One might be
reminded
in his lyrical poetry and descriptive narra-
tive, for example, of the lavishness and exuberance of Marlowe, or of
the beauty, color, and passionate effusiveness of Keats.
tive, for example, of the lavishness and exuberance of Marlowe, or of
the beauty, color, and passionate effusiveness of Keats.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v15 - Kab to Les
When therefore one sees the Kalevala' referred
as recently in the instance of a critic of some standing – as an
epic comparable with those of Milton or Dante, one must at once dis-
count a really irrelevant comparison. For though both Dante and
Milton, and doubtless Homer in his half-mythic time, summed up an
infinitude of general knowledge and thought, their actual achievement
stands to this day as individual and distinctive. But though we
owe the "Kalevala' as we know it to the genius of one man, — Elias
Lönnrot of Helsingfors, — this man was the editor rather than the
creator of the national epic. For the famous national epic of Finland
is in reality composed of a great number of popular songs, ballads,
incantations, and early runic poetry, strung together into an artistic
whole by the genius of Dr. Lönnrot.
The Finns were gradually dying out as a nation before the Kale-
vala' appeared. National hopes, aspirations, and ideals had long been
slowly atrophying; and in another generation or two Russia would
to-
!
.
1
1
.
## p. 8444 (#44) ############################################
8444
THE KALEVALA
have absorbed all the intellectual life of the old Northern realm, and
Finland have sunk to the status of a mere outlying province. At
the same time the Finns have ever been a people of marked racial
homogeneity, and have cherished their ancient language and litera-
ture with something of that passionate attachment which we find in
all races whose heroic past dominates a present which in no respect
can be compared with it. The upper classes would inevitably have
become Swedish or Russian, and the majority of the people would in
time have degenerated into a listless and mentally inert mass. Per-
haps a great war, involving a national uprising, would have saved
them from this slow death: but happily the genius of one man and
the enthusiasm of contemporary and subsequent colleagues obviated
any such tragically crucial test; for by applying the needed torch to
the national enthusiasm, Lönnrot and his fellow-workers gave incal-
culable stimulus to the mental and actual life of their countrymen.
For many ages the Finnish minstrels, who had ever been beloved
of the people, went to and fro reciting the old sagas of the race,
singing old national songs and telling the wonderful folk-tales of a
remote and ancient land. These singers were known as the Runo-
lainen, and played to the sound of the kantela, a kind of harp much
like that which the Gaelic minstrels used to carry in their similar
wanderings to and fro from village to village and from house to
house. For generation after generation, much of the essential part of
the Kalevala, as we now know it, lived within the hearts and upon
the lips of the peasants and farming classes: but with the changed
conditions which came to the whole of Europe early in the present
century, and with the political and other vicissitudes through which
Finland in common with almost every other country has passed, it
was inevitable that as elsewhere, this oral legendary lore should
slowly fade before the pressing actualities of new and radically dis-
tinct conditions.
The first man to make a systematic endeavor to stem the ebb
of the national poetry and sentiment was Dr. Zacharias Topelius,
who in 1822 published a small collection of Finnish folk poetry and
legends. But fifteen years later Dr. Elias Lönnrot achieved that
marvelous success which has been the admiration and wonder of
Europe ever since, as well as the delight — and in a sense, as already
indicated, the regeneration of Finland itself.
Dr. Lönnrot, inspired with a passionate enthusiasm for the histori-
cal language and legendary literature of his people, set himself the
task of rescuing all that was best in the vast unprinted and uncol-
lected mass of folk-lore which existed in his country. To this end he
lived with the peasantry for many years and wandered from place to
place, everywhere taking down from the lips of the people all that
## p. 8445 (#45) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8445
they knew of their popular songs or legendary lore, and including
of course all they could tell him of local superstitions, incantations,
and so forth. At first his researches were limited to the district of
Karelia, in the Government of Kupio. Even within this limited scope
he obtained, besides numerous fragmentary songs and a great num-
ber of proverbs and charms, a complete epos consisting of some
12,000 lines. These either fell naturally, or were arranged by him,
in thirty-two parts, each consisting of from 200 to 700 verses. They
were given to the world just as he had heard them sung or chanted;
and in this, of course, lies their primary value. At the first, however,
this all-important work attracted little attention when it was pub-
lished in 1835 — and this notwithstanding the fact that it appeared
under the title of Kalevala' (Kalewala), the ancient poetic designa-
tion of Finland. Five years later the Academy of Dorpat made the
publication the subject of discussion at their meetings. Some nine
years subsequently Dr. Lönnrot issued a new edition of nearly 23,000
verses in fifty so-called runes. But already the attention of scientific
Europe had been drawn to this wonderful Finnish find. Not only the
Swede and famous Finnish scholar Castrén, but the great German
philologists, the two Grimms and Brockhaus, agreed in regarding the
Kalevala' as a genuine epic; and as an epic it has ever since been
received - although, as already hinted, a splendid epical national mir-
ror rather than epic in the strict literary sense of the term. It would
be pedantic, however, to refuse the term "epic » to the Kalevala,'
for all that it does not conform to certain literary conditions which
we associate with the epic pure and simple. Not only, from the date
of the first discussions at Dorpat down to the present time, has the
Kalevala' been admitted to be one of the most curious monuments
of its kind posessed by any European people, but the chief authorities
have agreed in regarding it as a composition possessing an almost
unparalleled wealth of images and tropes, great flexibility of rhythm,
and a copiousness of synonyms not to be met with in any other
Northern tongue. Of course there is great divergence of opinion as
to the identification of historic facts and arbitrary figments; that is,
as to whether the incidents of the narrative refer to definite histori-
cal epochs, or are mainly mythical or allegorical. It is too loose a
way of writing to aver, with one authority on the subject, that the
date of its composition must be referred to a period anterior to the
introduction of Christianity among the Finns in the fourteenth cen-
tury; for while there is internal evidence to an even more ancient ori-
gin than this,- indeed, of an identity of names and traditions which
points to an epoch anterior to the immigrations of the Karelin Finns
into the districts which they now occupy,—not enough allowance
is made for the arbitrary archaic coloring which by a natural law
## p. 8446 (#46) ############################################
8446
THE KALEVALA
characterizes all renascent folk-lore. It does not follow, because a
narrative is remote in date and is archaic in form, that it belongs to
a remote date itself; though the conditions and circumstances which
preserve traditionary folk-lore are pre-eminently conservative. Stu-
dents of all early and mainly traditional literatures have long agreed
upon this point, and one of the first efforts of the philological folk-
lorist is to penetrate the illusion of an arbitrary archaism.
Once the importance of this great indigenous epic of Finland was
fully recognized, translations from Dr. Lönnrot's invaluable version
appeared in Swedish, German, and French, - and latterly in English,
with which may be included the few representative selections trans-
lated by the late Professor Porter of Yale College (published in New
York, 1868). The Kalevala) is written in eight-syllabled trochaic
verse, and an adequate idea of its style and method may be obtained
from the popular Hiawatha' of Longfellow; who, it may be added,
adopted this particular metrical form from his knowledge of the
great Finnish poem. Some eight or nine years ago a complete
edition of the Kalevala' appeared in English, the work of Mr.
John Martin Crawford (2 vols. , 1888). In the interesting preface to
this work — which deals with the Finns and their country, and also
with their language and mythology — the translator remarks, what the
famous Grimm had already affirmed, that the Kalevala' describes
Finnish life and nature with extraordinary minuteness, verisimilitude,
and beauty; and that indeed no national poem is to be compared
with it in this respect, unless it be some of the epics of India. He
adds also some interesting additional evidence for the genuineness
of certain of the more archaic portions, which have been disputed
by some critics. For, as he says, some of the most convincing evi-
dences of the genuineness and great age of the Kalevala' have been
supplied by Barna, the Hungarian translator. The Hungarians, it is
well known, are racially closely connected with the Finns; and their
language, the Magyar, has the same characteristics as the Finnish
tongue. Naturally therefore Barna's translation might well be, as it
admittedly is, much the finest rendering of the original. (In a book
written by a Hungarian in 1578 are collected all the incantations in
use among Hungarian country-people of his day for the expulsion of
disease and misfortunes. These display a most satisfactory sameness
with the numerous incantations in the Kalevala' used for the same
purpose. )
The Kalevala' (whose direct significance is “the land of heroes”)
relates as its main theme the ever-varying contests between the
Finns and a people referred to in the epic as “the darksome Lapps,”
just as the Iliad relates the contests between the Greeks and the
Trojans. It is more than probable, however, that these Laplanders
(
## p. 8447 (#47) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8447
are
are not exactly the Lapps of to-day; and it is possible that another
interpretation of the Kalevala' points to a contest between Light
and Darkness, Good and Evil, — the Finns representing the Light
and Good, and the Lapps the Darkness and Evil. The celebrated
Swedish scholar Castrén is of opinion that the enmity between the
Finns and the Lapps was sown long before the Finns had left their
Asiatic birthplace. Certainly this possibility is enhanced — collater-
ally affording another proof of the great antiquity of the fundamental
part of the Kalevala'— by the silence throughout concerning the
neighboring Russians, Swedes, and Germans. Nowhere in the poem
are there any important signs of foreign influence; indeed, from first
to last it is a true pagan epic, and some of the narrative portions-
for example the story of Mariatta recited in the fiftieth rune
pre-Christian.
It has been well said of the architecture of the Kalevala,' that it
stands midway between the epic ballads of the Servians and the
purely epical structure of the Iliad: for although now accepted as a
continuous whole, it contains several almost independent parts; as
for example the contest of the Yonkahainen, the Kullervo episode,
and the legend of Mariatta. To this day its eight-syllabled trochaic
verse, with the part line echo, is the characteristic literary expression
of the Finnish people. It is this which gives peculiar value to Mr.
Crawford's translation, to which allusion has already been made; for
it is in the original metre,—a wonderfully versatile metre, he adds,
which admits of keeping the right medium between the dignified
and virile hexameter and the quieter metres of the lyrics. Its feet
are nimble and fleet, yet are full of vigor and expressiveness; while in
addition the Kalevala' uses alliteration, and thus varies the rhythm
of time with the rhythm of sound. While therefore all honor is
given to Dr. Lönnrot, it must not be forgotten that the substance of
the Kalevala' existed before he wandered minstrel-wise from vil-
lage to village; that, in a word, it has descended unwritten from the
mythical age to the present day, kept alive from generation to gen-
eration, and in this sense is the veritable expression of the national
life. We must remember the national idiosyncrasy in judging the
monotonous effect of this great epic. For what is congenial to the
Finns is not so to us, who have something of the Celtic love of vari-
ety and vivacity. For this epic of fifty books, written throughout in
the (Hiawatha' metre, seldom relieves the ear by a pause or a final
long syllable, but is one uninterrupted stream of trochees, which
have in prolonged perusal a wearisome effect to our ears. Strangely
enough, we find at least one Southern people with the same charac-
teristic; for the metre of the dialogues in the plays of Calderon and
other Spanish masters is akin.
## p. 8448 (#48) ############################################
8448
THE KALEVALA
of the
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and is
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A great many theories have arisen as to the origin and full sig-
nificance of the Kalevala,' but these may be merely alluded to en
passant. In the words of Mr. Oxenford: «To admit any conjecture
as to the veritable import of the Kalevala'— as to the nucleus of
truth, moral, historical, or theological, that would remain if it were
stripped of its wild fancies would be an act of presumption, as the
profoundest investigators of the subject are still in darkness. ” There
are certain features, however, which may be pointed out; and these
we have already indicated. All authorities agree on one point: that
the surprising development of the Finns during the present century
is to a large extent due to the fostering efforts of the Finnish Liter-
ary Society (itself an outcome of the labors of Dr. Lönnrot and other
pioneers), and the collection of those marvelous stores of folk-lore
which have so long lain half buried under the austere reserve of the
Finnish peasant. The critics, moreover, — native, Swedish, Russian,
German, and English, — all concur in recognition of the Kalevala's)
immense importance in this political and national development. With
the best fitted to judge of these, we may agree in saying that the
(Kalevala' has stirred the fibre of nationality among a people who
have never yet shown any political genius; that it has revealed to
an obscure race their own unity and power; that it has awakened an
enthusiasm for national culture and historic life which appears des-
tined to have far-reaching effects.
