Shakuntala
King Dushyanta, out hunting, meets Shakuntala at a hermitage in the forest and marries her in secret. A sage's curse makes him forget her, and only a lost ring can bring the memory back. Kalidasa's great play. By Kalidasa (c. 400), translated by Arthur W. Ryder. A public-domain classic.
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हिन्दी में पढ़ेंशकुंतला · वही कहानी How it begins Eight forms has Shiva, lord of all and king: And these are water, first created thing; And fire, which speeds the sacrifice begun; The priest; and time's dividers, moon and sun; The all-embracing ether, path of sound; The earth, wherein all seeds of life are found; And air, the breath of life: may he draw near, Revealed in these, and bless those gathered here.The stage-director. Enough of this! (Turning toward the dressing-room.) Madam, if you are ready, pray come here. (Enter an actress.) Keep reading →About this story
King Dushyanta, out hunting, meets Shakuntala at a hermitage in the forest and marries her in secret. A sage’s curse makes him forget her, and only a lost ring can bring the memory back. It is Kalidasa’s great play.
Kalidasa, who wrote in Sanskrit around the 4th or 5th century, is regarded as the greatest of Indian dramatists. This translation is by Arthur W. Ryder, from the 1910s. The play was first translated into English in 1789 and was admired by Goethe. It is one of the most famous works of Indian literature.
- Themes
- Love, memory and forgetting, a curse, reunion
- Good for
- Readers who like classical drama; the best known of all Sanskrit plays
- Worth noticing
- How the ring is lost, and what the king’s memory is like when it returns.