Kumarasambhava
Encyclopedia
Kumārasambhava is a Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 epic poem by Kālidāsa
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...

; the first eight cantos (sargas) are accepted as his authorship
, the last nine may be later additions. The period of composition is uncertain, Kalidasa is thought of as having lived in the 5th c. AD.

Kumarsambhava is widely regarded as one of Kalidasa's finest works, a paradigmatic example of Kāvya
Kavya
Kavya refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets flourishing from the first half of the seventh century AD. This literary style is characterised by abundant usage of figures of speech, metaphors, similes, and hyperbole to create its emotional effects...

 poetry. The style of description of spring set the standard for nature metaphors pervading many centuries of Indian literary tradition.

Contents

Kumārasambhava literally means "Birth of Kumara
Kumara
Kumara may refer to:Places* Kumara, New Zealand, a town* Kumara , a Parliamentary electoratePeople*Ajith Kumara , Sri Lankan politician*Dinesh Kumara , Sri Lankan cricketer...

", i.e. Kartikeya. This epic of seventeen canto
Canto
The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...

s entails Shringara Rasa, the rasa of love, romance, and eroticism, more than Vira rasa (the rasa of heroism). Tarakasur
Tarakasur
Tarakasur or Taraka was a powerful asura and the son of Vajranaka in Hindu belief. Tarakasur repeatedly defeated the gods until heaven was on the verge of collapse. Yet he had a clever boon that he could be defeated only by the son of Shiva, who was a complete yogi, given to severe austerities,...

, a rakshasha (or demon) was blessed that he could be killed by none other than Lord Shiva's son, however, Shiva had won over Kama
Kama
Kāma is often translated from Sanskrit as sexual desire, sexual pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, or eros54654564+more broadly mean desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, without sexual connotations.-Kama in...

-deva (the god of love). Parvati
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...

 performed great tapasya (or spiritual penance) to win the love of Lord Shiva. Consequently, Shiva and Parvati's son Kartikeya is born and kills Tarakasur to restore the glory of Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...

, the king of Gods.

Kālidāsa had left his home in pursuit of knowledge and to become worthy of his intellectual wife Vidyottama (lit. "epitome of erudition"). When he returned from this conquest, his wife asked, "asti kashchit vaagvisheShaH (अस्ति कश्चित् वाग्विशेषः)" ("Is there any erudition [which should prompt me to extend a special welcome to you]?") Kālidāsa impressed his wife with the answer she expected and over the next few years created three great epics based on the three words uttered by his wife: 'asti' - Kumarasambhava, 'kashchit' - Meghaduta
Meghaduta
Meghadūta is a lyric poem written by Kālidāsa, considered to be one of the greatest Sanskrit poets.A short poem of 111 stanzas, it is one of Kālidāsa's most famous works...

, and 'vaak' - Raghuvamsha.

External links

  • fulltext Kumarasambhava devanagari (first eight sargas)
  • fulltext Kumarasambhavam roman script at GRETIL
    GRETIL
    The Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages is a comprehensive repository of e-texts in Sanskrit and other Indian languages.It contains several texts related to Indology, such as philosophical texts...

  • The Birth of the War-God, selected translation by Arthur W. Ryder
    Arthur W. Ryder
    Arthur William Ryder was a professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for translating a number of Sanskrit works into English, including the Panchatantra and the Bhagavad Gita. In the words of G. R. Noyes,-Life:Ryder was born on March 8, 1877 at Oberlin, Ohio...

  • kumArasambhavam - word-for-word online translation of verses, gist of each verse, explanation etc; presently ongoing work]http://www.giirvaani.net
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