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Abhijnanasakuntalam

Abhijnanasakuntalam is a beautiful tale of love and romance and how one moment can make or break a relation. Written by one of the greatest poets of India, Shakuntalam Kalidasa is synonymous to its author, Kalidasa. A short summary of Shakuntala is given in the following lines. So read on further, this beautiful love story that is a favorite theme of many dance dramas. 

Long ago, the powerful sage Vishwamitra was engaged in concentrated meditation. Fearing that he may gain more power than Gods, Lord Indra decided to send down one of the most gorgeous heavenly damsel named Menaka to earth to disturb his meditation. She succeeds in seducing him and they have a beautiful daughter. But Menaka has to return to heaven, so they leave the child amidst a beautiful garden near a lake. A swan in the lake sees the crying child and gives it some water. Just then a sage named Kanava who is passing by sees the swan giving water to the child. He decides to take the child home and names it "Shakuntala", which means one fed by a swan. 

Shakuntala grows up to be a beautiful young lady just like her mother Menaka. One day, King Dushyanta sees her in the forest and immediately falls for her. He asks her to marry him and he stays with her in the ashram. After some days, the King gets news of unrest in the capital city and he is summoned to return soon to handle the situation. He leaves half-heartedly but promises to return soon and take his beloved with him. As a token of love, he gives her a ring and promises to come back soon. One day, when Shakuntala is sitting right outside the house, sage Durvasa known for his anger comes visiting in the ashram. Lost in her thoughts, Shakuntala fails to acknowledge his presence. He gets infuriated and curses Shakuntala saying that the one whom she is thinking about will forget her face. Shakuntala begs for mercy and explains her situation. The sage softens a bit and says that if the king sees the ring he gave her, he will remember everything. Shakuntala gets ready to travel to the kingdom, as there is hardly any news from the king.She stops at a lake to drink water and unfortunately the ring slips out of her finger and a fish swallows it. She reaches the royal palace but Dushyanta fails to recognize her. She then remembers the ring and when lifts her hand to show him the ring, she realizes that she has lost it somewhere. Dejected, she returns back to the forest. After sometime, a fisherman in the royal palace finds the ring in the stomach of a fish he has caught. He immediately recognizes the ring and rushes to the King to show it to him. Dushyanta recalls everything and rushes to apologize to Shakuntala. She forgives him and thy love together happily.

(Courtesy:  http://www.iloveindia.com/literature/sanskrit/plays/abhijnanasakuntalam.html)

Abhijnanasakuntalam- The Aesthetic and 

Interpretive Understanding 

(Click on https://coursewikis.fas.harvard.edu/aiu18/Shakuntala)

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