KALIDASA (The Man and The Mind)

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In this book the well known author Prof. Kawthekar has traced some rare and unique aspects about the poet. For the first time in a book form he has discovered an archaeological evidence which proves that Kalidasa flourished in the Ist century B.C. Moreover some new aspects about him and his mind have been discussed by the author. Though from his book we can known a lot about the poet and his mind; to avoid to describe certain undesirable places in the Raghuvamsa and the Meghaduta, etc. However he applied Vyanjana to indicate ironically the cultural changes took place in his time. Thus the man and his mind are reflected in his literature. He has given the derivation of the word Kalidasa. Kali means the son of Kala i.e. Mahakala, Kalidasa was his devotee.

Professor P.N. Kawthekar, M.A. (Sanskrit, Hindi) Ph.D., Sahityacarya Kavya Tirtha and Sahitya Ratna is well known scholar of Sanskrit and author of books in Sanskrit, English, Hindi and Marathi and of many research papers. He is a poet of Sanskrit, Marathi and Hindi and was born on 19th September, 1923. He was the Vice-Chancellor, Vikram University, Ujjain, Chairman, Central Sanskrit Board, Government of India, New Delhi and General President of All India Oriental Conference held in Pune. He is the recipient of President's Certificate of Honour recently the Honoris Causa with the rare title of Mahamahopadhyaya was awarded to him by the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati.

His lectures are well received in India and abroad. His well known poem Vimana Bala in Sanskrit has been very popular in India and foreign countries he visited. He has propounded a new theory in philosophy which will be soon published as the Tamowada Satakam in Sanskrit. His hobbies are paintings and singing. He is regarded as an authority of Kalidasa.

I have great pleasure to present this volume of Golden Jubilee of India’s Independence Series of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan to our esteemed readers. The volume varily represents the goodwill and co-operation, the Sansthan has all along been receiving from the distinguished scholars all over the country.

The Sansthan was established in October, 1970 as an autonomous apex body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India with a view to promoting, preserving and propagating Sanskrit learning in all its aspects, with special reference to the indepth shastraic learning. Apart from conducting the regular courses of studies at the various constituent Vidyapeethas, it has been bringing out invaluable publications representing dissemination of knowledge contained in the Shastras.

Thanks to the continued help, encouragement and support from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India that the Sansthan has grown by leaps and bounds and has been able to render its services promotion of Sanskrit learning at national and international levels. The Sansthan has decided to bring out 50 scholarly monographs by eminent Sanskrit scholars of different fields as part of the academic programmes organized to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of India’s Independence. The present book Kalidasa, the Man and the Mind brings out the unexplored aspects of personality and works of the great poet, Kavi Kulaguru Kalidasa especially the archaeological evidence regarding his date being in the first century B.C.

We are highly grateful to the learned author, Mahamahopadhyaya Prof. P.N. Kawthekar, former Chairman, Central Sanskrit Board and Ex. Vice—Chancellor, Vikram University, Ujjain for contributing this scholarly work for the Golden Jubilee of India’s Independence Series Sansthan.

Dr. Savita Pathak, Dr. Viroopaksha V Jaddipal and Dr. R. C. Hota deserve special appreciation for their valuable services rendered in planning and bringing out the glorious series particularly the present book. Thanks are due to M/s. RG & Co. for printing the book on time.

The study of Kalidasa has been a long but pleasant journey like that of a cloud in the Meghaduta. I had attended one or two of the earlier Kalidasa Samarohas privately, organised at the court-yard of the Mahakala temple in Ujjain. But for the first time I spoke on Kalidasa’s Meghaditta at the University of Jabalpur (M.P.) N the Kalidasa Samaroha was organised by the University of Jabalpur. There, I spoke on the route of Meghaditta and told amusingly that the cloud had passed the city of Jabalpur. I also virtually pointed out how Kalidasa had described the river Narmada of the Mandla District seen at the feet of Vindhya mountains. It was appreciated by the audience.

Then I was the Professor of Sanskrit in the jurisdiction of the Vikram University of Ujjain, which used to organise the Kalidasa Samaroha in Ujjain in collaboration with the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Being invited to read my research papers on Kalidasa, I got the opportunity to have live discussion on certain problems with scholars attending from all over India. I did some fieldwork also. Later, I had a privilege to become the Vice-Chancellor, Vikram University of Ujjain, in 1978. The friends and scholars regarded me as Hamlet in Den- mark. These are the Samskars behind writing this book on Kalidasa.

Then I used to differ with some of the great scholars on certain points on the platform, but they were the honest differences. These scholars helped me to go into the problems. I have been speaking on Kalidasa also in various Universities in India for the last thirty years. In Ujjain, there was the session of All India Oriental Conference organised by the Vikram University. I had identified the Nicaih giri of the Meghduta there for the first time as the Udayagiri of today. The readers will find the chapter in this book——The facets of Udayagiri.

And recently I was lucky enough to trace the archaeological evidence at Khandagiri, Rani Gumpha near Bhabaneshwar, as two important panels at the Verandah of the cave there. These panels were inscirbed by the queen of King Kharvel. This entire creation of Kharvel and his queen has been universally accepted by historians as Ist century B.C. We can say now that panels depicting the scenes of the Abhijnanasakuntala prove that Kalidasa flourished in the lst century B.C. Now the controversy should end.

Dr. K.K. Mishra, Director of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan New Delhi and Principal H.H. Jha of Puri arranged visit to• Khandagiri. I am thankful to them.

I am again thankful to Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, for requesting me to contribute this book to be published in the series of 50 books in respect of the completion of 50 years of our independence.

I was unwell for some time, and Shri Bhaskarji Karmalkar a scholar of Sanskrit in Indore helped me in the presentation of the Chapters and Shri Bapu Gadgil, ADJ (Rtd.) of Indore also helped in this book. They deserve my sincere thanks. I am also thankful to my assistant Shri S. Narayan Swamy for the prompt and the correct typing work done by him.

My son Shri Dilip Kawthekar, B.E., MBA also deserves special blessings not because he is my son but also he helped me in my findings on Kalidasa by writing an article.

I am alone. However for the young and happy readers, I pray God as in the book of Kalidasa;