about kalidasa

About Kalidasa -

Who, worth the name, is not roused to rejoicing
at the blooming of cultured expressions of Kalidasa
like that of bunchy blossom in sweet abundance.

- Banabhatta in Harshacharitam.

Kalidasa is known to bethe greatest repository of our national heritage. The serenity of his artistic accomplishment has earned for him a high place in the galaxy of world poets. Kalidasa's imagination holds in perfect fusion the two elements of natural beauty and human feelings. In his case, both Eastern and Western critics, applying not exactly analogous standards, are in general agreement. He has always been held in high esteem.
Kalidasa has continued to display his relevance through the centuries. Surcharged with wider human sympathy and universal appeal, his character has remained truly Indian. He has influenced the mentors of the middle ages, as well as the pioneers of Indian renaissance like Vivekananda and Tagore. Kalidasa continuous to shine throughout the world as one of the greatest exponents of Indian culture. The keen interest of the Western Orientalists made Kalidasa studies more popular in modern times. Kalidasa has thus gone a long way to help develop a deeper understanding between India and the other countries.
Popular legends on the life of Kalidasa
Kalidasa, who was first quite a blockhead and was married to a princes, being stung by the scornful words of his wife, determined to secure the favour of Gauri by penance with the result that the goddess conferred upon him high poetic genius. On his return Kalidasa was asked by his wife -... and the poet taking each of the three words as the beginning of three different works composed the Kumara, Megha and Raghu.
It is said that Kumaradasa, the king of Ceylon, the author of the Janakiharana threw himself on the funeral pyre of his friend Kalidasa who was murdered by a courtesan of Kumaradasa (6th century A.D.) in Ceylon. The story is that Kumaradasa had written the following line -
on the wall of the mansion of the courtesan, and had promised a handsome reward to one who would complete the samasya. Kalidasa who happened to see that line immediately wrote-
Then, the courtesan murdered him and wanted to secure the reward by claiming that she had completed the Samasya the king, however discovered the fraud, but overwhelmed with grief consigned himself to the funeral pyre of Kalidasa