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The Story of Kalidasa and Vidyottama
We've all heard of and read works of the famous classical author Kalidasa, who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. But it isn't very well known that he was considered a fool by many, including his wife, who banished him on their wedding night because of his stupidity. This incident triggered a reaction that brought to us the greatest Sanskrit poet and playwright in the history of India.
The Setting of the Swayamwar Debate; Source-NewsTrend.
This is a story of how Kalidasa became a learned scholar because of his wife.
The world remembers Kalidasa as the famed, learned and knowledgeable author, poet and playwright of the classical Sanskrit language. The Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas are the main sources for his plays and poems. While he is credited with over 40 works, only three plays, two epic poems, and two shorter poems are all that are left of his writings.
Kalidasa was a devotee of the Goddess Kali. He is said to have received his knowledge and skills from the goddess herself, being considered an immature idiotic fool before. However, he credited his entire learning and the process of this education to his wife Vidyottama, an extremely learned scholar princess and daughter of the famous king Vikramaditya of Ujjain.
Kalidasa's wife's is mentioned in the mythology of Tibetan lama Tāranātha, written in the seventeenth century. It's intriguing how the story illustrates how his wife, Princess Vasant (also known as Vidyottama- the one with profound knowledge), changed Kalidasa's life. He changed from an idiot to one of the greatest poets of his time.
The story goes as such -
Princess Vidyottama was a beautiful, exceptionally talented, learned and wonderful woman. She was trained in arts, literature, music, dance, and debates and was a scholar of the scriptures. However, as she grew up, she became more and more arrogant about her knowledge and intelligence. When the time came for her marriage, she declared she would choose her husband in a swayamvar from amongst the wisest men. The one who would answer all her questions in the debate of the scriptures (*shastrarth/शास्त्रार्थ*) would be her fated husband.
Hearing this, the wisest and most learned men from different regions of the country either came to marry the princess or to witness the greatest scholar who would get the honour to marry her. But Vidyottama defeated all of them and simultaneously insulted their knowledge and intelligence in front of everyone. As she kept winning, her arrogance grew and the insults became even more humiliating. It came to such a point that she even defeated her teacher Guru Vararuchi in a debate.
The insults and humiliation were too much for many scholars including Vararuchi. They planned to seek revenge by cheating and slyly getting Vidyottama married to the biggest idiot in the county. They went in search of such a man.
Soon they came across a handsome young man in the woods, who was sitting on a branch of the tree and cutting it too - in a way that he would fall with it when the branch would fully cut off. They continued to witness this till the man fell. The scholars were sure that this most certainly was the most foolish person and decided to get him married to Vidyottama. This man was none other than Kalidasa.
Kalidasa cutting the branch of the tree he was sitting on; Source-India Speaks Daily
The scholars dressed Kalidasa in the most lavish clothes and jewellery and told him that he would get married to a princess. The condition was that under no circumstances would he speak or his foolishness would be revealed. Kalidasa agreed. The scholars presented Kalidasa as the wisest scholar who was their guru. They said that he had come from far away but was in silent meditation (*maun vrata*). He could not speak but only make gestures. Seeing the affluence and impact of the man on these scholars, the king and the princess accepted to debate this learned scholar.
Vidyottama raised her Index finger. She meant to say that God was the One Supreme. In his foolishness, Kalidasa mistook this as her saying that she would poke one of his eyes with her fingers. So he raised two fingers to counter her attack insinuating that he would poke both her eyes. The scholars interrupted and explained this through their meanings. They said that the scholar meant that while God was Supreme, there also existed the individual soul. Vidyottama was impressed.
Next, she raised her palm, all five fingers open. She wanted to say that the five elements of nature constitute and control the mind and the body. Kalidasa once again mistook it as a sign of attack. He assumed that Vidyottama wanted to slap him. So he raised a fist to say that if he was slapped, he would punch her. The scholars once again intervened and interpreted it in their way. They explained it as the scholar saying that only when the elements come together and work as one group, do they control the body's functioning and senses.
Vidyottama was highly impressed and the king was assured that Kalidasa was indeed the wisest scholar and was the perfect match for Vidyottama. The two were promptly married. It was a joyous affair and the other scholars were overjoyed that Vidyottama was marrying a fool.
It was finally during their wedding night when Vidyottama realised that she had been cheated into marrying a fool. While sitting in her quarters, she heard Kalidasa knock, accompanied by a camel's grunt. She questioned him - Who said this? (*kim vadati?)* Because of his inaccurate pronunciation of camel in his answer [उट्र in place of उष्ट्र (camel)], Kalidasa's foolishness and idiocy were revealed. Vidyottama was angry and felt humiliated. She immediately banished Kalidasa - renouncing him and telling him to only come back when he was a scholar.
Vidyottama realised that she had been cheated; Source- News Trend
It was only after this incident that Kalidasa realised his foolishness and repented. He locked himself in Goddess Kali's temple and begged her to open the doors of knowledge and wisdom to him. Once his wish was granted, Kalidasa ventured far and wide as far as Kashi to improve his knowledge and gain wisdom. Over time, he also started writing and composing several plays and stories. Kalidasa eventually gained recognition and notoriety for his poetry.
Vidyottama had additionally mandated that on his return Kalidasa must satisfactorily respond to her query, "Is there anything special in expression?" ("Asti Kascid Vagarthaḥ"). Only when such a response would be provided, she would be sure of his acquired wisdom. Kalidasa did not come up with just one answer to his wife's question. Asti ("there is"), Kaścid ("something"), and Vāgarthaḥ ("spoken word and its meaning"), respectively, are the opening words of Kumārsambhava, Raghuvaṃśa and Meghaduta, the three major poems attributed to the poet.
Unfortunately, nothing is known about Kalidasa in this regard and such anecdotes are based solely on guesswork and myths when it comes to his marriage, or for that matter the role that any woman played in his life. If the story holds, it is important to note how essential a role was played by a woman in giving us probably India’s most renowned, respected and read author of all time.
Aditi Shukla Author
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