Kālidāsa Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Martha Ann Seeby

Critical Essay by Martha Ann Seeby

SOURCE: A review of The Seasons: Kalidasa's Rtusamhara, in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 53, No. 2, May, 1994, pp. 610-11.

In the following review, Seeby criticizes the translator of A Round of Seasons for his over-reliance on prosody.

The Rtusamhara, A Round of Seasons, is a fairly early, if not the earliest, example of Sanskrit laghukavya composed on the popular theme of sadrtuvarnana, "description of the six seasons." According to inscriptional evidence, this poem was most likely composed at some point prior to the mid-fifth century C.E. There is no doubt that it is an erotic poem. It is verbal seduction, Sanskrit style, spoken by a man to his beloved, and its very movement through the year is designed to titillate. The poem begins in the heat of summer. The speaker asks his love to wait: because of the oppressive heat of the season, it is too hot...
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