5.Kalidasa,the social visionary
This article is not about the beauties of Kalidasa's poetry.It is about Kali, the dark power that dominated the psyche of India,especially the Himalayan kingdoms of Ancient India,from Gandhara in the Northwest to Guwahati (Kamakhyadevi Temple) in the Northeast. To touch on this subject is indeed to stir a hornet's nest--the North-South divide; the Northeast of Ramakrishna and the Southeast of RamanaMaharshi; the brahminical and ,what is the antonym of this abominable term?; of male chauvinism and feminism; and of color (Kali ) discrimination. But the gap does exist.And the gap doesn't vanish if we close our eyes.We should at least know what it is.In this article,I shall confine myself to the historic fact that Kali remained but in the poet's name.For, as in the other facts of his life, we have little information on how Kalidasa may have lived in this cultural gap between Kali and Gauri, how he may have grappled with it,and how he tamed and transformed his Kali into Gauri. In this transformation lies not just the life of a person,but the life of a nation. For, Kalidasa ,who as a poet,rose like a Himalaya,to guard his nation. (The mountain may fail to guard the geographical borders, but Kalidasa 's work stands tall and strong.) He grew to Himalayan heights not merely as a poet,but because of his unparalleled poetic brilliance, grew as a tall guardian of Indian culture. He might be said to be the forerunner of AdiSankara,who unfurled the flag of advaita over this land.
We hear day in and day out denunciation of the vaidic dharma that wrought ruins in our social structures,but hardly ever do we hear a moan on the potential ruin that the Kali worship can cause.It is not the vision of a philosophy , but its potential power to elevate or degrade in its practices that should concern us. And is not the vaidic dharma today denounced,not on its vision but in its atrocious translation into the social reality? There are worlds of literature on the Tantric philosophy and its practices. The vision and the way may have led some to realization.But, the question to ask is, does it have greater or lesser potential for the degradation of the society at large? Tantra has two paths,the vaidic and the avaidic.There are whole libraries on the two sastras ,but in one word,one is the view of woman as dharmapatni, and the other of woman as kulata, a whore.Any tantric text states it unambiguously.
The poet was undoubtedly at some stage of his life a devotee of Kali, the dark devi, a dominant deity in his times. It cannot be ascertained how far he went into the worship .But what is important to him,and more than to him,to us today, is that he rose above it. He realised early that he should lift himself out of the darkness,Kali ,tamas.( सन्मार्गालोकनाय व्यपनयतु स वस्तामसीं वृत्तिमीश: The opening verse of Malavikagnimitram. ) The right path ( sanmaarga,as distinct from kaulamarga or vamamarga) lies beyond the adoration of the dark ( taamaseem vrittim). Of the two divisions,Sakta and Saiva, Kalidasa embraced Sivadvaita. It may not have been an easy embrace.Kali remained lingering in the shadows. We see her presence at the wedding of Shiva, in the poet's Kumarasambhavam:
तासां च पश्चात्कनकप्रभाणां
काली कपालाभरणा चकासे।Kumarasambhavam 7.39.
(Kali followed others in the wedding procession,with golden brilliance, and with a garland of skulls.)
This is the place Kalidasa gives Kali,in Shiva,the groom's procession to his wedding with Gauri. It almost looks like she invited herself.Or,asked to be invited, and the poet could not but oblige.
But, the Himalayan influence of Sakta stayed with Kalidasa, as shown by the title of the play that made him a world renowned writer, Abhijnaana Saakuntalam. The term should remind us of the concept of "pratyabhijna",a key concept in Kashmir Saivism. The term is literally spelt by him. Kanva,while sending Sakuntala to her king-husband,says to her: यदिनाम स राजा प्रत्यभिज्ञान मंथरो भवेत् तत्: तस्येदमात्मनामधेयांकितं अंगुलीयकं दर्शय।'if that king is dull ('manthara ') in his memory,then show him this ring with his name.') But,Kalidasa transformed the Kashmir Saiva philosophy too,as he must have earlier done with the Sakta ,into the Upanishadic advaita. For,what is re-cognition but the Self forgetting itself and re-cognizing itself? This is the very essence of Upanishadic advaita.Two points on which Kashmir Saivism differs from advaita are that they also accept Sakti along with Shiva, and they dismiss the theory of Maya. But what matters most is not the difference in these and other minor theoretical details, but in the centrality of the woman's status. Also,less in theory but more in practice. The difference is between two opposing cultures.
For Kalidasa, Shiva and Sakti are one,like the sound and its significance ( "vaagarthou"). Himavaan gives Parvati to Shiva in marriage saying ,'तमर्थमिव भारत्या सुतया योक्तुमर्हसि।(Kumarasambhavam).It is indeed the sole theme running through in all his works,poems or plays.Woman is not just the senseless sound ( vaak separated from artha).She is the "embodiment" of sense. There is no question of primary and secondary,superior and inferior.If at all,woman is elevated to the highest position in Kalidasa's works, as much as the Kali worshippers degrade her.
