MEGHADUTA
(The Cloud Messenger)
by
Kalidasa
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Kalidasa writes of a
certain, "Kashchit", Yaksha and does not name him, because
it does not matter who this Yaksha is and what he is called.
The identification of the Yaksha is not central to the story
of Meghaduta. As was described earlier, Yaksha is a
superhuman being. This particular Yaksha committed a
mistake, ( again Kalidasa does not explain what mistake he
committed because it is not important to know that) , and so
was cursed and banished for a year by his master, "Bhartru",
Kubera. This curse, this banishment, was all the more
diffi-cult to bear for the Yaksha because he was thus
separated from his beloved one, "Kanta". Kalidasa uses the
word "Kanta" mean-ing a lady of superior qualities, and does
not use just any other word like "Bharya" for wife, and by
choosing this par-ticular word he shows the high regard the
Yaksha had for his wife and the depth of his love for her.
It is also important to know that, that Kubera cursed this
Yaksha, because, this curse, "Shapa", made the Yaksha loose
all his supernatural powers. So he could not, for example,
become invisible and visit his beloved wife whom he had to
leave behind. The Yaksha spends this period of exile in the
hermitages on the mountain Ramagiri. The plural usage is
emphasised here when the word hermitages "Ashrameshu", is
used as it shows that due to the separation from his beloved
the Yaksha was so restless that he could not live in peace
in one place but wandered from her-mitage to hermitage.
Kalidasa recreates the early part of the epic Ramayana when
he uses the words "janakatanayas-nanapunyodakeshu", which
mean that the waters were made holy by the bathing of the
daughter of Janaka in them. One can see the young Sita
bathing in the waters flowing on this mountain. Sita is
there because she along with Lakshmana has accompanied Rama
when he was exiled to live in the forests for 14 years
according to the wishes of the queen Kaikeyi, the step
mother of Rama. It also comes across that Rama and Sita are
the Inkarnations of the great god Vishnu and his consort
Lakshmi, because just by bathing in the waters, Sita, the
daughter of Janaka has made them holy. Kalidasa's referring
to the trees which cast a pleasing and rich shade emphasises
this mood. In Valmiki Ramayana, it is written that when
Rama, Lakshmana and Sita left the city of Ayodhya, to go
live for fourteen years in the forest, the entire kingdom of
Kosala was plunged in sorrow. Valmiki writes that not only
did the people of Kosala were very sad, but that also the
flowers wilted, the ponds and lakes dried up, and the trees
along with their leaves and buds dried up. In contrast to
this, the trees in the forests to which Rama went to live,
must have burst into life to cast a deep and pleasing shade,
so that Rama, Laksmana and Sita do not have to suffer very
much in the sun.
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