The richness of his creative fancy, his delicacy of senti ment, and his keen appreciation of the beauties of nature, combined with remarkable powers of description, which are conspicuous throughout his works, place Kâlidâsa in the first rank of Oriental poets. The effect, however, of his productions as a whole is greatly marred by extreme artificiality of diction, which, though to a less extent than in other Hindu poets, not unfrequently takes the form of puerile conceits, and plays on words, the matter being treated merely as a means for displaying dexterity in the manipulation of the language. In this respect his writings contrast very unfavourably with the more genuine poetry of the Vedas. Though a true poet, he is wanting in that artistic sense of proportion so characteristic of the Greek mind, which exactly adjusts the parts to the whole, and combines form and matter into an inseparable poetic unity. Kâlidâsa’s fame rests chiefly on his dramas, but he is also distinguished as an epic and a lyric poet.

He wrote three plays, the plots of which all bear a general resemblance to each other, inasmuch as they consist of love intrigues, which, after numerous and seemingly insurmountable impediments of a similar nature, are ultimately brought to a successful conclusion.

Of these, Çakuntalâ is that which has always justly enjoyed the greatest fame and popularity. The unqualified praise bestowed upon it by Goethe sufficiently guarantees its poetic merit. There are two recensions of the text in India, the Bengali and the Devanâgari, the latter being generally considered older and purer. Çakuntalà was first translated into English by Sir William Jones (Calcutta, 1789), who used the Bengali recension. It was soon after translated into German by G. Forster (1791), and by Herder in 1803. An edition of the Sanskrit original, with French translation, was published by Chézy at Paris in 1830. This formed the basis of a translation by Hirzel (Zurich, 1830). Another edition of the Bengali recension was published by Prema Chandra (Calcutta, 1860) for the use of European students. The Devanâgari recension was first edited by Bohtlingk (Bonn, 1842), with a German translation. On this were based the successive German translations of Meyer (Tübingen, 1851) and Lobedanz (2d ed., Leipsic, 1861). The same recension has been edited by Dr C. Burkhard with a Sanskrit-Latin vocabulary and short Prakrit grammar (Breslau, 1872), and by Professor Monier Williams (Oxford, 2d ed., 1872). Another edition was published at Bombay in 1861.

The Vikramorvaçi, or Urvaçl won by Valour, abounds with fine lyrical passages, and is of all Indian dramas second only to Çakuntalà in poetic beauty. It was edited by Lenz (Bonn, 1833) and translated into German by Hofer (Berlin, 1837), by Hirzel (1838), and by Lobedanz (Leipsic, 1861). The best edition is by Bollensen (Petersburg, 1845). There is also an English edition by Monier Williams, a metrical and prose version by the late Professor H. H. Wilson, and a literal prose translation by Professor E. B. Cowell (1851).

The third play, entitled Mdlavikdgnimiira, has considerable poetical and dramatic merit, but is confessedly inferior to the other two. It possesses the advantage, however, that its hero Agnimitra and its heroine Mâlavikâ are more ordinary and human characters than those of the other plays. It was edited by Dr Tullberg at Bonn, 1840, and more correctly by Shankar P. Pandit, with English notes, in 1869, and ably translated into German by Professor Weber in 1856.

Two epic poems are also attributed to Kalidasa. The longer of these is entitled Raghuvança, the subject of which is the same as that of the Rdmdyana, viz., the history of Hama, but beginning with a long account of his ancestors, the ancient rulers of Ayodhya (edited by Stenzler, London, 1832). The other epic is the Kumd-rasambhaνa, the theme of which is the birth of Kumâra, otherwise called Kârttikeya or Skanda, god of war (edited by Stenzler, London, 1838, and by the Rev. K. Μ. Banerjea, 3d ed., Calcutta, 1872). Though containing many fine passages, it is tame as a whole.

His lyrical poems are the McghadMa and the Rilasamhàra. The MeghadMa, or the Cloud-Messenger, describes the complaint of an exiled lover, and the message he sends to his wife by a cloud. It is full of deep feeling, and abounds with fine descriptions of the beauties of nature. It was edited with free English translation by H. H. Wilson (Calcutta, 1813), and by Gildemeister (Bonn, 1841); a German adaptation by Μ. Müller appeared at Königsberg (1847), and one by Schmitz at Bielefeld (1859). It was edited by Johnson, with vocabulary and Wilson’s metrical translation (London, 1867). The Ritusamhàra, or Collection of the Seasons, is a short poem, of less importance, on the six seasons of the year. There is an edition by Bohlen, with prose Latin and metrical German translation (Leipsic, 1840).

Another poem, entitled the Nalodaya, or Rise of Nala, edited by Benary (Berlin, 1830) and by Yates (Calcutta, 1844), which is a treatment of the story of Nala and Damayanti, but describes especially the restoration of Nala to prosperity and power, has been ascribed to the celebrated Kalidasa, but was probably written by another poet of the same name. It is full of most absurd verbal conceits and metrical extravagances.

So many poems, partly of a very different stamp, are attributed to Kalidasa that it is scarcely possible to avoid the necessity of assuming the existence of more authors than one of that name. It is by no means improbable that there were three poets thus named; indeed modern native astronomers are so convinced of the existence of a triad of authors of this name that they apply the term Kalidasa to designate the number three. (A. A. Μ.)