The Jasmine Vine And The Mango Tree മുല്ലവള്ളിയും തേൻമാവും Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Notes: 1. Reference is to the famous Sanskrit drama, " Abhigjana Shakuntalam" , by the great poet, Kaalidasa. The heroine Shakuntala and her friends Anasuya and Priyamvadha allude that the jasmine vine is the swayamvara vadhu (self ordained wife) of the mango tree.2. Vanajyotsna: Moonlight in the woods, literally. The jasmine vine was so named by Shakuntala. Readers are welcome to conjecture why.3. Shakuntala: heroine of the drama, Abhigjnana Shakuntalam. Shakuntala is named so, because she was cared for by wild birds (shakunta) after she was abandoned by her parents Brahmarshi Viswamithra and the celestial dancer Menaka. That is another story, Which I may be able to tell you some time.The story of Shakuntala is narrated in the epic, Mahabharata. But the story in the drama is said differently, of course, in the rich poetic imagination of the Great Kaalidasa.4. Deerghaapanga: the long-eyed one (beautiful) . Deergha=long and apanga=eyes. Long eyes are considered beautiful. And deer's and does have long beautiful eyes. Hence, girls are named mruganayanee (Mriga is deer and Nayan is eyes) .5. Adorning the earlobes: Though gold was in use for making ornaments in these old days (so say the Vedas ans epics) , it was alien to those living in the hermitage. The girls in the aashram including Shakuntala and her friends are said to adorn themselves with flowers and young colourful leaves, not gold.6. ‘Remains of a past human birth': According to Indian philosophy, deha, the body is destroyable but dehi, the soul has no death. Bhagawat Gita says the soul adorns one body after another as men change dresses. In the, I have invoked this philosophy, to allude that the mango tree was a man in one of his previous births, and his love towards Shakuntala is triggered by the memories from this previous birth.My imagination is kindled by the words of ‘Priyamvada saying when Shakuntala stands close to a tree she looks like a beautiful vine climbing on it (Abhignana Shakuntalam, Act One) .7. Dusshantha: King emperor of Hastinapura. Descendant of Puru. Readers may refer to my poetry series ‘Yayati' on PoemHunter.8. I have serious inclination to believe that I was this mango tree, who has just told you his part of the story, in one of my previous incarnations! Hehe! ! ! May I call it " Aamra Shakunthalam" (the story of the Mango Tree and Shakuntala) ?