Some idea of the immense extent of contemporary research may
be gained from the fact that by the year 1889 the Finnish Society
had already collected
the
WI
tat
the
10
ad
C
1
22,000 songs,
13,000 stories,
40,000 proverbs,
10,000 riddles,
2,000 folk melodies, and
20,000 incantations, games, etc.
The main body and frame of the Kalevala) is compounded of
four cycles of folk-songs. The poem itself takes its name from three
heroes of ancient Kalevala; namely, Wåinåmỏinen, Ilmarinen, and
Lemminkåinen. It is the struggles of these with the mythical “dark-
some Laplanders” or others, out of Pohjola, a land of the cold north,
and from Luomela, the land of death, that constitute the theme of
the epic narrative. The poem, which begins at the creation of the
world, ends at last in the triumph of Wåinåmỏinen and his comrades.
Besides the four divisional cycles just alluded to, there are seven dis-
tinct romances or folk-tales woven into the general fabric; namely,
(The Tale of Aino,' (The Fishing for the Mermaid, “The Wooing
## p. 8449 (#49) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8449
ܘܘܘܘܘ. ܣ ܚ
of the Daughter of the Air,' (The Golden Bride,' (The Wooing of
the Son of Kojo,' «The Captivity and Deliverance of the Sun and
Moon,' and 'The Story of the Virgin Maria. Besides these, and scat-
tered freely throughout the work,—sometimes placed in the mouths
of the characters, sometimes absorbed into the narrative itself, -
are many prayers, chants, religious formulas, and other magic songs
and lyrics, roughly divisible thus: (1) origins; (2) charms; (3) lyrics;
(4) marriage songs; (5) the origin of the harp; (6) introductory and
closing songs. Finally, there seem to be additions apparently com-
posed, paraphrased, or adopted by Dr. Lönnrot himself; though it is
uncertain if these are not merely later and perhaps contemporary
additions to the national treasures of folk-lore.
No one who has ever visited Finland can fail to note the truth of
the delineation of the national genius as reflected in this representa-
tive work: truth of observation, love of nature, mental independency,
unmistakable racial idiosyncrasy. Something of the spirit of that vast
and for the most part strangely bleak and desolate country has satu-
rated the (Kalevala. ' The immense plains, the great treeless pastures,
the lakes like inland seas, the trackless gloomy pine forests, have
together thrown something of their shadow across the national epic:
and in it we hear - almost as distinctly as the voices of men and
women and the sharp antagonism of rival forces bodily or spiritual —
the lone cry of the wind, the dashing of solitary seas, and the solitary
cry of the wild swan along unfrequented lakes. This characteristic
melancholy is to be found not only in the ancient poems, but in the
writings of contemporary Finnish poets; and we may take it that
that Finnish legend is true in spirit which displays the genius of
Finland as a wild swan, singing a death-song beautifully, while, be-
wildered by the slow increasing mists of death, it circles blindly above
the forests and lakes and vast snow plains of the great Northland. If
the ‘Kalevala' be indeed the swan-song of the Finns, we must admit
that it has at least the note rather of virility and endurance than of
undue melancholy or decrepitude.
Fortunately, it is no longer considered boorish in Finland to speak
the ancient Finnish tongue. For a time the Russian government did
its utmost to encourage the cultivation of Finnish in every direction;
but this, it is to be feared, was not so much from disinterested love
of an ancient language and its literature as the desire to alienate
the people from the language and general sympathies of the Swedes,
under whose dominion Finland formerly was. Latterly, Russia has
broken its solemn pledges and done its utmost to Russianize Finland.
It needs all the enthusiasm and native independence of the Finns
to resist the organized assault made against them from school and
church and the public courts; but at present, at any rate, the national
H. . . .
XV-529
## p. 8450 (#50) ############################################
8450
THE KALEVALA
patriotism is likely to prove a stronger factor than Russian bureau-
cratism. The Finnish literary movement inspired by the Kalevala
has as yet achieved very little; but if not stamped out by Russian
influence, it is possible that it may have a marked development before
long. Many of the younger Finns display remarkable promise, though
they have to face the fact that the people who will read the native
language are mostly of a class who can ill afford to buy books.
Moreover, the prose literature of Finland has ever been almost exclus-
ively devoted to religious and moral subjects; and it seems as though
the mental soil were not yet ready to bear a harvest akin to that
remarkable aftermath which is so noticeable a feature of the contem-
porary intellectual development of Sweden, and still more of Norway.
We may take leave of the Kalevala' in the words of one of the
most popular writers on kindred subjects, Mr. Max Müller:
.
«From the mouths of the aged an epic poem has been collected, equaling
the Iliad in length and completeness; nay,- if we can forget for a moment
all that we in our youth learned to call beautiful, — not less beautiful. A Finn
is not a Greek, and a Wainamoinen was not a Homer. But if the poet may
take his colors from that nature by which he is surrounded, if he may depict
the men with whom he lives, the Kalevala) possesses merits not dissimilar
from those of the Iliad: and will claim its place as the fifth national epic of
the world, side by side with the Ionian Songs,' with the Mahābhārata, the
(Shabnāmeh,) and the Nibelungen. ) »
>
As exemplifying the style and method of the Kalevala, I may
give the opening and closing lines in the translation of Mr. Crawford.
as that more adequately conveys a notion of the original than any
other save that of the Hungarian, Barna.
PROEM
M
ASTERED by desire impulsive,
By a mighty inward urging,
I am ready now for singing,
Ready to begin the chanting
Of our nation's ancient folk-song,
Handed down from bygone ages.
In my mouth the words are melting,
From my lips the tones are gliding,
From my tongue they wish to hasten;
When my willing teeth are parted,
When my ready mouth is opened,
Songs of ancient wit and wisdom
Hasten from me not unwilling.
## p. 8451 (#51) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8451
Golden friend, and dearest brother,
Brother dear of mine in childhood,
Come and sing with me the stories,
Come and chant with me the legends,
Legends of the times forgotten,
Since we now are here together,
Come together from our roamings.
Seldom do we come for singing,
Seldom to the one, the other,
O'er this cold and cruel country,
O'er the poor soil of the Northland.
Let us clasp our hands together
That we thus may best remember.
Join we now in merry singing,
Chant we now the oldest folk-lore,
That the dear ones all may hear them,
That the well-inclined inay hear them,
Of this rising' generation.
These are words in childhood taught me,
Songs preserved from distant ages;
Legends they that once were taken
From the belt of Wainamoinen,
From the forge of Ilmarinen,
From the sword of Kaukomieli,
From the bow of Youkahainen,
From the pastures of the Northland,
From the meads of Kalevala.
These my dear old father sang me
When at work with knife and hatchet:
These my tender mother taught me
When she twirled the flying spindle,
When a child upon the matting
By her feet I rolled and tumbled.
Incantations were not wanting
Over Sampo and o'er Louhi,
Sampo growing old in singing,
Louhi ceasing her enchantment.
In the songs died wise Wipunen,
At the games died Lemminkainen.
There are many other legends,
Incantations that were taught me,
That I found along the wayside,
Gathered in the fragrant copses,
Blown me from the forest branches,
## p. 8452 (#52) ############################################
8452
THE KALEVALA
Culled among the plumes of pine-trees,
Scented from the vines and flowers,
Whispered to me as I followed
Flocks in land of honeyed meadows,
Over hillocks green and golden,
After sable-haired Murikki,
And the many-colored Kimmo.
Many runes the cold has told me,
Many lays the rain has brought me,
Other songs the winds have sung me;
Many birds from many forests,
Oft have sung me lays in concord;
Waves of sea, and ocean billows,
Music from the many waters,
Music from the whole creation,
Oft have been my guide and master.
Sentences the trees created,
Rolled together into bundles,
Moved them to my ancient dwelling,
On the sledges to my cottage,
Tied them to my garret rafters,
Hung them on my dwelling-portals,
Laid them in a chest of boxes,
Boxes lined with shining copper.
Long they lay within my dwelling
Through the chilling winds of winter,
In my dwelling-place for ages.
Shall I bring these songs together?
From the cold and frost collect them?
Shall I bring this nest of boxes,
Keepers of these golden legends,
To the table in my cabin,
Underneath the painted rafters,
In this house renowned and ancient ?
Shall I now these boxes open,
Boxes filled with wondrous stories ?
Shall I now the end unfasten
Of this ball of ancient wisdom ?
These ancestral lays unravel ?
Let me sing an old-time legend,
That shall echo forth the praises
Of the beer that I have tasted,
Of the sparkling beer of barley.
Bring to me a foaming goblet
## p. 8453 (#53) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8453
Of the barley of my fathers,
Lest my singing grow too weary,
Singing from the water only.
Bring me too a cup of strong beer;
It will add to our enchantment,
To the pleasure of the evening,
Northland's long and dreary evening,
For the beauty of the day-dawn,
For the pleasure of the morning,
The beginning of the new day.
Often I have heard them chanting,
Often I have heard them singing,
That the nights come to us singly,
That the Moon beams on us singly,
That the Sun shines on us singly;
Singly also, Wainamoinen,
The renowned and wise enchanter,
Born from everlasting Ether
Of his mother, Ether's daughter.
These beautiful lines from the prologue may aptly be followed by
the last lines from the rune of Mariatta, which describe the passing of
the hero, Wainamoinen.
As the years passed, Wainamoinen
Recognized his waning powers:
Empty-handed, heavy-hearted,
Sang his farewell song to Northland,
To the people of Wainola;
Sang himself a boat of copper.
Beautiful his bark of magic;
At the helm sat the magician,
Sat the ancient wisdom-singer.
Westward, westward, sailed the hero
O'er the blue-black of the waters,
Singing as he left Wainola,
This his plaintive song and echo:-
“Suns may rise and set in Suomi,
Rise and set for generations,
When the North will learn my teachings,
Will recall my wisdom-sayings,
Hungry for the true religion.
Then will Suomi need my coming,
Watch for me at dawn of morning,
That I may bring back the Sampo,
## p. 8454 (#54) ############################################
8454
THE KALEVALA
Bring anew the harp of joyance,
Bring again the golden moonlight,
Bring again the silver sunshine,
Peace and plenty to the Northland. ”
Thus the ancient Wainamoinen,
In his copper-banded vessel,
Left his tribe in Kalevala,
Sailing o'er the rolling billows,
Sailing through the azure vapors,
Sailing through the dusk of evening,
Sailing to the fiery sunset,
To the higher-landed regions,
To the lower verge of heaven;
Quickly gained the far horizon,
Gained the purple-colored harbor.
There his bark he firmly anchored,
Rested in his boat of copper;
But he left his harp of magic,
Left his songs and wisdom-sayings,
To the lasting joy of Suomi.
SEE
79
Truly, Wainamoinen has left his songs and wisdom-sayings in the
heart and in the brain of his people, of which the Kalevala' is the
mirror.
