Ans. Abhijnanashakuntala also known as The Recognition of Shakuntala or The Shakuntala is the best work of Kalidasa. The Sanskrit title Abhijnanashakuntala pertaining to the recognition of Shakuntala.

One day, Dushyanta, the king of Hasthinapura, came to the forest on a hunt. He entered into the deep woods with his troops and his chariots. Suddenly his eyes fell on a handsome male deer. He pursued the deer to capture it. A hermit stopped him from the cheese and warned that all animals were under the protection of a hermitage. As the place was under the protection of the hermitage, any animal that entered the place should not be harmed. Dushyanta honoured the words of the hermit and took back his arrow and put it back into the quiver. The hermit blessed the king with a boon to have a noble son and asked him to visit the hermitage of Kanva. Dushyanta reached to the ashram of Kanwa, where Shakuntala lived. It was a beautiful hermitage on the bank of the sacred river Malini. Dushyanta determined to meet the great sage Kanwa, rich in holiness. He laid aside the insignia of royalty and went on alone but did not see the austere sage in the hermitage. He felt a sudden vibrant in his right arm which indicated fortune of getting a woman. The hermitage was almost deserted. The king heard the sweet voice of Shakuntala and other companions at the right end of the ashram, where they were pouring water on the trees in the garden. Dushyanta decided to hide behind a tree and observed the beautiful maidens. When he was Shakuntala, he was stunned to see the beauty, youthfulness, and innocence of Shakuntala. Shakuntala possessed graceful mind and body in her youth. The king fell in love with Shakuntala at first sight. He wanted to know identity of this beautiful girl: “Can this be the daughter of Kanwa?” (Act.1)

Shakuntala, Priyambada and Anasuya conversed with each other in the garden while a bee troubled Shakuntala. Seeing this, Dushyanta came out from hiding place to save Shakuntala from the foraging thief. Shakuntala got scared of seeing a man whom she had not seen in the hermitage before; she tried to run away from there at once. Dushyanta revealed his true identity to the ladies. Dushyanta was graciously invited to the hermitage. Dushyanta went into the hermitage. Shakuntala fell in love with the king as his delightful words and his face attracted her very much. She welcomed Dushyanta warmly in the hermitage and took care of him: “Sakoontala: My movements are no longer under my own control. (Aloud) Pray, what authority have you over me, either to send me away or keep me back?” (Act.1)

Dushyanta was captivated with the charm of Shakuntala. Dushyanta’s affection for Shakuntala grew into love: “King: My limbs drawn onward, leave my heart behind like silken pennon borne against the wind.” (Act.1, Page.33) He gave Shakuntala his own ring as a token of love. Soon they came closerto each other. Dushyanta could not resist himself from visiting to the hermitage to see Dushyanta. He could get as close as possible to the beautiful lady, Shakuntala.

Ans. Shakuntala, a play written by Kalidasa, is one of the masterpieces of world literature. It is a thrilling love story of the exquisitely beautiful Shakuntala and the mighty king Dushyanta. Dushyanta is the hero of the play. He possesses almost all the qualities of a brave and noble-minded hero. Dushyanta was the founder of the Puru Dynasty. He was the ruler of a great empire. He was a powerful king and his subjects were happy and prosperous under his rule. King Dushyanta loved hunting Once, while hunting in a forest, Dushyanta happens to meet Shakuntala, a beautiful young lady living in a hermitage. He falls in love with Shakuntala, and is enthralled to find that she is attracted to him Shakuntala, and is enthralled to find that she is attracted to him in the same manner. Shakuntala and Dushyanta do not wait for the actual rites of marriage and engage themselves in a secret marriage .Then Dushyanta leaves for his capital to attend to his royal duties. Unfortunately he forgets Shakuntala under the spell of curse. When Shakuntala goes to her husband Dushyanta, he cannot recognize her. Heart -broken, Shakuntala is forced to leave the royal place. But the truth is discovered when the spell is broken. The king suffers from an intense feeling of guilt and injustice. Shakuntala forgives Dushyanta and they are reunited happily. Their son named Bharata became one of the greatest kings of India.

Dushyanta is a man of striking personality. He is seen as youthful, handsome, majestic and of sweet address. Another point that is notable in his personality is the extreme nobility of his mind. It was quite natural on his part to be struck with the fascinating youth and superb charms of Shakuntala .The dramatist himself, through the mouth of Dushyanta, depicts the beauty of Shakuntala. There is no wonder in Dushyanta falling in love with such an uncommon beauty. He did indeed, a lover of beauty. Being a Sovereign, He was in a position to have it and enjoy it irrespective of it price. But at the same time, he maintains the dharma of his great Puru pedigree .Otherwise it was impossible for an ordinary man to check his first burst of love .It is only after ascertaining the parentage of Shakuntala, and further that she was not married, that he allows his mind to harbour the feeling of love. Another important feature of Dushyanta is his utmost respect for the sages. The king, though himself commanding universal respect, has unbounded reverence for the sages. There are many incidents in the play which tify to his high martial power. He was so brave that even Indra, the lord of the gods, sought his help .His love for Shakuntala, through carnal to a certain extent is deep-rooted and permanent .His mental affliction ,after the unconscious dismissal and rejection of Shakuntala, is so touching as to give a full idea of what his real feelings were. In this Sixth Act of the play, just to console his soul, he begins to paint the picture of Shakuntala. After the completion of the picture, his remark is really an impartial judgement of the beauty of Shakuntala. He is at home in almost all the fine arts .He can appreciate music and be sensitive to its impressions.He is a unique Sovereign, and the various traits of his character are shown in bold relief by the dramatist.

Dushyanta’s filial love finds a forceful expression when he sees a young boy playing with a lion. The king greets the boy amazed by his boldness and strength .Later, Dushyanta gets astonished and thrilled when he discovers that the boy is his own son. Thus, Dushyanta’s character is exalted by the imagination of the dramatist.

King Dushyanta, a member of the Puru lineage, reigns in northern India, with his capital at Hastinapura. He is the hero of the play. He is attentive to his royal duties, especially those of caring for the oppressed and protecting religious practitioners. At the beginning of the play, he visits Kanva’s hermitage and immediately falls in love with Shakuntala. When he learns that their feelings are mutual, he quickly marries her in secret. After his business at the hermitage is concluded, however, he must return to the capital, and Durvasas’s curse ensures that he forgets Shakuntala and the fact that they are married. Accordingly, when Shakuntala travels to the capital to join him, he rejects her, but he is uneasy about their encounter. After he sees the signet ring he had given Shakuntala, breaking the curse, he is overwhelmed by remorse. A demon-fighting assignment from Indra’s charioteer, Matali, recalls him to his duties. When, six years later, he is rewarded with a visit to Marica’s celestial hermitage, he discovers his Sarvadamana, and is reconciled with Shakuntala.

son,

Ans. The story of the love of Dushyanta and Shakuntala is narrated at length in the Mahabharata’s Adiparva. There, Shakuntala is depicted as an assertive woman and one who stands up for her right and demands it. The story goes somewhat like this. Dushyanta, a king of the lunar race, in the course of his hunting excursion, reached the hermitage of Kanva. His adopted daughter, Shakuntala being alone there, had to entertain the king, as was wont in those times. The king was fascinated by the matchless charms of the sage’s daughter, from whom he learnt the story of her birth and parentage, and whose Kshatriya origin made it possible for him to marry her. Without much ceremony, the king expressed his desire to her, to which she yielded on his promise to appoint her son as his successor. He then wedded her by the gandharva form of marriage, and having stayed with her for some time returned to his capital. Being afraid of the sage’s anger, without whose knowledge the connection had been formed and who was sure to pronounce a curse if displeased with the match, the king did not send for his new wife. The sage, however, divining what had happened in his absence, approved the choice of his daughter who, in course of time, delivered of a son, and sent her to her husband without waiting for the king’s summons. Dushyanta, afraid of public censure, discarded her. But a heavenly voice enjoined him to receive his wife and son, and Shakuntala was soon raised to the dignity of the chief or the crowned Queen.

There is no denying the fact that this prosaic story, wanting in those dramatic elements, which give effect and life to a play, has been dramatized by Kalidasa with that dramatic skill and mastery over his art, which have made him immortal as the Shakespeare of India. One strange similarity in the lives of these two poets is discernible. Shakespeare has nowhere originated the main plots of his dramas, but in his hands they received life and meaning and made him what he is-he unrivalled master of his art. Kalidasa, too, selected a mythological love story to serve as the basis of his drama; fully conscious that such a story would have greater charm. His deep dramatic insight quickly saw that the story, though simple and unromantic in its form, was pre

eminently fitted to be the nucleus of such dramatic situations and incidents as would stir up the hearts of all men of poetic sensibility, and produce a magical effect upon them. The German poet Goethe’s words of praise for the drama are indeed justified, “The soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted and fed.”

This is the poetic aspect of the drama, which appeals to the heart. But every drama has characters in the story and the incidents connected with them are usually a reflection of society. Viewed from this social point of view, we perceive that the characterization of Shakuntala, over the years, was eventually adapted to the image of a woman suitable to the ideals of the new middle class in the nineteenth century. The child of nature was an innocent girl who was led astray, but she remained submissive, long suffering, patient and devoted to her husband and was finally exonerated. Unfortunately, later centuries too went along with Kalidasa. The Shakuntala of the Mahabharata, who was a liberated woman, demanding to be justly treated, was ignored. On the other hand, we have endorsed the more submissive Shakuntala of Kalidasa, a woman waiting patiently for recognition of her virtues.

Male chauvinism is revealed in the adaptation and recreation of the Mahabharata story in the play of Kalidasa, which conforms to contemporary vision. Probably Kalidasa stopped at borrowing the kernel of the story and did not realise that his play would contribute to a gradual eroding of women’s independence. After all, if society influences literature, it is also vice-versa. Shakuntala, as described in the drama, became the role model for an average Indian womanhood- patient, submissive, faithful even in the face of adversity, and suffering in silence. Other members of society expected her to be like that; and what more- the women themselves were convinced that their role in society is to be good wives and mothers.

