The Unfolding of Shakuntala: From Vyasa to Kalidasa
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Shakuntala has been immortalized as the female protagonist in the famous play by the same name, written by fifth-century poet and dramatist Kalidasa. A “Cinderella-esque” story about a poor young girl who ends up being a queen, her romantic story sparks many imaginations and has been re-told and performed onstage throughout the world. The story of Shakuntala, however, originates in the Indian epic of the Mahabharata, written several centuries earlier by Sage Vyasa. While most of the story remains intact in Kalidasa’s version, the differences are as noteworthy as the tale itself. The Shakuntala of the Mahabharata is no meek Cinderella; she belongs more to the twenty-first century than the fifth century. Or perhaps she is timeless.
Shakuntala in the Mahabharata
The story in the Mahabharata begins with King Dushyant lost in a dense forest while hunting. He spies an idyllic hermitage and is greeted by a “black-eyed girl” with a “flawless body”, “beautiful hips” and a “lustrous appearance”. She informs him that she is Shakuntala, the adopted daughter of the sage Kanva, who is currently out of the hermitage. She is the biological daughter of Menaka, the most beautiful celestial Apsara, who was commanded by the god Indra to seduce Sage Visvamitra. Menaka gave birth to Viswamitra’s child, Shakuntala, and then abandoned her, following which the child was brought up Sage Kanva.
A smitten Dushyant proclaims his love for Shakuntala and asks her to be his wife. While Shakuntala reciprocates his feelings, she wishes to wait for her adoptive father’s return. Dushyant convinces her that as per the gandharva tradition, kings can consensually marry maids without the traditional giving-away of the bride. Shakuntala asserts that “she is her own mistress”, agrees to the non-traditional wedding, but cleverly asks the king to promise that the son born from their union will be the heir to his throne. King Dushyant agrees, and having consummated the marriage leaves the hermitage with promises to send for his new bride with “footmen, horses, chariots and elephants”. He never does.
Shakuntala gives birth to a boy named Bharat, who is so strong that at six years of age he can tame lions with his bare hands. Kanva commands that the boy and his mother be sent to the capital Hastinapur, for the boy is ready to be named as crown prince. Shakuntala proudly enters the court of Hastinapur with her young son. Even though Dushyant recognizes her, he pretends not to. He insults her and her parentage, “Menaka was a merciless slut….Viswamitra…a lecher, how can you call yourself their daughter” ? Shakuntala is not meek; she strongly rebukes Dushyant with “fired glances that could have burnt him” for abandoning his son although “the ancestors call a son the foundation of family and lineage”. “My birth is higher than yours”, she retorts. “You walk on earth great king, but I fly the skies”. As Shakuntala storms out of the court, an invisible, divine voice commands Dushyant to accept Shakuntala and Bharat as his wife and son, because Shakuntala has spoken the truth. Dushyant joyfully claims that he had recognized both of them but was afraid that society would be suspicious of Bharat’s claim on the throne. Now that all earthly suspicions are cleared by “divine intervention”, he dutifully honors his wife and son.
While the Mahabharata explains Dushyant’s callous treatment of Shakuntala in his court–though the abusive language and the claims of societal pressure is questionable–it provides no easy explanation of why Dushyant never sent for Shakuntala in the first place. Like many characters in the philosophical Mahabharata, one would perhaps have to accept that the great king Dushyant was humanly flawed. Kalidasa’s genius expands the story to fill that gap, making it more appealing to the live audience for whom it was written.
Kalidasa’s Shakuntala: The Power of a Ring
In Kalidasa’s version of the story, when Dushyant leaves Shakuntala in the hermitage, she pines for him all day. Lost in thoughts of her new love, she fails to notice the famous sage Durvasa entering the hermitage. The notoriously short-tempered sage feels insulted, and curses Shakuntala, proclaiming that the person she is thinking of will forget her. Shakuntala’s friends come to her rescue, explain the circumstances to the sage, and apologize for her first transgression. Sage Durvasa relents and while sagely laws don’t allow a retraction of the curse, he concedes that, “the sight of a memento can lift the curse”. The friends are satisfied, for Shakuntala possesses a ring gifted by Dushyant.
