideas in the later works. One thing appears to be very striking in all these works, the fondness of Kalidasa for the seasons in the description of which he excels in his later works.

In Meghaduta he describes the rainy season, in Sakuntalā the summer, in Vikramōrvasi the winter, again, in Kumārasambhava the untimely spring, in Malavikāgamitra the spring in a royal garden and in Raghuramsa almost all the seasons. He describes the summer in the 16th, the rains in the 12th, the autumn in the 4th and the spring in the 9th canto. But the germs of all these magnificent descriptions are to be found in the Rlusamhara. There cannot be the least shadow of a doubt that all the seven poems are by the same great poet and it is a matter of congratulation that with a careful and deep study of his works the number of those who held that all the books were not by one man is diminishing rapidly.

His Learning and Education.

Bhavabhuti second only to Kalidasa in art poetry in India is very fond of displaying his learning. In the prologue of one of his dramas he actually gives a catalogue of the săstras studied by him and in all through his works he is full of expressions taken from the Vedas, the Upanisads and the philosophical works. But Kālidāsa is very modest. He never displays his learning. He seems to delight in concealing the fact that he was a very learned man. As I have said before he is so successful in concealing his learning that Indian people think that he was ignorant even of spelling and of pronunciation.

But his learning to a close observer appears to be phenomenal. He seems to have read all sorts of works with a poet's eye and no book or no science was beneath his dignity as a poet. In the whole range of Indian literature before his time or of his own time, there was little that he did not study and litt'e from which he did not draw his inspiration. It is

redundant to say that he knew the Vedas. He drew from the Vedas his inspiration for the drama entitled Vikramõrvasi The story is taken directly from the Vedas. In the Sakuntala the benediction uttered on Sakuntala by Kasyapa is given in one of the metres peculiar to the Rig Veda. His hymns to Brahma in Kumarasambhava and to Visnu in Raghuvamsa breathe the spirit of those Upanisads like the Katha which superimpose a monistic ideal on the ancient Sankhya doctrine.

The story of Malavikāgnimitra shows his thorough appreciation of Indian history at a critical moment of the Brahmanic faith. The history is so accurate both in its political and social aspects that European scholars drew much valuable information from it for the re-construction of Indian history. His knowledge of the Kamasastra was very deep indeed. The principal Sutras of the Bhāryyadhikarana are embodied in his advice to Sakuntala how to behave at her husband's palace. His knowledge of Economics or the Arthasastra is to be gathered from the 17th canto of Raghuvamsa in which the administration of king Atithi is given in great detail. That he knew the Gajasastra is apparent from his description of the Anga country in the 6th canto of Raghuvamsa where the authors of that Sastra are mentioned with appreciation and respect. He knew the fact that the Gajasastra was composed and promulgated in the Anga country. It is needless to dwell upon his acquaintance with the Purānas from which he takes his themes for so many of his works. The Rāmāyana he knew so thoroughly that he was eminently successful in compressing almost the entire work of Valmiki in one canto of Raghuvamsa, i.e., the 12th. In geography of the world as then known to the Hindus he is absolutely accurate not only to the political and physical geography of the country but the distributions of races, plants, wild animals, fruits and flowers. He knew Dhanurvidya, that is the art of war. He knew Ayur-Veda in all its different branches not excluding even the rearing up of children. He knew works on hunting in which he displays such expert knowledge both in Sakuntalā and in Raghuvamsa, His knowledge of Sanskrit grammar was deep and

extensive, as he takes up similes from grammatical technicalities. He knew the Yoga sastra without a thorough knowledge of which he could not have described so powerfully the meditation of Siva in the 3rd canto of Kumārasambhava. He knew the poets that preceded him. He mentions Bhasa by name and to him he is indebted for many happy expressions and sentiments. We do not know Saumilya and Kaviputra so we cannot gauge his indebtedness to these poets. He knew Asvaghosa's Saundarananda, some of the finest sentiments of which he has borrowed, improved, elaborated and perfected. The same is true of Asvaghosa's Buddha Charita; the same is true of Hala's Saptasati and of the Mrchhakatika. He knew the works of Dramaturgy like Bharata-Natyashastra thoroughly, for he deviates so little in his dramas, from the rules laid down in it.

