Strength is the beauty of a man and beauty is the strength of a woman! Abhijnanashakuntalam written by Kālidāsa is a well-known love story of King Dushyant and Shakauntala, an abandoned child brought up by sage Kanva in a forest. shakutalam is one of the most popular love stories from Indian mythology. Hope you love these fascinating pics depicting this story.
The celestial lady Menaka cast her baby-bud at sage Kanva's leafy hermitage. Turning away from mother love, she left the infant with the sage. The infant grew in loveliness, beneath the shade of Shakun birds. Beloved of singing mynas, strutting peacocks, leapingdeer in herds nature's supreme beloved she, Shakuntala.
Hunting the forests is a beloved pastime of the kings and so it was king Dushyant's, too. Shakuntala was playing with her companions whe he happened to pass by. When the horizon hummed around, a bee annoyed her with its buzz. King Dushyant krept into the grove unnoticed. He drove the naughty bee away who was enjoying the companay of the most beautiful Shakuntala for a while. Dushyant, too, couldn not escape from the magic spell of Shakuntala's beauty and vice versa!!
She gave away her heart to him but then she did not know the art of holding converse with that one who was already in her heart. Her kindly young companions advised her: "Darling! You had better inscribe your feelings on a leaf of lotus which shall serve as letter. So Shakuntala plucked a lotus leaf from the pond and ....
Dushyanta's arrow never missed its aim and so did Shakuntala's letter! The letter on the lotus leaf united them as lamp amd flame. According to Gandharva rites they wedded .... but alas! There came the bitter hour of parting, and her dream of union was done. An utter loneliness of time and life for her had now begun. His ring alone remained for pained Shakuntala.
"O sakhi, I can hardly bear his absence which has bled my heart. The flowers around have turned to flames, the wind comes piercing like a dart! How shall I concentrate on a prayer when the mind's bird has been deceived?" Her sorrow is unbearable, her anguish long and unrelieved... What will the morrow bring for sad Shakuntala?
Leaving her father's calm abode, where gentle deer in freedom rove, she thought of going to her lord. But when, before she left, she sipped of crystal flowing Ganges water. She heard intriguing destiny mock at her plan. The ring slipped while she sipped, only to be gulped by a fish.
King Dushyant asks the hermits who brought Shakuntala to his palace tower,"From what enchanted grove has she arrived today - this blossomed flower?" He gazed upon her beauty, but that beauty stood beyond his guess. He wandered on the winding ways of pitiful forgetfullness... Like a sad puzzle, stood Shakuntala.
The fisher who had brought the ring brought back the remembrance of the past. King Dushyanta's heart, weighed down by heavy cloud of grief was overcast. Past memory gushed like a wound, out of forgetfullness he woke. Her form became familiar to him with every line and stroke he painted. He wondered,"Where is my Shakuntala?"
The war of Gods and Demons done, the hour of re-union came. Bringing for me a benediction, you have made my life replete. I dedicate my heart, my soul, my love, my being at your feet, Accept this offering of flowers. O lover! who art heavenly sweet! Thy touch upon my incompleteness has rendered it complete... Through eyes alone she tells her love - Shakuntala.
The hour which had once again wedded the lamp unto the flame. "Behold!" She cried in ecstacy,"Once again I am alive and my lamp is burning!" A child was born who was named - Bharat.
The sage Marichi blesed the two: "A heavenly future waits for you. Your life shall sail like a fairy tale beneath the sky forever blue. Young Bharat's name shall bring high fame to Bhaarat."
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