Critical Analysis of Abhijnana Shakuntalam by Kalidasa | Indian English Literature | EngliTales

Hello everyone, welcome back to Engli Tales. In this video, we will be discussing the critical analysis part of the play Abhignana Shakuntalam, written by Kalidasa. Kalidasa was an ancient classical Sanskrit playwright. He is mostly famous for his three plays, Abhignana Shakuntalam, Vikram Orvasiyam and Malvika Agnimitram. These were the plays which made him so famous. Kalidasa has taken most of his plots from the Vedas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. This play Abhignana Shakuntalam is taken from a story from Mahabharata. It also has one instance, one scene which is taken from the Ramayana. I will let you know further into the video. Kalidasa in Indian literature is considered at par with Shakespeare from English literature. And therefore Kalidasa is also known as Shakespeare of India. Let us now have a look at the title of the play. The title reads Abhignana Shakuntalam, which means the recognition of Shakuntala. Now let us have a look at the main characters of the play. We have King Dushyanta. We have Shakuntala, who is the daughter of Sage Vishwamitra and Apsara Menaka. Shakuntala is an adopted daughter of Sage Kanwa. Sage Durvasa, who is the symbol of anger and curse in this play. We also have two friends of Shakuntala, who are Priyamvada and Anusuya. As I told you, the theme of this play Abhignana Shakuntalam has been taken from the epic Mahabharata. But Kalidasa has introduced some subplots into this play to make it more interesting. He has introduced the subplots of the curse of Sage Durvasa and the signet ring which King Dushyanta has given to Shakuntala. These are the two subplots introduced by Kalidasa into the Mahabharata story to twist it a little bit. Now Kalidasa has remoulded this story to such an extent that it has become very unusual. And at the same time, it has become very interesting and it keeps the readers glued to the story. At the beginning of the play, we see that King Dushyanta is trying to hunt a deer. And a sage stops him in the way and tells him that this area belongs to a hermitage. As soon as the king gets to know this, he stops and he decides to move towards the hermitage and pay a visit there. When he reaches the hermitage, he stops there and he casts off all his royal jewellery and weapons in the chariot. He keeps them in the chariot and then enters this ashrama or this hermitage. Now this is a symbol of king entering into a new world which might be opposite of his royal court. This ashrama is the epitome of peace, gentleness and harmony. And therefore the king casts off all his royal belongings before entering into this new world. Let us now have a look at caste as an important factor in this play. Firstly, we see when King Dushyanta enters into the hermitage, he sees this beautiful and wonderful Shaguntala and instantly falls in love with this girl. But before moving into the relationship further, he first tries to ascertain the caste of Shaguntala. Because king belonged to the Kshatriya caste and a Kshatriya king cannot marry a woman who is from the upper caste. A Kshatriya king can marry a woman who is from the same caste or one caste lower. That is the reason he asked Shaguntala's friends and he got to know about the caste of Shaguntala. Another instance of caste is seen when the king's guards beat this fisherman who has come to the court to deliver the ring which he found in the stomach of a fish. What the guards assumed was the fisherman has stolen the king's ring when in fact he has discovered that in the stomach of a fish. The guards assumed that he might have stolen because of his lower caste. After the union of Shaguntala and King Dushyanta, King Dushyanta goes back to his kingdom and Shaguntala is left behind. Shaguntala is always immersed into the thoughts of King Dushyanta. And Priyamvada and Anusuya were watering the plants outside when Sage Durvasa enters into the hermitage and he is welcomed by no one. And therefore Sage Durvasa gets angry and gives a curse to Shaguntala saying that whoever she is thinking about will forget her. This is such a huge and devastating curse for Shaguntala. Anusuya and Priyamvada ask for forgiveness from Sage Durvasa and ask him a way through which Shaguntala could escape this curse. And Sage Durvasa tells them that that person about whom Shaguntala is dreaming, he has given Shaguntala some symbol to remember him. And if she produces that symbol which was the ring, if she produces that ring in front of that person, King Dushyanta, King Dushyanta will immediately recognise him. Now this curse by Sage Durvasa has some functions to play in this play. Firstly, we get a