Though indirectly, this mind-set was brought about by the literature of the times. To that extent, we have to concede that while adapting the story of the Mahabharata, Kalidasa has indeed contributed to deterioration in the image of women. In the epic version Dushyanta’s refusal to accept Shakuntala is a tactical move, meant to precipitate a situation wherein he can legitimize their union. But Sanskrit drama needed a hero who is an ideal. Around him revolve the sentiments that flower into emotions in the hearts of the audience. The Dushyanta of the Mahabharata deliberately pretends ignorance of his marriage and repudiates Shakuntala. This would mean a ‘stain’ on the character of the hero, which would not have been acceptable to the audience. So the curse of the sage is introduced. The irresponsible behavior of Dushyanta is glossed over, as are the moral implications of his refusal to recognize Shakuntala. To exonerate him Kalidasa introduces the curse, clearly to avoid addressing the moral implications. There is also a suggestion that Shakuntala erred in agreeing to a gandharva marriage and succumbing to her passion. The loss of the ring also helps to bring in the tragic element in the play. Kalidasa’s play was influenced by the need to create an effective drama.

In spite of the introduction of two friends for Shakuntala, she is never shown as a weakling. She is the daughter of a Kshatriya (warrior) Vishvamitra and time and again Kalidasa has provided her with dialogues that reveal her dignity (Act I), propriety (Act III), anger (Act V) and pragmatic mindset (Act VII). The advice of Kanva Rishi in Act IV reveals a rather subordinate position of women in society. But one can argue that even in such a setting Shakuntala’s angry outburst in Act V stands out as an act of assertion.

Ans. The character of Sakuntala, in Kalidasa’s play Abhijnanasakuntalam is a remarkable fusion of beauty and moral prowess. On one hand she is the everlasting symbol of vulnerable womanhood; on the other hand, she proves to be heroic in her actions. Kalidasa adopts the character from the pages of Mahabharata and transforms her into a figure inspiring wonder, admiration and respect.Sakuntala is a fictional character, the heroine of the Sanskrit drama Abhijnansakuntala (TheRecognition of Shakuntala) by the fifth century North Indian poet Kalidasa. In her role as a daughter, a wife and a mother, Sakuntala seems to be an epitome of beauty, patience and virtue. As a child, she was abandoned by her mother, apsara Menaka and sired by the sage Viswamitra. Her mother left her in the hermitage of Kanva, hoping that she will get all due attention over there. There, the abandoned child was protected by a bird-a Sakunta, presumably a vulture from the elements, where the sage Kanva discovered her. She was named Sakuntala, in remembrance of the plight she was found in the moment of her discovery. Right from her childhood, her beauty and grace was an object of veneration and wonder for one and all. It was the same beauty and grace of Sakuntala that attracted Dushyanta during his hunting expediation to the hermitage. Despite living in an ashrama, Sakuntala looks very beautiful and Dushyanta at first sight is attracted to her and hides behind trees to hear the free conversations of the girls.

In the earliest mention of Sakuntala in Vedic literature, she is described as an “apsara” (divine dancer) who gave birth to Bharata. In Mahabharata she is shown as daughter of apsara, abandoned at birth and raised by sage Kanva. Kalidasa presents her as a woman with close connection to nature, as a child of nature. On the other hand, her journey to the urban world of men makes her connect two worlds – the world of nature and the world of man. Her character evolves through this journey from the secure boundaries of her childhood home to the uncertain dangers of the unknown city of Hastinapur, finally to the sacred ashrama of Marica.

In the first act of the play, Sakuntala is presented as intimately connected to the flora and fauna of Kanva’s hermitage. She feels in tune with the plants and animals as if they are her siblings. Yet, she is different from her friends Anasuya and Priyamvada. Duhsanta is drawn towards her in an instant. Sakuntala shows maidenly coyness despite her desires for the man clearly in love with her.

In the second act, when the Vidusaka asks the reasons for the rejection of other beauties in his court, and falling in love with a forest woman, the king replies by talking about and praising her beauty:

“A flower no one has smelled

A bud no fingers have plucked

An uncut jewel, honey untasted

Unbroken fruits of holy deeds

I don’t know who is destined

To enjoy her flawless beauty” (Romila Thapar, Sakuntala)

Dushyanta continuously praises Sakuntala’s beauty in presence of other people and he desperately wants to marry her.

In the third act, Sakuntala is seen as an inquisitive spirit, elated by the amorous attentions of her heroic suitor. It is interesting to note that she accepts the mode of Gandharva marriage although it means she will not have any witnesses to her wedding. For a woman, accepting this kind of wedding has social risks but she claims ownership of her body and heart by accepting such a wedding.

The curse of Durvasa is clearly instrumental in changing Sakuntala’s situation. The curse is more deadly because the wedding had no witnesses or social sanction. The curse took away the only security Sakuntala had – the security of memory, the assurance of remembrance. Therefore, Sakuntala’s departure from her father’s hermitage is both a literal journey and a symbolic one. It is at this moment that she leaves behind the comforting security of the world of nature. Chandra Rajan observes, “The movement out of the green world is accomplished with much reluctance on the heroine’s part. When she disappears from view behind a line of great forest trees, the green world, magical, vanishes too.”

It is a fact that Duhsanta’s childlessness is the central concern that finds solution in Sakuntala. However, in the first phase, Duhsanta had known Sakuntala only physically. Later, in the court, she is humiliated; her every word turned into a lie. Finally, she stands alone, abandoned all over again. However, now she is not protected by the world of nature as she was at infancy. In Mahabharata, Sakuntala is presented as a fiery spirit, fighting for her son’s rights. Kalidasa transforms his source to portray a more rounded character, both spontaneous and responsible.

Sakuntala’s motherhood is her redemption even without Duhsanta’s recognition. Interestingly she refuses to recognise Duhsanta at Marica’s hermitage. This shows Sakuntala is capable of sustenance even without her husband. It makes her equal in strength, if not superior to Duhsanta who needs her more than she needs him. Kalidasa shows through Sakuntala that true reconciliation comes only through equality and mutual respect. In doing so, Kalidasa creates an unprecedented heroine who redefines representation of woman in Indian classical drama.

KING. Shakuntala seems to be very ill. [Pondering] Now, is it the heat, or is it the heart, as it is with me? [Gazing with longing] But there’s really no question: Her breasts are smeared with lotus balm,

Her fibre bracelet slips her wrist,

Her body’s racked-and lovely still,

The summer sears her-but so does love,

And love with greater skill.

Kalidasa’s Sakuntalais different from earlier heroines of Sanskrit literature. Even though Dushyanta does not recognize her, her reaction is different. She is not angry and does not shout at the king but says she caused her situation herself that she trusted the king and starts weeping. She does not beg for pity from the king but weeps and cries out: “O mother earth, give me room (in your bosom)”.

One day, sage Durvasa visits the hermitage, but Sakuntala who is too absorbed in her love for Dushyant, forgets to serve him food. In a fit of anger, sage Durvasa curses her, saying that the person she is thinking about will forget her.

Sakuntala in Kalidasa’s version is a perfect example of a submissive woman. Her virtue, forbearance and kindness are clearly seen when, after so much suffering, meted out by the king, she meets the king but does not hesitate to welcome him, continually, referring to him as her noble husband, and addressing him as Aryaputra. A good example of Sakuntala’s virtues to others is seen in the middle of Act IV, at her departure from the hermitage to the palace of the king. Indeed, Kalidasa in his play gives a moving picture of a devoted wife.

Ans. Abhijnana Shakuntala is one of the most well-known plays by Kalidasa. The dramatist has introduced the curse and the king’s loss of memory, and the ring as the token of recognition. The title Abhijnana Sakuntalam—– underscores the central theme in this play. Sakuntala is recognised by virtue of a tokenof love. Not by love itself. In the absence of concrete, tangible proof of love’, Sakuntala is nonentity we see an interesting parallel between Kalidasa’s AbhijnanaSakuntalam—- and Shakespeare’s Othello. In Othello proof of the heroine’s chasity and love is demanded. Desdemona’s chastity hangs on a handkerchief; Sakuntala’s on a ring. Both heroines are blissfully unaware of the importance of the token. As a token of love, he gives her a signet ring and promises to send an envoy to escort her to the palace. One day, sage Durvasa, infamous for his mercurial anger, stops by the hut for hospitality. Lost in her love thoughts, Shakuntala fails to acknowledge his presence.

As most of the Sanskrit dramas of his time, Kalidasa wrote in a mixture of both classical Sanskrit – spoken by the royals, courtly figures, upper caste figures and Prakrit, consisting of different types of vernaculars – spoken by the common people including women and children. What does this sentence say about the times? Does it strike you to find women and children clubbed together? Hold that thought. The title of the play Abhijnana Shakuntala can be translated as The Recognition of Shakuntala. The play, as stated in the earlier unit, is an extension of an episode from The Mahabharata. Kalidasa’s prowess as an exemplary dramatist can be seen in way he has lent complexity to the characters to Shakuntala and Duhsanta, adding innovative elements such as the curse and the ring to enhance the rasa of kama /love as well as, making Duhsanta’s character more appealing to the audience. Furthermore, the ultimate union of the hero and the heroine does not occur in the royal Palace of the King but in the heavenly hermitage of Marica and Aditi, years after the birth of their son. Thus, his retelling of Shakuntala is significantly different from its original source.

Ans. The first part of the action of Shakuntla takes place in the hermitage of Saga Kanva, the foster-father of Shakuntala. The heroine is essentially a child of nature, beautiful as a blossoming flower, nimble as a deer, happy as the dew-washed leaves of the forest. She is so much part of nature that later when she leaves the hermitage to join her husband, she creates a gap in nature.

Trees of the hermit’s grove, you have within you. The very spirits of the forest gods. She would not drink herself before she sprinkled Your venerable roots with kindly showers. Though food of ornaments, she herself would not Denude your branches laden with sweet flowers. Her festival occurred when spring had first Showered its blooms, casting their magic spell. Now that she travels to her husband’s house.

Time has come for us to say farewell. (The Abhigyanshakuntalam, IV) She has established a kinship with Nature. She calls the Jasmine bush in the hermitage as ‘Vanjyotsana’ and a fawn as ‘Deerghpanga.’ Sakuntala waters the plants and feeds her pets every day. Then she takes food. No one can pluck flowers from trees. When flowers bloom in the garden, it is an occasion of celebration for her. Even the flora and fauna become co-sharers of Shakuntala in her joys. According to M.R. Kale, Kalidasa has always expressed himself against the background of Nature. Each of his worksRtusamhara and Meghaduta, breathes of Nature and she is related to every tree, creeper, and every sprout. In the play, Nature is not acting against the human life, but as working in perfect harmony with it. This blending of Nature and human feelings is complete and it is impossible to think of one without

the other.

