The Birth of Kumara, Canto I (beginning)
by Kalidasa
translated by Arthur W. Ryder (1912)
God of the distant north, the Snowy Range
O'er other mountains towers imperially;
Earth's measuring-rod, being great and free from change,
Sinks to the eastern and the western sea.
Whose countless wealth of natural gems is not
Too deeply blemished by the cruel snow;
One fault for many virtues is forgot,
The moon's one stain for beams that endless flow.
Where demigods enjoy the shade of clouds
Girding his lower crests, but often seek,
When startled by the sudden rain that shrouds
His waist, some loftier, ever sunlit peak.
Where bark of birch-trees makes, when torn in strips
And streaked with mountain minerals that blend
To written words 'neath dainty finger-tips,
Such dear love-letters as the fairies send.
Whose organ-pipes are stems of bamboo, which
Are filled from cavern-winds that know no rest,
As if the mountain strove to set the pitch
For songs that angels sing upon his crest.
Where magic herbs that glitter in the night
Are lamps that need no oil within them, when
They fill cave-dwellings with their shimmering light
And shine upon the loves of mountain men.
Who offers roof and refuge in his caves
To timid darkness shrinking from the day;
A lofty soul is generous; he saves
Such honest cowards as for protection pray,
Who brings to birth the plants of sacrifice;
Who steadies earth, so strong is he and broad.
The great Creator, for this service' price,
Made him the king of mountains, and a god.
[Statue of Kartikeya (Kumara, also called Murugan), God of War and Victory,
in Batu Caves temple, Malaysia.
The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India]
Kālidāsa (fl. 4th–5th century CE) was a classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His surviving works consist of three plays, two epic poems and two shorter poems. Among the plays, "Of the recognition of Śakuntalā" (Abhijñānaśākuntalam) is generally regarded as a masterpiece. It was among the first Sanskrit works to be translated into English. Among the epic poems, "The Birth of Kumāra" (Kumārasambhava) is the most important. It describes the birth and adolescence of the goddess Pārvatī, her marriage to Śiva and the subsequent birth of their son Kumāra.
Nothing is known about Kālidāsa's life, and we even don't know exactly when he lived. Most scholars associate him with the reign of Candra Gupta II, who reigned c. 380-c. 415 CE. Also the exact place where Kālidāsa lived is unknown, but most scholars think it must have been near the Himalayas, a surmise based on Kālidāsa's detailed description of these mountains in his Kumārasambhava.
Kālidāsa’s position in Sanskrit literature can be compared to that of
William Shakespeare in English. His poems and plays were mainly based on
Hindu mythology and philosophy. Kālidāsa has exerted a great influence on all Indian literature, including Rabindranath Tagore. Sanskrit plays by Kālidāsa influenced late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century European literature. In 1791 Goethe wrote his "Ode to Sakontala" after reading in translation Kālidāsa's "The Recognition of Shakuntala," while Franz Schubert in 1820 based an opera on this play (Sakuntala). This opera remained unfinished and exists only in fragments. In 1884, Felix Weingartner's opera Sakuntala was premiered.
[Statue of Kalidasa]
The court epic, The Birth of Kumara, describes events leading up to the birth of Kumára,
the war god destined to defeat the demon Táraka. The gods try to use Kama,
the Indian Cupid, to make the ascetic god Shiva fall in love with the
daughter of the Himalaya mountain. Kama fails, and is burnt to ashes by
the angry Shiva. Then Parvati, the daughter of the mountain, herself
turns to asceticism to win the husband she longs for. She is successful,
and the climax of the poem is the marriage and lovemaking of Shiva and
Parvati, parents of the universe.
The above fragment forms the beginning of the epic, a stunning description of the majesty of the Himalayas.
The translation above is quoted from: Translations of Shakuntala & Other Works, by Arthur W. Ryder (1912；Reprinted 1920, 1928). Public domain, available at Gutenberg. Arthur William Ryder (1877–1938) was a professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley. His translations from the Sanskrit have been praised as the finest ever accomplished by an American.
Other translations:
David Smith, tr., The Birth of Kumara, Clay Sanskrit Library (2005). The best contemporary translation.
Photos: via Wikimedia Commons
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