कुमारसम्भवम् (महाकवि कालिदास - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी अनुवाद)

INTRODUCTION 1 KÂLIDÂSA —THE AUTHOR. It is a matter of great pity that we possess practically no (1) His Life trustworthy account of the personal life of Kâlidâsa, the greatest Indian poet. Like most of the other poets of Sanskrit he has observed complete silence about himself, and following his example, later writers too have abstained themselves from throwing any light on his personal history Therefore the only sources to know something about him are, first, a number of traditions prevalent in the later period of classical Sanskrit, and, secondly, a few direct and indirect references contained in his works The traditions associate too many interesting incidents with his name At one place, for instance, he is said to have been a dunce in his youth and later on to have got his enlightenment through the grace of the goddess Kâlî, whence he is known Kâlidâsa Another tale says that he owes his skill in poetry to his wife A third one describes him as a shepherd by birth and a contemporary of King Bhoja of Dhârâ (1200 A D) One more asserts that he met with his death at the hands of a courtesan in Ceylon But it is doubtful if any of these and other allied tales are of any real worth in studying Kâlidâsa What seems probable is that the incidents of some other Kâlidâsa have been ascribed to the Kâlidâsa of the Raghuvansham and the Kumârasambhavam, who was the most famous of them That there have been a number of poets of Sanskrit, who bore the name, Kâlidâsa is proved by the