A beautiful piece of literary treasure, the Meghadutam Kalidasa is a
short poem of a little over 100 verses. The stanzas are uniform in
length of four sentences each. This convenient length makes it a
favorite among scholars and translators. The Meghaduta poem is a
beautiful work of literary art and the descriptions given in it are so
vivid that one visualizes what the poet wants to convey. Given here is a
short summary of the Meghadootam, one of the best sort poems by the
great poet Kalidasa.
The Meghadutam, literally translated means the Cloud Messenger. It is
divided into two parts, Purvamegha (Previous cloud) and Uttaramegha
(Consequent cloud). According to the story, the treasurer of Gods,
Kubera has a group of divine attendants working for him, called the
Yakshas. One of these Yakshas was so smitten and obsessed with his wife
that he ignored his duties. He was cursed and banished into the woods on
earth. Thoroughly dejected, he kept thinking about his wife and missed
her a lot. His wife also kept thinking about him all day and all night.
Then one day, monsoons arrived on earth. The Yaksha saw a rain cloud
pass by and requested it to carry a message to his wife. The Yaksha then
starts to describe the route the cloud should be taking. The description
is so captivating and so vivid, that one can actually feel like he
scenes are flashing in front of you. The Yaksha makes the route seem as
attractive as possible so that the cloud takes his message to his wife.
The emotions portrayed are so beautiful that it couldn't have been given
a better treatment by any other poet.
