[INDOLOGY] Kālidāsa's "biographies"

Fri Apr 4 05:29:59 UTC 2025

For old popular legendary narratives about Kâlidâsa, you might have a look to my book: “Le théâtre de Kâlidâsa”, Connaissance de l’Orient, Gallimard, Paris. Also, Bansat-Boudon (ed): Théâtre de l’Inde ancienne, La Pléiade, Gallimard.
Best wishes
Lyne

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De : INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> de la part de Christophe Vielle via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
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À : Adriano Aprigliano <aprigliano at usp.br>
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Objet : Re: [INDOLOGY] Kālidāsa's "biographies"

I forgot to add the legendary picture of Kālidāsa in the 16th c. Bhojaprabandha by Ballāla,  cf. tr. by Louis H. Gray, American Oriental Series 34, 1950, or here with the text:
https://archive.org/details/Bhojaprabandha_with_English_Translation_by_Saradaprosad_Vidyabhushan/page/n50/mode/1up<https://archive.org/details/Bhojaprabandha_with_English_Translation_by_Saradaprosad_Vidyabhushan/page/n50/mode/1up?view=theater>
Another ed.:
https://archive.org/details/bhojaprabandhaof00balluoft/mode/1up
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Envoyé : Thursday, April 3, 2025 6:51:09 PM
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Cc : indology at list.indology.info <indology at list.indology.info>
Objet : Re: [INDOLOGY] Kālidāsa's "biographies"

Here a few more  hints:

K. S. Ramaswami Sastri, Kalidasa: His Period, Personality & Poetry, Vani Vilas Press, 1933

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.102720/page/n95/mode/2up

pp. 83-87, where no source is given for the "traditional"/"apocryphal" (South-Indian) accounts of Kālidāsa's life, the first one corresponding to what is reported in a 17th century Tibetan source referred to by S. Lévi Théâtre I pp. 164-165
https://archive.org/details/lethtreindienvo00lvgoog/page/164/mode/2up
which itself corresponds to a Mysorian reported tradition publ. in IA 7, 1878, p. 115-117
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.277422/page/n167/mode/2up
completed there by a few anecdotical Sanskrit verses related to K. in relation with other (later...)  famous poets.

The tradition of the navaratnas at the Court of Vikramāditya appears to be attested first in the 12th c. (?) Jyotirvidābharaṇa (ascribed to K.), 22.10 (https://archive.org/details/Jyotirvidabharanam/page/n383/mode/2up), following
Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi & Narayan Raghunath Navlekar, Kālidāsa; Date, Life, and Works, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1969 (not seen; pp. 8-29 according https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navaratnas )

Nothing "traditional" to be found in S. C. De, Kālidāsa and Vikramāditya, 1929 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.102719/page/n565/mode/2up

There is another traditional (?) verse about K. given by Appaya Dīkṣita en Kuvalayānanda (164) :

            purā kavīnāṃ gaṇanāprasaṅge  kaniṣṭhikādhiṣṭhitakālidāsā ।

            adyāpi tattulyakaver abhāvād  anāmikā sārthavatī babhūva ||

There are earlier biographical traditions about K. such as the one in the lost Kuntaleśvara-dautya (where K. himself  would have been the hero sent by Vikramāditya as messenger to the king of Kuntala), ascribed to K. himself by Kṣemendra (in his Aucityavicāracarcā), a same stanza of which is given by  Rājaśekhara and twice by Bhoja - see V. Raghavan in B.C. Law Vol. Part II pp. 191-197
https://archive.org/details/b.c.lawvolumepart2ms_310_/page/n101/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.50139/page/n201/mode/1up (better)
and thereon also the recent post:
https://cestlaviepriya.wordpress.com/2024/05/29/kuntalesvaradautya-a-study/

I have noted on my old xerox of Raghavan's article "+ K. Raja SPAIOL 1972" but I do not remember to which it corresponds... there should also be a few more references in Narang's K. Bibliography, 1976:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.142458/

Bw,

Christophe

Le 3 avr. 2025 à 16:00, Adriano Aprigliano via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> a écrit :

Dear Harsha, thanks a lot.
I'll try to get it.
b.w.
Adriano

Prof. Dr. Adriano Aprigliano
Língua e Literatura Sânscrita (DLCV/FFLCH)
Universidade de São Paulo
Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, 403 CEP: 05508-900
Cidade Universitária, São Paulo - SP / Brasil
aprigliano at usp.br<mailto:aprigliano at usp.br>
Gabinete 18, fone: 3091-4931
+5511954675747

uatibus hic mos est centum sibi poscere uoces,
centum ora et linguas optare in carmina centum.
e Persi Flacci satura V.

Em qui., 3 de abr. de 2025 às 10:57, Harsha Dehejia <harshadehejia at hotmail.com<mailto:harshadehejia at hotmail.com>> escreveu:
Friends
I do not know if my book
Nayikas of Kalidasa. DK Publishing. Delhi
Will answer all your questions but it will be a good start.
Regards
Harsha

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Subject: [INDOLOGY] Kālidāsa's "biographies"

Dear colleagues,

Could anyone point me to Sanskrit (or old) passages or works telling stories about Kālidāsa? I assume they must start from the second millennium on -- perhaps they're much more recent, I guess. For example, where does the story of his having been blessed by Kālī fist appears?

Thanks and best wishes,
Adriano

Prof. Dr. Adriano Aprigliano
Língua e Literatura Sânscrita (DLCV/FFLCH)
Universidade de São Paulo
Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, 403 CEP: 05508-900
Cidade Universitária, São Paulo - SP / Brasil
aprigliano at usp.br<mailto:aprigliano at usp.br>
Gabinete 18, fone: 3091-4931
+5511954675747

uatibus hic mos est centum sibi poscere uoces,
centum ora et linguas optare in carmina centum.
e Persi Flacci satura V.

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