| |
The author reveals that he has taken the liberty of giving to the following little work the sanction of your Lordship`s name, not with the idea, that so humble a tribute can add anything to its lustre; but with the hope, that it may reflect some credit upon the pages to which it is prefixed. Meghaduta is a lyric poem written by Kalidasa (c. 4th–5th century CE), considered to be one of the greatest Sanskrit poets. It describes how a yak?a (or nature spirit), who had been banished by his master to a remote region for a year, asked a cloud to take a message of love to his wife. The poem become well-known in Sanskrit literature and inspired other poets to write similar poems (known as "messenger-poems", or Sandesha Kavya) on similar themes. The antiquity and excellence of the sacred language of the Hindus, have naturally attracted attention, and excited curiosity: possessing considerable claims to be regarded as the most ancient form of speech with which mankind is acquainted, it appeals strongly to the interest that invests the early ages of the world; and constructed upon perhaps the most perfect plan, which human ingenuity has devised, it tempts them to an enquiry whether its perfection be limited by its structure, or whether the merits of Hindu compositions partake, or not, of the beauty of the language, in which they are composed.
|
| |
ISBN : 9788121225748
Pages : 165
|