6. Vikramorvaśīya in Kuntaka’s treatment

The primary source of the story of Urvaśī and Purūravas is Ṛgveda. The different versions of the story is found in the Śatapatabrāhmaṇa, Bhāgavatapurāṇa, Matsyapurāṇa, Bṛhaddevatā, Kathāsaritsāgara etc. It is only Kālidāsa who had moulded this famous story as a beautiful dramatic piece. Kuntaka cites nine verses from Vikramorvaśīya for substantiating contextual figurativeness and few figures of speech. Some importants among them are given below.

1. Contextual figurativeness

Through one of the varieties of contextual figurativeness Kuntaka says that in one particular act or in canto the poet reveals the main sentiment of that particular composition. The splendor of that particular composition is completely unique from its preceding or following act or cantos. This canto must be considered as the essence of that composition. Moreover this canto will help to understand the overall spirit of the main sentiment of the composition and should contribute unique creativity to the whole work. For demonstrating this particular variety, Kuntaka cites two beautiful contexts. One of them is the arm fight between Śiva and Arjuna from Kirātārjunīya. That is really a beautiful context. Yet another context choosed by Kuntaka for this variety is from this drama. The beautiful context selected by Kuntaka for revealing the essence of Vikramorvaśīya is given below.

Purūrava in raving mad due to the separation of Urvaśī and mistaken the cloud as a demon and says:-

“King-Hold, you wicked fiend, hold where are you going, taking my beloved? Ha, from the mountain peak up-flying he rains showers of arrows on me. (Looking closely)’. This is a fresh cloud ready to shower, and not a haughty fiend girt in armour. This here is the heavens rainbow striding a vast length and not a (warrior’s) bow stretched out; and this a pelting shower of rain that is so sharp and not a volley of arrows; while this is only a flash of lightning gleaming like a streak of gold on the touch-stone, and not my beloved Urvaśī.”^[1]

Thus the beginning of the fourth act reveals the mad emotion of the kingdue to his deep love towards Urvaśī. Kuntaka’s appropriate interpretation of the above mentioned verse is remarkable. He says that the king feels that the attack of the new cloud is highly dangerous than the attack of a demon with arrows. The arrows will not pierce in to his heart with so difficulty as the new raindrops. Again, the king feels that even the lightning can be seen at least a moment in the sky but in the case of his beloved even such momentary stability is also unimaginable. Moreover some other verses found in the fourth act that is given below will help to strengthen the beauty of this contextual figurativeness.

In Vikramaorvaśīya once Purūravas along with Urvaśī went to Gandamādana groves for pleasure. There Purūravas looked intently on a vidyādhara damsel named Udayavatī. She was playing with the sand of the shore of Mandakinī. Being irritated by this, Urvaśī entered the Kumāra grove, which was forbidden to women and changed as a creeper.

Then onwards Purūravas starts to finds out her by asking every sentient and non sentient beings.

tiṣṭhet kopavaśāt prabhāvapihitā dīrghamna sā kupyati svargāyotpatitā bhavenmayi punarbhāvārdramasyā manaḥ/
tām harttum vibudhadviṣo'pi na ca me śaktāḥ purovarttinīm sā cātyantamagocaram nayanayoryāteti ko’ yam vidhiḥ//^[2]

‘May be she is invisible with her supernatural power due to anger, but her anger does not remains too long. Or she may have flown to heaven, but her heart is so passionate towards me. Even the demons do not have the courage to abduct her in my presence. Even though she is still invisible to my eyes, what a destiny is this!’

Here without knowing the exact reason of her absence he is fancying certain facts suitable to her nature. Then thinking logically he will deny the reason and again fancies another one. Through such delineation of pathetic plight of Purūravas, the sentiment of love in separation reaches its maximum extend. The depiction of mad state of Purūravas in the fourth act using the sentiment love in separation helps to consider this act as soul of this drama by comparing other acts. So undoubtedly this is one of the apt instance selected by Kuntaka from Vikramorvaśīya.

2. Sentential figurativeness

In the third unmeṣa Kuntaka says that:-

“There is also another kind of artistic beauty. It glows with the natural as well as the acquired skills of the poet. It results in the imaginative original creations which are extra ordinary.”^[3]

Sometime the poet would like to depict the general nature of object without adding any embellishment to it. Sometimes they prefer to add some adornments through their poetic skill to enrich the charm of the objects described. Here Kuntaka selects a beautiful verse of Kālidāsa to show how both the natural as well as the learned knowledge of a poet add charm to a verse.

These are the words of Purūravas to himself at the first sight of Urvaśī.

asyāḥ sargavidhau prajāpatirabhūccandro nu kāntadyutiḥ śṛṅgāraikarasaḥ svayam nu madano māso nu puṣpākaraḥ/
vedābhyāsajaḍaḥ katham nu viṣayavyāvṛttakautūhalo nirmātum prabhavenmanoharamidam rūpam purāṇo muniḥ//^[4]

‘In the formation of such beautiful damsel, was the bright rayed moon become the forger or the cupid, who himself enjoys only in love or the spring season. How can an old sage, who had become dull through the chanting of Vedas and who had also detached from worldly pleasures can succeed in creating such a charming form.’

Through this verse the poet bring forth the extreme beauty of the heavenly nymph Urvaśī. Here the poet suspects about the creator of Urvaśī and fancies her beauty as a new creation. The lovely radiance and the good nature of moon make to suspect the moon as the creator. Then the poet suspects the creator of the damsel as Cupid, the god of love and spring, the abode of numerous flowers. The other three but not Brahman are able to create such a beautiful damsel. Brahman is dull with chanting mantras so it is impossible for him to create such a radiant being. He is also completely reluctant from sensual desires and so cannot create such a lovely woman. Moreover his old age makes him averse to makes such a delicate one. Here the figure of speech named poetic fancy along with poetic doubt enriches the natural beauty of a damsel. Thus Kuntaka makes it clear how a verse having natural as well as the acquired skills of the poet should delight the readers.

