Prologue continues .....

The Gupta age was the ‘golden age’ of Indian culture. Many renowned
Sanskrit classics were written during this period. The great poet and
playwright Kalidasa stands out as a literary genius of this time. Kalidasa
was one of the Navaratnas (‘nine gems’) in the court of Chandragupta
Vikramaditya. His play Abhigyana Sakuntalam continues to enchant thehuman mind with its poetry of unsurpassed beauty and intense humandrama.

Sakuntalam contains love in its most innocent and pure form, which
blossoms against the serene backdrop of a hermitage deep in the wild in
the midst of gurgling streams and flowers. It depicts the deep pangs of
betrayal and the intense aches of remorse. Kalidasa’s creative genius is such
that this work transports the reader to another world. Johann Wolfgang
Von Goethe, the 18th-century German poet, had this to say about
Sakuntalam:

“The flowers that herald the new year and
the fruits that come at the year end.
And all that enchants the soul
And fills it with passion
Can be summed up in one word:
‘Sankuntalam’.”

His other plays are Malavikagni Mitram and Vikramorvasiyam. He wrote
two epic poems: Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhava. He also authored the
poems Meghadoota and Ritusamhara. These works place Kalidasa in the
league of the highest in world literature.

Shudraka’s Mrichhkatika and Vishakh Datta’s Mudra Rakshasa are other
notable works of this period. Another work of great significance is Bharat’s
Natyasastra, which is a treatise on the theatre and other performing arts.

Natyasastra shows the level of development of theatre and other performing arts during this period. Of all the Gupta emperors, Vikramaditya stands
out for his patronage of literature, art, medicine, mathematics, etc. The
composition of the Navaratnas reveals his interest in these fields.

Apart
from Kalidasa, the Navaratnas who adorned the royal court were
Dhanvantari (medicine); Kshapanaka (Jain monk and author); Amarasimha
(author of Amarakosha, a Sanskrit thesaurus); Sanku; Vetala Bhatta (author
of Neeti-Pradeepa); Ghatakarpara (poet); Varahamihira (astronomer and mathematician); and Vararuchi (founder of the Vikram era)

To be continued...