THE SAGA OF ABHIGYAAN SHAKUNTALAM

ABSTRACT

Legend is an existing history said by the people which may be to some extent akin to a true incident. Legend may be of many types, such as history based, half history based, based on sages-saints, stories of love & tragedy, fairies, ghosts & spirits, memorable true or half true incident based, epic based, based on religion, folktale, and stories of heroes admired by common people. In the writings of the great poet Kalidasa, we get to know about many legends. Knowingly or unknowingly, he gave us a clear picture of the contemporary society, economy, culture, which has a great value. In the second part of the drama ‘Abhigyan Shakuntalam’, we see that on hearing about the two duties, the king said that what to do then. The royal jester said that he should remain in the middle of the situations, just like the King ‘Trishanku’. The phrase “agnigarbhang shamimiba” of this sloka has been mentioned in the anushasan parba of the great epic Mahabharata. It is believed that Agni, the god of fire, remains inside the shami tree. Being unable to hold the teja of Lord Shiva, Agnideva, in order to hide himself from being slammed by other gods, hid himself inside a shami tree. For this reason, shami tree is known as the ‘womb of the Agni.’ As it is based on the great epic Mahabharata, so it is an epic-based legend. In the fourth part of this drama, after Shakuntala took the blessings of Maharshi Kanwa, he said, “Vatsha, may you get the love and affection of your husband like Sharmishtha and as she was blessed with a son like Puru, may the Almighty bless you with a brave and noble son.” Different types of legends that were popular at that time are popular now as well and will be the same popular in future. Present is the effect of the past. Present appears after the past. Again, future is the effect of the present. So, the legends that we have are our rich heritage. Depending upon these legends, we get to know about that age in a much detailed manner. After all these, it can be said that folklore, which is the collection of many things, is a type of educational subject. Quite naturally, it should have a major or minor relationship with other educational subject. And Sanskrit literature without which folklore can’t be thought of, so in the creations of Kalidasa there is absence of the components of folklore, it is not possible.

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