Ans. The very title features the ring- Shakuntala and the ring of recollection. Thus the ring has a very important function to play in the drama. Kalidasa has used the ring motif in a very effective way. In Act I, the king offers it to free Shakuntala from the debt of watering the plants that she owes to Priyamvada. This results in the king being recognised as the king Dushyanta. Again in Act IV, we glean from the conversation of Anasuya and Priyamvada that the ring has been given to Shakuntala by Dushyanta as a token of remembrance. At this point, the ring becomes especially significant, as the sage Durvasas has cursed Shakuntala. On Priyamvada’s entreaties he relents a bit and offers a way out of the curse the king has to see some ornament of recognition. The ring fits the bill. But, unfortunately, for reasons, which seem convincing to the two friends, they do not relate the details of the curse to Shakuntala. It is only a vague warning- “if the king fails to recognize you, show him the ring.” Shakuntala takes it casually and fails to guard it safely. It falls into the river during her ablutions. The absence of the ring at the crucial moment, when it is most needed, result in the brilliant exchange of words between Sarngarava and the king in Act V. It also depicts the fighting spirit of Shakuntala

Q. 7.and the upright character of the king. In Act VI the fisherman discovers the ring inside the belly of a fish that he has caught. He gets his reward and the ring has detonated the curse. Dushyanta is plunged in sorrow and a pall of gloom settles on the entire scene He remembers all the details of his union with Shakuntala and a sense of guilt gores him. The king reprimands the ring for having deserted the finger of his beloved. He recounts that he had promised to send someone to fetch her before she finished counting his name on the ring: one syllable each day. But he did not send anyone! This nearinsane condition of the king, caused by the agony of separation, is emotionally very appealing. This has been made possible because of the ring-motif. Rabindranath Tagore and many other scholarly critics of this play have accepted the need for this suffering of the king. The love between Dushyanta and Shakuntala was passionate. It had to go through the fire of separation to purify it and elevate it to represent it as the ideal of love. In Act VII Shakuntala’s eyes fall on the ring on the king’s finger. He offers it to her once again but Shakuntala is wary. She refuses to have anything to do with it and it goes back to the king’s finger. Later when Sage Marica explains the curse as the reason for the king’s non-recognition, she realizes why her friends had warned her and told her to use the ring. drama

Thus the ring has an important function to play in the drama. In Kalidasa’s not only are Nature, flora and fauna made into live characters- even inanimate things like a ring appear as real characters of the play.

Ans. AbhijnanaShakuntalam is basically a romantic play with the erotic sentiment being dominant. In such a play the dramatic climax is usually the point that depicts the initial union/falling in love of the hero and heroine. Obstacles and obstructions in the path of love usually follow this. The final denouement comes after the successful removal of all impediments. But this modus operandi is not a cut and dried method or a theoretical solution. It is a very subtle arrangement of incidents that the dramatist very skillfully manages. This brings about the ecstasy and emotional enjoyment of the connoisseurs of dramatic art.

 Kalidasa presents a scene drawn almost raw from life -the fisherman’s discovery of the ring. This is followed by the tragic outburst of the king. The sight of the ring brings back the memory of Shakuntala. The king realizes the wrong unwittingly done to her. His helplessness, agony, guilt and sorrow are depicted in a very touching manner. The king seeks to console himself in various ways. One of them is his attempt to paint a panting of the beloved. As per his instructions, the attendant brings it to the garden for him to watch her picture, and try to mitigate his heartache.

This painting is used by Kalidasa to highlight the depth of the king’s love and satisfy Shakuntala’s well-wisher Sanumati/Mirakesi that the king’s love for Shakuntala is intact. The king feels that the portrait is not a worthy representation of the real beauty of Shakuntala. Kalidasa’s knowledge of the fine arts is revealed a number of times in the various remarks of the king. “My tears have discoloured the picture”. “The discoloured part has swelled up.” “It needs retouching.”

The extensive details that the king wants to put in and his desire to hold the painting in his own hand are indicative of his profound love. But what is really, tragically marvellous, is the way he forgets that it is merely a painting and asks the jester to drive away the ‘impudent bee.’ And even more touching is the way the jester too goes crazy and helps the king to carry on a conversation with and rebuke the bee in the painting. The disillusionment that follows Vidushaka’s realization is even more pathetic.

For the king it is virtually the real Shakuntala. But now reality has again transformed Shakuntala into a picture! The play of words is a verbal delight. But the king has to accept that his tears will not allow him to view her even in a painting. All the remarks of wonder by Sanumati/Misrakesi at this lamentation of the king keep up the suspense and wonder element of the drama.

Further, it is the painting motif that is used by the poet to bring out the noble aspects of the characters of the king and the senior Queen Vasumati. When the king hears that Queen Vasumati is coming into the garden to meet him, he asks for the painting to be removed lest it hurt the feelings of the queen. [Books on Poetics have recorded that a king who is considerate to his former wife (first love) even while taking a new wife is called Dakshina (considerate, compassionate)]. The queen is really blueblooded. When she sees the attendant (Pratihari) carrying an official letter to the king, she desists from disturbing him. The king says, “She knows the importance of state business and avoids interrupting my duty.”

Thus, a small token, a painting becomes a vibrant symbol in the deft hands of Kalidasa and helps to evoke varied emotions and expostulations, helping to bring to life characters, with whom the audience identifies easily, thus reaping the fruit of unalloyed literary enjoyment (Rasa).

Ans. AbhijnanaShakuntalam is an amorous play, where problems and obstacles create worry and anxiety; the separation of the hero and heroine causes heartburn, tears, and sorrowful situations. But these dejections and deceptions are not long lasting. That is why it is pointed out that real, hard-hitting sorrow is absent in this play. In Act II, the jester is sad because he is physically and mentally tired, and wrecked because of the king’s antics. The ascetics are sad because the evil spirits are disturbing their sacrifices. In Act III the two friends are sad and worried because their friend Shakuntala is lovesick. The king’s anxiety about Kanva’s consent to the marriage; Shakuntala’s pregnancy; Durvasas’ curse; Shakuntala’s sorrow at leaving the hermitage; Kanva’s sorrow at the separation from his foster daughter; the repudiation of Shakuntala by the king in Act V; real repentance and suffering and mental torture suffered by the king in Act VI; his sorrow at being childless; Vidushaka’s bodily torture suffered at the hands of the disguised Matali- all these cause discomfort, anxiety, tears and pain. To that extent there is the sentiment of shoka but it cannot be termed as the emotion of Karuna.

In Act IV of Kalidasa’splay, Abhijnanasakuntala at the time of Shakunta’s departure, Kanva’s emotion is very pathetic. Though living in a forest, far removed from family ties, a perpetual celibate himself, he finds it impossible to control his

emotion in spite of the magnificent wealth of his asceticism. Sakuntala’s affection for her father was also unbounded. Her heart is heavy with sorrow. She says to her friend that though I am eager to see my husband, my feet move onwards with great difficulty as I am leaving the hermitage. As she is brought up amidst hermitage environments and her kinsmen are the foresters, so it is very difficult for her part to depart these relations. Another most remarkable point is the Kanva’s practical wisdom in the counsel he gives to Sakuntala on the duties of a house-wife and a daughter-in-law. Kanva and Goutami bestow blessings upon departing Shakuntala, their forster daughter.

Kanva says

: My beloved child, Be held in high esteem by your lord As Sarmistta was by Yayati; As she bore Puru, may you bear As son to who the whole world will bow. (p. 222)

Q. 10. Comment on the absence of tragedy in Kalidasa’s AbhijnanaShakuntalam.

Ans. Tragedy is something sorrowful. Shakuntalam is an amorous play, where problems and obstacles create worry and anxiety; the separation of the hero and heroine causes heartburn, tears, and sorrowful situations. But these dejections and deceptions is pointed out that real, hard-hitting sorrow is are not long lasting. That is why absent in this play. In Act II, the jester is sad because he is physically and mentally tired, and wrecked because of the king’s antics. The ascetics are sad because the evil spirits are disturbing their sacrifices. In Act III the two friends are sad and worried because their friend Shakuntala is lovesick. The king’s anxiety about Kanva’s consent to the marriage; Shakuntala’s pregnancy; Durvasas’ curse; Shakuntala’s sorrow at leaving the hermitage; Kanva’s sorrow at the separation from his foster daughter; the repudiation of Shakuntala by the king in Act V; real repentance and suffering and mental torture suffered by the king in Act VI; his sorrow at being childless; Vidushaka’s bodily torture suffered at the hands of the disguised Matali- all these cause discomfort, anxiety, tears and pain. To that extent there is the sentiment of shoka but it cannot be termed as the emotion of Karuna.

Thus Kalidasa, in keeping with the theme of the play, has kept sorrow within limits and has juxtaposed it with joy and happiness, with the finale being the reunion of Dushyanta, Shakuntala and Bharata.

The reason is not far to seek. Sanskrit drama is bound by convention and rules, which strictly maintain that drama is for entertainment and mental elevation. Thus a tragic end cannot be approved or accepted in traditional drama.

We should keep in mind that the absence of formal tragedy is thus a peculiarity of Sanskrit drama. Tragedy, on the other hand, is a Western concept and in theory, it is a tale of disaster and death. It happens to a hero, who by certain qualities of action, thought and spirit is above the ranks of common men, a noble or exalted personage, in the Aristotelian sense. The hero is drawn into a conflict of great magnitude because by his intention and action, he places himself in a position antagonistic to higher or superior

powers. These may be external to the hero, like destiny, divine will or the established rule of earthly power, as in the Greek tragedies; or they may be internal forces, as in Shakespearean tragedy, representing a conflict of will within the heart of the hero. Such an opposition creates conflict and tension in the story. The essence of the tragic delineation is that the hero, caught in the conflict, never runs away from it. The conflict may have originated from his initial error in doing a certain action, which in a cool moment of practical reasoning, he could have possibly avoided, or there may not have been any awareness of an error on his part in opposing superior forces pitched against him. Whatever it is, he has taken a step that he is not going to retrace. It leads to continuous struggle and acute suffering. But the hero goes through them with consistency and courage. He does not turn back even when death stares him in the face. The forces of opposition are mightier than the power of the hero. So he is ultimately crushed in the struggle. This is the framework of a formal tragedy.

