Kalidasa's Similes In Sangam Tamil Literature: New Clue To Fix His Age

By London Swaminathan

KALIDASA is one of the greatest poets in the world. He became famous because of his apt similes and imageries in his seven works. He was a playwright and poet. His age is still an unsolved mystery. He is dated between second century BCE and 4th century CE, that means any date in a range of 600 years! Foreigners placed him in Gupta period around 4th century CE. But great Indian scholars dated him around first or second century BCE. I wrote a thesis to get Ph.D.in this matter. But the Sanskrit University asked me to put it in Sanskrit and I am yet to do it. After reading all the 18 books of Sangam Tamil literature and all the seven dramas and poems of Kalidasa, I came to conclusion that Kalidasa lived in Pre-Sangam period.

Indian tradition also links him with the greatest of the Indian Emperors, Vikramaditya. After the original Vikramaditya of first century BCE died, hundreds of Hindu Kings called themselves Vikrama or Aditya or Vikramaditya. The proof for my thesis lies in the Kalidasa’s 200++ similes found in Sangam Tamil literature. Sangam poets even used the same epithet to the Himalayas (Kaanchana Srnga- Por Kotu) ‘Golden Peaked’. The first ten slokas of Kumara Sambhava of Kalidasa are used by Sangam poets to describe Himalayas and sages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pustaka Digital Media
• Release date: Aug 27, 2022
• ISBN: 6580553508976

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Kalidasa's Similes In Sangam Tamil Literature: New Clue To Fix His Age

Author:

London Swaminathan

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Table of Contents

FOREWORD

1. Amazing statistics on Kalidasa!

2. Kalidasa’s Age: Tamil works confirm 1st century BCE

3. Bird Migration in Kalidasa and Tamil Literature

4. GEM STONES IN KALIDASA & TAMIL LITERATURE

5.Ganges in Kalidasa & Sangam Tam-il Literature

6. Did Hala copy Kalidas in GSS?

7. Shakespeare and Kalidasa-Hindu Thoughts in Shakespearean Plays

8. Drama, Puppet Show, Folk Theatre in Tamil and Sanskrit Literature

9. Modesty is the Ornament of the Wise!

10. Hindu Sages and Hermitages in Kalidasa’s Works

11. Veera Matha–‘Mother of Heroes’ in the Vedas and Tamil literature

12. Ravana – Pandya Peace Treaty! Kalidasa solves a Tamil Puzzle!

13. Whales in Kalidasa’s work and Tamil Sangam Literature

14. Sixteen Virtues of Great Kings- Kalidasa

15. Did Kalidasa fly in a Space Shuttle?

16. Was Kalidasa a Poet cum Scientist?

17. Sea in Kalidasa & Tamil Literature

18. Jambhudwipa in Tamil Literature and Kalidas

19. Number Seven in Kalidasa and Kamba Ramayana!

20. Women and Rivers in Kalidasa and Tamil literature

21.Famous Farewell Speeches from India

22. Murugan and other Hindu Gods in Kalidasa

23. Kalidasa’s Women and Tamil Women

24. Kalidasa’s simile in Tamil ‘Kalitokai’ about Water Purification!

25. Kalidasa and Tamil Poets on God!

26. Four Gold Rings in Ramayana and Kalidasa’s Works

27. Tamils followed Vedic and Kalidasa’s Imagery

28. Kalidasa and Valluvar on Bad Friends and Laughter

29. Flying Snake in Kalidasa

30. Women are Cuckoos: Kalidasa and Tamil Poets agree!

31. Three Stories about Stupid Shepherds!

Published Works

Over 7000 articles in English and Tamil and 30 Tamil and English Books

Previous Books in English:

1. Famous Trees of India

2. Is Brahmastra a Nuclear Weapon?

3. Amazing Time Travel by Hindu Saints

4. Did Indians build Pyramids?

5. Interesting Anecdotes from the World of Music

6. ALL ABOUT DRAVIDAS, TAMIL SANGAMS,

KUMARIK KANDAM AND TOLKAPPIAM

7. STORIES OF TAMIL DEVADASIS & DANCE DRAMAS IN RIG VEDA

FOREWORD

KALIDASA is one of the greatest poets in the world. He became famous because of his apt similes and imageries in his seven works. He was a playwright and poet. His age is still an unsolved mystery. He is dated between second century BCE and 4th century CE that means any date in a range of 600 years! Foreigners placed him in Gupta period around 4th century CE. But great Indian scholars dated him around first or second century BCE. I wrote a thesis to get Ph.D.in this matter. But the Sanskrit University asked me to put it in Sanskrit and I am yet to do it. After reading all the 18 books of Sangam Tamil literature and all the seven dramas and poems of Kalidasa, I came to conclusion that Kalidasa lived in Pre-Sangam period. Indian tradition also links him with the greatest of the Indian Emperors, Vikramaditya. After the original Vikramaditya of first century BCE died, hundreds of Hindu Kings called themselves Vikrama or Aditya or Vikramaditya. The proof for my thesis lies in the Kalidasa’s 200++ similes found in Sangam Tamil literature. Sangam poets even used the same epithet to the Himalayas (Kaanchana Srnga- Por Kotu) ‘Golden Peaked’. The first ten slokas of Kumara Sambhava of Kalidasa are used by Sangam poets to describe Himalayas and sages. The similes Tamils used are not in Valmiki Ramyana or Gatha Sapta Sati. So the only source is Kalidasa. The fragmented, hotch potched, incomplete Buddhacharita of Asvagosha cannot come even near to Kalidasa. Except foreigners no Indian author knew him. Only Rajasekara of a late period quoted only one verse from Asvagosha. His Buddha charita was a patched up work according to the person who found it and translated it. So the only source for the Sangam poets was Kalidasa. His description of Murugan/Skanda is similar to Tamil poets’ description. Immediately after reading Kurinjippattu in Sangam corpus, Rev. G U Pope commented that it was an imitation of Kalidasa’s work. Chandra Rajan who translated Kalidasa’ work for the Penguin also opines that Kalidasa belonged to Earlier period than Guptas. Famous Art Historian Sivaramamurthy also gives enough evidence to support pre-Gupta period theory.