To elevate the woman is not to make her superior to man, and independent as in Kaulamarga, 'there is nothing and no one above her'.)In Kalidasa man and woman are interdependent for their mutual fulfillment. And in his works,we find woman elevated in her stature. She doesn't have to do any superhuman things to elevate herself.Parvati, as Kanya,has to do penance to lift herself to a divine stature. But Sakuntala does nothing.She remains a dharmapatni, and is elevated to heaven.Her union with Dushyanta was on earth, and her reunion with him in heaven.From one ashram to another,from Kanva to Kashyapa, from the earth to the heaven.Love in Kalidasa 's works is shorn of the bodily bondage,the compulsions of the senses.(भावबन्धनं बभूव यत्प्रेम परस्पराश्रयं,(Saakuntalam)."Bhaavabandhanam",not bodily bondage.
In terms of vaidic Tantrasastra, Srividya,the first union of Sakuntala was in mooladhara,and the reunion, the spiritual communion,in sahasrara. This is Kalidasa's elevation of the woman and his contribution to the social stability.Dharmasamsthapana in vaidic dharma is dharmapatnee samsthaapana.
The play Saakuntalam,which made him world renowned,significantly opens with या सृष्टि:स्रष्टुराद्या, "who is the first of the created ".Sakuntala has that freshness of the first created,the purity, and the elegance.She represents the best in woman.
To come down to more mundane pictures of the dignity and beauty of a householder's life,we need only to go up the mountain.Himavant,says to the seven rishis:एते वयमिमे दारा: कन्येयं कुलजीवितं।'This is our household.She is my wife and this, my daughter.'That is the contentment of a householder ! When the sages asked him about his opinion regarding offering his daughter to Shiva,Himavant turns to his wife,significantly! .प्रायेण गृहिणी नेत्रा: कन्यार्थेषु कुटुम्बिन:।It is the mother whose opinion matters,especially in such matters!
This is the Himalayan contribution of Kalidasa to stall the spread of the Himalayan Sakta,kaulamarga practices,which were degrading the status of woman in the society.
This article is prompted by a recent post on "demystifying Kali", which I also shared. Shiva kept kaalakuta in his throat, and Kalidasa retained Kali in his name,and averted the threat to the welfare of his people.
This article is not about the beauties of Kalidasa's poetry.It is about Kali, the dark power that dominated the psyche of India,especially the Himalayan kingdoms of Ancient India,from Gandhara in the Northwest to Guwahati (Kamakhyadevi Temple) in the Northeast. To touch on this subject is indeed to stir a hornet's nest--the North-South divide; the Northeast of Ramakrishna and the Southeast of RamanaMaharshi; the brahminical and ,what is the antonym of this abominable term?; of male chauvinism and feminism; and of color (Kali ) discrimination. But the gap does exist.And the gap doesn't vanish if we close our eyes.We should at least know what it is.In this article,I shall confine myself to the historic fact that Kali remained but in the poet's name.For, as in the other facts of his life, we have little information on how Kalidasa may have lived in this cultural gap between Kali and Gauri, how he may have grappled with it,and how he tamed and transformed his Kali into Gauri. In this transformation lies not just the life of a person,but the life of a nation. For, Kalidasa ,who as a poet,rose like a Himalaya,to guard his nation. (The mountain may fail to guard the geographical borders, but Kalidasa 's work stands tall and strong.) He grew to Himalayan heights not merely as a poet,but because of his unparalleled poetic brilliance, grew as a tall guardian of Indian culture. He might be said to be the forerunner of AdiSankara,who unfurled the flag of advaita over this land.
We hear day in and day out denunciation of the vaidic dharma that wrought ruins in our social structures,but hardly ever do we hear a moan on the potential ruin that the Kali worship can cause.It is not the vision of a philosophy , but its potential power to elevate or degrade in its practices that should concern us. And is not the vaidic dharma today denounced,not on its vision but in its atrocious translation into the social reality? There are worlds of literature on the Tantric philosophy and its practices. The vision and the way may have led some to realization.But, the question to ask is, does it have greater or lesser potential for the degradation of the society at large? Tantra has two paths,the vaidic and the avaidic.There are whole libraries on the two sastras ,but in one word,one is the view of woman as dharmapatni, and the other of woman as kulata, a whore.Any tantric text states it unambiguously.
