कुमारसम्भवम् (महाकवि कालिदास - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी अनुवाद)

( 9 ) II THE KUMÂRASAMBHAVAM—THE POEM The Kumârasambhavam is a Mahâkâvya. It is divided into cantos, its hero is a divine personage, (1) The Poem possessing the qualities of a Dhîrodâtta hero, —General re- its predominant sentiment is शृङ्गार having marks. करुण and शान्त as its accessories, its plot is mythological, it contains descriptions of cities, season, natural scenery, etc. Thus it fulfills the conditions laid down in the definition of a Mahâkâvya. The size of the Kumârasambhavam is a matter of con- troversy. Some recensions of the poem consist of 17 cantos, while some scholars say that it has 22 cantos. But the general belief is that only the first eight (1—8) cantos are from the pen of Kâlidasa and the rest were interpolated by some other writer afterwards. Mallinâtha, the well-known commentator has annotated only upto the eighth canto, and the main incident of the poem, viz., the birth of Kumâra, only potential, also has been reached in the eighth canto, so the story may be regarded as complete after it. The contents of the later cantos have little bearing on the main theme, and their style also convincingly indicates that cantos 9—17 are not from the pen of the writer of the first eight cantos. For the theme of the Kumârasambhavam, Kâlidâsa has chosen a story of divine beings, which provides him an oppor- tunity to take the loftiest flights of imagination. The scene of incidents is the grand Himâlaya, which, with its beautiful valleys and slopes, affords an occasion for describing natural scenes. The descriptions of Pârvatî, a young, beautiful maiden full of yearning to win over Shiva, have been completed with great skill. Her dismay at the defeat of Kâmadeva and the following determination to win over Shiva by means of severe austerities reveal that Kâlidâsa had powers to see into the