Kalidasa has been called the poet of nature. The vitality, vivacity, variety, vibrancy and vividness of nature have found magnificent expression in his writings, Abhijnanasakuntalam being no exception. His verses in the play unfold the finer details of various aspects of nature in all their magical details. As a close observer of nature, Kalidasa could understand the deep meaning of the minute features, and see its significance in man's life. In the play the genius of the poet is often seen delving deep into Nature's rich world to bring out magnificent similes and analogies to lend heightened significance to to commonplace objects- "A lotus, even though covered with moss, is charming; the spot, though dark, heightens the beauty of the moon... This slender-bodied lady is more lovely even with her bark-cloth..."
It should be noted that these descriptions of nature serve two purposes; they delight the readers by revealing the hidden forms, and they provide the context for the play and portrayal of human emotion. Both are intimately linked. The playwright's observation is creatively active in seeing the significance of a particular human situation and seeking to suggest it through natures imagistic language. Kalidasa's poetics Spirit dipped in the great soul of nature interprets those silent human geyser as related to natural objects-"lower lip has the redness of young sprouts; her arms imitated tender twigs; and youth, attractive like a blossom, Pervades all her limps". The fullness of natures saplings and boughs lends a Deeper fullness to the heroine's limbs in a way that see appears to acquire a greater dimension by being equated with it.
In Act I, Shakuntala age harassed by the black bee who suddenly, leaving the Jasmine, pursues her, mistaking her youthful face to be another flower. And this situation on covers the amorous attraction between the hero and the heroine. The in comprehensible intricacies of human fate are reveal through the power of symbol and vision of images called from nature. In Act V, the clear notes of soul-stirring music played on Vina by Hamsapadika. Their by conveying the sad condition in which she finds her husband Dusyanta and Sakuntala-"O you honey-pilfering bee! ... once you lovingly kissed | the mango's fresh spray of flowers..| you are content now merely to stay | within the full-blown lotus."
Even when the king Shuns the outside world in the self-reproachful mood of unbelieving dejection at having lost his beloved wife, he seeks recourse to painting her portrait. In the portrayal he tries to relive the past when he had first seen her in the penance-grove by minutely reproducing the details of the natural surroundings-"Malini's stream has yet to be drawn, where while goose pairs rest on Sandy banks... Under a tree where bark-garments are hang out to dry, I Wish to draw a doe rubbing her left eye against a black buck's hom". The king hair tries to seek his lost ties not only with Sakuntala, but with nature also. It is through nature that he had found her, and experienced his love sprouting. Peace and tranquility reigning in Penance-grove made him aware of a new aspect of his self and invested him with the new vision of life.
Contrasted with a closed and restricted world of the court, the representation of natural world-its swans, tendrils, blossoms, river, bimba fruits and numerous objects have lent deeper sense of life and the great value of attachment of the king's law for Sakuntala and fruition of their relation. In the mysterious book of nature he learnt his first lesson of love-"the sirisa blossom nestling at her ear, it's filaments | hanging down her cheeks; laying sung between her | breasts, a necklace of lotus-fiber soft as autumnal | noonbeams;...."
In fact, the birth of their love is indicated by the vines and creepers seeking the support of sturdy trees. Shakuntala's innermost emotions get externalized in carefully selected natural images. She is the child of nature. The king at first sight locates her amid the nursing surroundings in the manner. -"if such is the beauty of maidesresidings in a hermitage rear places, | is there any deny Woodland vines | far surpass those nurtured in gardens? We find that nature act as a device to suggest the tender relations who is the young girls dream about and find it difficult to express in words-friends Shakuntala, here is the Jasmine creeper, the self selecting bride of the mango tree to which you have given the name Vanajyotsa".
even the kings and Sakuntala's heart felt torments and anguishes are expressed through natural images. Shakuntala's message of love is written on a fresh lotus-leaf as described by the king-"her message of love confided to the lotus leaf". We thus see that Kalidasa's drama was steeped in the light of nature's beauty and wisdom. Natural images and objects are inextricably wedded to images of human love, union and the great festivity called life.
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