The mystics, ascetics, and saints of India : a study of Sadhuism, with an account of the Yogis, Sanyasis, Bairagis, and other strange Hindu sectarians / by John Campbell Oman ; with ill. by William Campbell Oman.

  • John Campbell Oman
Date:
1905
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The mystics, ascetics, and saints of India : a study of Sadhuism, with an account of the Yogis, Sanyasis, Bairagis, and other strange Hindu sectarians / by John Campbell Oman ; with ill. by William Campbell Oman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    I. The Story of Sakoontala, or the Lost Ring, BY Kalidasa.^ From the Ramayana we learn, as already stated in Chap. II., that there was once a Kshatriya king named Visvamitra, who, for the purpose of overcoming a famous Brahman sage, Vasishta, with whom he had come into unequal conflict, underwent, for thousands of years, the most terrible austerities, which eventually led to the un- precedented honour of his advancement to the Brahmanical caste. While the king was engaged in the rigours of his i self-imposed tortures, the god Indra became jealous of his I increasing power, and sent a lovely nymph of heaven t named Menaka to distract his meditations and to seduce ] him from his vows. Visvamitra, unable to resist her allure- 1 ments, had the beautiful temptress to share his hermitage 1 for many years. According to the great Hindu dramatist Kalidasa,^ I the result of this union was a daughter, Sakoontala, the ( heroine of his now world-famous play. The girl was j reared in a picturesque and delightful hermitage, or colony of hermits, under the guardianship of Kanwa, the chief j of the anchorites. In this retired spot Dushyanta, of the [ lineage of the renowned Purus, king of India, when out on one of his frequent hunting expeditions, discovered Sakoontala, now grown into a lovely graceful maiden in her early prime. Although the king had many royal I consorts, he was large-hearted enough to fall desperately in love with the fair recluse when he met her with two girl-companions, Priyamvada and Anasuya, under the most charming and opportune circumstances; for Sakoontala at the moment was in trouble from the too aggressive and persistent attentions of an angry bee whom she had dis- turbed amongst the flowers she was gathering. With the maiden too it was a case of love at first sight. ’ Sakoontala, or the Lost Ring, an Indian drama, translated into English prose and verse from the Sanskrit of Kalidasa by Monier Williams, ALA. (Hertford, 1855). ^ Kalidasa was one of the “ Nine Gems ” of the court of Vikraraaditya, a famous king, who, according to the most recent reckonings or guesses of European chronologists, lived in the sixth century of the Chiistian era.