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

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 250^th Birday was celebrated on August 8, 1999 with great pomp in Germany and other parts of the world.

Rama Rao Saripalli

Translator.

“The neighbor’s wife is always beautiful”.

An oft quoted adage sounds wonderful

Others views about his wife unmindful;

People are conscious about their glamour

Even though they may be beautiful or fair

But the women are very keen to exhibit their

Appearance before audience all around

Be at home or outside in public ground.

***

To add to the beauty with latest fashions,

‘Beauty parlors’ have sprung up like mushrooms

In metropolitan and urban locations

Dressing hair style, softening faces with creams

Clipping and painting colors to girls’ nails

And even attracting the elderly and aged women;

Some men prefer hair implants to conceal baldness

And pose like young and attractive persons.

***

Unlike the ancient mothers some modern mothers,

Influenced by the body beautification fashions

Are shunning away to giving breast feeds

Simply to protect the beauty of their boobs;

Providing bottle feeds to their babes

A sinister act impeding growth of the babies

Medicos say baby’s health care is primary

And mother’s breast protrusion is secondary.

***

But for participation in Fashion shows and Movies

Artists are conscious of sizing shrinking breasts

By resorting to surgical operations with tissue implants

Appropriate to their choice and size of chests

Keeping up in tact the breast ducts

For the healthy growth of babies cute;

The scientists and medical practitioners

Seem to be heaven-down bio-engineers.

***

Rama Rao Saripalli

Dated Chatrapur, 14^th July, 2009.

.

Whichever beautiful thing I view

I recollect you alone

However I try to reach you

You are going afar leaving me alone.

How can I catch you?

How to tell about myself?

You are somewhere away far

You are of the category of divinity

You are the token of immense beauty

Unavailable to any of the humanity!

How can you know my pain?

I cannot tell my excruciation!

I can’t speak in the nature and tune

That can reach you even.

My heart can’t speak

But it tones like the ambiguous tunes

Of broken lute strings

Enabling you to know

I abridged my feelings in colorful pictures,

Not in oil paintings or in rain bow colors.

Is it unknown or unknowable color?

Or is it of white grey or ash texture?

Even then when I sculptured your statue

I meant it was for you

Then if you see it as a lump of mud!

I have no language or ideas

To write in poems and

My mind is a dumb jasmine bud!

How to tell you? How to reach you?

How to meet you?

The call from my heart you can’t get

I can’t even hear loud noise from that side.

On some day or any other day

I will merge into the clay

Death succeeds birth.

Hence I wish your companionship.

Suppose it doesn’t happen

From the ashes mingled in earth

Would not I become a grassy blossom?

Sometime later on any day

When you walk on that way,

Will not the dust of your feet

Scatter on my body straight?

I’ll feel I attained atonement.

***

(Translation of Telugu verses”Gaddi Poovu”of Smt. Pingali Bhattiprolu Bala Devi

Retired Reader in Biology, Bhubaneswar)

By

Rama Rao Saripalli

.

And the west Wood Elementary Institution,

Are to each other in juxtaposition,

Saratoga Avenue passing in between.

***

On working days from morning seven,

One by one all the school children,

Dressed in costumes of colorful pattern,

Come here to learn through education.

***

They alight with their guardians from cars,

And straight move into a room for prayers,

Thereafter they close up into their classes,

And attentively listen to routine courses.

***

A woman driving a cab comes before ten,

And unleashes from her truck provision,

For the consumption of all children

That is served punctually at mid noon.

***

The pupils during periods of leisure,

Play, sing and dance in pleasure,

And the teaching staffs take much care

Of all the kids till they depart from there.

***

RAMA RAO SARIPALLI

Summer Wood Apartments

#27-I Saratoga Lane, Santa Clara-CA-95050

March 23, 2000.

***

Ms Kathy Donner, Principal of Westwood Elementary School

435, Saratoga Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95050 had sent the following

letter August 30, 2000:-

Dear Friend of Westwood School,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your kind letter and wonderful poem that you sent us this past June. I shared both the letter and the poem with our staff members and they were very impressed.

We are all quite surprised that a complete stranger would take time to write something so nice about our school.

Please take a moment to stop over and ask for me, as I am the principal. Thank you again for your time.

