Untimely Spring:Forbidden Emotions in Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava

UNTIMELY SPRING:FORBIDDEN

EMOTIONS IN KUMĀRASAMBHAVA

C.RAJENDRANCALICUTINDIA

Kālidāsa and SeasonsKālidāsa has described various seasons in great detail in his poems and plays on different occasions

A salient feature of his descriptions is that they never appear to be artificial additions least warranted by the context.

His descriptions of seasons are remarkable for the minute power of observation and the deep psychological insight they yield of human /animal behaviour.

Rain inMeghasandeśa and Vikramorvaśīya Meghasandeśa , in which the rain cloud is a prominent character,

is essentially a poem of the rainy season, which is supposed to

enhance the pangs of separation .It depicts the change brought about by rain in the heartland of Northern India stretching from the Vindhya ranges up to the Himālayas, as visualized by Yakṣa, who is yearning for the company of his beloved.

The rainy season prominently figures in Vikramorvaśīya also, where the raving Purūravas wanders in relentless search of his lost Urvaśī in the valley of Mount Gandhamādana.

Seasons in Raghuvamśa The rainy season figures in the memories of Rāma when he returns from Lankā to Ayodhyā in the company of Sītā in the Raghuvamśa also.

Raghuvamśa elaborately describes the season of autumn (śarat) also, the season conventionally assigned to war march in Sanskrit literature, in canto IV when Raghu, the hero commences his victory campaign.

Spring described in Raghuvamśa in Canto IX when King Daśaratha has succeeded Aja on the throne.

Canto XVI contains a vivid description of the summer (grīṣma) when King Kuśa is ruling over the ancestral capital.

Seasons in Abhijnānaśākuntala In Abhijnānaśākuntala, summer appears as the backdrop in the prelude and also in the succeeding hunting scene

It is the spring season which serves as the background in the depiction of separation when a repentant Duṣyanta yearns for his wrongly discarded love.

Kālidāsa and the Spring seasonThe spring (vasanta), characterized by the blossoming of flowers and an enchanting transformation of nature always regarded as the most beautiful of all seasons in Classical Sanskrit literature.

Kālidāsa describes spring vividly in Kumārasambhava, Raghuvamśa, Abhijnānaśākuntala and Mālavikāgnimitra .

The Spring Season in Kumārasambhava:Two features

While all the other descriptions are of the natural occurrence of the season, in Kumārasambhava, it is an artificial device masterminded by Indra to beguile Lord Śiva. The advent of the untimely season occurs unexpectedly like an unnatural phenomenon, causing surprise to the sentient and insentient beings alike.

The ethical aspect of the advent of the spring questionable.

Circumstances:Love God trapped by Indra Kāma, overwhelmed by the reception accorded to him by Indra in the assemblage of gods

He boasts that with the help pf Spring, he will be able to make even Śiva yield to temptation .

Indra promises that the required help of Spring goes without saying .

Kāma and Madhu are inseparable like fire and wind Indra implies that passion is enflamed by the beautiful season.

Kama sets forth with the mission with Rati , his wife and Spring towards the penance grove of Śiva

The onset of Spring in HimālayaThe southern wind blows asif , the sigh of the Southern direction ,the wronged heroine by the Sun, her lord.

Aśoka bursts forth flowers along with twigs right from the stem, not requiring the touch of feet of beautiful women

Spring prepares the arrow of Kāma in the form of the mango flower and its quail in the form of tender leaves, and inscription of the owner in the form of the bees.

Karṇikāra which, despite its splendour of colour, did not satisfy the mind since it lacks fragrance.

The Palāśa trees bear red buds, curved in shape like the crescent of moon appearing as if they were the nail bites in the body of the damsels in the form of the forest regions who were suddenly united with the Vasanta.

Himālaya

Aśoka

Palāśa

Restlessnes:The Spring and the Sentient worldThe deer, which are intoxicated with passion start running against the wind when their eyes get blinded with the pollen dust of the Priyāla trees in the forest.

