Shakuntala and Other Works

About

Kālidāsa is widely considered the greatest writer in the Sanskrit literary tradition, and Abhijñānaśākuntala (The Recognition of Shakuntala) is his masterpiece: a play in which King Dusyanta falls in love with the forest-raised Shakuntala, a holy man's curse makes him forget her, and recognition and reunion follow only after years of separation. Goethe famously wrote that if he wanted to name the year's spring, summer, autumn, and winter in a single word, he would name Shakuntala. The play's lyrical beauty — its descriptions of forest, seasons, and love — is extraordinary even in translation. Ryder's version is particularly faithful to the original's tonal delicacy.