Sincerely,

Kathy Donner.

You and I have no language common

Since thirty five days ago you were born;

And that you have a different jargon,

Which in my childhood I did learn;

So here what I do pen

Will be to you unknown;

But in later years of growth you

Will know very much how

Your grandma and myself

Were concerned about yourself

And how immensely did we love you.

***

When you gradually pick up strength,

Our longevity will decline in length,

And when you speak to us in words,

We will falter in our speech

With missing words.

We are sure you will us cherish,

Even after we perish;

Years after years will bring you cheers

And every New Year, you’ll hear

From us GOOD WISHES until we are here.

***

RAMARAO SARIPALLI

January 1, 2001

#Chatrapur, Orissa, India.

Note  Shivani was born in California (USA) on November 27, 2000.

to my daughter Jayalaxmi and son-in-law Viswanath.

On the occasion of her 9^th birthday falling on 27^th November 2008

the following epilogue is a message of greetings to this cute child.

***

EPILOGUE

Shivani! We enjoyed your love

Ever since you are born

Today is your 9^th birth day

We wish you fun and joy

Everyday till your centenary birth day

With your grand children

Like us sharing with you fun.

***

Rama Rao Saripalli

# Chatrapur, Orissa, India

November 28, 2008.

Thou art a woman of compassion

To all the children to you born,

But the love and affection

For me was spectacularly uncommon.

***

You took care of my health,

And gave me available wealth

Since my birth to manly growth,

And saw my prosperity and mirth.

***

O! Mother, if I fail to remember,

Even on your death day every year,

I shall be sinning in my deed

That will not be excused by God.

***

Rama Rao Saripalli

#Santa Clara, USA

March 8, 2000

That can be effaced by eraser;

It is an act of expressing affection

Between lovers for eternal unification.

***

Love spills from core of heart,

And persists until it is quiet;

Obstacles if any do beset

One should resist but not upset.

***

Love’s disapproval by near and dear,

Leads to uncongenial atmosphere

That emboldens lovers to thwart fear

And become more closer and near.

***

Love is an admixture of minds

That binds them for holy conjunction

Despite malignant and unjust trends,

Owing to rigid social injunction.

***

RAMA RAO SARIPALLI

# Chatrapur

September 17, 1998.

]]> http://newpoetrylive.com/?feed=rss2&p=47 http://newpoetrylive.com/?p=46 http://newpoetrylive.com/?p=46#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:04:15 +0000 ramarao http://newpoetrylive.com/?p=46

However mighty be any person,

I don’t consider important that person,

But I do care the Almighty alone,

He being the Supreme Lord of everyone.

***

I adore Him for the simple reason,

As He gave me wisdom to think upon

Ways and means to tread the path to Heaven

And I beseech Him for my salvation.

***

Rama Rao Saripalli

Chatrapur, the October 31, 2000.

“Every dog must have his day”

But our dog had an auspicious day

Neither Saturday nor Sunday

But it was the 1995 Independence Day.

***

‘Puppy’ we called him by name,

He had acquired name and fame

Distinguishing in behavior and game

Before all those, who to us came.

***

He played with us and saved us

By his association, he shared love with us,

His instincts were perfectly distinct

Without harassing visitors ignorant.

***

Puppy was on tongue tips of many persons

Who came across him on several occasions;

All loved his behavior and countenance,

And enjoyed his diligence and elegance.

***

Puppy has attained immortality

By virtue of his dignity and nobility,

Though he is not seen in our vicinity

Yet his presence is felt by our fraternity.

***

Rama Rao Saripalli

August 15, 1995.

After parting from alma mater.

***

At first it was difficult

For me to recollect her first.

***

She was talking while walking

With her off-shoot following.

***

I saw her glittering eyes

And recapitulated her voice.

***

How she had a child?

The tale is old.

***

I did halt, look and accost

Hi ! Chapala, how thou art?

***

With glued eyes trickled

She cried, and thus said:

***

“This girl is my love-child

Born due to my misdeed”.

***

I heard her tales of romance

And miseries she did evince.

***

I expressed my unhappiness

Over her acts of foolishness.

***

Rama Rao Saripalli

Chatrapur, Orissa, India

December 6, 1999.