I have written these articles over a period of 11 years and so repetitions are unavoidable. I have included the date of original publication in my two blogs

If one does not read Kalidasa one is not 100 % Indian; if one does not know both Tamil and Sanskrit that person is only 50 % Indian. One must get an overall view of Indian culture and history by reading both Tamil and Sanskrit works. If my book persuades others to read and study Kalidasa I will feel amply rewarded.

London Swaminathan

August 2022

1. Amazing statistics on Kalidasa!

Seven Books—40,000 words—93 commentaries for three of his works—he beat Shakespeare in writing poetry+ dramas+ Epics+ stotras (Shyamaladandakam) and usage of similes. He covered the history of 29 kings in Raghuvamsam. He used 1250 similes! He gives a description of a vast geographical area from Iran to Indonesia! He called the Himalayas the measuring rod of earth even be-fore George Everest told the world the height of Everest Peak!!! An amazing poet the world has ever produced. Read the incredible statistics below.

Kalidasa’s achievements in poetry and drama are great. Not only was Kalidasa a supreme delineator of the play of human character and motive but he was an expert in the creation of dramatic situations. Above all, he was an unrivalled ex-ponent in Sanskrit of every type of poetic rhythm and melody ranging in subject from simple and crystal clear historical narrative to the elaborate description of natural phenomena and the moods of the human spirit. His Meghasandesa is perhaps the most perfect example, in all literature, of verbal felicity—C P Ramaswami Aiyar

" The occasional echoes in Gatha Sapta Sati of ideas in Kalidasa’s poems and dramas e.g. GSS 14, 44, 47, 232, 251 etc. would lead to the conclusion that Kali-dasa belonged to the 1st century BCE and enjoyed the patronage of Vikramaditya who started Vikrama Era 56 years before the Christian era. Vikramaditya was referred to in the GSS sloka 465.

–Gathakosa translated by M V Patwardhan, 1988

" One is bound to remain in bewildering wonderment when one thinks of marvel-lous art of Kalidasa, the supreme poet of senses, of aesthetic beauty, of sensuous emotion, the consummate artist profound in conception and wonderful in ex-pression. The vision, the majestic and vigorous style, the warm humanism, the wealth of striking similes, the vividness of thought and fancy, the expressive and happy descriptions, all these and very many more easily and undoubtedly mark out his poems as perfect patterns of exquisite poetic grace and charm.—V.S.Venkata Ragavacharya in his Foreword to Raghuvamsam.

Picture: Scene from Shakuntalam, Indian Postage Stamp

Greater than Shakespeare

It is not often that a great dramatist is also a supreme lyrical poet. Shakespeare is, of course, the most celebrated instance of such a combination. It is rarer still to find, along with the gift of lyrical poetry, the capacity to produce epics or nar-rative poems of authentic excellence. Kalidasa has, however triumphantly achieved this triune greatness.

In the Rithusamhara, he has given us a marvellous descriptions of the Indian seasons and his Meghasandesa is, in my view, the finest example of descriptive poetry interwoven with one of the greatest love poems of the world.

"His work as a dramatist has evoked worldwide admiration and the name of Goe-the is enrolled among his devotees.

In Kumarasambhava and Raghuvamsa, he has essayed a most comprehensive task and the latter is the memorable example of a historical narrative containing descriptive and poetic passages of transcendent merit.

It is not as well known as it should be that Kalidasa was one of those who dreamt centuries ago of a unified and powerful India".

— Sir C P Ramaswamy Aiyar

Picture: Scene from Meghaduta

Kumara Sambhavam

17 Sargas—1000 slokas

20 commentaries

Ragu Vamsam

19 Sargams—1569 slokas

29 kings

33 commentaries

Rtu Samharam

6 divisions —144 stanzas

Megadhutam

121 stanzas

40 commentarieS

How many words did Shakespeare know?

In his collected writings, Shakespeare used 31,534 different words. 14,376 words appeared only once and 846 were used more than 100 times..

This means that in addition the 31,534 words that Shakespeare used, there were approximately 35,000 words that he knew but didn’t use. Thus, we can estimate that Shakespeare knew approximately 66,534 words.

According to one estimate the average speaker of English knows between 10,000-20,000 words. (This is taken from a website)

How many words did Kalidasa Know?

Now it is my guess. Kalidasa composed a total of 2570 slokas +245 longer stan-zas.

At the rate of ten words per sloka he would have used 25700 words for Ku-marasambhavam and Raghuvamsam. For Ruthusamharam and Meghadutam, he would have used 20 words per stanza and in total he would have used 144+121X20=5300 words. This makes a total of 31,000 words for four books.

If we give his three dramas another 9000 words (3000 each), it will make a grand total of 40000 words.

If Kalidasa used 40,000 words for seven books he would have used 211,429 words for 37 books if he has followed Shakespeare. But still we may not know how many new words who would have used. We need to work like English people to get better statistics!

I have already posted seven articles proving that Kalidasa lived before Sangam Tamil period, i.e in the first century BCE. More to come.

Please read Kalidasa. Anyone who wants to know about Indian literature and cul-ture must study Kalidasa. I recommend Chandra Rajan’s translation