Kalidasa. The Loom of Time: A Selection of His Plays and Poems.

• Author: ROCHER, LUDO
• Position: Review

Kalidasa. The Loom of Time: A Selection of His Plays and Poems. By CHANDRA RAJAN. New Delhi: PENGUIN BOOKS (INDIA), 1990. Pp. 343. Rs 65, $8.95.

This volume, reprinted one year after its original edition in 1989, contains the translation of Kalidasa's Rtusamhara, Meghaduta, and Abhijnanasakuntala. The translation is preceded by a "Note on Texts and Translations" (pp. 13-20) and a substantial "Introduction" (pp. 21-102). In the "Note" Rajan discusses the choice of editions on which her translations are based. Of special interest is her defense of the Bengal recension against the shorter Devanagari recension of Sakuntala (pp. 13-16); the translation of the play follows the text established in Dileep Kumar Kanjilal's Reconstruction of the Abhijnanasakuntalam (1980), which is close to Pischel's (1877, 1922). The translation of the Meghaduta is based on the edition, with Bharatamallika's commentary Subodha, by J. B. Chaudhuri (1952), which is close to S. K. De's (1957), rather than on the longer version, as commented on by Mallinatha. The "Note" also includes some thoughtful comments on the art of translating Sanskrit Kavya into English.

From the "Introduction" I must mention the author's view that "the relative chronology of Asvaghosa and Kalidasa is disputed; but it is not unlikely that Kalidasa is earlier than Asvaghosa" (p. 28). Kalidasa's works also precede the Natyasastra: "That a creative writer of Kalidasa's genius and accomplishment would write according to the book is not very likely; it seems more plausible that a critic and theorist would draw upon the work of a great writer to formulate his theories" (p. 29). According to Rajan, "it is plausible to argue that Kalidasa lived and wrote at the close of either the middle of the second or the first century BC" (p. 311), which, if I read it correctly, means: between ca. 125 and 50 B.C.

When reading a new translation of Kalidasa's works one cannot resist the temptation to compare it with other, recent, translations. For the Meghaduta, comparisons might be made with Leonard Nathan's The Transport of Love (1976) based on De's edition. As far as Sakuntala is...