2023, Vol. 9, Issue 3, Part B

author(s)
Dr. Dhrubajit Sarma

abstract
The Meghadūta i.e. the ‘cloud-messenger’ of Mahākavi Kālidāsa is a Khaṇḍakāvya dealing with the activities of an imaginary Yakṣa who was exiled from Alakā by his master Kuvera due to his negligence of duties. Being separated from his wife, the Yakṣa tried to pacify himself by sending a message to his wife through a patch of moving cloud. At the intense of emotion, the Yakṣa could not distinguish between animate and inanimate beings and hence he chooses a cloud, made of smoke, light, air and water, to be a messenger. By way of depicting the path towards Alakā, the poet depicts the nature and places and also legends connected with those localities. It is full of imaginations, suggestions, grand scenes and descriptions, picture of places with sympathetic, natural and religious ideas. The poem is composed in Mandākrāntā metre and the rasa is Vipralambha Śṛṅgāra and the alaṁkāras are mostly Arthāntaranyāsa, Pariṇāma, Samāsokti etc. Kālidāsa’s Meghadūta is a lyrical poem of the first order. It is undoubtedly one of the best love-poems in the literature of the world. The first part of the poem is, almost as a whole, the description of the circumstances in which the Yakṣa has to send the insentient cloud as the messenger to his beloved wife. There is again, in the Pūrvamegha, the route of the cloud-messenger has been depicted with due reference to the context. During the description of the path of the cloud-messenger, the poet has given an unmatched description of the geography of ancient India. As a Khaṇḍakāvya, strictly to the literal sense, it is very much short in size or form. In spite of its smallness, it is complete in all respects. It has given a full picture of the desired subject-matter or theme. In complete relevance to its theme, it has presented the reference to the geography and nature within the scope of the poem. The Meghadūta is consisting of about 120 verses only but in this small sphere there are sources of varied knowledge. One cannot satisfy himself or herself by reading the poem once only. As many times as one reads it, its melody charms the reader. Its diction, its rhythm, its description of nature, geographical information, mythological references, proverbial sayings and last but not least the philosophical conclusions charm one’s mind. There is an oft-quoted saying meghe māghe gataṁ vayaḥ i.e. “life has been spent by studying the Meghadūta of Kālidāsa and the Śiśupālavadha of Meghapaṇḍita”.