Question

Write in brief about Kalidasa’s Meghaduta.

Answer 1

Hint:
The word Meghaduta is a Sanskrit word. It can be split into two parts i.e., “Megha” translating to “cloud” and “duth” meaning “messenger”. Meghaduta is a poetic drama written by Kalidasa in the 5th century BC.


Complete answer:
-Kalidasa was a court poet at the palace of Gupta ruler, Chandragupta II. He was a well-known, ancient classical Sanskrit writer who has written remarkable plays and poems in his lifetime.
-One of his famous poetry works is Meghaduta. It is a poem consisting of 120 passages, and it is split up into two elements, Purva-Megha and Uttara-Megha.
-In this poetry, Kalidasa composes a story of the separation between and yearning for a lover during the monsoon interval. Likely, drawn away by the impressions of his youthful bride, a Yaksha (cosmic attendant) is found disregarding his responsibilities. He is therefore exiled and sent to central India (Ramgiri) miles out from his spouse in Alaka. Incapable to withstand the separation he pleads a passing cloud to communicate a message on his behalf. As Yaksha provides guidance to the cloud, the poem evolves as the voyage and experiences of the cloud. The portrayal is so beautiful visually, which one can certainly perceive the spectacles gleaming in front of the eyes in a vision.
-The excitements depicted by Kalidasa in his lyric poem Meghaduta are exceptionally beautiful, contributing to the rise of the poem first being interpreted into English by Horace Hayman Wilson in 1813.
-The poem proceeds to be a textbook case where all the five main schools of poetic analysis can be applied and the five features generally expected in good literature appear in equal measures and perfect balance. Most poems have an abundance of one feature and the others in a supporting role, Meghduta uses all the features in the best possible manner.


Note:
- The initial segment of the sonnet or Purvamegha, is a topographical portrayal of India or Bharatvarsha on the way that the Yaksa requests that the cloud takes to arrive at his old neighborhood of Alaka in the Himalayas.
-The portrayal of Alaka, the place where the cloud is probably going to discover his wife, and the message itself which is of expectation and the return of the spouse after the finish of the monsoon season make up the subsequent part known as the Uttaramegha.