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The only thing i know of kalidasa is he was a great sanskrit writer, why was the 'fuck you kalidasa' there in the post above? any ancient tea i'm unaware of?

Thanks for this ask!!

We do think Kalidasa is a gr8 sanskrit writer seeing how his works influenced sanskrit literature. He is a pookie and we love many of his works like Kumarasambhavam for example. It's the plays we have an issue with.

In Abhijanasakuntalam, Kalidasa whitewashes Dushyant who wasn't a good husband at all. He adds the point of Dushyant being cursed by Durvasa and hence forgetting about Shakuntala. In the Mahabharata he slut shamed her, called her and her mother Menaka harlots, only because he wanted the divine voice to "prove" to his entire court that Bharata was his son.

Then there is Vikramorvasiyam where Pururavas who was a good husband in Mahabharata, has a wife prior to Urvashi, and doesn't treat her nicely exactly. So yes, the "fuck you Kalidasa" was present to criticize him for twisting the plot of these stories in a weird way, otherwise he is our goated pookie. Hope this helped!

Namaskar 🙏🪷✨

-Mod S

#hindublr #hinduism #hindu mythology #hindu mytho critique #hmc #hmc gets asks #asks #hmc does research #kalidasa #dushyant #pururavas #shakuntala

Women in Mahabharata - Menaka

She is one of the foremost apsaras, the title possibly having been handed down from the prima group of nymphs born during the churning of the milk ocean.

In Mahabharata we see among her consorts, the rishi Vishvamitra and the gandharva Vishvavasu.

Her daughters from them are Shakuntala and Pramadvara, both of whom go on to play significant roles in the epic as we know it: Shakuntala's son Bharata becomes one of the foremost kings, who is still remembered fondly as a just and democratic one, and Pramadvara's grandson grows to be Shaunaka, at whose yajna, Sauti Ugrasrava narrates this great epic in its current evolved form.

#hindu mythology #art #original artwork #digital painting #menaka #vishvamitra #shakuntala #pramadvara #women in mahabharata

So I was rereading the Dushyanta and Shakuntala story, and I just noticed the worst thing ever. Every mortal couple in Hindu Mythology that anyone ever called the "definition of true love" has been sundered from one another in at least one version, and usually this involves the woman being innocent and the man being either duty-bound or a jerk.

Krishna has to leave Vrindavan and Radha for Mathura. I whole-heartedly believe this was inevitable unless Radha left Vrindavan, so I don't take Krishna-slander regarding this but. They never really get together together after that so Idk tbh.

Rama, of course, does the whole Agni-Pariksha thing, even if we don't take the Uttar Kand, and if we do, he goes from reputation-obsessed questionable man to utter jerk who absolutely doesn't deserve to be called Purushottam.

And although Kalidasa did an excellent job of making Dushyanta and Shakuntala's story one of star-crossed lovers, in most other cases, Dushtyanta (in an effort to pull a Rama) outright lies and calls Shakuntala a harlot in open court when she asks him to help raise their son. The only good thing about that "love" story is the ABSOLUTE Tongue-Lashing (TM) Shakuntala gives him. Other than that, it's basically a man coercing a sheltered woman into doing the deed, later trying to humiliate her in public when asked to take accountability, and then passing it off as 'upholding her reputation.'

Honestly, we have so many good love stories I did not expect these to be the benchmark of love 🥲🫠