The suffering and sorrow which are a necessary part of the tragic action, stem from a willful, unwise or erroneous action on the part of a hero. They do create pity or compassion in the mind of the spectator who also experiences fear or awe at the terrible spectacle to which the action is leading. But there are other emotional reactions too, which are connected with such an experience. The uncommon courage, which the hero displays in his death-struggle with antagonistic powers, raises him to an extraordinary human level. While his suffering and death evoke our sorrow and sympathy, his courage in going down fighting, fills our heart with deep admiration and sublimity. It is this emotional reaction that lifts the sorrow and pity to the sublime level of art and assures aesthetic satisfaction.

It is obvious, therefore, that though sorrow is an integral part of the tragic experience, it alone does not make a tragedy unless the sorrow is not helpless suffering but is born of a fateful action, and unless it reaches the sublime level through the undaunted and courageous fight of the hero, unto death.

This type of tragedy has no place in the theory of Sanskrit drama. The story/ drama, according to Sanskrit theory, just cannot culminate in the death of the hero. The Sanskrit writers have accepted this prescription partly out of respect for theory and critical opinion and partly because the spectators too, with their responses moulded by tradition and critical opinion, would not have tolerated utter disaster and the death of their well-loved and august heroes.

The concept of tragedy depends on what values the writers have and what their public is prepared to accept. Sanskrit writers did not attempt formal tragedy, and judging from critical opinion and actual dramatic practice, the readers and spectators too do not seem to feel that they had missed anything.

Q. 11. What does the king mean by his statement,” It is my firm belief that she can be a warrior’s bride.” 

Ans. King Dushyanta has fallen in love with Shakuntala. He impression that she is the daughter of the Hermit-Sage Kanva. That makes her a woman of the Brahmin caste. and

is under the

There were four castes in society at that time – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya Shudra, in that order of merit. According to the social code of that time, a man could marry a girl/ woman of the same caste or one from the caste lower to his. This was called the Anuloma marriage. But marriage with the female of a caste, higher to one’s own, was not permitted and hence it was termed as the Pratiloma marriage. Dushyanta, being an upright king, would not trespass social norms and limitations. And yet, his heart was struck with love for Shakuntala. that a

In this context, he makes the above statement. The reason he gives for it is, heart, which is purified, and culturally and ethically sensitized right from birth, is incapable of harbouring any desire, which is improper or against moral standards. He means to say, “My heart is noble and correct. If this heart desires her, then it can be that she is fit to be a warrior’s bride.”

He proves his point by saying that whenever men of nobility are in their inner voice or the sixth sense, which serves as the determining authority. Dushyanta is confident that in his case too, it is so. We see that further developments in the play prove him right as Anasuya clarifies that Kanva is the foster-father of Shakuntala. The real parents are Vishvamitra (a Kshatriya by birth) and Menoka (an Apsara-a celestial being). This statement of the king reflects the strong streak of confidence in his character, established on the basis of the power and a result of the upright life led by him.

safely inferred doubt, it is

Q. 12. Critically examine the role of memory in AbhijnanaShakuntalam. 

Ans. Memory, recollection, and recognition play important roles in Kalidasa’s play, AbhijanaShakuntalam through bringing the separated lovers back together and later uniting Dushyanta not only with Shakuntala, but also with their son Bharata. The related themes of the unconquerable nature of true love and fulfillment of destiny carry through the play. The themes are developed through incidents involving disguise and the uncovering of true identity and objects that symbolize fidelity and stimulate recognition.KingDushyanta has fallen in love with Shakuntala. He is under the impression that she is the daughter of the Hermit-Sage Kanva. That makes her a woman of the Brahmin caste.

The play’s earliest dramatic conflict to in the first act stems from Dushyanta’s inability to “recognize” Sakuntala’s divine nobility just as she can’t recognize the disguised king as himself. This shared misperception underlies the early tension in their obstacle-laden arc towards the couple’s destiny to love and marry. In the final act, love and duty finally achieve memory and subsequent harmony. Indra’s charioteer interrupts Dushyanta’s grief with a summons to fulfill his kingly duty of demon-fighting, and Dushyanta is later rewarded for his work with a tour of

the heavens in a winged chariot. They descend to the mountain of the demigods, where the sage Marica leads a life of asceticism. Here, Dushyanta discovers his son, Sarvadamana, which leads to his and Shakuntala’s recognition of one another. The three are finally united as a family unit, and their son, the fruit of their passion, is prophesied to become a world ruler-thus, the three of them together constitute the fulfillment of duty as well as of love, and all in a place oriented toward spiritual liberation. Harmony between duty and love is finally being achieved.

As Dushyanta prepares to return to his capital-the worldly realm of dutywith his wife and son, Marica blesses them: “And so let time and seasons pass / In mutual service, / A benefit to both our realms.” No longer is there tension between love and duty; they’ve been integrated, such that Dushyanta can fulfill his duties as husband, king, and religious devotee without a sense of strain or disharmony.

Ans. Kalidasa has delineated every character in the drama AbhijnanaShakuntalam, to the utmost perfection, keeping the propriety of the whole work in view. One of the main characters is Kanva, the foster-father of the heroine Shakuntala. He is depicted as a Kulapati running a vast hermitage, with thousands of disciples living there, engaged in the pursuit of knowledge. Kanva is spiritual to the core and his administrative abilities are immense. He is described as being possessed of superhuman power, the result of his ripened asceticism. Kalidasa has depicted Kanva as the perfect picture of the ancient sage-patriarch. This is strikingly represented in the incidents of the fourth act.

The principal trait of his character, as painted there, is his parental affection for his adopted daughter Shakuntala. Though he himself is an old hermit, he is so deeply affected by this feeling for his daughter, that he is moved to tears on the occasion of his separation from her. While bidding farewell to her, he is overcome with a deep sense of sorrow at her departure, as he has brought her up with utmost care and affection. Secondly, in spite of being a sage, who is detached from worldly activities, his worldly wisdom is remarkable. He demonstrates practical wisdom in the counsel he gives to Shakuntala and in the message he sends to the king. He is an affectionate father, a great sage, and a sound philosopher with a thorough understanding of human life.

On one hand, he is a great sage maintaining eternal celibacy and running a hermitage where many people are engaged in various rituals and spiritual activities. On the other hand he is the one who, finding a babe at the foot of a tree in the jungle, brings it to the hermitage and gives the child a home, albeit an ascetic one. He took special care in bringing up the child with love and affection. He worries for a suitable groom for her, like any worldly lather. Even in the case of Anasuya and Priyamvada, he is aware of his responsibilities about arranging for their marriage. This apart, the advice he gives to Shakuntala in the fourth act and the message for Dushyanta, reveal the worldly wisdom of Canva- political, social, cultural, and domestic. The role of a queen, the importance of an heir, the jealousies amongst the co-wives, the power of the

sages, the limitations of the bride’s father: there seems to be nothing that escapes the worldly eyes of sage Kanva. It is true that according to Indian mythological tradition, the sages had knowledge of the past and the future. Yet Kalidasa has juxtaposed the ethereal vision of Kanva with his worldly duties in such a natural development of incidents that the sage Kanva retains his worldly reactions, to lend that much-needed poignancy to the element of sorrow in the fourth act.

Q. 14. Write a note on the conflict between duty and love in Abhijnana Shakuntalam.

Ans. Throughout Shakuntala, duty and love are closely intertwined. This connection is in keeping with the importance of dharma (duty) in Hindu practice at the time. Dharma, along with artha (material success) and kama (desire), was understood to be one of the primary goals of human existence, while the ultimate goal of that existence was to attain moksha, or liberation from worldly existence. In the play, there is particular tension between dharma and kama. The structure of the play-from opposition between duty and love during Shakuntala’s courtship, to failed efforts to harmonize them in the middle of the play, to reconciliation between them in the final act-suggests that reconciling the competing goals of human existence is a lifelong journey, but that when that struggle is faithfully undertaken, it eventually proceeds toward spiritual liberation. Early in the play, love and duty are seen as being at odds with each other, and duty is even used as an excuse to pursue love. For example, when Dushyanta first sees Shakuntala, the king sees something incongruous about Shakuntala’s devotion to religious duty. To him, Shakuntala’s desirable physical beauty seems wasted in her life of ascetic striving. Meanwhile, Shakuntala’s first experience of passion seems to her to be incompatible with her lifelong religious piety. As soon as Dushyanta reveals himself in the ascetic grove, Shakuntala thinks, “But how can it have happened that, simply at the sight of this man, I am shaken with a passion so at odds with the religious life?”

Rather transparently, Dushyanta then uses his sacred royal duties (kings were to defend the oppressed, with special care for safeguarding the rites of religious practitioners) as a cover for romantic desire. He tells Shakuntala and her friends, “I have been appointed […] as Minister for Religious Welfare. And in that capacity I’ve come to this sacred forest to ensure your rituals are not obstructed in any way.” Dushyanta, here, is not actually connecting duty and love. Rather, he is using duty as a lie to pursue love. At this point, as described in the stage direction, Shakuntala “displays all the embarrassment of erotic attraction.” She apparently sees through Dushyanta’s ruse, and at any rate, she’s aware that her own religious devotion is more likely to be obstructed, not helped, by her attraction to this man!

Before leaving the grove, Dushyanta reflects to himself, “Suddenly, the city doesn’t seem so attractive […] The truth is, I can’t get Shakuntala out of my head.” Dushyanta’s responsibilities in the capital city no longer appeal to him, going against the grain of the erotic desire he now feels. Duty and desire, seemingly, don’t go together.

In the middle acts of the play, there’s a struggle to harmonize love and duty. In Act II, Dushyanta is asked to protect the ashram for a few nights in the sage Kanva’s absence. But no sooner has he agreed to this than a messenger arrives with a competing obligation,

a request from his mother to participate in a ritual fast in the capital. “I have to weigh my duty to the ascetics against the request of a revered parent-and neither can be ignored.” He finally decides in favor of staying close to Shakuntala in the ashram, though he knows duty will eventually tear him away.