prediction, an unfolding of actions. We get to know what is going to happen further into the play. As the sage gives the curse that whoever Shaguntala is dreaming about will forget her. The audience immediately gets to know that King Dushyanta is going to forget Shaguntala further into the play. The second function is that of the rising action. The action rises in the play in the absence of the hero and the heroine. The next point is about love. Love in union and love in separation are the two important components of this play. Love in union is when Shaguntala and King Dushyanta loved each other in the hermitage. And love in separation is when King Dushyanta has went away and Shaguntala is dreaming about the king. And for a few initial days, King Dushyanta has also been dreaming about Shaguntala. But as soon as the Sage Durvasa gives her this curse, King Dushyanta stops dreaming about her. And when Shaguntala goes to meet him in his kingdom, he refuses to recognise Shaguntala. He does not recognise Shaguntala due to the curse of Sage Durvasa. He scolds and yells at Shaguntala like anything and then abandons her. When King Dushyanta declines to recognise Shaguntala, Shaguntala calls upon her mother to take her away. She was sad and depressed at that time. So, Apsara Menaka comes there. She appears over there and she takes Shaguntala away with her in a flash of lightning. Now, this incident echoes the incident which happened in Ramayana. Where Sita, she was also so sad and depressed that she calls upon her mother earth to take her away. And the earth opens up and takes Sita Mata away from that kingdom. This scene is the symbol of moving away from the place of injustice. Injustice had happened to Sita in Ramayana and injustice was happening to Shaguntala in this play, Abhijnana Shaguntala. Only after the fisherman gave the king back his ring which he found in the stomach of a fish that he remembered Shaguntala. But now, it was too late. Shaguntala had gone away with her mother and King Dushyanta did not know where she was. After a few days, King Dushyanta went to fight a battle and while returning from the battle, he decided to stop at a hermitage. At the hermitage, he met a boy who was counting a live lion's teeth. And King Dushyanta decided to talk to this boy as he was a very sweet looking boy. And the boy told him that his name was Bharata, the son of King Dushyanta. And King Dushyanta was so happy to see his son. He asked him about Shaguntala and the family was reunited. And at the end, we see that King Dushyanta was ashamed of his actions. He did not know that whatever happened to him, the loss of his memory was due to the curse of Sage Durvasa. But now finally, he remembered and recognised Shaguntala. And only in this last scene of the play, we see that King Dushyanta is submissive and he expresses his regret for his past actions, for not recognising Shaguntala. Now he came to know that this was due to the curse of Sage Durvasa. Before concluding this video, let me quickly talk about some remarkable dramatic elements introduced by Kalidasa into this play. The first is, the play starts with a prayer and a song. And this captures audience's attention and the audience is kept engaged throughout the play. Throughout the play, when we read it or when we watch it on screen, we do not feel bored. We feel engaged and we are eager to know what will happen next. The next point which I found remarkable was, Kalidasa does not prolong the romance of King Dushyanta and Shaguntala. King Dushyanta and Shaguntala meet and they start loving each other. And one fine day, King Dushyanta goes away back to his kingdom and Shaguntala is left behind. Now, immediately after this, we see Sage Durvasa coming into the picture and the element of conflict coming into the picture. The romance between King Dushyanta and Shaguntala is not prolonged. So, the element of conflict comes very quickly into the picture. The next point is, the curse given by Sage Durvasa. This is the main plot of the story. Everything that happens next, King Dushyanta does not recognize Shaguntala. It is because of Sage Durvasa's curse. Then, Shaguntala lost his ring in the water because of Sage Durvasa's curse. Now, she won't be able to show that ring to King Dushyanta and he won't be able to recognize her. So, everything that happens was because of the curse. So, it is the main plot of this story. The last thing which I found the most remarkable in this play was the curse and the ring. The ring functions both as the curse and as a remedy to this curse. That's all I had for you today. If you liked watching this video, please subscribe to Ingly Tales. My name is Simran Maithani and I am signing off. You take care of yourself.