कुमारसम्भवम् (महाकवि कालिदास - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी अनुवाद)

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II THE KUMÂRASAMBHAVAM—THE POEM
The Kumârasambhavam is a Mahâkâvya. It is divided
into cantos, its hero is a divine personage,
(1) The Poem possessing the qualities of a Dhîrodâtta hero,
—General re- its predominant sentiment is शृङ्गार having
marks. करुण and शान्त as its accessories, its plot is
mythological, it contains descriptions of cities, season,
natural scenery, etc. Thus it fulfills the conditions laid down
in the definition of a Mahâkâvya.
The size of the Kumârasambhavam is a matter of con-
troversy. Some recensions of the poem consist of 17 cantos,
while some scholars say that it has 22 cantos. But the general
belief is that only the first eight (1—8) cantos are from the
pen of Kâlidasa and the rest were interpolated by some other
writer afterwards. Mallinâtha, the well-known commentator
has annotated only upto the eighth canto, and the main
incident of the poem, viz., the birth of Kumâra, only potential,
also has been reached in the eighth canto, so the story may
be regarded as complete after it. The contents of the later
cantos have little bearing on the main theme, and their style
also convincingly indicates that cantos 9—17 are not from
the pen of the writer of the first eight cantos.
For the theme of the Kumârasambhavam, Kâlidâsa has
chosen a story of divine beings, which provides him an oppor-
tunity to take the loftiest flights of imagination. The scene
of incidents is the grand Himâlaya, which, with its beautiful
valleys and slopes, affords an occasion for describing natural
scenes. The descriptions of Pârvatî, a young, beautiful maiden
full of yearning to win over Shiva, have been completed with
great skill. Her dismay at the defeat of Kâmadeva and the
following determination to win over Shiva by means of severe
austerities reveal that Kâlidâsa had powers to see into the