His knowledge of Astronomy, Astrology and Horoscopy, the three shoulders or (Skandas) of Astronomy of the Hindus with precision. It is a well-known fact that the Hindus got their Horoscopy from the Greeks. They had very little of Horoscopy before their contact with the Greeks. The Yavanacharyya translated his work on Horoscopy from Greek to Sanskrit in the 91st year of an era most likely the Saka era because it was adopted by astronomers of all classes. In the 191st year of the same era Sphujidhvaja rendered Yavanacharyya's work into 4,000 verses in the Indravajra metre. Minaraja elaborated the same work into 8,000 verses. These three works form the basis of Horoscopy of the Hindus, and if the era mentioned be the Saka era, Sphujidhvaja's work, a copy of which exists in the Durbar Library, Nepal, would be written about the year 269 A.D. and Minaraja's work later still. In his Horoscopy, Kālidāsa follows these authors whom he studied thoroughly. He was fully aware of the Greek influence on Hindu Astronomy for he uses. Greek technical terms. He was aware of the theory promulgated by Aryabhatta that the moon's rays are only a reflection of the Sun's rays from the watery surface of the moon.

His knowledge of Hindu Law is seen in the division or partition of the empire of Rama, in which the eldest of the eight

brothers, Kusa, gets the best jewels belonging to the family. The declaration of Dusyanta in Sakuntala that the sea-faring merchant's property should go to the unborn child, if any one of his numerous wives be in the family way, shows Kālidāsa's knowledge of the Hindu Law of inheritance and his book is replete with expressions borrowed from law-books. His knowledge of rituals was extensive. The marriage ceremonies of Aja, Siva and Agnimitra are given in detail. As an educationist, Kālidāsa shines with great lustre. The little king Sudarsana sitting on his ancestral throne and writing the numerals on a slate is a charming picture. From the lowest schools, Kalidāsa rises to the Asrams of Risis in which all the sciences of his time were taught. It is a curious fact that though his acquaintance with Buddhist literature is considerable, he never mentions Buddha or Buddhists in any one of his books, nor their literature, nor their monasticism. Arya Kausiki in the Mālávikā is taken by some to be a Buddhist nun, but from her speeches she appears more a Saiva than a Buddhist. Kalidasa is altogether silent about Jainas. His sole object in writing his books was the glorification of Brahmanism. In the Malavikāgnimitra he describes the queen Dhārini making a monthly grant to the Brahmans teaching sciences to pupils, thus showing a distinct preference to Brahmanism as opposed to the Buddhism of Asoka. He speaks of Naisṭhka Brahmachāris, viz., those who remain students all their lives but never speaks of Bhiksus or Bhikshunsi. In his latter works he sings the glory of Brahmanism but he never appears to preach. He simply shows how the influence of the Brahman tended for the good of the world and how he was anxious to bring out the sacred character of the Brahman and the cow, the reverence to whom is the basis of modern Hinduism. This matter will be taken up in detail while treating of art and artistic skill of Kālidāsa.

There is not the least shadow of a doubt that Kālidāsa was a Brahman. In the age in which he lived the Vedas were regarded as an unalterable sacred text known only to the Brahmans and unless he was a Brahman he could not write a verse in a metre peculiar to the Rig Veda. But to what class of Brah

mans did he belong? Ask any Brahman in the modern days and he will say that he belonged either to Pancha Gaur or Panhca Dravid but these are geographical distributions and this distribution is not very old. The oldest book in which this distribution is mentioned is the Vyasa Purana imbedded in the Vallala Charita which, I believe, is contemporary with Vallāla Sen in the twelvth century. That book may embody a tradition some centuries older but it is doubtful whether Kālidāsa knew anything of this distribution; but there was an older distribution. The modern distribution is by countries but the more ancient distribution is by cities and districts. Pokaran, an ancient city which gave its name to a distribution of Brahmans called Puskarana Brahmans. Simal was an ancient city which gave its name to Simal Brahmans. Anandanagar gave its name to Nagar Brahmans. When Brahmans of different gotras lived in a city they formed a matrimonial group called a "Nyat", in Sanskrit " Jnāti ”. But this word is not used in the legal sense meaning the descendants of a common ancestor. Different Nyats also form matrimonial relations among their neighbours in the same city or in the same district. The Nyat system still prevails in the states of Rajputana. The city of Dasapura has given its name to a distribution of Brahmans, namely, Dussorā Brāhmans, very clever, very intelligent but rather crafty and selfish. Dussora Brahmans have a peculiar history of their own. They are to be found within hundred miles from Dasapura but never in Dasapura itself. A Dussora Brahman now-a-days never enters Dasapura and never drinks the water of the river Sioni which flows close by. It is said that they were defending their city against a Muhammadan invasion. On a festive day, when they were making merry, the Muhammadans entered and butchered them. From that time they vowed not to enter the city nor to take the water of the river. Kalidasa seems to have belonged to this class of Brahmans, but it may be said, why the modern Dussora Brahmans have no tradition about Kalidasa being one of them? The Srimali Brahmans cherished for a long time the memory of the great poet, Magha, and they

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