Summary of Shakuntala
Kalidasa
Shakuntala The
powerful Dushyant king comes hunting in a peaceful forest of hermits and meets three young girls, watering flowers and trees. In one of them, Shakuntala, he falls in love at first sight. Posing himself as a servant of the king, Dushyanta asks who she is, for she fears that, being of a different origin than he, according to the law of caste, he can not belong to him. However, from the friends of Shakuntala, he learns that she is also the daughter of King Viswamitra and the divine maiden Menaka, who left her in the care of the head of the monastery of the sage Kanwa. In turn, when the demons-rakshas attack the monastery and Dusyantes have to defend it, it turns out that he is not the king’s servant, but the great king himself.
Shakuntala is captivated by the courage, nobility and courteous conduct of Dushyant no less than he is her beauty and modesty. But for some time the lovers do not dare to open their feelings to each other. And only
Receiving father Shakuntala Kanwa was not at this time in the monastery: he went on a long pilgrimage. Therefore, Dushyant and his beloved conclude a marriage union according to the Gandharva rite, which does not require the consent of the parents and the wedding ceremony. Shortly thereafter, called for by urgent tsarist affairs, Dushyanta briefly, as he hopes, leaves for his capital. And just in his absence the abode is visited by the sage Durvasas. Immersed in the thought of the Dushanate, Shakuntala does not notice him, and the angry sage curses her for involuntary disgust, condemning that the one she loves does not remember her, “like a drunk does not remember the words spoken before.” Friends ask Durvasas to soften
Meanwhile, Father Kanwa returns to the monastery. He blesses the marriage of his adopted daughter, who, according to him, is already waiting for a child that brings benefit to the whole world, and, giving her wise instructions, sends two of her disciples to her husband-king. Shakuntala comes to the majestic palace, amazing with its splendor, so not resembling its modest monastery. And here Dusyantha, bewitched by the curse of Durvasas, does not recognize her and sends him away. Shakuntala tries to show him the ring he gave himself, but discovers that there is no ring – she lost it on the way, and the tsar finally rejects her. In desperation, Shakuntala is praying for the earth to open and absorb it, and then in lightning lightning her mother Menaka descends from heaven and carries her with her.
After some time, the palace guard leads a fisherman suspected of stealing a precious ring. It turns out that this ring is the ring of Shakuntala, which the fisherman found in the belly of the fish he caught. As soon as Dusyantha saw the ring, his memory returned to him. Love, remorse, sorrow of separation torment him: “My heart was asleep when it was knocked gazelleokaya, and now it has awakened to know the torments of repentance!” All the efforts of the courtiers to comfort or entertain the king are in vain, and awakens the Dushan from hopeless sadness only the arrival of Matali, the charioteer of the king of the gods of Indra.
Matali urges Dushi to help the celestials in their struggle against mighty demons-asuras. The king ascends to the sky with Matali, performs many military feats and after defeating the demons, deserving Indra’s gratitude, descends on an air chariot to the top of Hemakuta mountain in the abode of the ancestor of the gods of the holy sage Kashyapa. Near the monastery Dushyanta meets a boy playing with a lion cub. According to his behavior and appearance, the king realizes that before him is his own son. And then Shakuntala appears, which, as it turns out, all this time she lived in the monastery of Kashyapa and there she gave birth to a prince. Dushyanta falls into the feet of Shakuntala, prays her for forgiveness and receives it. Kashyapa tells loving spouses about the curse that caused them to suffer innocently, blesses their son Bharata and foretells his authority over the whole world. On the chariot of Indra Dushyant,
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