Shakuntala and Other Works
India's greatest classical poet: the play of the lost ring, and the Cloud Messenger.
What this poem is
Abhijnanashakuntalam (Devanagari: अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तलम्, IAST: Abhijñānaśākuntalam), also known as Shakuntala, The Recognition of Shakuntala, The Sign of Shakuntala, is a Sanskrit play by the ancient Indian poet Kalidasa, dramatising the story of Shakuntala told in the epic Mahabharata and regarded as the best of Kalidasa's works. Its exact date is uncertain, but Kalidasa is often placed in the 4th century CE.
Plots similar to the play appear in earlier texts. There is a story mentioned in the Mahābhārata. A story of a similar plot appears in the Buddhist Jātaka tales as well. In the Mahābhārata, the story appears as a precursor to the Pāṇḍava and Kaūrava lineages. In the story, King Duṣyanta and Śakuntalā meet in the forest, become estranged and ultimately reunited. Their son Bharata is said to have laid the foundation of the dynasty that ultimately led to Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article “Shakuntala (play)” (revision 1367336495), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Laurel's own notes and measurements are not from Wikipedia.
Measured across the book
Across its 3,526 lines, 93% of stressed syllables fall on the beat (95% interval 92% to 94%). Alliteration runs at 1.02 times what shuffling the words would give (0.28 observed against 0.28 expected). 26% of the lines have a feminine ending.
Baselines and intervals are described in the methods.
Contents
About this text
Public domain. Text from Shakuntala and Other Works, Project Gutenberg ebook #16659. Free to read, print, copy and reuse.