Alexina Gillis
Currents in Global Literature
Final Project
(Poem at bottom of page)
Womanhood in Vyasa’s Shakuntala versus Kalidasa’s Shakuntala
The original play of Shakuntala was written by Vyasa and is Shakuntala of Mahabharata. It depicted a strong woman who knew what she wanted. In the original, Shakuntala has no issue with standing up for what is right. She meets Dushyanta in the forest and they eventually marry. Shakuntala requests that their son become heir to the throne and Dushyanta makes that promise. Dushyanta returns to the kingdom, and leaves Shakuntala to birth and raise a baby boy in the forest. This son starts to wonder who his father is, and in response, Shakuntala wastes no time making the trek to the kingdom to confront Dushyanta. There is no ring or curse in this version. Instead, Dushyanta just simply refuses to accept his son as the heir. Shakuntala confidently speaks her truth and as she is about to walk away, a voice from God speaks to Dushyanta and demands that he accept his son. Dushyanta cannot ignore the words of God and in turn, he decides to accept his son, Bharata, as heir of the throne. In this version, Shakuntala is strong, confident, and knows when to stand up for what is right. She is depicted as independent and knows what she wants. She doesn’t need help from anyone.
Around five hundred years later, Kalidasa wrote their version of Shakuntala, and changed her character almost completely. Shakuntala and Dushyanta still meet in the forest, and Shakuntala also asks Dushyanta to promise that their son will be heir to the throne. When Dushyanta does not return, a pregnant Shakuntala treks all the way to the kingdom to speak to Dushyanta only to realize that he has no idea who she is. This is where Kalidasa brought in the ring and the curse. The curse comes from Dervasas, who is upset with Shakuntala for not giving him a proper greeting. This was because Shakuntala was so caught up with Dushyanta being gone. When Shakuntala realizes that she is cursed, she seeks help from her mother. Her mother intervenes and gets Dervasas to agree to lift the curse if Shakuntala finds her lost ring. While traveling to her lost husband, she lost her wedding ring. Now, all she had to do was find it, present it to Dushyanta, and he would remember her.
So, in this version, Dushyanta is not just a sucky husband who refuses to acknowledge his wife and son, he is simply under a curse. Another difference in this version is that Shakuntala represents more of a patriarchal idea of women. Instead of being fierce, strong, and independent like she is in Vyasa’s version, she is submissive, shy, gentle, and yielding. She is unable to confront Dushyanta herself and asks her mother for help. She is unable to stand up for what is right and the writing focuses more on how she is loyal and her caring nature rather than how strong she is. Shakuntala is still a strong woman in this version, I mean, she literally trekked a long way while pregnant just to find her husband. If that isn’t loyalty, I don’t know what is.
The difference is that Kalidasa’s version does not focus the narrative on her strong and independent qualities. We instead get a patriarchal idea of Indian women needing to be modest, loyal, and virtuous. It is interesting to think about how the two thousand year old version does a better job at depicting a strong woman than the newer one, despite there only being five hundred years between them.
I wrote this poem, “How to be a Woman in Literature” as a way to demonstrate how impossible it feels to be a woman in any sense of the matter. These are two very similar stories that depicted the female character in dramatically different ways. Yet, the overall story is not affected very much. Every story tends to revolve around a man or a woman trying to get to a man. And it seems that no matter how it is written, there is going to be someone that has an issue with how the female character is represented. No matter what, we are never good enough to appease the masses. I hope this poem, that I wrote kind of in the form of instructions, helps demonstrate that a bit.
How to be a Woman in Literature by Alexina Gillis
Be submissive
But not too submissive, keep your dignity
Be loyal
But not too loyal, try to stay fun
Be modest
But not too modest, you’re not a prude
Be beautiful
But not too beautiful, you don’t want to tempt anyone
Remember, it’s your fault, always
Be strong
But not too strong, you don’t want to seem masculine
Be independent
But not too independent, you’ll always need a man
Be shy
But not too shy, you don’t want to seem boring
Be a woman
But not too much, remember you are an accessory to a man, always
Strong women don’t make good literature
Weak women don’t make good literature
A woman who is just right, can maybe make good literature
Good Luck!
Works Cited:
“How does Shakuntala in Mahabharata represent and fall short of the Indian feminine ideal?” eNotes Editorial, 16 Mar. 2020, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-does-shakuntala-represent-the-feminine-ideal-172019. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.
Kalidasa. “Shakuntala Translated by Arthur W. Ryder – York University.” York University, In parentheses Publications, 1999, http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/shakuntala_ryder.pdf.
Laxmi, Deepikka. “Deciphering Shakuntala: Mahabharata v/S Kalidasa.” PRATHA, PRATHA, 20 July 2023, http://www.prathaculturalschool.com/post/shakuntala.
Sprockets and Springes 