Wcian Sharjo
## p. 8455 (#55) ############################################
8455
KĀLIDĀSA
(Presumably, Sixth Century A. D. )
BY A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON
K
»
ĀLIDĀSA is the poet in Sanskrit literature whose name may
best be compared with Shakespeare. No less an authority
than Sir William Jones styled him “the Indian Shake-
speare ) when he made Kālidāsa's name known to the Western World
by translating his romantic play Çakuntalā' into English. Çakun-
"
talā' has ever been a magic word for enchantment since Goethe,
with somewhat of a poet's ecstasy, wrote those oft-quoted lines which
may be rendered:
“Would'st thou tell of the blossoms of Spring, and paint the ripe fruits of the
Autumn,
All that may charm and delight with fullness and joy manifold;
Would'st thou combine in one word the enchantments of Earth and of
Heaven, -
I'll name, O Çakuntalā, thee; in thy name alone all is told. ”
Or as the original stanza runs:-
«Willst du die Blüthe des frühen, die Früchte des späteren Jahres,
Willst du was reizt und entzückt, willst du was sättigt und nährt,
Willst du den Himmel, die Erde mit Einem Namen begreifen,
Nenn ich, Sakuntala, dich, und so ist Alles gesagt. ”
The same enthusiasm for Kālidāsa and Çakuntalā' is echoed in
the writings of Schiller, and by many writers who have since found
much to admire in this poet of mediæval India.
Respecting the life of this gifted playwright and lyrical writer,
however, we have little if any authentic information. The era in
which he lived has been the subject of much discussion. The native
tradition favors the first century B. C. as the time when he flourished;
but the consensus of scholarly opinion points to the middle of the
sixth century A. D. as probably the time when Kālidāsa lived and
wrote at the court of King Vikramāditya. Vikrama's reign was a
renaissance period in Sanskrit letters, and Kālidāsa's name is spoken
of as one of the nine jewels" of Vikrama's throne; and his work is
closely associated with the literary revival, as is shown under 'Indian
## p. 8456 (#56) ############################################
8456
KĀLIDĀSA
attcedi
mitei.
ombas
as the
Kalda
Tegara
SIL
ten a
haste
rev
is
dema
pass
DIS
La
reason
li
Literature in the present volumes. The poet's graphic and beautiful
descriptions of the city Ujjain, and his familiarity with court life, show
that he probably enjoyed for a long time the patronage of his royal
protector; although the epilogue of his drama Vikramorvaçi' seems
to indicate straitened circumstances. The poet's fondness for the
Himālayas and mountain pictures, combined with other facts, seems
to point toward a Kashmir home. There is reason to believe that
he had traveled somewhat. Certain characteristics of his own nature,
moreover, are undoubtedly reflected in the tenderness, grace, beauty,
delicacy, and passionate feeling that is found in his poetry. There is
a story that like Marlowe, his death was violent, — that he perished
by the hand of a woman, who to win a monarch's favor, claimed
one of Kālidāsa's improvised verses as her own, and murdered the
poet lest the truth should be discovered. But enough of such gossip!
This graceful, sensitive, yet thoroughly manly poet is firni and secure
in his title to noble and lasting fame.
Kālidāsa's renown does not rest alone on his drainatic work, but
it rests also upon his lyrical, descriptive, and narrative poetry. Of
his three dramas, Cakuntalā,' Vikramorvaçi,' and Mālavikāgnimi-
tra, the last named is probably the earlier in point of composition.
There is no
to doubt Kālidāsa's authorship. It is a play
written on the conventional lines of several Hindu dramas which fol-
lowed it,-a play of court life and romantic incident. The love of
King Agnimitra for the dancing-girl Mālavikā, a handmaid to the
queen, forms its subject. In spite of the opposition of the queen and
the jealousy of a younger consort, the king finds an opportunity to
express his admiration; and after many amusing or distressing inci-
dents the girl is found to be a princess in disguise, and all ends
happily in union and general reconciliation. The scene in which the
fair Mālavikā exhibits her skill in dancing before the king and queen,
with the revered Buddhist nun as referee in judging which of the
two rival professors has proved himself the better teacher, is quite
cleverly arranged, and a selection from it is given below. As the
plot is confined to court life and to social intercourse in the pal-
ace, the play forms a contrast to the “Çakuntalā,' in which the plot
is partly engaged with the supernatural; or a contrast again to the
Vikramorvaçi (Nymph Won by Heroism), in which the mythical,
marvelous, and supermundane abound. The plots of the two latter
plays are described under Indian Literature); and the comments
that are made here are added simply by way of supplementing the
main points there presented regarding Kālidāsa as a dramatic poet.
In the field of the romantic epopee, Kālidāsa ranks first in his
Raghuvança,' or 'Line of Raghu,' -a poem in eighteen cantos tra-
cing the descendants of the solar kings, or the line from which the
아
(
## p. 8457 (#57) ############################################
KĀLIDĀSA
8457
>
great Rāma is sprung. Parts of the poem are Vergilian in tone, but
according to our taste they lack the classic restraint of the Roman
writer. Similar in character is Kālidāsa's narrative from Kumāra-
sambhava,' or Birth of the War Prince, which may be read as far
as the seventh canto in Griffith's rhymed translation. In respect to
Kālidāsa's lyrical poetry, it is not necessary to add anything here
regarding the Ritusanhara,' a sort of Sanskrit Thomson's 'Seasons,'
which has been sufficiently discussed under Indian Literature. ' A
few additional words, however, may be devoted to Kālidāsa's lyrical
masterpiece, Meghadūta,' (the Cloud-Messenger. ) This love message
which the banished Yaksha (demigod) intrusts to the cloud to con-
vey to his beloved, has almost the feeling of a Shelley. The poem
is short, — not much over a hundred stanzas; but the beauty of its
description of natural phenomena, and the fineness of its lyrical
passion, render it worthy of the reputation which it enjoys in India
and of the attention which some lovers of poetry in the Occident
have given it.
As a poet, Kālidāsa combines art with nature. His language and
his style have all the finish and skillful elaboration, without the
labored workmanship and meretricious faults, that mark the later
development and decay of Sanskrit art-poetry. In his writings the
literary student will find certain elements that recall the renaissance
spirit of Marlowe or of Keats rather than the soul of Shakespeare.
One might be reminded in his lyrical poetry and descriptive narra-
tive, for example, of the lavishness and exuberance of Marlowe, or of
the beauty, color, and passionate effusiveness of Keats. He excels in
poetic outbursts of pure fancy, but he can reflect in philosophic tone,
and can be stirred by the pomp of war and the trumpet's blare; yet
these passages are not common. His description of natural scenery
and his love of animals seem almost Wordsworthian; for nature is
nearer to the heart of Kālidāsa than to almost any other poet's heart.
In dramatic work, if such comparison be possible, his hand is rather
the hand of the earlier Shakespeare, or the touch of the later roman-
tic Shakespeare, than the Shakespeare of the great tragic period; for
the Hindu dramatic canon practically excluded Kālidāsa from tragic
subjects. Taken for all in all, he is a poet worthy to be studied by
a poet and by any true lover of poetry, and his work well merits a
place in the best literature of the world.
Airwickauns
is Jackson
## p. 8458 (#58) ############################################
8458
KĀLIDĀSA
slo
FROM MĀLAVIKĀGNIMITRA)
Then are seen, after the orchestral arrangements have been completed, the
King, with his friend, seated on a throne, the Queen Dhārini, and
the retinue in order of rank.
King – Reverend madam! which of the two professors shall
first exhibit to us the skill which he has infused into his pupil ?
Parivrăjikā— Even supposing their attainments to be equal,
Ganadāsa ought surely to be preferred on account of his being
the elder.
King — Well, Maudgalya, go and tell these gentlemen this,
and then go about your business.
Chamberlain - As the King commands.
Ganadāsa [entering] — King, there is a composition of Çar-
mistha, consisting of four parts in medium time: your Highness
ought to hear attentively one-fourth of it performed with appro-
priate gestures.
King - Professor! I am most respectively attentive.
[Exit Ganadāsa.
King [aside to Vidīshaka, the Buffoon]- Friend, my eye, eager
to behold her who is concealed by the curtain, through impa-
tience seems to be endeavoring to draw it up.
Vidũshaka ſaside] - Ha! the honey of your eyes is approach-
ing, but the bee is near; therefore look on with caution.
Then Mālavikā enters, with the teacher of dancing contemplating the cle-
gant movement of her limbs
Vidūshaka [aside]— Look, your Highness. Her beauty does
not fall short of the picture (with which you fell in love).
King [aside] - Friend, my mind anticipated that her beauty
could not possibly come up to that represented in the picture;
but now I think that the painter by whom she was taken studied
his model but carelessly.
Ganadāsa — My dear child, dismiss your timidity; be composed.
King - Oh, the perfection of her beauty in every posture!
For her face has long eyes and the splendor of an autumn
moon; her two arms are gracefully curved at the shoulders; her
chest is compact, having firm and swelling breasts; her sides are
as if planed off; her waist may be spanned by the hand; her hips
## p. 8459 (#59) ############################################
KĀLIDASA
8459
slope elegantly, her feet have curving toes, her body is as grace-
ful as the ideal in the mind of the teacher of dancing.
(Malavikā, having approached, sings the composition, consisting of four
parts. ]
Mālavikā (singing] -
My beloved is hard to obtain; be thou without hope with
respect to him, O my heart! Ha! the outer corner of my
left eye throbs somewhat: how is this man, seen after a long
time, to be obtained ? My lord, consider that I am devoted
to thee with ardent longing.
(She goes through a pantomime expressive of the sentiment. ]
Vidūshaka [aside]— Ha! ha! this lady may be said to have
made use of the composition in four parts for the purpose of
flinging herself at your head.
King [aside to Vidūshaka] – My friend, this is the state of the
hearts of both of us. Certainly she, by accompanying the words
"know that I am devoted to thee,” that came in her song, with
expressive action pointing at her own body,- seeing no other
way of telling her love, owing to the neighborhood of Dhārinī,-
addressed herself to me under pretense of courting a beautiful
youth.
(Malavikā at the end of her song makes as if she would leave the stage. ]
Vidushaka — Stop, lady! you have somewhat
somewhat neglected the
proper order; I will ask about it, if you please.
Ganadäsa — My dear child, stop a minute; you shall go after
your performance has been pronounced faultless.
Mālavikā turns round and stands still. ]
King [to himself]- Ah, her beauty gains fresh splendor in
every posture. For her standing attitude, in which she is pla-
cing on her hip her left hand, the bracelet of which clings
motionless at the wrist, and making her other hand hang down
loosely like the branch of a çyama-tree, and casting down her
eye on the inlaid pavement on which she is pushing about a
flower with her toe, an attitude in which the upper part of her
body is upright, is more attractive even than her dancing.
Translation of C. H. Tawney.
## p. 8460 (#60) ############################################
8460
KĀLIDĀSA
FROM THE RAGHUVANÇA)
HYMN ADDRESSED TO VISHNU BY THE DEITIES
G"
LORY to Thee, who art first the creator of the universe, next
its upholder, and finally its destroyer; glory to Thee in
this threefold character. As water falling from the sky,
though having but one flavor, assumes different flavors in differ-
ent bodies, so Thou, associated with the three qualities [Sattva,
Rajas, and Tamas, or Goodness, Passion, and Darkness), assumest
[three) states [those of creator, preserver, and destroyer), though
Thyself unchanged. Immeasurable, Thou measurest the worlds;
desiring nothing, Thou art the fulfiller of desires; unconquered,
Thou art a conqueror; utterly indiscernible, Thou art the cause
of all that is discerned. Though one, Thou, from one or another
cause, assumest this or that condition; Thy variations are com-
pared to those which crystal undergoes from the contact of dif-
ferent colors. Thou art known as abiding in [our] hearts, and
yet as remote; as free from affection, ascetic, merciful, untouched
by sin, primeval, and imperishable. Thou knowest all things,
Thyself unknown; sprung from Thyself for self-existent], Thou
art the source of all things; Thou art the lord of all, Thyself
without a master; though but one, Thou assumest all forms.
