Kalidasa

"न रत्नमन्विष्यति मृग्यते हि तत्"

"If a professor thinks what matters most Is to have gained an academic post Where he can earn a livelihood, and then Neglect research, let controversy rest, He's but a petty tradesman at the best, Selling retail the work of other men."

"There in the fane a beauteous creature stands, The first best work of the Creator's hands; Whose slender limbs inadequately bear A full orbed bosom, and a weight of care; Whose teeth like pearls, whose lips like Bimbas show, And fawn-like eyes still tremble as they glow."

"O my good fortune, please subdue the anguish of your Soul. Nobody is destined only to happiness or to pain. The wheel of life takes one up and down by turn."

"God Shiva and his mountain bride, Like word and meaning unified, The world's great parents, I beseech To join fit meaning to my speech."

"O thou who didst create this All, Who dost preserve it, lest it fall, Who wilt destroy it and its ways— To thee, O triune Lord, be praise."

"Though many different paths, O Lord, May lead us to some great reward, They gather and are merged in thee Like floods of Ganges in the sea."

"We have watered the trees that blossom in the summer-time. Now let's sprinkle those whose flowering-time is past. That will be a better deed, because we shall not be working for a reward."

"A thought is as vivid as an act, to a lover."

"Did the great Creator first draw her in a masterpiece, And then touch life into his art? Or did he make her in his mind alone, Drawing on beauty’s every part? No—considering her singular perfection And her maker’s true omnipotence, I suppose her some quite unique creation In femininity’s treasure house."

"A blossom yet unsmelt, A tender shoot unpinched, A gem uncut, Untasted, fresh-fermented honey-wine, The fruit of proper actions Still intact— A beauty without fault or flaw."

"Grief must be shared to be endured."

"What is intended to be said, if left unsaid, becomes a matter of regret later."

"Be brave, and check the rising tears That dim your lovely eyes."

"A bee may be born in a hole in a tree, but she likes the honey of the lotus."

"May lily-dotted lakes delight your eye; May shade-trees bid the heat of noonday cease; May soft winds blow the lotus-pollen nigh; May all your path be pleasantness and peace."

"Because your heart, by loving fancies blinded, Has scorned a guest in pious life grown old, Your lover shall forget you though reminded, Or think of you as of a story told."

"The mind of age is like a lamp Whose oil is running thin; One moment it is shining bright, Then darkness closes in."

"अनुभवति हि मूर्ध्ना पादपस्तीव्रमुष्णं । शमयति परितापं छायया संश्रितानाम् ॥"

"It is just such women, selfish, sweet, false, that entice fools."

"I cannot taste the sweet, and cannot leave it."

"To be a king, is to be a disappointed man."

"A good man never lets grief get the upper hand. The mountains are calm even in a tempest."

"I treated her with scorn and loathing ever; Now o’er her pictured charms my heart will burst: A traveller I, who scorned the mighty river, And seeks in the mirage to quench his thirst."

"A graceful arch of brows above great eyes; Lips bathed in darting, smiling light that flies Reflected from white teeth; a mouth as red As red karkandhu-fruit; love’s brightness shed O’er all her face in bursts of liquid charm— The picture speaks, with living beauty warm."

"The tear drop that once stood trembling on your lower lip —and I watched uncaring, lost in delusion— while it still clings to your gently-curving lashes, I shall now wipe away, my beloved, to free myself of remorse."

"May kingship benefit the land, And wisdom grow in scholars’ band; May Shiva see my faith on earth And make me free of all rebirth."

"The autumn comes, a maiden fair In slenderness and grace, With nodding rice-stems in her hair And lilies in her face. In flowers of grasses she is clad; And as she moves along, Birds greet her with their cooing glad Like bracelets' tinkling song."

"Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn! Look to this Day! For it is Life, the very Life of Life. In its brief Course lie all the Varieties and Realities of your Existence: The Bliss of Growth, The Glory of Action, The Splendour of Beauty; For Yesterday is but a Dream And Tomorrow is only a Vision; But Today well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope. Look well therefore to this Day! Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!"

"L. V. Ramachandra Iyer, Abhigyanashakuntalam (Madras: Oriental Press, 1905)"

"M. R. Kale, Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava Cantos I-VII (Bombay: Standard Publishing Co., 1917)"

"John Brough, Poems from the Sanskrit (London: Penguin, 1968) no. 165"

"Arthur W. Ryder, Kalidasa: Translations of Shakuntala and Other Writings (Everyman's Library, 1920 [1912])"

"Chandra Rajan, Kalidasa: The Loom of Time (Calcutta: Penguin Books, 1989)"

"Horace Hayman Wilson, The Mégha Dúta; or, Cloud Messenger (Calcutta and London, 1814)"

"C. R. Devadhar, Works of Kalidasa II: Poetry (New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993 [1984])"

"W. J. Johnson, The Recognition of Sakuntala; Sakuntala in the Mahabharata (New York: Oxford UP, 2001)"

"Where find a soul that does not thrill In Kalidasa’s verse to meet The smooth, inevitable lines Like blossom-clusters, honey-sweet?"

"Kalidasa, the immortal poet and playwright, is a peerless genius whose works have won world-wide fame. The matchless qualities of his work have been lavishly praised both by the ancient Indian critics and modern scholars. ... In modern times the translations of Kalidasa's works in numerous Indian and foreign languages have spread his fame all over the world and now he ranks among the few topmost poets and playwrights of the world."

"Goethe seems to have taken from Kalidasa the idea of a prologue for Faust."

"The first time I came upon this inexhaustible work, it aroused such enthusiasm in me and so held me that I could not stop studying it. I even felt impelled to make the impossible attempt to bring it in some form to the German stage. These efforts were fruitless but they made me so thoroughly acquainted with this most valuable work, it represented such an epoch in my life, I so absorbed it, that for thirty years I did not look at either the English or the German version. It is only now that I understand the enormous impression that work made on me at an earlier age."

"Wouldst thou the young year’s blossoms, and the fruits of its decline, And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed; Wouldst thou the Earth and Heaven itself in one sole name combine? I name thee, O Shakuntala! and all at once is said."

"In the whole world of Greek antiquity there is no poetical representation of beautiful love which approaches even afar."

"I cannot easily find a product of human mind more pleasant than this [Shakuntala] ... a real blossom of the Orient, and the first, most beautiful of its kind! Something like that, of course, appears once every two thousand years."

"I advance an opinion that we have few specimens either in classical or modern poetry of more genuine tenderness or delicate feeling."