Meghaduta

Meghaduta, lyric love poem in some 115 verses composed by Kalidasa about the 5th century ce. The verse is unique to Sanskrit literature in that the poet attempts to go beyond the strophic unity of the short lyric, normally the form preferred for love poems, by stringing the stanzas into a narrative. This innovation did not take hold, though the poem inspired imitations along precisely the same story line.

The Meghaduta is the lament of an exiled yaksha (a benevolent nature spirit) who is pining for his beloved on a lonely mountain peak. When, at the beginning of a monsoon, a cloud perches on the peak, he asks it to deliver a message to his love in the Himalayan city of Alaka. Most of the poem, composed in an extremely graceful metre, consists of a description of the landmarks, cities, and sights on the cloud’s journey to Alaka. Meghaduta inspired Friedrich Schiller’s play Maria Stuart.