Shakuntalam Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Even love seems hopeless,
Mutual longing helps passion alive.

Shakuntala, daughter of Royal Sage,
Vishwamitra and the celeial Nymph,
Menaka, was reared by the ascetic Kanva.
Dushyanta, ruler of Hastinapura,
Was the lunar Dynasty of Poru.
Bharata, their son was the ancestor
of the lineage od Kauravas and Pandavas.
The epic Mahabharata was the souce. 1

Dushyanta came hunting in the forest.
As he was about to slay an antelope,
A monk forbid him and the king withdrew.
The animal was of the hermitage
Of sage Kanva, heavenly connected.
The monk blessed him that he beget a son,
Who would turn the wheel of his empire.
Kanva was away on a pilgrimage.2

The king sought to enter the hermitage,
Laying aside his insignia of of kingship.
He spotted Shakuntala with her friends,
Anusuya and Priyamvatha, two ascetics.
Stunned by her innocent beauty, he thought,
"The sage who hopes to subdue her body
Sensuous by penenace is trying to cut
Firewood with a blade of a lotus leaf.3

‘Her lips are red buds, her arms tendrils,
Impatient youth poised to blossom in her limbs.'
‘No mortal woman could, to such beauty,
Give birth -lightening flashes not from the eartrh.
Dushyantan amazed at her celestial beauty
And presented himself before the three
When they were watering the plants around.
Shakuntala was perturbed from his presence. 4

In the course of dialogue among them,
She did not respond directly to his words,
But listened as he spoke, and she didn't look
At him but her eyes could not rest anywhere.
He found her a flower no one had smelled
And a bud no fingers had plucked, so pure.
‘I don't know who is destined to enjoy
Her flawless beauty.' he stayed to pursue. 5

Her feelings for him betrayed her movement.
‘A blade of Kusha grass pricked my foot.'
The girl said for no reason after walking
A few steps away; then she pretended to free
her bark dress from branches where it was not caught,
And shyly glanced at him. Love was kindled.
The passion of two lovers became clear.
Her friends helped her in love as catalysts. 6

Dushyanta was love struck for Shakuntala.
‘I know the power ascetics have
And the rules that bind her, but i cannot
Abandon my heartnow that she has taken it.'
Walking around and looking for her steps,
‘I see fresh footprints on white sand,
Deeply pressed at the heel by the sway
Of full hips.' observed in a sensuous way. 7

Shakuntala was lying on a stone couch
Strewn with flowers, attended by her friends.
Caught by love sickness, she felt body pain;
Love burns young women like the summer heat
But its quilt makes them more charming at heart.
Her cheeks sunken, her full breasts lost in shape,
Her waist thin and shoulders bent, she looked pale
Anusuya and Priyamvatha knew the cause.8

‘Help me to win the king's pity otherwise
You would soon pour sesame oil and water
On my corpse.' said she overheard by the king.
It destroyed the king's doubt about her love.
She wrote on the lotus leaf with her nails
A poem, ‘I don't know your heart, but day and nig
ht
For wanting you, love violently torches
My limbs, cruel man! ' and read it to her friends.9

‘The daughters of royal sages often marry
In secret and then their fathers bless them.'
Saying, he caught her to kiss but she slipped.
‘Why didn't I kiss her face as it bent close
To my shoulder? ' lamented Dushyanta.
Shakuntala gave herself to the king.
He married her with a promise that her son
Shall succeed him and gave herhis signet ring.10

With her face resting on her hand obsorbed
Was Shakuntala in the thought the king,
When Sage Durvasa made his appearance.
Her distraction offended him and he cursed:
The person she was dreaming of would forget
About her when he was awakened. However,
At the behest of Priyamvatha, he modified.
‘He would recollect on seeing his token.'11

Her seed in her womb, she wanted him back.
He failing, she set out with her escorts.
On the way they had to cross a river,
Wherein she ran her fingers playfully
And her ring slipped off without her knowledge.
At Dushyanta's court, she was hurt painfully
As her husband could not recognise her.
Without the ring, she could not convince her.12

Humiliated, she returned to the forest
And settled in a part and begot her son.
Meanwhile, a fisherman found the king's ring
In the belly of a fish and it reached the king.
He recollected about Shakuntala
And went out with remorse to look for her.
He encountered a brave boy with a cub.
He was Bharata, who took him to his mother.13

He met her to be his Shakuntala.
‘My dear, I see that you recognize me
Even my cruelty is transferred by your grace.'
‘Heart, be consoled. It is my cruel fate
That has finally taken pity on me.'
He narrated how he recollected her.
Passion pouring, she dropped at his feet.
His cycle of rebirth, may Siva destroy. 14

(Many quotes handled here are of drama Shakuntalam written in Sanskrit by Kalidas
in 3rd or 4th century. The tale has its source in the first chapter of the Epic Mahabharata, whre it is narrated to establish the origin of Kuru Dynasty through the birth of Bharata.)
12.08.2020