Kalidasa’s Meghaduta (The Cloud Messenger)

The Meghaduta or Cloud Messenger, a masterpiece of Sanskrit literature, was composed by the court poet Kalidasa before AD 634 in northern India. A Yaksha or nature deity begs a passing cloud to carry a message across the subcontinent to his grieving consort in the fabled city of Alaká. Under this fiction, Kalidasa presents a sympathetic portrait of northern India, and weaves in the various moods of love traditional in classical Sanskrit poetry. The poem is written in unrhymed stanzas of four lines in the slow-moving Mandakrata measure. Many translations exist, generally in the style of their period, some being designed to help Sanskrit students understand the grammar and vocabulary of Kalidasa's elevated and harmonious language. The book is for the general reader, and includes a brief treatments of alternative readings, metrical issues, and the aims of Sanskrit poetry.