It is already discussed that the subject matter of the poets is either sentient or non sentient beings. In sentient beings the primary section have the description of gods etc. and the secondary section include the description of animals, birds etc. Kuntaka also opines that the non sentient objects like water, spring etc. contribute their own for the rise of sentiments. Here Kuntaka opines that the primary one should beautify with the spontaneous arrangement of the emotions like love. Trough the verse tiṣṭhet kopavaśāt…K untaka proves how the sentiments like love in separation of the heavenly beings entertain the readers.

Then through the verse mentioned below poet depicts how the non sentient spring season strengthen sentiment of love in its utmost position.

idamasulabhavastuprārthanādurnivāram prathamamapi mano me pañcabāṇaḥkṣiṇoti/
kimuta malayavātonmūlitāpāṇḍupatrai-rupavanasahakārairdarśiteṣvaṅkureṣu//^[5]

These are the words of king Purūravas while suffering the love sick. He says that ‘the cupid had already pierced his mind, which was difficult to withdraw from its deep desire for unattainable object. Then what would be his state by seeing the new sprouts of the mango tree of the garden, the pallid leaves of which was blown away by the northern breeze.’ In the second canto after the meeting of the heavenly nymph Urvaśī, Purūravas was being highly disturbed by the Cupid. As a solace to this love sick he prefers to sit in solitude. So he would like to go to the Pramadavana. But he realizes that the signs of the spring season will fortify his sorrow.

Kuntaka cites yet another verse as an example of concurrent occurrence (sahokti).

Description of two different subjects simultaneously through single sentence is known as concurrent occurrence.

sarvakṣitibhṛtām nātha dṛṣṭā sarvāṅgasundarī/
rāmā ramyā vanoddeśe mayā virahitā tvayā//^[6]

“O lord of mountains, have you seen that lovely woman, beautiful in all limbs, in this charming forest, severed from me?”^[7]

This is a question of the king Purūravas towards the mountains. The same verse also interprets as an answer of mountains to the king that they had seen the lovely women separated from him. Here two meanings are incorporated together with a single sentence to enrich the beauty of the sentiments like love in separation. Here Kuntaka says that there is no need to doubt it with paronomasia (śleṣa) because of having two meanings attached to it. In paronomasia either a single meaning or both have supremacy. But in concurrent occurrence (sahokti) two or more meaning are subordinate to a dominant meaning. Moreover like a light in a lamp paronomasia simultaneously express two meaning through a single word but not in concurrent occurrence. Concurrent occurrence gives the second meaning through the repetition of the same sentence. These factors make the distinction between concurrent occurrence and paronomasia clear. Thus it can be considered as one of the best examples of concurrent occurrence. In this verse an emendation is seen in the third word of the second line as vanānte’ smin instead of vanoddeśe.

3. Grammatical figurativeness

While discussing grammatical figurativeness Kuntaka says that sometimes the propositions and indeclinables employed in a poem suggest the sentiments. According to him it is also a type of word beauty.

For instance:-

ayamekapade tayā viyogaḥ priyayā copanataḥ suduḥsaho me/
navavāridharodayādahobhirbhavitavyam ca nirātapatvaramyaiḥ//^[8]

‘All of a sudden he has suffered the intolerable painful separation from his beloved and also it appeared to be a pleasant day by the presence of the new rain cloud extenuating the intense heat.’

Here the poet describes the separation from the beloved and the advent of the rainy season as converging at the same time using the proposition ‘ca’. It delineates an unexplainable beauty like the fire and the southern wind, which has the capacity to burst the fire. Thus in this verse the twice used proposition ‘ca’ creates unexplainable charm to it.

Among the cited works of Kālidāsa the dramas like Śākuntala and Vikramorvaśīya also have considerable merit. There are some resemblances in choosing verses from the dramas. Kuntaka uses the verses from both the dramas to illustrate few similar instances like contextual figurativeness, grammatical figurativeness, sentential figurativeness etc. Through the description of contextual figurativeness, Kuntaka tries to bring forth the essence of these dramas in its maximum level. Such beautiful composition of Kālidāsa is highly remarkable. This indicates the reason why Kālidasa always reign supreme among Sanskrit poets. Unlike Kuntaka no one else tries to evaluate Kālidāsa as beautifully as this. As a critic Kuntaka completely keep justice to evaluate Kālidāsa.

The themes of Kālidāsa show that he was being highly influenced by the great epics and Purāṇas for writing all of his masterpieces. But it is also believed that some purāṇas were written after him. So there is also a possibility of his influence on some Purāṇas. Whatever it is his unique depiction and characterisation gave him the title kavikulaguru. In all his works a curse plays an important role to the innovative development of the theme from its original sources. Moreover the calm and pleasant atmosphere of heritages and the life of ascetics are also unavoidable object in his composition.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

C.R. Devadhar, Vikramorvaśīya of Kālidāsa, p.105.

[2]:

ibid,p.138.

[3]:

K. Krishnamoorthy,op.cit,.p.415.

[4]:

ibid,p.130.

[5]:

K. Krishnamoorthy,op.cit,.p.142.

[6]:

ibid,p.229.

[7]:

C.R. Devadhar, op.cit, p.117.

[8]:

K. Krishnamoorthy,op.cit,.p.121.