In Act III, Priyamvada somewhat coyly brings love and duty together by casting Shakuntala’s lovesickness in terms of the king’s duty: “They say it is the king’s duty to relieve the pain of those who live in his realm […] So, if you would save [Shakuntala’s] life, you must take her under your protection.” Dushyanta acts on this advice to contract a secret marriage with Shakuntala, trying to hastily circumvent any conflicts between his royal duties and his bride’s religious ones.

In Act IV, Anasuya worries that once the King returns to his capital, “who can say whether he’ll remember what’s happened in the forest?” While Anasuya means that Dushyanta’s passion might fade under the pressures of royal duty, the audience knows that Dushyanta will literally forget Shakuntala because of a curse. But even this literal forgetting can be seen, by extension, to symbolize the subordination of desire to duty. In fact, when Shakuntala journeys to reunite with Dushyanta in the capital, the busy king is pointedly described as “the guardian of the sacred and social orders;” in this realm, he proves unable to recognize her or desire’s claim on him.

In Act VI, he hears about the death of a childless merchant and is overcome with grief about his own (so he thinks) childlessness. Since he has no children, his own ancestors must be wondering, “Who will feed us in the afterlife / As he does now, if there is no heir?” In this context, having sons isn’t just a sign of earthly prosperity, but a guarantee that one’s forebears will continue to be honored perpetuity. Put another way, in the creation of children, love and duty are intertwined. Thus Dushyanta’s lack of a child is a great shame for him, an indication of his failure in both duty and love.

Q. 15. Write a note on the prophecies and curses in Abhijnana Shakuntalam.

Ans. Throughout Abhijnana Shakuntalam, supernatural beings like gods and nymphs, powerful utterances like sages’ prophecies and curses, and even bodily omens experienced by the main characters are ever-present. In fact, none of the main events would take place if it weren’t for such supernatural interventions into human events. Such interventions appear to work outside the limits of human plans and intentions, suggesting that, in the play, they’re meant to signal to audiences the inscrutabilityand inevitability of divine plans. –

Prophecy frames the entire play-specifically, the prophecy that Dushyanta will father a world emperor. When Dushyanta refrains from shooting the deer belonging to the hermitage, one of the forest-dwelling ascetics voices the prophetic wish, “Great Lord of the Lunar Dynasty, / May you have a son / With all your virtues, / Destined to rule the world.” Dushyanta merely thanks the Brahmin at the time, not thinking much about it.

At the end of the play, however, when Dushyanta sees the little boy, Sarvadamana, playing with a lion cub in Marica’s realm, he notices the marks of a world ruler on the boy’s body. When his paternity of the child is established, the Brahmin’s prediction at

the very beginning of the play is likewise confirmed. Therefore, the play’s entire sequence of events-from Dushyanta’s detour into the hermitage, to his marriage to Shakuntala, to Shakuntala’s removal to the celestial realm-is shown to have been directed toward a specific, higher purpose-namely, the future emperor’s birth and celestial upbringing. In a similar way, the central drama of the play is driven by a curse that estranges the heroic couple, but ultimately can’t prevent their spiritually powerful reunion. The reason Shakuntala and the King initially meet is because her father, the sage Kanva, who would normally have met the King, is not at home, because he has gone on a pilgrimage “to appease the gods on her behalf, and avert her hostile fate.” Though this fate is not named, it’s presumably the curse that will soon be pronounced against Shakuntala by Durvasas. When Shakuntala, distracted after Dushyanta has returned to the business of the capital, accidentally slights the short-tempered sage, he utters: “That man whose brilliance / Robs your thought of everything, including me, / A great ascetic fired by penance- / That man, though prompted, / Shall not remember you at all, / Like a drunken sot, who cannot recall / What he said in his cups the night before.” If Shakuntala hadn’t been distracted by lovesickness and accidentally offended the sage, this curse wouldn’t have been spoken. Yet if her father hadn’t had some premonition of the curse and gone on pilgrimage to avert it, she wouldn’t have been home alone to meet and fall in love with Dushyanta in the first place. When the curse goes into effect, it results in the couple’s agonizing yet spiritually fruitful separation-and ultimately leads to their more triumphant reunion in the celestial realm. Like the prophecy of their son’s birth, the curse reverberates across time, seemingly out of proportion to the event that prompted it. These seemingly unavoidable sequences of events suggest that supernatural pronouncements like curses don’t operate according to human intention and can lead to greater consequences (even good ones) than anyone foresees.

Audiences watching Shakuntala would likely have been familiar with the cultural meanings behind prophecies, curses, and many other supernatural signs, like evil omens, that occur in the play. But even without that familiarity, the complexity of these recurring, overlapping signs in the play shows that there are mysterious powers at work, which bring about events much bigger than the mundane circumstances in which they first appear. We hear the intense curse thrust upon Shakuntala by sage Durvasa who is burning with rage on account of the fact that she failed to greet him as she was lost in fanciful thought of the king. Durvasa showers a curse on Shakuntala by bewitching Dushyant into forgetting her. The curse runs as follows: “Let him whom thou hath been thinking of, forgetful of everyone else and fails to see me who is a sage, be forgetful of thy existence even when he is reminded of like a lunatic who is not able to recollect anything that has happened before”. It is because Shakuntala has been lost in thoughts about Dushyant that she failed to see the sage Durvasa when he visits Kanva’s hermitage. The sage becomes so furious that he cures her that Dushyant will forget her even when he is reminded of her. His forgetfulness will be that of a mad man who cannot recollect anything that has happened in his life before he runs mad.

Ans. The Rasa theory originates with Bharata in Natyasashtra. It finds its root in Vedic period in Atharvavedal (200BC – 100BC). It suggests that every object and meaning has an emotional effect which diverts human mind with its experience and controls the heart and mind of human. Bharata has described all the emotions and state of mind differently, he has analysed the structure of that emotions, and expressed his views upon the relations of that emotions and their effect on human’s being with the literary context. Thus the theory of Rasa has become a very important as literary theory, which has a connection with human experience and strongly rooted in reality. The term ‘Rasa’ is a Sanskrit word which suggests ‘juice’ or ‘essence’ and aesthetics. It denotes an essential psychic state when such emotions evoke in the mind of a human while reading such, watching or hearing such work of art. When a person listen or watch or read any kind of work there is a process in his mind which continuously going through and evokes such feelings which has different emotions, it considers as Rasa, there is a different kind of Rasa, there are nine Rasa which Bharatamuni has given description of, and he has connected all the Rasa with different Hindu God and different colours.

1] Srngaram- Love, Attractiveness, presiding by Vishnu, Colour: Green 2] Hasyam- Laughter, Mirth, Comedy, presiding by Ganesha, colour: White 3] Raudram- Fury, presiding by Rudra, colour: Red 4] Karunyam- Compassion, Tragedy, Presiding by Yama, colour: Dove coloured 5] Bibhatsam- Disgust, presiding by Shiva, colour: Blue 6] Bhayanakam- Horror, Terror presiding by Kali, colour: Black 7] Viram- Heroic Mood, presiding by Indra, colour Wheatish brown 8] Adbutam- Wonder presiding by Brahma colour: Yellow 9] Shantam- peace, tranquillity presiding by Vishnu colour: white In addition to the nine Rasas, two more appeared later especially in literature, such as vatsalya and bhakti denoting respectively the parental love and spiritual devotion.

Bharatmuni has presented his theory of Rasa in the sixth chapter of Natyashashtra, he has said that,”No meaningful idea is conveyed if the “Rasa” is not evoked”Further he adds that every dramatic presentation has an aim to evoke such aesthetic experience in the mind of the audience, it is a kind of the realization of beauty and art to the mind and awareness towards joy. Bharatmuni has scientifically presented the analysis of Rasa in his Natyashashtra. He said that Natya is the imitation of life, in which different human emotions should dramatically, presented to the audience and glorify such emotions in the mind of audience as it is about pain or pleasure.

The production of aesthetic relish is calls ‘rasanishpattih’, which can be gain by combination of, determinates (vibhava), consequents (anubhav), and fleeting emotions (vyabhicharibhav). He has given two terms to experience the Rasa, first is which we can taste or flavour (asvadya) and the second is the well-established dominant mood (sthayibhav). Dominant mood can be created by different Bhavas and abhinayas.

are Kalidasa has presented three main Rasa of life in this work, Srngaram (Love), Karunyam (Compassion), and Shantam (peace) the remaining all six Rasas; also there but the concentration of Kalidasa is more upon the main three.

an The first one is Srngaram Rasa, in the starting of the epic poetry; it is about entry of the Dushyant who is very handsome as the God of love Kamadev. The description of the beauty of Sakuntala has described in this couplets by Dushyant, Here he has clearly presented his views and description of the appearance of

Sakuntala her clothing, that how she looks. In the next lines he further says that,

He is continuously praising Sakuntala and observing her beauty, the description of beauty in words like this evokes the emotion of love in the mind of the reader Further he adds the compliment that she is not from earth because her beauty is heavenly,

If a reader is reading the work, he of course will try to imaging the beauty of sakuntala and it will evoke the attraction and an emotion of love in his mind, it is an experience of Srngaram Rasa.

Second is Hasyam (Laughter, Mirth and Comedy) which has been expressed by the characters like Vidushak and friends (sakhi) of sakuntala with their way of talking and humour they creates laughter to the audience. By the end of the first three chapters sakuntala and Dushyant are in love with each other, and wanted to marry with each other. In the starting of the fifth chapter, poet entertain the readers with the song by the wife of Dushyant,

Dushyant replies to his wife by saying that she has smartly cheated him with hatred. presence of Vidushak always evokes laughter in the story.

Especially the First three Acts of the book has laugher and Srngaram rasa but from the fourth chapter there is a starting of Karunyam (Compassion and Tragedy) Rasa, in this chapter they both get married and the guardian of SakuntalaKanv come to know about the love marriage of his daughter. Sakuntala was in thoughts of Lushyant when he was not there and at that time Durvasa came into an ashram of Kanv and sakuntala did not replied him and he cursed her, this was the very first time when tragedy happens and it continuous further when she went to his husband Dushyant and tries to recall his memory that she is his wife but he did not accept her and continuously blame her and finally her own guardian also blames her by saying, AndSakuntala has abandon by all the people around her, it is the most tragic part in the story.

