Kalidasa

Kalidasa (375?-415?), Indian court poet and dramatist. He belonged to the second period of Sanskrit literature, when the writing of the anonymous Vedic hymns gave way to the writings of secular drama and poetry by known authors. Kalidasa is particularly noted for his three surviving verse dramas of romantic love, Shakuntala, the most famous of the three; Vikramorvasi (Urvasi Won by Valor); and Malavikagnimitra (Malavi and Agnimitra). Kalidasa also wrote two epic poems, Raghuvamsa (Dynasty of Raghu) and Kumarasambhava (Birth of the War God), and many lyric poems, characterized by their fine descriptions of nature and of poignant emotions. His principal works have been translated into many languages, including English. One of the lyrics, Meghaduta (The Cloud Messenger), influenced the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller's drama Maria Stuart (1800), and Shakuntala provided the idea for the prologue to the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust (first part, 1808; second, 1832). So many poems of different types are attributed to Kalidasa that some critics believe them to be the work of three poets, all named Kalidasa.