A study of Kalidasa's description of Himalayan flora
2002
Pant, R. | Mahila Vidyala Degree College, Lucknow 226 018 (India))
Kalidasa, the great Indian poet, shows a fascination for the Himalayas in his works and has descriabed various types of trees, shrubs, herbs, and several flowering plants growing there. Kumarasambhava specially mentions many Himalayan trees such as devadaru (Cedrus deodara) and sarala (Pinus roxburghii) with specific environment in which they grow in. An effort has been made to compare the floristic distribution of species with the present-day situation to analyze the content of fact and poetic license taken by the poet in his narration. It is interesting to note how the poet has shown the Inner Himalayan plants like bhurja (Betula untilis) growing in the vicinity of low level flora of nameru (Mammea longifolia). He also shows kasturi mriga (Moschus moschiferus; musk deer), an animal exclusively of very high elevations (above 2,500 m above sea leve), also cohabiting near nameru trees. But, he does not mention oaks, which are an integral part of the social economy of Central Himalaya and find an important place in the local folklore and poetry. Such inconsistencies make one wonder whether the poet has based his narrations on actual facts or has used a poet's prerogative to create an exclusive world of his own as a perfect setting for his stories overlooking certain mundane factual details.
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