In the story Bhayanakam Rasa has not evoked as much as others are there, but after the curse of Durvasasakuntala went to the kingdom of Dushyant and meet him as his wife he denies her to accept as his wife and that time both talks with each other in the satirical way both taunts each other and that time atmosphere of the courtier became very horrible, as Dushyant taunts Sakuntala by calling her very smart woman who is using her beauty to win Dushyant, as he says,

The Heroic Mood has firstly appeared in the description of Dushyant and secondly it has appeared when he has called by rushi to save his ashram from devils and giants but the exact experience of Viram Rasa can be done in seventh and the last chapter of the book, when Matli enters in the story. Here Matli has given the description of strength

of King Dushyant. The Adbutam (Wonder) rasa has first appeared in the curse of Durvasa, when she was lost in the memory of Dushyant and not replied to the most powerful rishi and with anger he has cursed her that the person whom you are thinking, about will forget you”. But when friend of Sakuntala went behind Durvasa to stop him and forgive Sakuntala, he returns and says that he is not able to take his words back but he could make its effect light with blessing her that if she will give such sign of love to his husband he will recognise her. This whole incidence has a very wonderful experience by the reader that how interestingly everything happens. The another incident of wonder is when Dushyant is ready to keep Sakuntala in his palace till the birth of baby, but Sakuntala has been taken away to heaven by some womanly shadow and she disappears. When Dushyant is going in heaven with Indra and his victory also expressed wonder and The incident of locket by the son of Dushyant and Sakuntala is also a kind of wonder.

Shantam rasa has been presented almost each chapters in one or the other way, the description of an atmosphere of ashram is quite peaceful and in the end of fourth chapter when Sakuntala is going to her husband’s house his father like guardian feels peace that Sakuntala is now happy with his family and it’s her new beginning in life. In the end of the story when Sakuntala gave the sing of love, a ring to Dushyant he remembers his love and Sakuntala and its happy ending, that scene also gives an experience of peace and make readers happy. The love of both has been stated at the ashram of Kany on earth, and after passing all the problems the family is now staying in the ashram of Marichrushi in heaven here is the real peace as par Hinduism and they lived happily.

Abhijnanasakuntalam by Kalidas has very effectively presented the experienced all the emotions of human life. Love, peace, wonder, anger and tragedy are the most important part of human life and Kalidas has appropriately presented all this emotional feeling in the part of Mahabharata with some changes in plot. This is the best work to study Rasa theory. It is a kind of a wonderful journey with real love and heavenly atmosphere, the description of everything is very beautiful and wonderful.

Ans. Prologue means an introduction. Plays in Kalidasa’s time were various rituals, of which the blessings would have been followed. The benediction was generally pronounced by the brahmins. The manager of the play being a priest or Brahmin might have performed this role. The play Abhijnana Shakuntalam, opens with a benediction, seeking the Lord Shiva’s protection of all those present. The benediction calls upon the eight physical embodiments of Shiva. The eight forms are in order: water, fire, the priest, the sun, and moon, space, earth air. , a new

The actor-manager and an actress discuss the play about to be performedromance by Kalidasa. The manager asks the actress to sing a song about summer to set the mood for the audience. The actress sings a romantic song about a mimosa blossom brushed by bees. The manager says approvingly that the song carried him away, “Just as the headlong rush of a spotted deer / Carries this king, Dusyanta, into our play.”

Q. 2.Write a note on the role of Shakuntala inAbhijnanasakuntalam.

Ans. Shakuntala is the heroine of the play. A beautiful young woman, she is the daughter of a royal sage and the nymph Menaka, and the foster daughter of Kanva. She lives as an ascetic in Kanva’s hermitage, where she tends the sacred trees and loves them like sisters. When King Dushyanta visits the hermitage, she is instantly attracted to him and vice versa. However, she is shy and modestly conceals her feelings in his presence. When Dushyanta is to leave, she becomes gravely ill with longing. Her friends Anasuya and Priyamvada hatch a plan to convey Shakuntala’s feelings to Dushyanta, but he overhears a love poem she’s written, and they’re quickly married by common consent. She soon becomes pregnant with Dushyanta’s son, Sarvadamana. After Dushyanta returns to the capital, Shakuntala is distracted and accidentally incurs the curse of Durvasas, ensuring that when she joins Dushyanta in the capital, he fails to recognize her or to remember their marriage. Though she boldly defends herself against the King’s denial, it’s to no avail, and Shakuntala begs the earth to swallow her whole. Then she’s spirited away by nymphs to the celestial realm, Marica’s hermitage, where she gives birth and raises her son. When Dushyanta discovers her there six years later, she doesn’t recognize him at first, but they’re quickly reconciled and return to his capital together, along with their son.

Q. 3.Write a note on the role and character of DushyantainAbhijnanasakuntalam.

Ans. King Dushyanta, a member of the Puru lineage, reigns in northern India, with his capital at Hastinapura. He is the hero of the play. He is attentive to his royal duties, especially those of caring for the oppressed and protecting religious practitioners. At the beginning of the play, he visits Kanva’s hermitage and immediately falls in love with Shakuntala. When he learns that their feelings are mutual, he quickly marries her in secret. After his business at the hermitage is concluded, however, he must return to the capital, and Durvasas’s curse ensures that he forgets Shakuntala and the fact that

they are married. Accordingly, when Shakuntala travels to the capital to join him, he rejects her, but he is uneasy about their encounter. After he sees the signet ring he’d siven Shakuntala, breaking the curse, he is overwhelmed by remorse. A demon-fighting assignment from Indra’s charioteer, Matali, recalls him to his duties. When, six years later, he is rewarded with a visit to Marica’s celestial hermitage, he discovers his son, Sarvadamana, and is reconciled with Shakuntala.

Ans. Act IV of the play contains the most touching scenes. The act brings home the truth that separation is always melancholic. Accompanied by Goutami, Shargavara and Shardvata, Shakuntala is being sent by Kanva to Dushyanta’s palace at Hastinapura. She is bidding farewell to the plants, trees, birds and animals and to her hand maids, Anasuya and Priyambada whom she has so far treated as her own sisters and with whom she has lived without being separated even for a single moment in her life. Even sage Kanva is so overcome with emotion that his voice stagers. He is seen behaving as if he were a head of the household. It is in this act that Kalidasa has endowed the fawn (the young of the stag) Deegapanga and the wild jasmine plant, Vana Josna with sensations and emotions of human beings.

After marrying King Dusyanta in secret, when Shakuntala departs from the forest to join her husband in the capital, the trees themselves bless her: “It was a tree itself spun this moon-white cloth, / And a tree that oozed lac to redden her feet, / And gods of the trees that conjured these jewels, / Hands sprouting from branches like fresh green shoots.” A voice in the forest air even speaks a blessing for Shakuntala’s auspicious journey into married life.

Q. 5. Reproduce in your own words Kanva’s advice to Shakuntala as she proceeds towards the house of Dushyanta in the play AbhijnanaShakuntalam.

Ans. Kalidasa is the playwright of Abhijnanasakuntala. In Act IV, at the time of Shakunta’s departure Kanva’s emotion is very pathetic. Though living in a forest, far removed from family ties, a perpetual celibate himself, he finds it impossible to control his emotion in spite of the magnificent wealth of his asceticism. Sakuntala’s affection for her father was also unbounded. Her heart is heavy with sorrow. She says to her friend that though I am eager to see my husband, my feet move onwards with great difficulty, as I am leaving the hermitage. As she is brought up amidst hermitage environments and her kinsmen are the foresters, so it is very difficult for her part to depart these relations. Another most remarkable point is the Kanva’s practical wisdom in the counsel he gives to Sakuntala on the duties of a house-wife and a daughter-inlaw. Kanva and Goutami bestow blessings upon departing Shakuntala, their forster daughter.

Q. 6.Give a character sketch of Kanva in Abhijnanasakuntalam. while the underlying

Ans. The play is set by the virtue and goodness of Dushyanta message is seen through Shakuntala, a woman who is purified by patience and loyalty and is ultimately rewarded with virtue and love. It is revealed that in Abhijnanasakuntalam, the characters suffer both the forms of suffering but they do not lose their mental balance and call themselves before circle of suffering Shakuntala attains a high level of maturity through suffering. Kanva, the father of Shakuntala than a real and practical one. part in

appears more Kanva gives advice to Shakuntala time to time. Kanva plays an important the fourth act of the this play. He is so attached to her daughter, that he is moved to tears on the occasion of his separation from his daughter. Dushyanta was a great king. He is the husband of Shakuntala and the father of the Bharata. Shakuntala is the mother of Bharata and the wife of Dushyanta Kanva does not create any obstacles between Dushyanta and Shakuntala. Moreover, he sends Rishikumaras along with Shakuntala, when she proceeds to meet the king. Kanva is happy that Shakuntala has chosen husband of her own will and feels from all sorts of anxiety. It seems that Kanva knows very well the importance of Kanyadan. a

Q. 7. Discuss the significance of Durvasa’s curses in AbhijnanaShakuntalam. 

Ans. Throughout AbhijnanaShakuntalam, supernatural beings like gods and nymphs, powerful utterances like sages’ prophecies and curses, and even bodily omens experienced by the main characters are quite recurrent. In fact, none of the main events would take place if it weren’t for such supernatural interventions into human events. Such interventions appear to work outside the limits of human plans and intentions, suggesting that, in the play, they’re meant to signal to audiences the inscrutabilityand inevitability of divine plans.

Prophecy frames the entire play-specifically, the prophecy that Dushyanta will father a world emperor. When Dushyanta refrains from shooting the deer belonging to the hermitage, one of the forest-dwelling ascetics voices the prophetic wish, “Great Lord of the Lunar Dynasty, / May you have a son / With all your virtues, / Destined to rule the world.”

The curse of Durvasa occurs in the Fourth Act of the play, Abhijnanasakuntalanı, Shakuntala, lost the remembrance of Dushyanta, her husband through a spontaneous Gandharva marriage who has departed from his kingdom, forgets to greet the sage Durvasa with the honour and propriety due of a guest of his high standing, when he arrives at Kanva’s hermitage. This enrages Durvasa who accuses Shakuntala of negligence of duties of hospitality.

