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SHAKUNTALA THE FORSAKEN CHILD
By
Dr.Bezawada Gopala Reeddy
1. BIRTH
Shakuntala was she name;
Because by birds, she was reared
Why the birds her nourished?
The tale is sordid.
Viswamitra had desire serious,
To attain ‘Brahmarshi’ status,
He did austere sacrifice
And Lord Indra got furious,
Fearing the sage might, him replace,
By obtaining boons various.
Indra always conspired hence,
To disturb such sacrifices at once.
Even by warding off riches,
One goes to the woods for penance,
The passion from him won’t distance,
This secret Indra was aware,
By experience and nature.
He in disguise, Ahalya deceived,
And on her adultery committed,
He was the only divinity conferred,
With the peculiar title ‘Thousand Eyed’,
And got Ahalya imprecated
By Goutam, her husband.
Indra’s quiver was equipped,
With weapons of different kinds,
Living, smiling and talking brands,
Of Rambha, Menaka,Urvasi and
Tilotammas they are named.
Acting as missiles in times of need
Indra, selected a suitable weapon,
In Menaka, a celestial courtesan,
And sent her to play the gallant,
Before Visamitra, the cogitative saint.
Menaka danced and sang,
Until the sage fell in her net
Played her tune along
Every thing, he lost.
Like mountaineers hoist
Victory flags atop Everest
Menaka became pregnant
Through the great saint
And Indra rejoiced her effort.
From the Heaven Indra viewed,
He danced being quite glad,
All the Devatas he invited
And to them ‘wine’ he hosted.
The celestial Diana delivered,
An attractive female child,
And hereafter Menaka intended,
To return to her heavenly abode.
Menaka went to Viswamitra and told,
‘Take and rear this lovely child,
I am to be back at my abode’,
At this Viswamitra being ashamed,
Forthwith his face turned aside,
‘How being a sage I could
Rear this child?’ He asked.
And he further to her told
‘I have hither come to meditate,
And my sacrifice, I will complete,
To achieve status higher, without
Any other, me at this stance distract
To accept, the child, he declined,
As his sacrifice was breached;
Thus justice was denied,
Being the father he disowned.
Menaka was infuriated
At what Viswamitra had stated ‘Men on the earth do like this’ she said.
I have to go to my heavenly abode’,
So saying, she left the child,
In an open field abandoned,
Covering her body with leaves dried,
And at once to Heaven, she returned.
Lord Indra gave a rousing reception,
To Menaka for her excellent action,
And rewarded her by decoration
Of floral garland in veneration.
2. CHILDHOOD
Kanwha, very much loved the child,
Because of her birth episode;
Though parents were not dead,
She was orphan made,
Love and affection she had
From all enjoyed.
Coruscating like the lightening lines,
And shining alike the full moon,
She had her mother’s features akin,
With gaits and smiles fine
Alike a gurgling bourn.
It was to Shankuntala unknown,
That uncared she was thrown,
Hence the sage had to her given,
Extreme love and compassion.
She did the ashram chores,
By plucking flowers,
For the divine pray
She arranged fuel wood
For the fire consecrated;
Grass bundles,
And for cattle cates
Kanwha had in Shakuntala seen,
Virtues of a fine child divine,
Sent for him from the Heaven,
As boon for the sacrifices he had done.
The sage became glad,
As Shakuntala to him appeared,
Like an atom that sparked
From blossoms at prayers offer
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3. YOUTH HOOD
Many autumns and monsoons
Have gone one by one
And the sprig had grown
In to a splendid woman
Of sweet age sixteen,
In the ashram, she had won,
A pivotal position.
The cuckoos singing in tunes,
The peacocks dancing
With tails afar opening,
The swans walking
With stretched wings,
These birds were behaving
As her companions and belongings,
Her body was thrilled,
In her heart, new winds breezed,
With new dreams in her mind,
Danced like clouds scattered.
Her hairs looked as waves blackish,
Her tone became sweetish,
And rosy cheeks appeared brightish,
While the lips were coloured pinkish.
At the crest of teenage beauty,
She featured like a deity,
With heavenly glamour and gaiety;
Alike a gemmy glittering mirror,
Reflecting heavenly character
And shining similar to lunar moon;
She lived in this shrine,
In the company of her two followers,
Anasuya and Priyamvada being friendlier,
And the threesome coruscated like chandeliers,
Simulating ‘Parijatas’ and ‘Mandars’
The celestial flowers.
Their stay in the Ashram,
Clad in lingerie costumes;
Consuming tubers and esculent stems,
Couching on the floor sans stratum;
Enhanced their decorum,
Like bright altar flames.