Thou art declared to be He who is celebrated in the seven
Sāma-hymns, to be He who sleeps on the waters of the seven
oceans, whose face is lighted up by the god of seven rays (Fire],
and who is the one refuge of the seven worlds. Knowledge
which gains the four classes of fruit (virtue, pleasure, wealth, and
final liberation), the division of time into four yugas [ages], the
fourfold division of the people into castes, — all these things come
from Thee, the four-faced. Yogins [devoutly contemplative men]
with minds subdued by exercise recognize Thee, the luminous,
abiding in their hearts; (and so attain] to liberation from earthly
existence. Who comprehends the truth regarding Thee, who
art unborn, and yet becomest born; who art passionless, yet slay-
est thine enemies; who sleepest, and yet art awake? Thou art
capable of enjoying sounds and other objects of sense; of prac-
ticing severe austerity, of protecting thy creatures, and of living
in indifference to all external things. The roads leading to per-
fection, which vary according to the different revealed systems,
all end in Thee, as the waves of the Ganges flow to the ocean.
## p. 8461 (#61) ############################################
KĀLIDĀSA
8461
For those passionless men whose hearts are fixed on Thee, who
have committed to Thee their works, Thou art a refuge, so that
they escape further mundane births. Thy glory, as manifested
to the senses in the earth and other objects, is yet incompre-
hensible: what shall be said of Thyself, who canst be proved
only by the authority of Scripture and by inference? Seeing that
the remembrance of Thee alone purifies a man, – the rewards of
other mental acts also, when directed towards Thee, are thereby
indicated. As the waters exceed the ocean, and as the beams of
light exceed the sun, so Thy acts transcend our praises. There
is nothing for Thee to attain which Thou hast not already at-
tained: kindness to the world is the only motive for Thy birth
and for Thy actions. If this our hymn now comes to a close
after celebrating Thy greatness, the reason of this is our exhaust-
ion, or our inability to say more, not that there is any limit to
Thy attributes.
Translation of J. Muir.
FROM `ÇAKUNTALĀ; OR, THE LOST RING)
Scene: A Forest. Enter King Dushyanta, armed with a bow and arrow,
in a chariot, chasing an antelope, attended by his Charioteer.
CHAR
HARIOTEER [looking at the deer and then at the King] -Great Prince,
When on the antelope I bend my gaze,
And on your Majesty, whose mighty bow
Has its string firmly braced, — before my eyes
The god that wields the trident seems revealed,
Chasing the deer that flies from him in vain.
King — Charioteer, this feet antelope has drawn us far from my
attendants. See! there he runs:
Aye and anon his graceful neck he bends
To cast a glance at the pursuing car;
And dreading now the swift-descending shaft,
Contracts into itself his slender frame:
About his path, in scattered fragments strewn,
The half-chewed grass falls from his panting mouth;
See! in his airy bounds he seems to fly,
And leaves no trace upon th' elastic turf.
(With astonishment]- How now! swift as is our pursuit, I scarce can
see him.
## p. 8462 (#62) ############################################
8462
KALIDASA
Charioteer -- Sire, the ground here is full of hollows; I have there-
fore drawn in the reins and checked the speed of the chariot. Hence
the deer has somewhat gained upon us. Now that we are passing
over level ground, we shall have no difficulty in overtaking him.
King — Loosen the reins, then.
Charioteer — The King is obeyed. (Drives the chariot at full speed. ]
Great Prince, see! see!
Responsive to the slackened rein, the steeds,
Chafing with eager rivalry, career
With emulative fleetness o'er the plain;
Their necks outstretched, their waving plumes that late
Fluttered above their brows, are motionless!
Their sprightly ears, but now erect, bent low;
Themselves unsullied by the circling dust
That vainly follows on their rapid course.
King ( joyously) – In good sooth, the horses seem as if they would
outstrip the steeds of Indra and the Sun.
That which but now showed to my view minute
Quickly assumes dimension; that which seemed
A moment since disjoined in diverse parts
Looks suddenly like one compacted whole;
That which is really crooked in its shape,
In the far distance left, grows regular;
Wondrous the chariot's speed, that in a breath
Makes the near distant and the distant near.
Now, Charioteer, see me kill the deer. [Takes aim. ]
A voice behind the scenes — - Hold, O King! this deer belongs to our
hermitage. Kill it not! kill it not!
Charioteer [listening and looking] — Great King, some hermits have
stationed themselves so as to screen the antelope at the very moment
of its coming within range of your arrow.
King (hastily] — Then stop the horses.
Charioteer (stops the chariot]—I obey.
Enter a Hermit, and two others with him
Hermit (raising his hand]- This deer, O King, belongs to our her-
mitage. Kill it not! kill it not!
Now heaven forbid this barbed shaft descend
Upon the fragile body of a fawn,
Like fire upon a heap of tender flowers!
Can thy steel bolts no meeter quarry find
Than the warm life-blood of a harmless deer?
Restore, great Prince, thy weapon to its quiver.
More it becomes thy arms to shield the weak,
Than to bring anguish on the innocent.
## p. 8463 (#63) ############################################
KALIDASA
8463
King (replaces the arrow in its quiver) – 'Tis done.
Hermit — Worthy is this action of a Prince, the light of Puru's race.
Well does this act befit a Prince like thee,
Right worthy is it of thine ancestry.
Thy guerdon be a son of peerless worth,
Whose wide dominion shall embrace the earth.
Both the other Hermits [raising their hands] — May Heaven indeed
grant thee a son, a sovereign of the earth from sea to sea!
King (bowing]-I accept with gratitude a Brahman's benediction.
Here enter Çakuntalā, with her two female companions, and carrying a
watering-pot for sprinkling the flowers
Çakuntalā — This way, my dear companions, this way.
Anasūya — Dear Çakuntalā, one would think that father Kanwa had
more affection for the shrubs of the hermitage even than for you,
seeing he assigns to you, who are yourself as delicate as the fresh-
blown jasmine, the task of filling with water the trenches which
encircle their roots.
Çakuntalā — Dear Anasūyā, although I am charged by my good
father with this duty, yet I cannot regard it as a task. I really feel
a sisterly love for these plants. [Continues watering the shrubs. ]
King — Can this be the daughter of Kanwa ? The saintly man,
though descended from the great Kāçyapa, must be very deficient in
judgment to habituate such a maiden to the life of a recluse.
The sage who would this form of artless grace
Inure to penance, thoughtlessly attempts
To cleave in twain the hard acacia's stem
With the soft edge of a blue lotos leaf.
Well! concealed behind this tree, I will watch her without raising
her suspicions. [Conceals himself. ]
Çakuntalā — Good Anasūyā, Priyamvadā has drawn this bark dress
too tightly about my chest. I pray thee, loosen it a little.
Anasāyā — I will. (Loosens it. ]
Priyamvadā (smiling] – Why do you lay the blame on me? Blame
rather your own blooming youthfulness, which imparts fullness to your
bosom.
King — A most just observation !
This youthful form, whose bosom's swelling charms
By the bark's knotted tissue are concealed,
Like some fair bud close folded in its sheath,
Gives not to view the blooming of its beauty.
But what am I saying? In real truth, this bark dress, though ill
suited to her figure, sets it off like an ornament.
## p. 8464 (#64) ############################################
8464
KALIDASA
Home
Ca
face.
X
chart
The lotos with the Saivala entwined
Is not a whit less brilliant; dusky spots
Heighten the lustre of the cold-rayed moon:
This lovely maiden in her dress of bark
Seems all the lovelier. E'en the meanest garb
Gives to true beauty fresh attractiveness.
Cakuntalā [looking before her] - Yon Kēsara-tree beckons to me
with its young shoots, which, as the breeze waves them to and fro,
appear like slender fingers. I will go and attend to it. [Walks
towards it. ]
Priyamvadā - Dear Çakuntalā, prithee, rest in that attitude one
moment.
Çakuntalā — Why so?
Priyamvadā — The Kēsara-tree, whilst your graceful form bends
about its stem, appears as if it were wedded to some lovely twining
creeper.
Çakuntală — Ah! saucy girl, you are most appropriately named
Priyamvadā (speaker of flattering things].
King — What Priyamvadā says, though complimentary, is never-
theless true. Verily,-
Her ruddy lip vies with the opening bud;
Her graceful arms are as the twining stalks;
And her whole form is radiant with the glow
Of youthful beauty, as the tree with bloom.
Anasuyā — See, dear Çakuntalā, here is the young jasmine, which
you named “the Moonlight of the Grove,” the self-elected wife of the
mango-tree. Have you forgotten it ?
Çakuntalā - Rather will I forget myself. [Approaching the plant and
looking at it. ] How delightful is the season when the jasmine-creeper
and the mango-tree seem thus to unite in mutual embraces! The
fresh blossoms of the jasmine resemble the bloom of a young bride,
and the newly formed shoots of the mango appear to make it her
natural protector. (Continues gazing at it. ]
Priyamvadā (smiling]— Do you know, my Anasūyā, why Çakuntalā
gazes so intently at the jasmine?
Anasāyā — No, indeed; I cannot imagine. I pray thee tell me.
Priyamvadā — She is wishing that as the jasmine is united to a
suitable tree, so in like manner she may obtain a husband worthy of
her.
Cakuntala - Speak for yourself, girl; this is the thought in your
own mind. [Continues watering the flowers. ]
King – Would that my union with her were permissible! and yet
I hardly dare hope that the maiden is sprung from a caste different
from that of the head of the hermitage. But away with doubt:
>
H
c
## p. 8465 (#65) ############################################
KĀLIDĀSA
8465
O me
fro,
Walks
e one
bends
wining
named
That she is free to wed a warrior-king
My heart attests. For, in conflicting doubts,
The secret promptings of the good man's soul
Are an unerring index of the truth.
However, come what may, I will ascertain the fact.
Çakuntala (in a flurry)- Ah! a bee, disturbed by the sprinkling of
the water, has left the young jasmine, and is trying to settle on my
face. [Attempts to drive it away. ]
King (gazing at her ardently] - Beautiful! there is something
charming even in her repulse.
Where'er the bee his eager onset plies,
Now here, now there, she darts her kindling eyes:
What love hath yet to teach, fear teaches now,
The furtive glances and the frowning brow.
[In a tone of envy]
Ah, happy bee! how boldly dost thou try
To steal the lustre from her sparkling eye;
And in thy circling movements hover near,
To murmur tender secrets in her ear,
Or, as she coyly waves her hand, to sip
Voluptuous nectar from her lower lip!
While rising doubts my heart's fond hopes destroy,
Thou dost the fullness of her charms enjoy.
Çakuntalā — This impertinent bee will not rest quiet. I must move
elsewhere.
[Moving a few steps off, and casting a glance around. 1
How now! he is following me here. Help! my dear friends, help!
deliver me from the attacks of this troublesome insect.
Priyamvadā and Anasīyā — How can we deliver you? Call Dush-
yanta to your aid. The sacred groves are under the King's special
protection.
King - An excellent opportunity for me to show myself. Fear
[Checks himself when the words are half uttered. Aside. ] . But
stay, if I introduce myself in this manner, they will know me to be
the King. Be it so: I will accost them, nevertheless.
never.
ne, which
fe of the
Plant and
--creeper
es! The
& bride,
it her
not
.
Suntala
[The King, filled with admiration, declares his love for Çakuntalā, and in
the next act he is espoused to her according to the Gandharva ceremonial.
