When was the play shakuntala written

The Prologue consists of Benediction and a conversation between the director and an Actress. Just as ritual was an integral part of Greek dramas rituals also a part of the ancient Indian plays. The director and the Actress talk about the play of the day. The readers are informed that a new play The Recognition of Shakuntala is going to be performed. The Actress performs a song on the present season- summer for the audience.

The King, with bow and arrow in hand, was in intense pursuit of a blackbuck in his chariot. At the time of aiming, an ascetic asked him to not to kill the deer since the deer belongs to the Hermitage. He also asked the King Duhsanta to withdraw his pointed arrow from the poor animal and also reminded him of his duty as a king to protect distressed soul.

The King agreed to what he has been told. The ascetic informed the king that they were going to collect wood for the Sacrificial Fire and invited the King to pay a visit to the hermitage of Kanva. Kanva was not present at the hermitage but his daughter Shakuntala was in charge to serve guests.

The King appeared in front of them. Seeing the King in disguise they were taken aback especially Shakuntala who felt a spark of passion in her. The meeting was interrupted and they were apart. The King is in love. He wants to stay there in the grove as long as possible. King Duhsanta told about his obsession about Shakuntala to his companion and court jester Madhavya.

Therefore they requested him to stay for some nights in the Hermitage to guard it which King Duhsanta pleasantly accepted. Before entering the hermitage, the King concealed his royal identity and entered the hermitage as a gentle civilian. There he was awestruck to see Shakuntala. Shakuntala and her friends Anasuya and Priyamvada were engaged in nurturing the plants.

The physical beauty of Shakuntala is described even erotically at length. The girls imagine that the climbing of a feminine vine into masculine mango tree is deemed to be a marriage of vine and the mango tree.

The King was in dilemma between his commitment to protect the grove and command of his mother. Finally Madhavya was delegated to take his place as a son and perform all the ritual duties at the ceremony, to which Madhavya agreed to perform. Shakuntala had been too restless and despondent since she encountered the King. The reason of her sickness was is nothing but the King. Priyamvada asked Shakuntala to write a song that will convey her love to him.

She wrote a little song and sang. At that moment the King came out and confessed his love too in front of Shakuntala. They secretly married to each other in the form of the gandharva form of marriage. After the marriage the King urgently returned to the capital. Anasuya and Priyamvada shared their doubt whether the King would remember the marraiage between him and their friend. She was lost in her thoughts. For that reason she failed to receive sage Durvasa. Their mutual declarations effectively constitute a secret marriage.

Before long, Shakuntala is pregnant. After Dusyanta is forced to return to his capital, Shakuntala is so distracted that she unintentionally offends Durvasas , a short-tempered sage, when he visits the hermitage.

Durvasas puts a curse on her that will cause Dusyanta to forget Shakuntala, but when Priyamvada intercedes, he grants that the sight of a memento—the signet ring—will lift the curse. Dusyanta relents and agrees to house Shakuntala until she gives birth, but before he can do so, Shakuntala is spirited away to the celestial realm by nymphs. She learns that the King, overwhelmed by depression and remorse over Shakuntala, has forbidden the celebration.

Six years pass. King Dusyanta has successfully vanquished the demons and been duly honored by Indra. Here the King is astonished to meet a little boy who greatly resembles him.

Then Shakuntala enters, and, though it takes her a moment to recognize the King, they are soon tearfully reunited. Plot Summary. Love Prophecies and Curses Concealment and Separation. All Symbols Bees Deer Trees. The play is based on the story of Dushyanta in Adiparav of Mahabharta. The play is supposed to be written between 1 B.

Abhijnanasakuntalam is inspired from the chapter 62 — 68 of Mahabharta. Kalidasa, keeping in mind the original story, molded the characters in such a way so as to show them as ideal characters. He also introduces the different dramatic devices such as the ring given to Sakuntala by Dushyant, the curse of Rishi Durvasa to make the characters seem perfect in every role of the play and to shift the blame of their mistakes to the particular device to idealise the characters.

In the play, Kalidasa shows the identification of Sakuntala from time and again. The ring is shown to Dushyanta and he immediately recognizes it and feels guilty for the remembering the love of his life, that is Sakuntala and publicly humiliating her.

The king is in grief and decides not to celebrate the spring time and kingdom feels gloomy all over. He also paints a painting of Sakuntala which looks exactly like her. In this act, the king is also given a message of the death of a merchant whose wife is pregnant. He, here also realizes or is again pained with the thought that he has no son and he had lost Sakuntala who was pregnant when he abandoned her.

Summary : Abhijnanasakuntalam is a beautiful tale of love and romance. Sakuntala was the daughter of Rishi Vishwamitra and Apsara Menaka. Menaka was sent to distract Vishwamitra during his meditation, by Lord Indra in the fear that Vishwamitra might gain more powers than the Gods if he continues to meditate.

Meneka succeeds in distracting him and give birth to their daughter Sakuntala. Vishwamitra abandons both of them, knowing that Menaka cannot take the child up to heaven. He was infuriated by his lost of chastity. Sakuntala was left alone in the forest by Menaka. The birds took care of Baby Sakuntala until sage Kanava took her as his child and named her Sakuntala.

Sakuntala grows up to be a beautiful young lady just like her mother Meneka. He looks at Sakuntala and he is mesmerized by her beauty. But he does not come out of his hiding. He continues to listen to the conversation of Sakuntala with her two friends.

He comes out of the hiding only when he is sure of her birth. He comes to know that the sage is not in the cottage at the moment and will come after few days.

He accepts the hospitality of Sakuntala and her friends and confesses his love for her and promises her that the son born from her will the heir — apparent of the kingdom.

They get into a gandharva marriage and the king is called back in the kingdom because of some work. But he leaves his ring with his name inscribed on it and gives it to Sakuntala as his token of love and also promises to return soon and take Sakuntala with him. Sakuntala is compared to the Green nature again and again in the play. She is as soft, tender and loving as the Mother Nature. She is portrayed as a true beautiful lady. While the sage Kanva was still not as the cottage was visited by sage Durvasa, who was very well known for his anger.

When no one at the cottage attends him he gets angry and curses Sakuntala seeing as she was the only one in the cottage that whoever she was thinking about will forget about her.