Meghadūta 1.1
कश्चित्कान्ताविरहगुरुणा स्वाधिकारात्प्रमत्तः
शापेनास्तंगमितमहिमा वर्षभोग्येण भर्तुः।
यक्षश्चक्रे जनकतनयास्नानपुण्योदकेषु
स्निग्धच्छायातरुषु वसतिं रामगिर्याश्रमेषु॥
kaścit kāntāviraha-guruṇā svādhikārāt pramattaḥ
śāpenāstaṃgamita-mahimā varṣa-bhogyeṇa bhartuḥ
yakṣaś cakre janaka-tanayā-snāna-puṇyodakeṣu
snigdha-cchāyā-taruṣu vasatiṃ rāmagiry-āśrameṣu
Tap any word to see what it means and how it works in the line.
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There was once a yakṣa who neglected his duty, and his lord cursed him: for one year his powers would be gone, and he would live apart from his wife. He settled on Rāmagiri, among hermitages where Sītā once bathed, under trees of deep shade.
How the sense would be said plainly today.
Metre
Mandākrāntā
— — — — | ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ — | — ⏑ — — ⏑ — —
Seventeen syllables to a line: four long beats, then a run of five light ones, then a slow, stepped close. 'Mandākrāntā' means 'slowly approaching' — the metre moves exactly like a monsoon cloud, and Kālidāsa uses it for all 111 verses.
— is a long beat, ⏑ a short one.
Why this verse matters
- The image
- Three images do all the work: a curse that is heavy, a glory that sets, and a shade that is moist. Each is a physical word standing in for a state of feeling.
- The craft
- The verse withholds its subject. Eleven syllables of description pass before 'yakṣaḥ' arrives in the third line, and the main verb 'cakre' arrives later still — so we experience the weight before we learn who carries it.
- The moment
- The first verse of the poem. Everything that follows — a cloud, a map of India, a message — grows out of this one man sitting under wet trees.
A short practice
Match each word to what it means.