4. WEDDING.
When Kanwha wast,
On pilgrimage quest,
From Ashram absent,
King Dushyant,
Had the Ganges crost.,
In his pursuit,
Of animal hunt,
At the river Malini coast,
While chasing an antelope,
Saw he a maiden group,
With Shakuntala, as prop.
Among the threesome,
Shakuntala was handsome,
Twinkling alike Venus star,
In dark sky afar,
And like lightning light,
Of a rainy night.
Dushyant’s sharp sight
On her sheen was cast,
He accosted her first,
And talked straight.
In evening, he met,
Her at the site,
Three days at best,
With dialogue
Loving her in trust
Her trusted confidants,
Anu and Priya, in short,
Detected love secrets,
Of Shakuntala and Dushyant,
And on some pretext,
Allowed them to closet,
The king spoke straight,
To her by matching sight,
Pulling her hand aright,
He squeezed it soft.
Gently pushed his chest,
Touching her corseted breast;
He embraced her waist,
Kissing pinky lips in delight.
Until the fading twilight,
Turning pitch dark night,
And buds on creepers shot.
On getting message urgent,
From his Hastinapur Fort,
Dushyant, before he left,
Told Shakuntala, the purport
Of his need to revert,
To his capital forthright,
He consoled her not to fright,
Until he came here next.
Giving a ring to Shakuntala,
Dushyant married her by ‘Gandharva’ law,
And hastened to Hastinapur,
Promising to take her soon there.
5. THE CURSE
When Kanwha was absent,
His permission without,
And blessings bereft,
Shakuntala did court,
The King, a polygamist,
With him wedding sought,
Through “Gandharva’ format,
And she became pregnant
The cottage thickets,
Provided private resorts
The altar flames’ light
Showed the paths straight.
The jasmine creepers
Heard their whispers
The foot prints
On soil belts
Revealed their habitats
And hidden secrets.
The nector of past incident
She swallowed droplet by droplet
And Shakuntala was lost
With her mood wholly upset
Bliss and fright
Her mind did excite
Suspicions like serpents
Hissed in her heart
For reasons unspelt
The king didn’t
Honour his commitment,
Of return visit.
Within prescribed time limit.
Like fish in a net,
She was caught
In her crippled thought,
Everything she forgot.
Food without taste,
Sleeps of disquiet
On many a night
Causing mental unrest.
Sakuntala was not alert,
During Durvasa’s visit,
As she didn’t him expect
When Kanwha was absent.
She failed to show respect
To this distinguished guest,
Upon which the saint
In a choleric fit,
Had her curst,
“Thy desire shalt,
Be success without”
And pronouncing this fiat,
He thence did depart.
Are the sacrifices meant
To acquire ranging rockets?
Is it right or just
For the saints to twit
And curse the innocent?
All accrued benefits are thus lost
Alas! Sakuntala had
Been by father ignored
By mother abandoned
And now by the anchorite cursed.
6. THE FAREWELL
Kanwha from tour returned
By divine vision, he viewed,
The whole episode;
Shakuntala he called,
‘Get ready’, he told,
“Hasthinapur, you proceed’
Before going to join her husband,
‘Adieu’ to all she bade,
Kanwha’s eyes were wetted
“What the parents would,
Feel, when they send
Their girl to in-laws’ abode’
Kanwha to himself asked.
Shakuntala had caressed,
The creepers, antelopes and,
The calves inside,
And with eyes glued,
She had departed
Often turning backward;
With Goutami and disciples followed.
Anasuya and Priyamvada,
With tears checked,
And voice quivered,
In her courage instilled
It was indeed
An unforgettable episode.
Is it easy for childhood
Companions depart aside
Breaking age old
Friendly ties knotted?
Life in unknown bounds,
Amid new relations and friends,
For a daughter-in-law in new abode,
By past ties severed,
Is not an easy task ahead
For a newly wed.
The impulses of the beloved
And family duty avowed,
Were to Sakuntala concerned;
The time, in her life, has dawned
For facing the test rigid.
At Kanwha’s feet
She respectfully knelt
With Goutami, she went
To Hasthinapur straight.
Goutami told Dushyant
The purpose of their visit
And Kanwha’s note
He read it out
The king couldn’t recollect,
His wedding fact
Due to the curse of saint
Durvas, on his wife cast.
Dushyant had dismissed
The plea, Goutami stated,
And Shakuntala he ignored
Telling the Story was concocted.
‘I won’t her accept
She could be pregnant
By some other consort’
He pronounced at last.