He then departs from the hermitage and returns to the royal city; but leaves
with Çakuntală a precious ring, which she is to present when she claims him
as her lawful husband. The play continues, and shows how the fair Çakun-
talā, so deeply enamored, becomes absent-minded and neglects to do some act
of homage to an aged hermit; who consequently pronounces a curse upon her
that her beloved shall absolutely forget her until he sees the magic ring, which
alone has power to remove the curse. King Dushyanta accordingly loses all
recollection of Çakuntalā; and Çakuntalā's foster-father, the saintly Kanwa,
ne.
as recently in the instance of a critic of some standing – as an
epic comparable with those of Milton or Dante, one must at once dis-
count a really irrelevant comparison. For though both Dante and
Milton, and doubtless Homer in his half-mythic time, summed up an
infinitude of general knowledge and thought, their actual achievement
stands to this day as individual and distinctive. But though we
owe the "Kalevala' as we know it to the genius of one man, — Elias
Lönnrot of Helsingfors, — this man was the editor rather than the
creator of the national epic. For the famous national epic of Finland
is in reality composed of a great number of popular songs, ballads,
incantations, and early runic poetry, strung together into an artistic
whole by the genius of Dr. Lönnrot.
The Finns were gradually dying out as a nation before the Kale-
vala' appeared. National hopes, aspirations, and ideals had long been
slowly atrophying; and in another generation or two Russia would
to-
!
.
1
1
.
## p. 8444 (#44) ############################################
8444
THE KALEVALA
have absorbed all the intellectual life of the old Northern realm, and
Finland have sunk to the status of a mere outlying province. At
the same time the Finns have ever been a people of marked racial
homogeneity, and have cherished their ancient language and litera-
ture with something of that passionate attachment which we find in
all races whose heroic past dominates a present which in no respect
can be compared with it. The upper classes would inevitably have
become Swedish or Russian, and the majority of the people would in
time have degenerated into a listless and mentally inert mass. Per-
haps a great war, involving a national uprising, would have saved
them from this slow death: but happily the genius of one man and
the enthusiasm of contemporary and subsequent colleagues obviated
any such tragically crucial test; for by applying the needed torch to
the national enthusiasm, Lönnrot and his fellow-workers gave incal-
culable stimulus to the mental and actual life of their countrymen.
For many ages the Finnish minstrels, who had ever been beloved
of the people, went to and fro reciting the old sagas of the race,
singing old national songs and telling the wonderful folk-tales of a
remote and ancient land. These singers were known as the Runo-
lainen, and played to the sound of the kantela, a kind of harp much
like that which the Gaelic minstrels used to carry in their similar
wanderings to and fro from village to village and from house to
house. For generation after generation, much of the essential part of
the Kalevala, as we now know it, lived within the hearts and upon
the lips of the peasants and farming classes: but with the changed
conditions which came to the whole of Europe early in the present
century, and with the political and other vicissitudes through which
Finland in common with almost every other country has passed, it
was inevitable that as elsewhere, this oral legendary lore should
slowly fade before the pressing actualities of new and radically dis-
tinct conditions.
The first man to make a systematic endeavor to stem the ebb
of the national poetry and sentiment was Dr. Zacharias Topelius,
who in 1822 published a small collection of Finnish folk poetry and
legends. But fifteen years later Dr. Elias Lönnrot achieved that
marvelous success which has been the admiration and wonder of
Europe ever since, as well as the delight — and in a sense, as already
indicated, the regeneration of Finland itself.
Dr. Lönnrot, inspired with a passionate enthusiasm for the histori-
cal language and legendary literature of his people, set himself the
task of rescuing all that was best in the vast unprinted and uncol-
lected mass of folk-lore which existed in his country. To this end he
lived with the peasantry for many years and wandered from place to
place, everywhere taking down from the lips of the people all that
## p. 8445 (#45) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8445
they knew of their popular songs or legendary lore, and including
of course all they could tell him of local superstitions, incantations,
and so forth. At first his researches were limited to the district of
Karelia, in the Government of Kupio. Even within this limited scope
he obtained, besides numerous fragmentary songs and a great num-
ber of proverbs and charms, a complete epos consisting of some
12,000 lines. These either fell naturally, or were arranged by him,
in thirty-two parts, each consisting of from 200 to 700 verses. They
were given to the world just as he had heard them sung or chanted;
and in this, of course, lies their primary value. At the first, however,
this all-important work attracted little attention when it was pub-
lished in 1835 — and this notwithstanding the fact that it appeared
under the title of Kalevala' (Kalewala), the ancient poetic designa-
tion of Finland. Five years later the Academy of Dorpat made the
publication the subject of discussion at their meetings. Some nine
years subsequently Dr. Lönnrot issued a new edition of nearly 23,000
verses in fifty so-called runes. But already the attention of scientific
Europe had been drawn to this wonderful Finnish find. Not only the
Swede and famous Finnish scholar Castrén, but the great German
philologists, the two Grimms and Brockhaus, agreed in regarding the
Kalevala' as a genuine epic; and as an epic it has ever since been
received - although, as already hinted, a splendid epical national mir-
ror rather than epic in the strict literary sense of the term. It would
be pedantic, however, to refuse the term "epic » to the Kalevala,'
for all that it does not conform to certain literary conditions which
we associate with the epic pure and simple. Not only, from the date
of the first discussions at Dorpat down to the present time, has the
Kalevala' been admitted to be one of the most curious monuments
of its kind posessed by any European people, but the chief authorities
have agreed in regarding it as a composition possessing an almost
unparalleled wealth of images and tropes, great flexibility of rhythm,
and a copiousness of synonyms not to be met with in any other
Northern tongue. Of course there is great divergence of opinion as
to the identification of historic facts and arbitrary figments; that is,
as to whether the incidents of the narrative refer to definite histori-
cal epochs, or are mainly mythical or allegorical. It is too loose a
way of writing to aver, with one authority on the subject, that the
date of its composition must be referred to a period anterior to the
introduction of Christianity among the Finns in the fourteenth cen-
tury; for while there is internal evidence to an even more ancient ori-
gin than this,- indeed, of an identity of names and traditions which
points to an epoch anterior to the immigrations of the Karelin Finns
into the districts which they now occupy,—not enough allowance
is made for the arbitrary archaic coloring which by a natural law
## p. 8446 (#46) ############################################
8446
THE KALEVALA
characterizes all renascent folk-lore. It does not follow, because a
narrative is remote in date and is archaic in form, that it belongs to
a remote date itself; though the conditions and circumstances which
preserve traditionary folk-lore are pre-eminently conservative. Stu-
dents of all early and mainly traditional literatures have long agreed
upon this point, and one of the first efforts of the philological folk-
lorist is to penetrate the illusion of an arbitrary archaism.
Once the importance of this great indigenous epic of Finland was
fully recognized, translations from Dr. Lönnrot's invaluable version
appeared in Swedish, German, and French, - and latterly in English,
with which may be included the few representative selections trans-
lated by the late Professor Porter of Yale College (published in New
York, 1868). The Kalevala) is written in eight-syllabled trochaic
verse, and an adequate idea of its style and method may be obtained
from the popular Hiawatha' of Longfellow; who, it may be added,
adopted this particular metrical form from his knowledge of the
great Finnish poem. Some eight or nine years ago a complete
edition of the Kalevala' appeared in English, the work of Mr.
John Martin Crawford (2 vols. , 1888). In the interesting preface to
this work — which deals with the Finns and their country, and also
with their language and mythology — the translator remarks, what the
famous Grimm had already affirmed, that the Kalevala' describes
Finnish life and nature with extraordinary minuteness, verisimilitude,
and beauty; and that indeed no national poem is to be compared
with it in this respect, unless it be some of the epics of India. He
adds also some interesting additional evidence for the genuineness
of certain of the more archaic portions, which have been disputed
by some critics. For, as he says, some of the most convincing evi-
dences of the genuineness and great age of the Kalevala' have been
supplied by Barna, the Hungarian translator. The Hungarians, it is
well known, are racially closely connected with the Finns; and their
language, the Magyar, has the same characteristics as the Finnish
tongue. Naturally therefore Barna's translation might well be, as it
admittedly is, much the finest rendering of the original. (In a book
written by a Hungarian in 1578 are collected all the incantations in
use among Hungarian country-people of his day for the expulsion of
disease and misfortunes. These display a most satisfactory sameness
with the numerous incantations in the Kalevala' used for the same
purpose. )
The Kalevala' (whose direct significance is “the land of heroes”)
relates as its main theme the ever-varying contests between the
Finns and a people referred to in the epic as “the darksome Lapps,”
just as the Iliad relates the contests between the Greeks and the
Trojans. It is more than probable, however, that these Laplanders
(
## p. 8447 (#47) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8447
are
are not exactly the Lapps of to-day; and it is possible that another
interpretation of the Kalevala' points to a contest between Light
and Darkness, Good and Evil, — the Finns representing the Light
and Good, and the Lapps the Darkness and Evil. The celebrated
Swedish scholar Castrén is of opinion that the enmity between the
Finns and the Lapps was sown long before the Finns had left their
Asiatic birthplace. Certainly this possibility is enhanced — collater-
ally affording another proof of the great antiquity of the fundamental
part of the Kalevala'— by the silence throughout concerning the
neighboring Russians, Swedes, and Germans. Nowhere in the poem
are there any important signs of foreign influence; indeed, from first
to last it is a true pagan epic, and some of the narrative portions-
for example the story of Mariatta recited in the fiftieth rune
pre-Christian.
It has been well said of the architecture of the Kalevala,' that it
stands midway between the epic ballads of the Servians and the
purely epical structure of the Iliad: for although now accepted as a
continuous whole, it contains several almost independent parts; as
for example the contest of the Yonkahainen, the Kullervo episode,
and the legend of Mariatta. To this day its eight-syllabled trochaic
verse, with the part line echo, is the characteristic literary expression
of the Finnish people. It is this which gives peculiar value to Mr.
Crawford's translation, to which allusion has already been made; for
it is in the original metre,—a wonderfully versatile metre, he adds,
which admits of keeping the right medium between the dignified
and virile hexameter and the quieter metres of the lyrics. Its feet
are nimble and fleet, yet are full of vigor and expressiveness; while in
addition the Kalevala' uses alliteration, and thus varies the rhythm
of time with the rhythm of sound. While therefore all honor is
given to Dr. Lönnrot, it must not be forgotten that the substance of
the Kalevala' existed before he wandered minstrel-wise from vil-
lage to village; that, in a word, it has descended unwritten from the
mythical age to the present day, kept alive from generation to gen-
eration, and in this sense is the veritable expression of the national
life. We must remember the national idiosyncrasy in judging the
monotonous effect of this great epic. For what is congenial to the
Finns is not so to us, who have something of the Celtic love of vari-
ety and vivacity. For this epic of fifty books, written throughout in
the (Hiawatha' metre, seldom relieves the ear by a pause or a final
long syllable, but is one uninterrupted stream of trochees, which
have in prolonged perusal a wearisome effect to our ears. Strangely
enough, we find at least one Southern people with the same charac-
teristic; for the metre of the dialogues in the plays of Calderon and
other Spanish masters is akin.
## p. 8448 (#48) ############################################
8448
THE KALEVALA
of the
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Veron
tered t
of the
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21€ na
and is
posed
cer
addit
A great many theories have arisen as to the origin and full sig-
nificance of the Kalevala,' but these may be merely alluded to en
passant. In the words of Mr. Oxenford: «To admit any conjecture
as to the veritable import of the Kalevala'— as to the nucleus of
truth, moral, historical, or theological, that would remain if it were
stripped of its wild fancies would be an act of presumption, as the
profoundest investigators of the subject are still in darkness. ” There
are certain features, however, which may be pointed out; and these
we have already indicated. All authorities agree on one point: that
the surprising development of the Finns during the present century
is to a large extent due to the fostering efforts of the Finnish Liter-
ary Society (itself an outcome of the labors of Dr. Lönnrot and other
pioneers), and the collection of those marvelous stores of folk-lore
which have so long lain half buried under the austere reserve of the
Finnish peasant. The critics, moreover, — native, Swedish, Russian,
German, and English, — all concur in recognition of the Kalevala's)
immense importance in this political and national development. With
the best fitted to judge of these, we may agree in saying that the
(Kalevala' has stirred the fibre of nationality among a people who
have never yet shown any political genius; that it has revealed to
an obscure race their own unity and power; that it has awakened an
enthusiasm for national culture and historic life which appears des-
tined to have far-reaching effects.