Q.8.Write a note on the role of GautamiinAbhijnanasakuntalam.

Ans. The character of Gautami has also been portrayed as hermit mother of Shakuntala. Gautami raised Shakuntala with great love and affection. She was having full care and concern for Shakuntala’s well-being. Gautami wept bitterly when Shakuntala prepared for her departure to visit king Dushyanta’s palace but at the thought of a reunion of Shakuntala and Dushyanta, she was somewhat content. She also accompanied Shakuntala when later visited the palace of King Dushyanta and pleaded with him to recognize and accept Shakuntala as his wife. In the Act IV of the drama, Gautami wept bitterly when Shakuntala prepared for her departure to visit king Dushyanta’s palace. But on the other hand, she appeared to be content by the fact that as a hermit mother, she would accompany Shakuntala in her itinerary. Her heart is aching with sweet and happy emotions that her daughter Shakuntala would be uniting with her beloved husband. In the Act V, when Shakuntala was not able to find the ring in her finger as a token of reorganization, it was Gautami who rightly concluded that it fell off, but Dushyanta believed she was deceiving him. It shows that being a mother; she was the first person identify her daughter’s carelessness to lose her valuable ring.

Q.9.What is the role of Madhavya in Abhijnana Shakuntalam?

Ans. Madhavya was King Dushyanta’s personal entertainer and accompanied him to the different places the King visited. He knew that the King had fallen in love with Shakuntala, foster daughter of Sage Kanva. Madhavya also served the King as his companion and confidant in personal matters. The King shared his feelings for Shakuntala with Madhavya who advised against the union, given that she was a hermit-girl. However after the Kings description of the girl, Madhavya suggested that the King marry her before she was taken by someone else. The King wanted Madhavya to keep it a secret and so he asked the entertainer to remain silent about the issue when he goes back to the palace and that he spoke in Jest. Madhavya believed that the King was not truly in love with Shakuntala and so could not help the King remember his bond to the girl before he rejected her. However, Madhavya helped the King keep up hope that he would see Shakuntala again..

Q. 10. Write a short note on the role of Anasuya and Priyamvada in AbhijnanaShakutalalam.

Ans. Anasuya and Priyamvada are depicted as the best friends of Shakuntala and have sisterly affection towards Shakuntala. Priyamvada shows a disposition, youthful and vivacious while Anasuya is rather serious. Both the girls are quick enough to find that Shakuntala has fallen deeply in love. Priyamvada and Anasuya also well aware about the mental state of Shakuntala hence in Act II.

They also gave an excellent idea to Shakuntala to write a love letter to the King and wanted to conceal it in flowers that can be delivered into his hands under the excuse of flowers so that she can encourage and strengthen her relationship with her. When sage Durvasa cursed Shakuntala on ignoring his pious presence, it was Priyamvada who pleaded Shakuntala’s absence. Durvasa is an ancient sage. He is also known for his short temper. Both Priyamvada and Anasuya are so dutiful, quiet and loyal that they say nothing about sage Durvasas curse to any one. They do not communicate it even to Shakuntala as they thought it was not advisable to worry her with it.

Q. 11. Write a short note on the role of Nature in Abhijnana Shakutalalam. from

Ans. When Kalidasa describes the beauty of Shakuntala, he draws images Often she is compared with a flower or a delicate plant. She even marries her creeper sister Vanjyotsana to a mango tree. The little fawn follows her all the time. He does not drink water from the hands of Dushyanta. When Shakuntala bids farewell to the hermitage, and its inhabitants after her marriage, the whole nature sheds tears. Animals and plants express their grief over the departure of their companion. Hazari Prasad Dwivedi observes that Nature itself becomes a living character in the play. Nature has been a witness to all the major developments in the play.

Romila Thapar finds the play and its theme “a veritable treasure hunt with pointers” which has taken her far from the epic. Thapar observes, “In Abhijnana Shakutalalam, we are in the realm of delicacy and romance, of anguish and imminent tragedy, of pathos and of happiness. The emotional range is infinite and in the intermeshing of emotions and the images of Shakuntala under goes a transformation.” In Nature, one finds another face of Shakuntala. Kalidasa does not over-romanticize situation and characters. Even love may appear to be erotic, finally it leads to order and serenity of conjugal love. In the play, there is a search for harmonious conjugal love.

Nature.

Q. 1. Who is the playwright of Abhijnana Shakuntalam?Name two other works by Kalidasa.

Ans. Kalidasa is the playwright of Abhijnanasakuntala. Raghuvamsam, Rtusamharamare written by Kalidasa.

Q. 2. Mention the English translation of Abhijnana Shakuntalam. What is date of composition?

Ans. AbhijnanaShakuntalam is Sanskrit play. The English translation of this play is The Recognition of Shakuntala. It is a drama by Kalidasa composed about the 5th century BC that is generally considered to be the greatest Indian literary work of any period.

Q. 3. What does AbhijnanaShakuntalam mean?

Ans. Derived from Sanskrit word, ‘shakunta’ means “bird”. This is the name of a character in Hindu legend, her story adapted by Kalidasa for the 5th-century play Abhijnana Shakuntalam. It tells how Shakuntala, who was raised in the forest by birds, meets and marries the king Dushyanta.

Q.4. What is ‘benediction’?

Ans. Benediction is the formulaic beginning of the play as found in Classical Sanskrit plays. This was included to invoke the blessing of the patron god praying for the successful completion of the play, the concept being that the deity would keep a watchful eye on the evil powers that would attempt to otherwise stall the play in its progress. Formally, the benediction was outside the corpus of the play, and many Sanskrit playwrights had had the actors penning them. But Kalidasa was an exception. He wrote the benediction himself, most of them devoted to the deity of Ashtamurti Shiva, his ishta, and Abhijnanasakuntalam has one of the most beautiful benedictions in the entire corpus of Sanskrit literature.

Q. 5. Be held in high esteem by your lord

Who is the speaker here? Why does the speaker say this in AbhijnanaShakuntalam?

Ans. Kanva is the speaker here. The speaker says this to his foster daughter sakuntala.According to Hinduism, Yayâti was a Chandravanshi king. He was one of the ancestors of Pandavas and Yaduvanshis. He was the son of King Nahusha and his wife Ashokasundari,”¹ daughter of Shiva and Parvati, however, early sources state that Virajas, daughter of the Pitris, was the mother of Yayati. He had five brothers: Yati, Samyati, Ayati, Viyati and Kriti. Yayâti had conquered the whole world and was the Chakravartin Samrat (“Universal Monarch” or “World Emperor”). He married Devayani and took Sharmishtha, daughter of king Vrishparva and maid of Devayani to his empire. Devayani was the daughter of Shukracharya, the priest of the Asuras. Later he copulates with Sharmistha. After hearing of his relationship with Sharmishtha, Devayani complains to her father Shukracharya, who in turn curses Yayâti to old age in the prime of life, but later allows him to exchange it with his son, Puru.

His story finds mention in the Mahabharata-Adi Parva.

Q. 6. What is the theme of Abhijnana Shakuntalam?

Ans. The story of the drama Shakuntala is about the love affair of Shakuntala and Dushyanta. The plot is based upon love affair, secret marriage, separation of imprecation and reunion of immortal love of Dushyanta and Shakuntala, The theme of the drama is based on the Indian philosophy, “true love is immortal”.

Ans. Shakuntala is the daughter of sage Vishwamitra and Menaka, but is brought up by the sage Kanva, and stays with him in a forest dwelling. She meets King Dushyanta, when the latter comes near the hermitage of Kanha for a hunt. The two persons fall in love at first sight and get married later on.

Q. 8.How was Shakuntala born? 

Ans. Vishwamitra was a respected rishi, or sage in ancient India. Lord Indraby his powers, sent a beautiful celestial nymph named Menaka from heaven to earth, to lure him and break his meditation. Menaka successfully incited Shakuntala, their daughter was born.

Ans. Vishwamitra and Menaka are the biological parents while Rishi Kanva and .

Goutami are the foster parents of ShakuntalaShakuntala is the eponymous heroine of the play. A beautiful young woman, she is the daughter of a royal sage and the nymph Menaka, and the foster daughter of Kanva. She lives as an ascetic in Kanva’s hermitage, where she tends the sacred trees and loves them like sisters.

Q.10. Why did Sage Durvasa curse Shakuntala?

Ans. The curse of Durvasa occurs in Act IV of Kalidasa’s Abhijnanasakuntalam. Sakuntala was lost in thought of her husband Dushanta. She forgot to greet the sage Durvasa with the honur and reverence due of a guest when he arrives at Kanva’s hermitage. This enrages Durvasa who accuses Sakuntala of negligence of duties or dharma of hospitality. Durvasa cursed Shakuntala as a result of his anger due to which she had to suffer a lot in her life. No one was saved from his anger including gods, demons, general public etc.

Ans. Menaka is looked upon as the Apsara or celestial nymph and dancer at Indra’s court. She is the biographical mother of Shakuntala. Rishi Kanva and his wife Goutami found baby Shakuntala in his hermitage surrounded by Shakunta birds.

 Q.12. Who is the husband of Shakuntala?

Ans. Dushyanta is a king in classical Indian literature. He was the husband of Shakuntala and the father of the Emperor Bharata.

Q.13. Who is Kanva in AbhijnanaShakuntalam?

Ans. Rishi Kanva found her in forest as a baby surrounded by Shakunta birds. Therefore he named her Shakuntala, meaning Shakunta-protected. King Dushyanta first encountered Shakuntala while travelling through the forest with his army.

Q.14. Who are the two friends of Shakuntala?

Ans. Anusuya and Priyamvada are Shakuntala’s two trusted friends. They are well aware of the curse casted on Shakuntala and Dushyanta.

AbhijnanaShakuntalam move you to pity?

Q.15. How does the story of

Ans. As a token of love, he gives her a signet ring and promises to send an envoy to escort her to the palace. One day, sage Durvasa, infamous for his mercurial anger, stops by the hut for hospitality. Lost in her love thoughts, Shakuntala fails to acknowledge his presence. Shakuntala lived in the forest dedicating her life to her husband. She hoped that her misery must have come to an end as the wheel of fate moves continuously. The birth of Shakuntala is a tragedy.

