ऋतुसंहारम्

Ṛtusaṃhāra

The Gathering of the Seasons · Lyric cycle · six cantos, one per season

Often thought to be Kālidāsa's earliest work, this cycle sets human feeling inside the turning year. Every canto is addressed to a beloved, so that weather and desire are never quite separable: the rains arrive like a king, autumn comes dressed as a bride.

Verses prepared for reading

1. Ṛtusaṃhāra 1.1 — Grīṣma, the hot season · Vaṃśasthaप्रचण्डसूर्यः स्पृहणीयचन्द्रमाःThe sun burns, the moon is something to long for, the pools are drained by endless bathing, the evenings are beautiful and even desire has cooled: the…Read this verse
2. Ṛtusaṃhāra 2.1 — Varṣā, the rains · Vaṃśasthaसशीकराम्भोधरमत्तकुञ्जर-The rains have come in like a king on the march: clouds for war-elephants, lightning for banners, thunder for drums, all of it blazing. And lovers are…Read this verse
3. Ṛtusaṃhāra 3.1 — Śarad, autumn · Vasantatilakāकाशांशुका विकचपद्ममनोज्ञवक्त्राAutumn has come dressed as a bride: white reed-grass for her clothes, a face like an open lotus, the cries of wild geese for her anklets, and a body b…Read this verse