Some idea of the immense extent of contemporary research may
be gained from the fact that by the year 1889 the Finnish Society
had already collected
the
WI
tat
the
10
ad
C
1
22,000 songs,
13,000 stories,
40,000 proverbs,
10,000 riddles,
2,000 folk melodies, and
20,000 incantations, games, etc.
The main body and frame of the Kalevala) is compounded of
four cycles of folk-songs. The poem itself takes its name from three
heroes of ancient Kalevala; namely, Wåinåmỏinen, Ilmarinen, and
Lemminkåinen. It is the struggles of these with the mythical “dark-
some Laplanders” or others, out of Pohjola, a land of the cold north,
and from Luomela, the land of death, that constitute the theme of
the epic narrative. The poem, which begins at the creation of the
world, ends at last in the triumph of Wåinåmỏinen and his comrades.
Besides the four divisional cycles just alluded to, there are seven dis-
tinct romances or folk-tales woven into the general fabric; namely,
(The Tale of Aino,' (The Fishing for the Mermaid, “The Wooing
## p. 8449 (#49) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8449
ܘܘܘܘܘ. ܣ ܚ
of the Daughter of the Air,' (The Golden Bride,' (The Wooing of
the Son of Kojo,' «The Captivity and Deliverance of the Sun and
Moon,' and 'The Story of the Virgin Maria. Besides these, and scat-
tered freely throughout the work,—sometimes placed in the mouths
of the characters, sometimes absorbed into the narrative itself, -
are many prayers, chants, religious formulas, and other magic songs
and lyrics, roughly divisible thus: (1) origins; (2) charms; (3) lyrics;
(4) marriage songs; (5) the origin of the harp; (6) introductory and
closing songs. Finally, there seem to be additions apparently com-
posed, paraphrased, or adopted by Dr. Lönnrot himself; though it is
uncertain if these are not merely later and perhaps contemporary
additions to the national treasures of folk-lore.
No one who has ever visited Finland can fail to note the truth of
the delineation of the national genius as reflected in this representa-
tive work: truth of observation, love of nature, mental independency,
unmistakable racial idiosyncrasy. Something of the spirit of that vast
and for the most part strangely bleak and desolate country has satu-
rated the (Kalevala. ' The immense plains, the great treeless pastures,
the lakes like inland seas, the trackless gloomy pine forests, have
together thrown something of their shadow across the national epic:
and in it we hear - almost as distinctly as the voices of men and
women and the sharp antagonism of rival forces bodily or spiritual —
the lone cry of the wind, the dashing of solitary seas, and the solitary
cry of the wild swan along unfrequented lakes. This characteristic
melancholy is to be found not only in the ancient poems, but in the
writings of contemporary Finnish poets; and we may take it that
that Finnish legend is true in spirit which displays the genius of
Finland as a wild swan, singing a death-song beautifully, while, be-
wildered by the slow increasing mists of death, it circles blindly above
the forests and lakes and vast snow plains of the great Northland. If
the ‘Kalevala' be indeed the swan-song of the Finns, we must admit
that it has at least the note rather of virility and endurance than of
undue melancholy or decrepitude.
Fortunately, it is no longer considered boorish in Finland to speak
the ancient Finnish tongue. For a time the Russian government did
its utmost to encourage the cultivation of Finnish in every direction;
but this, it is to be feared, was not so much from disinterested love
of an ancient language and its literature as the desire to alienate
the people from the language and general sympathies of the Swedes,
under whose dominion Finland formerly was. Latterly, Russia has
broken its solemn pledges and done its utmost to Russianize Finland.
It needs all the enthusiasm and native independence of the Finns
to resist the organized assault made against them from school and
church and the public courts; but at present, at any rate, the national
H. . . .
XV-529
## p. 8450 (#50) ############################################
8450
THE KALEVALA
patriotism is likely to prove a stronger factor than Russian bureau-
cratism. The Finnish literary movement inspired by the Kalevala
has as yet achieved very little; but if not stamped out by Russian
influence, it is possible that it may have a marked development before
long. Many of the younger Finns display remarkable promise, though
they have to face the fact that the people who will read the native
language are mostly of a class who can ill afford to buy books.
Moreover, the prose literature of Finland has ever been almost exclus-
ively devoted to religious and moral subjects; and it seems as though
the mental soil were not yet ready to bear a harvest akin to that
remarkable aftermath which is so noticeable a feature of the contem-
porary intellectual development of Sweden, and still more of Norway.
We may take leave of the Kalevala' in the words of one of the
most popular writers on kindred subjects, Mr. Max Müller:
.
«From the mouths of the aged an epic poem has been collected, equaling
the Iliad in length and completeness; nay,- if we can forget for a moment
all that we in our youth learned to call beautiful, — not less beautiful. A Finn
is not a Greek, and a Wainamoinen was not a Homer. But if the poet may
take his colors from that nature by which he is surrounded, if he may depict
the men with whom he lives, the Kalevala) possesses merits not dissimilar
from those of the Iliad: and will claim its place as the fifth national epic of
the world, side by side with the Ionian Songs,' with the Mahābhārata, the
(Shabnāmeh,) and the Nibelungen. ) »
>
As exemplifying the style and method of the Kalevala, I may
give the opening and closing lines in the translation of Mr. Crawford.
as that more adequately conveys a notion of the original than any
other save that of the Hungarian, Barna.
PROEM
M
ASTERED by desire impulsive,
By a mighty inward urging,
I am ready now for singing,
Ready to begin the chanting
Of our nation's ancient folk-song,
Handed down from bygone ages.
In my mouth the words are melting,
From my lips the tones are gliding,
From my tongue they wish to hasten;
When my willing teeth are parted,
When my ready mouth is opened,
Songs of ancient wit and wisdom
Hasten from me not unwilling.
## p. 8451 (#51) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8451
Golden friend, and dearest brother,
Brother dear of mine in childhood,
Come and sing with me the stories,
Come and chant with me the legends,
Legends of the times forgotten,
Since we now are here together,
Come together from our roamings.
Seldom do we come for singing,
Seldom to the one, the other,
O'er this cold and cruel country,
O'er the poor soil of the Northland.
Let us clasp our hands together
That we thus may best remember.
Join we now in merry singing,
Chant we now the oldest folk-lore,
That the dear ones all may hear them,
That the well-inclined inay hear them,
Of this rising' generation.
These are words in childhood taught me,
Songs preserved from distant ages;
Legends they that once were taken
From the belt of Wainamoinen,
From the forge of Ilmarinen,
From the sword of Kaukomieli,
From the bow of Youkahainen,
From the pastures of the Northland,
From the meads of Kalevala.
These my dear old father sang me
When at work with knife and hatchet:
These my tender mother taught me
When she twirled the flying spindle,
When a child upon the matting
By her feet I rolled and tumbled.
Incantations were not wanting
Over Sampo and o'er Louhi,
Sampo growing old in singing,
Louhi ceasing her enchantment.
In the songs died wise Wipunen,
At the games died Lemminkainen.
There are many other legends,
Incantations that were taught me,
That I found along the wayside,
Gathered in the fragrant copses,
Blown me from the forest branches,
## p. 8452 (#52) ############################################
8452
THE KALEVALA
Culled among the plumes of pine-trees,
Scented from the vines and flowers,
Whispered to me as I followed
Flocks in land of honeyed meadows,
Over hillocks green and golden,
After sable-haired Murikki,
And the many-colored Kimmo.
Many runes the cold has told me,
Many lays the rain has brought me,
Other songs the winds have sung me;
Many birds from many forests,
Oft have sung me lays in concord;
Waves of sea, and ocean billows,
Music from the many waters,
Music from the whole creation,
Oft have been my guide and master.
Sentences the trees created,
Rolled together into bundles,
Moved them to my ancient dwelling,
On the sledges to my cottage,
Tied them to my garret rafters,
Hung them on my dwelling-portals,
Laid them in a chest of boxes,
Boxes lined with shining copper.
Long they lay within my dwelling
Through the chilling winds of winter,
In my dwelling-place for ages.
Shall I bring these songs together?
From the cold and frost collect them?
Shall I bring this nest of boxes,
Keepers of these golden legends,
To the table in my cabin,
Underneath the painted rafters,
In this house renowned and ancient ?
Shall I now these boxes open,
Boxes filled with wondrous stories ?
Shall I now the end unfasten
Of this ball of ancient wisdom ?
These ancestral lays unravel ?
Let me sing an old-time legend,
That shall echo forth the praises
Of the beer that I have tasted,
Of the sparkling beer of barley.
Bring to me a foaming goblet
## p. 8453 (#53) ############################################
THE KALEVALA
8453
Of the barley of my fathers,
Lest my singing grow too weary,
Singing from the water only.
Bring me too a cup of strong beer;
It will add to our enchantment,
To the pleasure of the evening,
Northland's long and dreary evening,
For the beauty of the day-dawn,
For the pleasure of the morning,
The beginning of the new day.
Often I have heard them chanting,
Often I have heard them singing,
That the nights come to us singly,
That the Moon beams on us singly,
That the Sun shines on us singly;
Singly also, Wainamoinen,
The renowned and wise enchanter,
Born from everlasting Ether
Of his mother, Ether's daughter.
These beautiful lines from the prologue may aptly be followed by
the last lines from the rune of Mariatta, which describe the passing of
the hero, Wainamoinen.
As the years passed, Wainamoinen
Recognized his waning powers:
Empty-handed, heavy-hearted,
Sang his farewell song to Northland,
To the people of Wainola;
Sang himself a boat of copper.
Beautiful his bark of magic;
At the helm sat the magician,
Sat the ancient wisdom-singer.
Westward, westward, sailed the hero
O'er the blue-black of the waters,
Singing as he left Wainola,
This his plaintive song and echo:-
“Suns may rise and set in Suomi,
Rise and set for generations,
When the North will learn my teachings,
Will recall my wisdom-sayings,
Hungry for the true religion.
Then will Suomi need my coming,
Watch for me at dawn of morning,
That I may bring back the Sampo,
## p. 8454 (#54) ############################################
8454
THE KALEVALA
Bring anew the harp of joyance,
Bring again the golden moonlight,
Bring again the silver sunshine,
Peace and plenty to the Northland. ”
Thus the ancient Wainamoinen,
In his copper-banded vessel,
Left his tribe in Kalevala,
Sailing o'er the rolling billows,
Sailing through the azure vapors,
Sailing through the dusk of evening,
Sailing to the fiery sunset,
To the higher-landed regions,
To the lower verge of heaven;
Quickly gained the far horizon,
Gained the purple-colored harbor.
There his bark he firmly anchored,
Rested in his boat of copper;
But he left his harp of magic,
Left his songs and wisdom-sayings,
To the lasting joy of Suomi.
SEE
79
Truly, Wainamoinen has left his songs and wisdom-sayings in the
heart and in the brain of his people, of which the Kalevala' is the
mirror.