The cuckoos start singing mellifluously with their throats becoming sweet due to their intake of mango sprout

The cheeks of the Kimpuruṣa women become pale and lips become white and drops of perspiration start appearing on their facial decoration.

The hermits somehow become masters of their minds whose disturbances are brought under control with great effort

The bee drinks honey from the same cup of flower following its mate. The dark antelope scratches the doe with his horn making her close her eyes out of pleasure,.

The female elephant took water in her mouth ,which was fragrant with pollen of lotus and gave it to her loved one.

The Cakravāka bird gave half of the lotus stalk eaten by it to its companion. Kimpuruṣa kisses the face of his beloved whose painted decorations over the body were swollen with perspiration and eyes were reeling because of the intoxication caused by honey.

Trees , like men, with the hands in the form of dangling branches enjoyed the pleasure of the embrace of creepers who were like their beloved ones with bunches of flowers looking like breasts and red foliage looking like red lips.

Deer

Elephant

Śiva and the calming effect Śiva continues to be engaged in deep meditation although the music of the water nymphs falls in his ears.

Nandin sternly forbids the attendants from any type of mischief by placing his finger on his lips.

Thereafter the entire forest becomes still like a picture with trees static, bees motionless , birds mute, and deers devoid of any movement

Encounter of Love God with Śiva Kāma comes to the place where Siva is engaged in deep penance , as motionless as a cloud not prepared for rain and the flame of a lamp kept in a windless place.

Overwhelmed by his majestic appearance, he does not even that his bow and arrow have slipped from his hands.

Pārvatī in vernal decorationThe advent of Pārvatī to the scene rekindles his lost valor.

The Aśoka flowers worn by her put rubies to shame, Karṇikāra flowers scold the grace of gold and Sindhuvāra flowers perform the function of the necklace.

With her breasts gracefully weighing down she donns a garment red like the morning sun , looking like a moving creeper with its bunch of flowers weighing down and red sprouts.

She holds up her girdle made of Kesara flowers which was slipping and which looked like spare arrow of Kāma .

She was warding off the bee, attracted by the fragrance of her sweet breath, hovering around her lip with the hand in which she was holding a lotus.

The catastrophe and tragedy of Love God Kāma initially reassured of his capacity to carry out his mission, by her beauty.

Śiva regains his composure after the initial lapse and consumes him in flames emitted by his eyes.

Untimely spring and natural spring-a study in contrast Spring comes all on a sudden. Kālidāsa uses verbal form jajṛmbhe, and adverbs like sadyaḥ, (26,29) and the adjective akālikīm (34) to describe its appearance.

In Raghuvamśa, when the spring occurs naturally, it manifests step by step , first in buds, then in leaf sprouts, and then in the tunes of the bees and cuckoos.

In Vikramorvaśīya, the spring depicted as in a stage between childhood innocence and maturity.

Impact of the season on birds and animals.In the Raghuvamśa description, there is no such mention. On the other hand, there is direct mention of the impact of spring on men and women.

In the Kumārasambhava description, spring affects the animal kingdom directly. Apart from them, there are only the attendants of Siva, who are disciplined by Nandin, sages, who somehow control themselves and semi human beings called Kimpuruṣa who are affected by passion.

While Kālidāsa describes the cuckoo sound as the sound of the spring gently asking King Agnimitra if the pangs of separation are bearable, in Kumārasambhava, the same sound is depicted as the writ of Cupid.

Conclusions The poet views any attempt to tamper with the natural order of the cosmos with apprehension.

Kālidāsa shows his subtle apprehension in the transgression the sanctity of the sacred domain of penance.

Ṛtu which signifies season in Sanskrit is from the same root as and twin to the other concept of Ṛta

‘From the order of nature and regularity with which things in nature move and progress, the ideals of moral order and truth grew from the word Ṛta ’

The reference to the lack of fragrance in the Karṇikāra flower, symbolizes the whole advent of spring here, which was like a māya created to beguile the god of destruction

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