Ans. There are seven Acts in Abhijnana Shakuntalam. Each Act of AbhijnanaShakuntalamreflects various social values of women which are more beneficial to human society and the present day world.

Ans. Vidushaka is the only character that helps to introduce the Dushyanta. He is the only medium between Dushyanta and the other characters on the one hand. He introduces not only the characters but the scenes and the situations as well. In the Abhijnana Shakuntalam, Madhavya acts as a Vidushaka. He appears to be a true friend of king Dushyanta. In the Act VI of the drama, he comforts king Dushyanta, saying that fate is ever powerful. In the Act V, the Vidushaka’s simplicity also allows him to be held by Hamsapadika who has a very important purpose; for had he been present when Shakuntala was brought in and denied, he would have recognized her, as his memory was not closed. Similarly, in the next act, Vidushaka is a ready instrument in the hands of Matali who is enabled to rouse Dushyanta from his lethargy, only by pretending an attack on the Vidushaka.

Q.18. Who is the boy identified in the first act of the play? What will he become when he grows up?

Ans. The boy is named SarvaDamana, the son of Shakuntala and Dushyanta. He later becomes emperor Bharata.

Q.19. Where was Shakuntala, the baby girl, found and who found her?

 Ans. Shakuntala was found by the sage Kanva in his hermitage. She was protected from the animals and the elements of nature by the bird ‘sakunta’, a vulture presumably. That accounts for her being named ‘Shakuntala’ – as one who was protected by the sakunta.

Q.20. Where is Kanva’s hermitage situated? 

Ans. Kanva’s hermitage situated on the banks of the river Malini.

Ans. The first creation of the creature who bears the oblations utters the holy chants.

Q.22. About season does the director ask the actress to sing?

Ans. The director asks the actress to sing about the summer season.

Ans. Rishi Kanva has gone not long back to Soma-Tirtha, to propitiate the adverse fate threatening his daughter’s happiness when king Dushyanyta visited his hermitage

Q.24. Why did Dushyanta forget Shakuntala?

Ans. Much before Durvasa could curse Shakuntala, Dushyant had forgotten about her, because he was a king and he had a kingdom to run which was obviously more important than the promises he had made in some lust-driven moment to a maiden of the forest, in the fringes of the kingdom which may clearly be symbolic of the fringes of his mind. Shakuntala was always there but at the periphery of a Dushyant chose to ignore.

memory that Obviously as a writer, Kalidasa loved all his characters and so to absolve Dushyant of the guilt, he added Durvasa’s curse as a narrative device. But even the curse of memory loss became Shakuntala’s responsibility. Because she ignored the calls of Rishi Durvasa at her doorstep, he cursed her that whoever she was lovelorn for would forget about her. Of course, it was her fault for hanging on to a promise that was made in a moment of passion. And when she landed at Dushyant’s court with his son Bharata, she was ridiculed as a liar. Dushyanta forgot Shakuntala under the curse Rishi Durvasa.

Ans. Dushyanta remembered Shakuntala by the ring that he gave to Shakuntala.

Ans. Though the general never mention the reason directly it seems that a chase is regarded to be a waste of time. In a chase time, money and men power is wasted. The king has to go away from his capital and leave his palace and his kingly duties.

Q.27. Why according to the general is the chase not a cursed

 Ans. The general says that since a chase involves a lot of physical activities, the people engaged in a chase will become healthy.

activity?

Ans. The tusker rampage in Act I suggests the onset of uncontrolled passion in King Dushyanta. His subduing the tusker, similarly, is indicative of his attempt and ability to control the passion that occupied his heart on viewing Shakuntala. This may also suggest that Dushyanta himself is the ‘tusker’, who through his very intrusion has disturbed the peace of the hermitage, ushering in a string of events that are unlikely to its inherent tranquillity.

Q.29. What according to Madhavya should be the percentage of King’s share from the hermitage?

Ans. According to Madhavya a king should take one-sixth of their produce from the hermitage.

Q.30. What idea did Madhavya give king to visit the hermitage?

 Ans. Madhavya said that since he is the king he should go to the hermitage to take his due from them.

Q.31. What message did Karvaka bring?

Ans. Karvaka brought a message from the royal mother asking Dushyanta to be present on her fast breaking ceremony after four days.

 Ans. According to Dushyanta Shakuntala could be interested in him by the way she smiles at him, and finally the way she pretended to disentangle thorns from her dress.

Q.33. Why does Dushyanta say that god’s statements are false? What are the statements?

Ans. According to Dushyanta, the god’s statements are the flowers are his arrows and the moon beams are cold. According to Dushyanta god’s statements are false because neither can flowers be his arrows nor can moon beams be cold when a person is in love.

Q.34. Where according to Dushyanta could Shakuntala be at noon? 

Ans. According to Dushyanta, Shakuntala could be on the banks of Malini with her friends.

Q.35. What was the condition which Dushyanta said he would Shakuntala’s bracelet? 

Ans. According to Dushyanta he will return Shakuntala’s bracelet if Shakuntala allows him to put the bracelet on her arm by the king himself.

Q.36. What was the name of chamberlain?

Ans. The name of the chamberlain was Vetravati.

Q.37. How did Kalidasa uphold bhava and rasa in the play Abhijnana Shakuntalam. 

Ans. The principal rasa of AbhijnanaShakuntalam are sringaram and karuna and the principal bhava are rati and soka.

Q.38. What was it that the chamberlain wanted to tell the king?

Ans. The chamberlain wanted to tell the king that some ascetics had come to see him. Q.39. What way did the high priest seek out regarding proving Shakuntala’s claim? Ans. The high priest sought to keep Shakuntala at his place and have the birth of her child. If the right signs were found on the child then it would be proved that the child is really a royal one.

Q.40. Mention the place of action of the first and the last Acts of Kalidasa’s play, Abhijnanasakuntalam. 

Ans. Act I of Abhijnanasakuntalam opens in the forest in the foothills of the Himalayas; later the hermitage of Kanva, by the river Malini. The concluding act or Act VII opens first in in the celestial regions and then in the hermitage of Marica. The place of action of the first act is Rishi Kanva’s hermitage and the last act is set at ashram of Rishi Marica.

Q.41. What incident did Shakuntala try to use to make Dushyanta remember her?

 Ans. Shakuntala tried to help Dushyanta remember her by telling of an incident where a fawn who is said to have been the adopted son of Shakuntala refused to drink from a cup held by Dushyanta, actually drank from the same cup when Shakuntala held it. Then the king had said that the kindred spirits know and trusts each other.

Q.42. What stunning event happened at end of the fifth act?

Ans. At the end of the fifth act Shakuntala was carried off by a flash of lightening. The last act is set at ashram of Rishi Marica.

Q.43. Who was the man that found Ans. The man who found the ring was a fisher man. He lived at Sakravatara. Q.44. Who found the ring and where?

Ans. The ring was found in the stomach of a fish and is found by two fishermen Januka and Suchaka while fishing. They found it to bear the sign of the king and sold it to a dhivara for money, which was how the police got a whiff of it and arrested the washer-man for stealing a royal ring.

Q.45. Who was Gautami?

Ans. Gautami was the ashrama mata. She was the wife of Kulapati rishi Kanva, a kind and benevolent mother figure whose magnanimity encompassed and graced the entire ashram amidst the woods in love and compassion. She makes only a brief appearance in the play, as Shakuntala prepares and grooms herself as she plans to leave for Dushyanta’s court to restore his money which was reportedly clouded.

Q.46. What are the names of the two male attendants who accompany Shakuntala to Dushyanta’s court?

Ans. Saradvata and Sarngarava are the two male attendants who accompany Shakuntala to Dushyanta’s court.

Q.47. What did the king give the fisherman and why?

Ans. The king had given a reward to the equal the price of the ring to the fisherman because it made him remember Shakuntala.

Q.48. What did the fisherman do with the reward?

Ans. The fisherman divided half his money between the two policemen who had caught him.

Q.49. Who is the supernatural creature that spies Dushyanta?

Ans. The supernatural creature that spies Dushyanta is Mirakesi. She is the sister of Menaka.

Q.50. Identify the principal bhava and rasa of Kalidasa’s play, Abhijnanasakuntalam.

Ans. Kalidasa has presented three main Rasa of life in this work, Srngaram (Love), Karunyam (Compassion), and Shantam (peace) the remaining all six Rasas are also there but the concentration of Kalidasa is more upon the main three. The first one is Srngaram Rasa, in the starting of the epic poetry; it is about an entry of the Dushyant who is very handsome as the God of love Kamadev. The description of the beauty of Sakuntala has described in this couplets by Dushyant.

Q.51. Why has the spring festival being cancelled?

Ans. The spring festival is being cancelled to mourn the sadness of the king.

Ans. Before returning to his kingdom, Dushyanta gave his personal royal ring to Shakuntala as a symbol of his promise to return and bring her to his palace.

Q.53. What is the moral lesson of the story AbhijnanaShakuntalam?

Ans. The moral lesson is “don’t lose hope whatever the stage of your life because god is always there to help you all the time”. The theme is “love never forgets”. If one experiences like that story of life he is advised not to lose hope.

Q.54. In which state was the baby Shakuntala found and by whom? 

Ans. The name of Shakuntala’s biographical father is Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra left Menaka and Menaka left the baby near Rishi Kanva’s hermitage before returning to heaven. Rishi Kanva found that baby in his hermitage surrounded by Shakunta birds. Therefore, he named her ‘Shakuntala’ as the Sanskrit meaning of the word is Shakunta-protected.

In the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, Kanva says:

“She was surrounded in the solitude of the wilderness by cakuntas, therefore, hath she been named by me Shakuntala” (Shakunta-protected).

Q.55. Why did Durvasa curse Shakuntala?

Ans. The curse of Durvasa occurs in the Fourth Act of the play, Abhijnanasakuntalam, Shakuntala, lost the remembrance of Dushyanta, her husband through a spontaneous Gandharva marriage who has departed from his kingdom, forgets to greet the sage Durvasa with the honour and propriety due of a guest of his high standing, when he arrives at Kanva’s hermitage. This enrages Durvasa who accuses Shakuntala of negligence of duties of hospitality.