Abhijnana Sakuntalam- A Sanskrit Drama By Kalidasa

About the Book Abhijnanasäkuntalam is an unparalleled work of the great poet and dramatist Kālidāsa. This popular play (Nātika) deals with the love and marriage of king Duşyanta Śakuntalā. and Asrama girl.

This critical edition contains the English translation of Prof. Monier Williams, an eminent scholar of Sanskrit and Indology. The English translation and Notes have been revised and the texts have also been throughly checked. Therefore, it is hoped that this New Revised Edition will be more helpful to the English knowing students as well as other students of Sanskrit literature.

About the Author Vishveshvaranand Vishvabandhu Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies, Panjab University, Hoshiarpur, is well-known in the field of Indological Research, who combines in him a comprehensive understanding of scholarly issues, impartial judgment and an exemplary clarity of expression.

After graduation from Utkal University and Post-graduation and Phil. Degrees from Kurukshetra University, he obtained Ph.D. degree in Vedic Studies from Panjab University, Chandigarh. In addition to these Dr Panda also qualified in other Indological branches like Buddhism (Acharya), Kashmir Saivism (M.Phil.), Indian Philosophy (Acharya), Ayurveda Ratna and C.C. in German.

Dr. Panda is the Joint Editor of Vishveshvaranand Indological Research Journal. As an ardent student and a successful researcher of Indology he has contributed numerous learned Research papers, and written and edited some valuable works, viz. :

1. Perspectives of Indian Thought, 2. Upadeśasahasri (Revised & Edited), 3. Buddhism (Text with Eng. tr. in two Vols. Compiled & Ed.), 4. Kalätattvakośa Lexicon, Vol. VI (Ed.), 5. Samkhyakärikä (Ed.), 6. Aspects of the Vedanta (Ed.).

Preface This is a valuable addition of Abhijñānasäkuntalam. The English translation and Notes have been throughly revised in this edition. Therefore, it is hoped that this new revised critical edition will be found more helpful by those for whom it is intended. Specially the English knowing students must be benefitted by this authentic revised edition.

I extend my sincere thanks to all those learned editors whose works I have duly consulted in preparation of this revised edition. Dr. K.L. Parashar has written the foreword to this book in Sanskrit. So, I am very much thankful to him for this great job.

I feel it a honour in dedicating this book to Prof. H.K. Satapathy a great Sanskrit scholar, a poet, a researcher and a man of inspiring attitude. I have no words to express my sincere feelings of gratefulness to Prof. Raghbir Singh, Chairman, V.V.B.IS. & I.S., P.U., Hoshiarpur, for his affectionate attitude and constant encouragement. I also owe sincere thanks and gratitude to Prof. Indra Dutt Uniyal, Prof. B.B. Chaubey, Prof. Shuk Dev Sharma, Prof. Vikram Kumar, Prof. Surendra Mohan Mishra, Prof. Gopabandhu Mishra, Prof. Rajinder Kumar Sharma, Prof. Prem Lal Sharma and Prof. Krishna Murari Sharma for their invaluable suggestions and over all help and support, whenever I needed. I am extending my special thanks to my wife Mrs. Sharadhanjali Panda for her utmost co-operation and constant encouragement.

Introduction Kalidasa is unamimously recognised as an eminent Sanskrit poet and dramatist of India. There is scarcely any Indian lierature in which we do not find adoptations of stories of Kalidasa's works. So, in India scholars from all parts from Kashmir in the North to Chennai in the South and from Gujarat in the West to Bengal in the East have tried to solve the different problems presented by his date, life and works. Though several scholars have written on the great poet, the problems of his date, place, life and works are still unsolved. Various conflicting views have been expressed by scholars of India and Abroad about his life and works.

Regarding the date and place of Kälidäsa Monier Williams writes: "This work is by the illustrious Kalidāsa, who is supposed by some native authorities (though on insufficient grounds) to have lived in Ujjayini, the capital of king Vikramaditya, whose reign in the starting point of Hindu era called Samvat, beginning 57 years B.C. Kälidāsa is described as one of the 'nine gems' of that monarch's splendid court. It seems, however more probable that Kalidasa flourished in the third century of the christian era". Prof. A.B. Keith, an eminent scholar writes: "Kālidāsa was later than Asvaghosa and than the dramatist Bhasa; he know Greek terms as his use of Jamitra proves; the Prakrit of his dramas is decidedly later than Asvaghosa's and Bhasa's and he cannot be put before the Gupta age.....We must remember that Chandragupta II had the style of Viramaditya with whose name tradition consistently connects Kālidāsa."

**Contents and Sample Pages**