Meghaduta (Meghadūtam, "cloud messenger") or Meghdoot is a Sanskrit lyric poem, written by of the fifth century [1] poet Mahākavi Kalidāsa ("the great poet Kalidasa").
The poem is written in mandakrānta poetic meter, which is considered to be "apt for depiction of sentiments of pathos and tenderness".[2]
Background
editThe first three verses of the poem sum up the background of the poem. The poem is written as a monologue of the central character, a yaksha (yakṣa) (a Hindu demi-god, who is an attendant of the treasurer of gods and king of yakshas - Kubera). The yaksha is cursed by his guru to leave away from his hometown Alaka (the capital of Kubera's kingdom in the Himalayas) and his beloved, for a whole year. [1]
References
edit- Kalidasa By K. Krishnamoorthy [2]Published 1994
Sahitya Akademi ISBN 8172016883
- The Disguises of the Demon: The Development of the Yakṣa in Hinduism By Gail Hinich
Sutherland Published 1991 SUNY Press ISBN 0791406210
- The land of the Veda: India briefly described in some of its aspects - Physical, Social, Intellectual and Moral By Peter Percival Published 1854 Original from Oxford University
Digitized Jun 15, 2006 [3] 82-84
A short poem of only 111 stanzas, it is one of Kālidāsa's most famous works. It recounts how a , or attendant of Kubera (the God of Wealth) after being exiled for a year to central India for some unknown transgression, convinces a passing cloud to take a message to his wife on Mount Kailāsa in the Himālaya mountains. The yakṣa accomplishes this by describing the many beautiful sights the cloud will see on its northward course to the city of Alakā, where his wife awaits his return.
In 1813, the poem was first translated into English by Horace Hayman Wilson. An excerpt is quoted in Canadian director Deepa Mehta's film, Water.
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