Sakuntala was thus forsaken
By her husband even,
And at this, the disciples said
‘Don’t come with us again,
In husband’s home, you remain,
Like a serving woman’
Uttering these words,
With Goutami, they returned.
Sakuntala had none for her to protect
The burrows of the earth except.
When she cried aloud and wept,
From the sky, descended a light,
That made her reach Mareech’s resort.
7.BHARAT
On completion of the curst limit,
Dushyant could everything recollect,
For the wrong he did, he did repent,
And desired with her to meet.
Her difficulties and resort, he thought
While returning after a conquest,
He went to Mareech’s Ashrama, and looked at,
A boy playing with a lionet,
And from his talking trait, he guessed that
The child might be his own off-shoot
And his mother was Sakuntala, he felt,
With the blessings of the hermit,
The threesome, to Hasthinapur went,
After growing up in age, his son Bharat
Reigned the country for a long stint,
And many say India is known by his name ‘Bharat’.
Some people say in the name of Jada Bharat
India is named and known as ‘Bharat’
Though no one knew the achievement
Or any noble deed for public weal that
Has been done either by Bharat
Shakuntala’s son, or by Jada Bharat
At that historic time point,
Yet we all know Ramayan’s Bharat,
Who had done sacrifices great,
When Ram relinquished his claim pursuant,
To his father’s fiat, and left
The throne and went to forest,
Bharat entreated Ram to revert
To Ayodhya for holding reigns of the fort.
But on Ram’s refusal, he brought,
A pair of his wooden Sandals and put
These on the throne avoiding himself to sit,
He administered the country just
Like what Ram had later done the best.
This noble character was that Bharat
This virtuous and nobleman was that Bharat
May be by this great man’s name, India is Bharat,
The kingdom was named after Sri Ram the great
While the realm was named after Bharat.
8.KALIDAS
Whither Sakuntala’s birth,
And her appearance on earth?
During whole life, she had
Tears from eyes dropped
She spent a life unwanted,
As parents her ignored,
The saint cursed,
And husband too expelled.
This simple episode
In epics, Kalidas viewed,
He had it ground
Reshaped and beautified.
German Poet Goethe* said
The beauty of sky and land
Was well depicted
In Shakuntala drama enacted.
Once Shakuntala comes to mind
Kalidas is reminded.
When she was reared
By Kanwha in childhood
She was in youth hood
By Kalidas nourished
Literature was immortalised,
Beauty in alphabets, he created,
And has introduced,
The Saint Kanwha and
King Dushyant to the world.
Through this episode.
The close bond
Of nature and mankind
Is to us enlightened
When he described
Shakuntala’s departure mood.
Kanwhas’s eyes tears shed
Affection deeply reflected,
Then Shakuntala tottered,
And the Universe melted.
Beautiful ambrosia, Kalidas had,
On Shakuntala showered,
In this story, he narrated
Shakuntala, whom he had perceived.
***
‘Kalidas was the poet
Of Shiva-Parvati’s Court’
Observed Tagore Poet,
And further sayst
‘When Kumara Sambhavam was read
The whole nature had it heard,
But when details of her marriage were spelt,
Parvati had shyness felt
And seeing her inconvenient,
He stopped further to read.
Tagore had jocularly said
‘Kalidas hast not written,
About the post-wedding function.’
***
In life Kalidas suffered
He was criticised,
But these, he hadn’t cared;
He bequeathed to us,
The seven stories in poems,
As our capital assets,
Like beautiful lotuses,
Blossomed by the sun rays,
Emanated from the poet’s bliss.
The poison of obstacles,
He had swallowed,
And ambrosia of stories,
He has to us dispensed.
Sakuntala is that portrait
From ambrosia, carved out,
Troubles she had suffered,
Sweet literature we have acquired,
Shakuntala had virtues attained,
Through Kalidas, the noted bard.
(Translation of Telugu verses of “Shakuntala”
of Dr.Bezawada Gopala Reddy published
in Telugu Monthly “Jagati”-April 2003.
By
RAMA RAO SARIPALLI
Note:-
1. The translation these verses were serially published in the English monthly “JAGATI” in April, May and July 2003 issues edited by P.V.Satyanarayana of Hyderabad(Andhra Pradesh-India).
2. *The German Poet Johann Walfgang von Goethe
Popularly known as “oethe” (GUEH-tah) (1749 -1832) was a giant in German literature. His 250th Birday was celebrated on August 8, 1999 with great pomp in Germany and other parts of the world.
Rama Rao Saripalli
Translator.