Wcian Sharjo
## p. 8455 (#55) ############################################
8455
KĀLIDĀSA
(Presumably, Sixth Century A. D. )
BY A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON
K
»
ĀLIDĀSA is the poet in Sanskrit literature whose name may
best be compared with Shakespeare. No less an authority
than Sir William Jones styled him “the Indian Shake-
speare ) when he made Kālidāsa's name known to the Western World
by translating his romantic play Çakuntalā' into English. Çakun-
"
talā' has ever been a magic word for enchantment since Goethe,
with somewhat of a poet's ecstasy, wrote those oft-quoted lines which
may be rendered:
“Would'st thou tell of the blossoms of Spring, and paint the ripe fruits of the
Autumn,
All that may charm and delight with fullness and joy manifold;
Would'st thou combine in one word the enchantments of Earth and of
Heaven, -
I'll name, O Çakuntalā, thee; in thy name alone all is told. ”
Or as the original stanza runs:-
«Willst du die Blüthe des frühen, die Früchte des späteren Jahres,
Willst du was reizt und entzückt, willst du was sättigt und nährt,
Willst du den Himmel, die Erde mit Einem Namen begreifen,
Nenn ich, Sakuntala, dich, und so ist Alles gesagt. ”
The same enthusiasm for Kālidāsa and Çakuntalā' is echoed in
the writings of Schiller, and by many writers who have since found
much to admire in this poet of mediæval India.
Respecting the life of this gifted playwright and lyrical writer,
however, we have little if any authentic information. The era in
which he lived has been the subject of much discussion. The native
tradition favors the first century B. C. as the time when he flourished;
but the consensus of scholarly opinion points to the middle of the
sixth century A. D. as probably the time when Kālidāsa lived and
wrote at the court of King Vikramāditya. Vikrama's reign was a
renaissance period in Sanskrit letters, and Kālidāsa's name is spoken
of as one of the nine jewels" of Vikrama's throne; and his work is
closely associated with the literary revival, as is shown under 'Indian
## p. 8456 (#56) ############################################
8456
KĀLIDĀSA
attcedi
mitei.
ombas
as the
Kalda
Tegara
SIL
ten a
haste
rev
is
dema
pass
DIS
La
reason
li
Literature in the present volumes. The poet's graphic and beautiful
descriptions of the city Ujjain, and his familiarity with court life, show
that he probably enjoyed for a long time the patronage of his royal
protector; although the epilogue of his drama Vikramorvaçi' seems
to indicate straitened circumstances. The poet's fondness for the
Himālayas and mountain pictures, combined with other facts, seems
to point toward a Kashmir home. There is reason to believe that
he had traveled somewhat. Certain characteristics of his own nature,
moreover, are undoubtedly reflected in the tenderness, grace, beauty,
delicacy, and passionate feeling that is found in his poetry. There is
a story that like Marlowe, his death was violent, — that he perished
by the hand of a woman, who to win a monarch's favor, claimed
one of Kālidāsa's improvised verses as her own, and murdered the
poet lest the truth should be discovered. But enough of such gossip!
This graceful, sensitive, yet thoroughly manly poet is firni and secure
in his title to noble and lasting fame.
Kālidāsa's renown does not rest alone on his drainatic work, but
it rests also upon his lyrical, descriptive, and narrative poetry. Of
his three dramas, Cakuntalā,' Vikramorvaçi,' and Mālavikāgnimi-
tra, the last named is probably the earlier in point of composition.
There is no
to doubt Kālidāsa's authorship. It is a play
written on the conventional lines of several Hindu dramas which fol-
lowed it,-a play of court life and romantic incident. The love of
King Agnimitra for the dancing-girl Mālavikā, a handmaid to the
queen, forms its subject. In spite of the opposition of the queen and
the jealousy of a younger consort, the king finds an opportunity to
express his admiration; and after many amusing or distressing inci-
dents the girl is found to be a princess in disguise, and all ends
happily in union and general reconciliation. The scene in which the
fair Mālavikā exhibits her skill in dancing before the king and queen,
with the revered Buddhist nun as referee in judging which of the
two rival professors has proved himself the better teacher, is quite
cleverly arranged, and a selection from it is given below. As the
plot is confined to court life and to social intercourse in the pal-
ace, the play forms a contrast to the “Çakuntalā,' in which the plot
is partly engaged with the supernatural; or a contrast again to the
Vikramorvaçi (Nymph Won by Heroism), in which the mythical,
marvelous, and supermundane abound. The plots of the two latter
plays are described under Indian Literature); and the comments
that are made here are added simply by way of supplementing the
main points there presented regarding Kālidāsa as a dramatic poet.
In the field of the romantic epopee, Kālidāsa ranks first in his
Raghuvança,' or 'Line of Raghu,' -a poem in eighteen cantos tra-
cing the descendants of the solar kings, or the line from which the
아
(
## p. 8457 (#57) ############################################
KĀLIDĀSA
8457
>
great Rāma is sprung. Parts of the poem are Vergilian in tone, but
according to our taste they lack the classic restraint of the Roman
writer. Similar in character is Kālidāsa's narrative from Kumāra-
sambhava,' or Birth of the War Prince, which may be read as far
as the seventh canto in Griffith's rhymed translation. In respect to
Kālidāsa's lyrical poetry, it is not necessary to add anything here
regarding the Ritusanhara,' a sort of Sanskrit Thomson's 'Seasons,'
which has been sufficiently discussed under Indian Literature. ' A
few additional words, however, may be devoted to Kālidāsa's lyrical
masterpiece, Meghadūta,' (the Cloud-Messenger. ) This love message
which the banished Yaksha (demigod) intrusts to the cloud to con-
vey to his beloved, has almost the feeling of a Shelley. The poem
is short, — not much over a hundred stanzas; but the beauty of its
description of natural phenomena, and the fineness of its lyrical
passion, render it worthy of the reputation which it enjoys in India
and of the attention which some lovers of poetry in the Occident
have given it.
As a poet, Kālidāsa combines art with nature. His language and
his style have all the finish and skillful elaboration, without the
labored workmanship and meretricious faults, that mark the later
development and decay of Sanskrit art-poetry. In his writings the
literary student will find certain elements that recall the renaissance
spirit of Marlowe or of Keats rather than the soul of Shakespeare.
One might be reminded in his lyrical poetry and descriptive narra-
tive, for example, of the lavishness and exuberance of Marlowe, or of
the beauty, color, and passionate effusiveness of Keats. He excels in
poetic outbursts of pure fancy, but he can reflect in philosophic tone,
and can be stirred by the pomp of war and the trumpet's blare; yet
these passages are not common. His description of natural scenery
and his love of animals seem almost Wordsworthian; for nature is
nearer to the heart of Kālidāsa than to almost any other poet's heart.
In dramatic work, if such comparison be possible, his hand is rather
the hand of the earlier Shakespeare, or the touch of the later roman-
tic Shakespeare, than the Shakespeare of the great tragic period; for
the Hindu dramatic canon practically excluded Kālidāsa from tragic
subjects. Taken for all in all, he is a poet worthy to be studied by
a poet and by any true lover of poetry, and his work well merits a
place in the best literature of the world.
Airwickauns
is Jackson
## p. 8458 (#58) ############################################
8458
KĀLIDĀSA
slo
FROM MĀLAVIKĀGNIMITRA)
Then are seen, after the orchestral arrangements have been completed, the
King, with his friend, seated on a throne, the Queen Dhārini, and
the retinue in order of rank.
King – Reverend madam! which of the two professors shall
first exhibit to us the skill which he has infused into his pupil ?
Parivrăjikā— Even supposing their attainments to be equal,
Ganadāsa ought surely to be preferred on account of his being
the elder.
King — Well, Maudgalya, go and tell these gentlemen this,
and then go about your business.
Chamberlain - As the King commands.
Ganadāsa [entering] — King, there is a composition of Çar-
mistha, consisting of four parts in medium time: your Highness
ought to hear attentively one-fourth of it performed with appro-
priate gestures.
King - Professor! I am most respectively attentive.
[Exit Ganadāsa.
King [aside to Vidīshaka, the Buffoon]- Friend, my eye, eager
to behold her who is concealed by the curtain, through impa-
tience seems to be endeavoring to draw it up.
Vidũshaka ſaside] - Ha! the honey of your eyes is approach-
ing, but the bee is near; therefore look on with caution.
Then Mālavikā enters, with the teacher of dancing contemplating the cle-
gant movement of her limbs
Vidūshaka [aside]— Look, your Highness. Her beauty does
not fall short of the picture (with which you fell in love).
King [aside] - Friend, my mind anticipated that her beauty
could not possibly come up to that represented in the picture;
but now I think that the painter by whom she was taken studied
his model but carelessly.
Ganadāsa — My dear child, dismiss your timidity; be composed.
King - Oh, the perfection of her beauty in every posture!
For her face has long eyes and the splendor of an autumn
moon; her two arms are gracefully curved at the shoulders; her
chest is compact, having firm and swelling breasts; her sides are
as if planed off; her waist may be spanned by the hand; her hips
## p. 8459 (#59) ############################################
KĀLIDASA
8459
slope elegantly, her feet have curving toes, her body is as grace-
ful as the ideal in the mind of the teacher of dancing.
(Malavikā, having approached, sings the composition, consisting of four
parts. ]
Mālavikā (singing] -
My beloved is hard to obtain; be thou without hope with
respect to him, O my heart! Ha! the outer corner of my
left eye throbs somewhat: how is this man, seen after a long
time, to be obtained ? My lord, consider that I am devoted
to thee with ardent longing.
(She goes through a pantomime expressive of the sentiment. ]
Vidūshaka [aside]— Ha! ha! this lady may be said to have
made use of the composition in four parts for the purpose of
flinging herself at your head.
King [aside to Vidūshaka] – My friend, this is the state of the
hearts of both of us. Certainly she, by accompanying the words
"know that I am devoted to thee,” that came in her song, with
expressive action pointing at her own body,- seeing no other
way of telling her love, owing to the neighborhood of Dhārinī,-
addressed herself to me under pretense of courting a beautiful
youth.
(Malavikā at the end of her song makes as if she would leave the stage. ]
Vidushaka — Stop, lady! you have somewhat
somewhat neglected the
proper order; I will ask about it, if you please.
Ganadäsa — My dear child, stop a minute; you shall go after
your performance has been pronounced faultless.
Mālavikā turns round and stands still. ]
King [to himself]- Ah, her beauty gains fresh splendor in
every posture. For her standing attitude, in which she is pla-
cing on her hip her left hand, the bracelet of which clings
motionless at the wrist, and making her other hand hang down
loosely like the branch of a çyama-tree, and casting down her
eye on the inlaid pavement on which she is pushing about a
flower with her toe, an attitude in which the upper part of her
body is upright, is more attractive even than her dancing.
Translation of C. H. Tawney.
## p. 8460 (#60) ############################################
8460
KĀLIDĀSA
FROM THE RAGHUVANÇA)
HYMN ADDRESSED TO VISHNU BY THE DEITIES
G"
LORY to Thee, who art first the creator of the universe, next
its upholder, and finally its destroyer; glory to Thee in
this threefold character. As water falling from the sky,
though having but one flavor, assumes different flavors in differ-
ent bodies, so Thou, associated with the three qualities [Sattva,
Rajas, and Tamas, or Goodness, Passion, and Darkness), assumest
[three) states [those of creator, preserver, and destroyer), though
Thyself unchanged. Immeasurable, Thou measurest the worlds;
desiring nothing, Thou art the fulfiller of desires; unconquered,
Thou art a conqueror; utterly indiscernible, Thou art the cause
of all that is discerned. Though one, Thou, from one or another
cause, assumest this or that condition; Thy variations are com-
pared to those which crystal undergoes from the contact of dif-
ferent colors. Thou art known as abiding in [our] hearts, and
yet as remote; as free from affection, ascetic, merciful, untouched
by sin, primeval, and imperishable. Thou knowest all things,
Thyself unknown; sprung from Thyself for self-existent], Thou
art the source of all things; Thou art the lord of all, Thyself
without a master; though but one, Thou assumest all forms.
