Kalidasa’s Meghadhuta

Summary

The Meghadhuta also known as Meghasandesam is one of the beautiful works of Kalidasa. It is a poem in Sanskrit Language consisting of 117 verses. It is actually one of a few minor compositions of Kalidasa. Being one of the greatest poets of Sanskrit Literature, he has produced epics like the Raghuvamsa Mahakavya and Kumarasambhavam and dramas like Abigyana Sakuntalam.

The ideas contained in this poem is simple but romantic. Alaka is a mountain in the Himalayas. The god of wealth, Kubera is the king of this place. He has a group of divine attendants working for him. These attendants are known as Yakshas. One of these Yakshas was very much smitten and obsessed with his wife. Hence, he ignored his duties. Kubera, therefore, cursed him and banished him into the woods on planet Earth. The Yaksha came to a mountainous place called Ramagiri named after Lord Rama near the present state of Chattisgarh in India and was residing in an ashram there.

The Yaksha spent several months on the mountain. Thoroughly dejected, the love-lorn Yaksha keeps thinking about his wife. His wife also keeps thinking about him all day and all night. It is the time of monsoon. The Yaksha sees a rain cloud passing by. He requests the cloud to carry a message to his wife. The Yaksha then starts to describe the route that the cloud should take to meet his lover. This forms the crux of the verses of this poem.

The works of Kalidasa are synonymous with the beauty of nature, lyrical poetry, dramatic stories, great heroes and sensuous heroines. The Meghadhuta focusses mainly on sensual love and the beauty of nature. Kalidasa’s genius lies in making these two subjects flow into each other in this work. For example, Kalidasa picturises the rivers as sensuous women, and he advises his friend namely the cloud to take interest in the rivers along the way on his journey from the plains to Alaka.