The works
Four books, each opened at the verses most worth entering first.
मेघदूतम्
4 verses prepared
Meghadūta
The Cloud Messenger · Lyric poem · 111 verses · Mandākrāntā metre
An exiled yakṣa asks a passing monsoon cloud to carry a message of longing to his wife in the far city of Alakā.
अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तलम्
4 verses prepared
Abhijñānaśākuntalam
The Recognition of Śakuntalā · Play in seven acts · verse and prose
King Duṣyanta loves and forgets the forest-raised Śakuntalā; a lost ring and a curse stand between memory and recognition.
कुमारसम्भवम्
2 verses prepared
Kumārasambhava
The Birth of the War-God · Mahākāvya · eight cantos
Pārvatī wins Śiva through devotion and austerity, so that the son who will lead the gods may be born.
ऋतुसंहारम्
3 verses prepared
Ṛtusaṃhāra
The Gathering of the Seasons · Lyric cycle · six cantos, one per season
Six seasons of the Indian year, each seen through the eyes of lovers — heat, rain, autumn, frost, winter and spring.