Thou art declared to be He who is celebrated in the seven
Sāma-hymns, to be He who sleeps on the waters of the seven
oceans, whose face is lighted up by the god of seven rays (Fire],
and who is the one refuge of the seven worlds. Knowledge
which gains the four classes of fruit (virtue, pleasure, wealth, and
final liberation), the division of time into four yugas [ages], the
fourfold division of the people into castes, — all these things come
from Thee, the four-faced. Yogins [devoutly contemplative men]
with minds subdued by exercise recognize Thee, the luminous,
abiding in their hearts; (and so attain] to liberation from earthly
existence. Who comprehends the truth regarding Thee, who
art unborn, and yet becomest born; who art passionless, yet slay-
est thine enemies; who sleepest, and yet art awake? Thou art
capable of enjoying sounds and other objects of sense; of prac-
ticing severe austerity, of protecting thy creatures, and of living
in indifference to all external things. The roads leading to per-
fection, which vary according to the different revealed systems,
all end in Thee, as the waves of the Ganges flow to the ocean.
## p. 8461 (#61) ############################################
KĀLIDĀSA
8461
For those passionless men whose hearts are fixed on Thee, who
have committed to Thee their works, Thou art a refuge, so that
they escape further mundane births. Thy glory, as manifested
to the senses in the earth and other objects, is yet incompre-
hensible: what shall be said of Thyself, who canst be proved
only by the authority of Scripture and by inference? Seeing that
the remembrance of Thee alone purifies a man, – the rewards of
other mental acts also, when directed towards Thee, are thereby
indicated. As the waters exceed the ocean, and as the beams of
light exceed the sun, so Thy acts transcend our praises. There
is nothing for Thee to attain which Thou hast not already at-
tained: kindness to the world is the only motive for Thy birth
and for Thy actions. If this our hymn now comes to a close
after celebrating Thy greatness, the reason of this is our exhaust-
ion, or our inability to say more, not that there is any limit to
Thy attributes.
Translation of J. Muir.
FROM `ÇAKUNTALĀ; OR, THE LOST RING)
Scene: A Forest. Enter King Dushyanta, armed with a bow and arrow,
in a chariot, chasing an antelope, attended by his Charioteer.
CHAR
HARIOTEER [looking at the deer and then at the King] -Great Prince,
When on the antelope I bend my gaze,
And on your Majesty, whose mighty bow
Has its string firmly braced, — before my eyes
The god that wields the trident seems revealed,
Chasing the deer that flies from him in vain.
King — Charioteer, this feet antelope has drawn us far from my
attendants. See! there he runs:
Aye and anon his graceful neck he bends
To cast a glance at the pursuing car;
And dreading now the swift-descending shaft,
Contracts into itself his slender frame:
About his path, in scattered fragments strewn,
The half-chewed grass falls from his panting mouth;
See! in his airy bounds he seems to fly,
And leaves no trace upon th' elastic turf.
(With astonishment]- How now! swift as is our pursuit, I scarce can
see him.
## p. 8462 (#62) ############################################
8462
KALIDASA
Charioteer -- Sire, the ground here is full of hollows; I have there-
fore drawn in the reins and checked the speed of the chariot. Hence
the deer has somewhat gained upon us. Now that we are passing
over level ground, we shall have no difficulty in overtaking him.
King — Loosen the reins, then.
Charioteer — The King is obeyed. (Drives the chariot at full speed. ]
Great Prince, see! see!
Responsive to the slackened rein, the steeds,
Chafing with eager rivalry, career
With emulative fleetness o'er the plain;
Their necks outstretched, their waving plumes that late
Fluttered above their brows, are motionless!
Their sprightly ears, but now erect, bent low;
Themselves unsullied by the circling dust
That vainly follows on their rapid course.
King ( joyously) – In good sooth, the horses seem as if they would
outstrip the steeds of Indra and the Sun.
That which but now showed to my view minute
Quickly assumes dimension; that which seemed
A moment since disjoined in diverse parts
Looks suddenly like one compacted whole;
That which is really crooked in its shape,
In the far distance left, grows regular;
Wondrous the chariot's speed, that in a breath
Makes the near distant and the distant near.
Now, Charioteer, see me kill the deer. [Takes aim. ]
A voice behind the scenes — - Hold, O King! this deer belongs to our
hermitage. Kill it not! kill it not!
Charioteer [listening and looking] — Great King, some hermits have
stationed themselves so as to screen the antelope at the very moment
of its coming within range of your arrow.
King (hastily] — Then stop the horses.
Charioteer (stops the chariot]—I obey.
Enter a Hermit, and two others with him
Hermit (raising his hand]- This deer, O King, belongs to our her-
mitage. Kill it not! kill it not!
Now heaven forbid this barbed shaft descend
Upon the fragile body of a fawn,
Like fire upon a heap of tender flowers!
Can thy steel bolts no meeter quarry find
Than the warm life-blood of a harmless deer?
Restore, great Prince, thy weapon to its quiver.
More it becomes thy arms to shield the weak,
Than to bring anguish on the innocent.
## p. 8463 (#63) ############################################
KALIDASA
8463
King (replaces the arrow in its quiver) – 'Tis done.
Hermit — Worthy is this action of a Prince, the light of Puru's race.
Well does this act befit a Prince like thee,
Right worthy is it of thine ancestry.
Thy guerdon be a son of peerless worth,
Whose wide dominion shall embrace the earth.
Both the other Hermits [raising their hands] — May Heaven indeed
grant thee a son, a sovereign of the earth from sea to sea!
King (bowing]-I accept with gratitude a Brahman's benediction.
Here enter Çakuntalā, with her two female companions, and carrying a
watering-pot for sprinkling the flowers
Çakuntalā — This way, my dear companions, this way.
Anasūya — Dear Çakuntalā, one would think that father Kanwa had
more affection for the shrubs of the hermitage even than for you,
seeing he assigns to you, who are yourself as delicate as the fresh-
blown jasmine, the task of filling with water the trenches which
encircle their roots.
Çakuntalā — Dear Anasūyā, although I am charged by my good
father with this duty, yet I cannot regard it as a task. I really feel
a sisterly love for these plants. [Continues watering the shrubs. ]
King — Can this be the daughter of Kanwa ? The saintly man,
though descended from the great Kāçyapa, must be very deficient in
judgment to habituate such a maiden to the life of a recluse.
The sage who would this form of artless grace
Inure to penance, thoughtlessly attempts
To cleave in twain the hard acacia's stem
With the soft edge of a blue lotos leaf.
Well! concealed behind this tree, I will watch her without raising
her suspicions. [Conceals himself. ]
Çakuntalā — Good Anasūyā, Priyamvadā has drawn this bark dress
too tightly about my chest. I pray thee, loosen it a little.
Anasāyā — I will. (Loosens it. ]
Priyamvadā (smiling] – Why do you lay the blame on me? Blame
rather your own blooming youthfulness, which imparts fullness to your
bosom.
King — A most just observation !
This youthful form, whose bosom's swelling charms
By the bark's knotted tissue are concealed,
Like some fair bud close folded in its sheath,
Gives not to view the blooming of its beauty.
But what am I saying? In real truth, this bark dress, though ill
suited to her figure, sets it off like an ornament.
## p. 8464 (#64) ############################################
8464
KALIDASA
Home
Ca
face.
X
chart
The lotos with the Saivala entwined
Is not a whit less brilliant; dusky spots
Heighten the lustre of the cold-rayed moon:
This lovely maiden in her dress of bark
Seems all the lovelier. E'en the meanest garb
Gives to true beauty fresh attractiveness.
Cakuntalā [looking before her] - Yon Kēsara-tree beckons to me
with its young shoots, which, as the breeze waves them to and fro,
appear like slender fingers. I will go and attend to it. [Walks
towards it. ]
Priyamvadā - Dear Çakuntalā, prithee, rest in that attitude one
moment.
Çakuntalā — Why so?
Priyamvadā — The Kēsara-tree, whilst your graceful form bends
about its stem, appears as if it were wedded to some lovely twining
creeper.
Çakuntală — Ah! saucy girl, you are most appropriately named
Priyamvadā (speaker of flattering things].
King — What Priyamvadā says, though complimentary, is never-
theless true. Verily,-
Her ruddy lip vies with the opening bud;
Her graceful arms are as the twining stalks;
And her whole form is radiant with the glow
Of youthful beauty, as the tree with bloom.
Anasuyā — See, dear Çakuntalā, here is the young jasmine, which
you named “the Moonlight of the Grove,” the self-elected wife of the
mango-tree. Have you forgotten it ?
Çakuntalā - Rather will I forget myself. [Approaching the plant and
looking at it. ] How delightful is the season when the jasmine-creeper
and the mango-tree seem thus to unite in mutual embraces! The
fresh blossoms of the jasmine resemble the bloom of a young bride,
and the newly formed shoots of the mango appear to make it her
natural protector. (Continues gazing at it. ]
Priyamvadā (smiling]— Do you know, my Anasūyā, why Çakuntalā
gazes so intently at the jasmine?
Anasāyā — No, indeed; I cannot imagine. I pray thee tell me.
Priyamvadā — She is wishing that as the jasmine is united to a
suitable tree, so in like manner she may obtain a husband worthy of
her.
Cakuntala - Speak for yourself, girl; this is the thought in your
own mind. [Continues watering the flowers. ]
King – Would that my union with her were permissible! and yet
I hardly dare hope that the maiden is sprung from a caste different
from that of the head of the hermitage. But away with doubt:
>
H
c
## p. 8465 (#65) ############################################
KĀLIDĀSA
8465
O me
fro,
Walks
e one
bends
wining
named
That she is free to wed a warrior-king
My heart attests. For, in conflicting doubts,
The secret promptings of the good man's soul
Are an unerring index of the truth.
However, come what may, I will ascertain the fact.
Çakuntala (in a flurry)- Ah! a bee, disturbed by the sprinkling of
the water, has left the young jasmine, and is trying to settle on my
face. [Attempts to drive it away. ]
King (gazing at her ardently] - Beautiful! there is something
charming even in her repulse.
Where'er the bee his eager onset plies,
Now here, now there, she darts her kindling eyes:
What love hath yet to teach, fear teaches now,
The furtive glances and the frowning brow.
[In a tone of envy]
Ah, happy bee! how boldly dost thou try
To steal the lustre from her sparkling eye;
And in thy circling movements hover near,
To murmur tender secrets in her ear,
Or, as she coyly waves her hand, to sip
Voluptuous nectar from her lower lip!
While rising doubts my heart's fond hopes destroy,
Thou dost the fullness of her charms enjoy.
Çakuntalā — This impertinent bee will not rest quiet. I must move
elsewhere.
[Moving a few steps off, and casting a glance around. 1
How now! he is following me here. Help! my dear friends, help!
deliver me from the attacks of this troublesome insect.
Priyamvadā and Anasīyā — How can we deliver you? Call Dush-
yanta to your aid. The sacred groves are under the King's special
protection.
King - An excellent opportunity for me to show myself. Fear
[Checks himself when the words are half uttered. Aside. ] . But
stay, if I introduce myself in this manner, they will know me to be
the King. Be it so: I will accost them, nevertheless.
never.
ne, which
fe of the
Plant and
--creeper
es! The
& bride,
it her
not
.
Suntala
[The King, filled with admiration, declares his love for Çakuntalā, and in
the next act he is espoused to her according to the Gandharva ceremonial.
He then departs from the hermitage and returns to the royal city; but leaves
with Çakuntală a precious ring, which she is to present when she claims him
as her lawful husband. The play continues, and shows how the fair Çakun-
talā, so deeply enamored, becomes absent-minded and neglects to do some act
of homage to an aged hermit; who consequently pronounces a curse upon her
that her beloved shall absolutely forget her until he sees the magic ring, which
alone has power to remove the curse. King Dushyanta accordingly loses all
recollection of Çakuntalā; and Çakuntalā's foster-father, the saintly Kanwa,
ne.
