SANSKRIT STUDIES
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actions sink to the level of the lower beings ; but his final aim ought to be to escape from the trammels of re-birth, whether high or low.
Kalidasa believes in the ultimate existence of one Supreme Being from which the universe emanates and into which it is finally absorbed. This Being, Kalidasa terms, in agreement with the teaching of the Upanisads, almighty, absolute, omniscient and omnipresent. For the purposes of evolving the world the highest Being differentiates itself into the three gods of the Hindu Trinity. Kalidasa states, with a tolerance characteristic of him, that all these gods are of equal rank, and that a believer may select for special worship whichever of the three forms appeals to him most. Though this form of monotheism— for it is not advaitism in the sense which that word has acquired since Samkara’s time — was the professed religion of our poet, the special cult to which he adhered in daily life was Saivism. The Saivic colour of his faith may have arisen from the accident of the age in which he was born or of the family to which he belonged. In the reply given by Parvat! to the ascetic who questions the propriety of her selecting Siva for her consort (Kumdrasam- bhava , v), Kalidasa, we may imagine, explains his own special attach- ment to this form of the godhead. The close acquaintance which the poet shows with the customs and beliefs of the highest Aryan society, the readiness and naturalness with which he refers to Brahminic ritual and the general tenor of his writings indicate that he was in all probability a Brahmin. The commonly current notions that he was a shepherd and so forth must thus be attributed to that tendency in man by which he readily invents circumstances that add to the glory of the person whom he decides to admire.
kAlidasa the poet
Poetry is of sentiment as well as of diction, and while the special merit of many writers lies in one or the other of these, a few excel in both. Kalidasa is of the latter type and his poetry appeals to us as much by the elegance of its form as by the power of its ideas. Perfect artist as he is, Kalidasa avoids extravagance of all kinds. There is nothing like pomp in his manner and he nowhere succumbs to that tendency to ‘ over- exaggerate ’ ( atyukti ) which spoils so much of Sanskrit poetry. His conceptions are natural, though bold; his similes are proverbially apt; and his
