KIRAN ATMA: classical sanskrit poetry

Showing posts with label classical sanskrit poetry. Show all posts

Hinduism - What Is Viraha?

Viraha means “separation” in classical Sanskrit poetry. Much of vernacular devotional (bhakti) poetry, has Viraha as a well-established poetic genre.

Whether the separated lovers are two human beings or devotee (bhakta) and deity, the genre focuses on describing the pain that results from the separation of lover and beloved.

Separation is thought to cause specific physical symptoms, which the poets describe in great detail—lack of appetite, insomnia, inability to attend to daily life, or think about anyone but the beloved.

Because love in union is sweetened by the presence of the beloved, whereas the former must stand alone, the type of love felt in such separation is thought to engender an even more intense love for the beloved than love in union.

~Kiran Atma

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Hinduism - What Is The Vikramorvashiya?

(“Urvashi won by valor”) Drama written by the poet Kalidasa, generally considered the greatest classical Sanskrit poet.

The Vikramorvashiya is a musical play in five acts, whose mythic theme is the liaison of King Pururavas and the celestial nymph Urvashi, a story mentioned both in Rig Veda 1.95 and in the Shatapatha Brahmana.

In both these earlier sources the story ends unhappily, with the separation of Urvashi and Pururavas, but in Kalidasa’s version the estranged lovers are finally happily reunited.

This change may have been prompted solely from the desire for a happy ending, which is one of the most characteristic features of Sanskrit
drama.