In Kalidasa’s version of Shakuntala, when Sage Kanva returns, he makes immediate arrangements to send Shakuntala to her husband’s home, before the birth of her child. On the way, Shakuntala loses the ring when she bathes in the Ganges. Without realizing her loss, she enters Dushyant’s court where he fails to recognize her. Shakuntala is portrayed in a gentler manner, and instead of feisty words, she raises her ring finger to prove her identity. But her ringless finger and her claim that she has lost his ring cause Dushyant to derisively remark that “females of every kind have natural cunning to perform these tricks, and “women, in addition have devious minds”. He refuses to accept Shakuntala, who is obviously pregnant. Shakuntala berates herself “I deserve to be called a self-willed wanton, since… I gave myself to a man with honey in his mouth but poison in his heart”. She leaves the court, wailing for her mother Menaka, who suddenly appears from the skies and whisks her away. A few days later, an honest fisherman discovers the ring in the gut of a fish, and recognizing the royal insignia, brings it to the court. As Dushyant sees the ring, his memory is restored, and he laments the loss of Shakuntala and his unborn child. Dushyant eventually discovers them, years later, in a far-off hermitage where Shakuntala has given birth to Bharat. The family is reunited.
Kalidasa’s Shakuntala exonerates Dushyant by explaining his irresponsible behavior, making for a “lived happily ever after” ending. Kalidasa, more importantly, dramatically softens the character of Shakuntala. Her sharp rejoinders in the Mahabharata are replaced by self-deprecation, a humble acceptance of her husband’s rejection, and a desire to be swallowed by the earth in her shame. Even in the early acts of the play, Shakuntala rarely speaks for herself. She is shy; her two female-companions primarily address Dushyant on her behalf and encourage the courtship. Significantly, Shakuntala does not force the pre-condition that her child be the heir to the throne, as she does in the Mahabharata. Her role is that of an innocent, affectionate, gentle girl, with protective maternal instincts living in harmony with nature, and who is rather bewildered by the romantic ardor she suddenly feels.
The Power of Shakuntala
Shakuntala’s transformation into a more docile woman than the one portrayed in the Mahabharata is significant, because the Mahabharata continues to highlight strong women as its story unfolds. Shakuntala’s story is a minor one in the massive epic, significant only in that the protagonists of the Mahabharata, the Kuru clan, descend from the mighty king Bharat, the son of Shakuntala and Dushyant. Generations later, the humiliation of one of its female protagonists, Draupadi, is a leading cause of the culminating war of Kurukshetra, and the near decimation of the Kuru clan. Examples of other strong women abound through the Mahabharata: the princess Amba, who avenges the loss of her suitor by relentlessly taking re-birth in a suitable form to kill the invincible Bhishma whom she blames for her ill-fated love; the resolute single mother and widowed queen, Kunti, who raises five sons amid hostile conditions while guarding the secret of her own pre-marital pregnancy; the wise queen, Gandhari, who repeatedly advises her husband Dhrithrashtra against his missteps that lead to the end of the clan’s greatness.
Yet, it is often Kalidasa’s Shakuntala, or women like her, who are portrayed in popular media: the movie industry and the TV serials that have commonly replaced live entertainment. The gandharva marriage is used to demonstrate the inevitable failure of a marriage without proper parental-permission. The 1969 blockbuster Aradhana, portrays the trials of the heroine when the man she marries secretly dies tragically, their posthumous son given up for adoption to protect his “illegitimate” status. While romantic love is the central theme of most Indian movies, parental consent is essential to ensure a “happy-ever-after” ending. The 2001 Hindi movie Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham broke several box-office records in India, UK, and the USA. It depicts a rift between the hero and his father because the son chooses to marry a woman from an “inferior” socio-economic background; the young woman herself remains emotionally loyal to her in-laws and is instrumental in reuniting her husband with his family.
Popular feminist dramatization has certainly, though slowly, emerged in India and been well received . The movie Arth, released in 1982, depicts an urban woman who refuses to accept her husband’s extra-marital affair. While the movie won several national awards, similar themes have been few and far-between. The role of the woman remains pivotal in maintaining family ties and unity, at any personal cost. The man rarely bears responsibility or repercussions for his actions. The 2014 Hindi movie Queen–about a young girl jilted at the altar who consequently discovers her inner spunk and the joys of life, leaving her callous ex-fiancé behind–is a refreshing change. For every movie like Arth and Queen, however, there is a large multiple of movies and TV serials that exalt the virtue of a soft-spoken dutiful wife and daughter-in-law.
Recent events in India have highlighted not just safety issues for women, but also exposed an alarming traditional attitude towards them. Public outcries against atrocities committed on the female gender, starting at conception, have clashed with conservative rhetoric from political and religious strongholds. Amid the din where traditionalists reach out to India’s glorious “non-Westernized” past to justify their paternalistic stance, it is certainly time to revisit one of India’s oldest epics and ask the question: So, will the real Shakuntala please stand up?
REFERENCES:
Johnson, W.J., trans. The Recognition of Shakuntala. New York:Oxford University Press, 2001.
Mansinha, Mayadhara. Kalidasa and Shakespeare. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1969.
Thapar, Romila. Sakuntala:Text,Readings,Histories. London: Anthem Press, 2002.
Originally published at industoria.org on August 25, 2017.