The poet was undoubtedly at some stage of his life a devotee of Kali, the dark devi, a dominant deity in his times. It cannot be ascertained how far he went into the worship .But what is important to him,and more than to him,to us today, is that he rose above it. He realised early that he should lift himself out of the darkness,Kali ,tamas.( सन्मार्गालोकनाय व्यपनयतु स वस्तामसीं वृत्तिमीश: The opening verse of Malavikagnimitram. ) The right path ( sanmaarga,as distinct from kaulamarga or vamamarga) lies beyond the adoration of the dark ( taamaseem vrittim). Of the two divisions,Sakta and Saiva, Kalidasa embraced Sivadvaita. It may not have been an easy embrace.Kali remained lingering in the shadows. We see her presence at the wedding of Shiva, in the poet's Kumarasambhavam:
तासां च पश्चात्कनकप्रभाणां
काली कपालाभरणा चकासे।Kumarasambhavam 7.39.
(Kali followed others in the wedding procession,with golden brilliance, and with a garland of skulls.)
This is the place Kalidasa gives Kali,in Shiva,the groom's procession to his wedding with Gauri. It almost looks like she invited herself.Or,asked to be invited, and the poet could not but oblige.
But, the Himalayan influence of Sakta stayed with Kalidasa, as shown by the title of the play that made him a world renowned writer, Abhijnaana Saakuntalam. The term should remind us of the concept of "pratyabhijna",a key concept in Kashmir Saivism. The term is literally spelt by him. Kanva,while sending Sakuntala to her king-husband,says to her: यदिनाम स राजा प्रत्यभिज्ञान मंथरो भवेत् तत्: तस्येदमात्मनामधेयांकितं अंगुलीयकं दर्शय।'if that king is dull ('manthara ') in his memory,then show him this ring with his name.') But,Kalidasa transformed the Kashmir Saiva philosophy too,as he must have earlier done with the Sakta ,into the Upanishadic advaita. For,what is re-cognition but the Self forgetting itself and re-cognizing itself? This is the very essence of Upanishadic advaita.Two points on which Kashmir Saivism differs from advaita are that they also accept Sakti along with Shiva, and they dismiss the theory of Maya. But what matters most is not the difference in these and other minor theoretical details, but in the centrality of the woman's status. Also,less in theory but more in practice. The difference is between two opposing cultures.
For Kalidasa, Shiva and Sakti are one,like the sound and its significance ( "vaagarthou"). Himavaan gives Parvati to Shiva in marriage saying ,'तमर्थमिव भारत्या सुतया योक्तुमर्हसि।(Kumarasambhavam).It is indeed the sole theme running through in all his works,poems or plays.Woman is not just the senseless sound ( vaak separated from artha).She is the "embodiment" of sense. There is no question of primary and secondary,superior and inferior.If at all,woman is elevated to the highest position in Kalidasa's works, as much as the Kali worshippers degrade her.
To elevate the woman is not to make her superior to man, and independent as in Kaulamarga, 'there is nothing and no one above her'.)In Kalidasa man and woman are interdependent for their mutual fulfillment. And in his works,we find woman elevated in her stature. She doesn't have to do any superhuman things to elevate herself.Parvati, as Kanya,has to do penance to lift herself to a divine stature. But Sakuntala does nothing.She remains a dharmapatni, and is elevated to heaven.Her union with Dushyanta was on earth, and her reunion with him in heaven.From one ashram to another,from Kanva to Kashyapa, from the earth to the heaven.Love in Kalidasa 's works is shorn of the bodily bondage,the compulsions of the senses.(भावबन्धनं बभूव यत्प्रेम परस्पराश्रयं,(Saakuntalam)."Bhaavabandhanam",not bodily bondage.
In terms of vaidic Tantrasastra, Srividya,the first union of Sakuntala was in mooladhara,and the reunion, the spiritual communion,in sahasrara. This is Kalidasa's elevation of the woman and his contribution to the social stability.Dharmasamsthapana in vaidic dharma is dharmapatnee samsthaapana.
The play Saakuntalam,which made him world renowned,significantly opens with या सृष्टि:स्रष्टुराद्या, "who is the first of the created ".Sakuntala has that freshness of the first created,the purity, and the elegance.She represents the best in woman.
To come down to more mundane pictures of the dignity and beauty of a householder's life,we need only to go up the mountain.Himavant,says to the seven rishis:एते वयमिमे दारा: कन्येयं कुलजीवितं।'This is our household.She is my wife and this, my daughter.'That is the contentment of a householder ! When the sages asked him about his opinion regarding offering his daughter to Shiva,Himavant turns to his wife,significantly! .प्रायेण गृहिणी नेत्रा: कन्यार्थेषु कुटुम्बिन:।It is the mother whose opinion matters,especially in such matters!
This is the Himalayan contribution of Kalidasa to stall the spread of the Himalayan Sakta,kaulamarga practices,which were degrading the status of woman in the society.
This article is prompted by a recent post on "demystifying Kali", which I also shared. Shiva kept kaalakuta in his throat, and Kalidasa retained Kali in his name,and averted the threat to the welfare of his people.
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