The Recognition of Sakuntala

AbhijnanaSakuntala or The Recognition of Sakuntala is a Sanskrit play written by the playwright Kalidasa in the fifth century CE. The play follows the love story between forest-dwelling Sakuntala and the valorous king Dusyanta. When Dusyanta stumbles into a grove while on a hunt for deer, he meets the beautiful Sakuntala. Sakuntala and Dusyanta fall in love, marry in secret, and conceive a child. Called away for court business, Dusyanta promises to send for Sakuntala, but a curse causes him to forget her. The rest of the play traces the separation and final reconciliation between Sakuntala and Dusyanta, exploring themes of the conflict between passion and duty, the role of memory and forgetting, and the nature of fate. Considered one of the finest works of Sanskrit and world literature, The Recognition of Sakuntala was first made widely available to Western audiences when Sir William Jones translated the work into English in 1789. Since then, the play has been translated into several other European languages.

This guide uses the Kindle edition of the W. J. Johnson translation published by Oxford University Press in 2001.

Content Warning: The guide discusses themes and portrayals common in classical Sanskrit drama that may be offensive to contemporary audiences, such as gendered descriptions and ableist humor.

Plot Summary

The play opens with Dusyanta, a king of the lunar Puru dynasty, hunting in a forest in the Himalayan foothills. Just as Dusyanta is about to aim at a deer, ascetics who dwell in the forest exhort him to stop, since the deer belongs to the hermitage of the sage Kanva. Dusyanta immediately lowers his bow. The ascetics bless the king and suggest he rest at Kanva’s hermitage, which is in a grove by the banks of the river Malati. Kanva is away, but his daughter Sakuntala is receiving visitors.

Dusyanta approaches the hermitage on foot. He notices Sakuntala and her friends Anasuya and Priyamvada perform their daily task of watering the trees. Moved by Sakuntala’s beauty, Dusyanta immediately falls in love with her. When a bee attacks Sakuntala, Dusyanta steps into the grove to rescue her. Sakuntala too feels attracted to the handsome and heroic Dusyanta, but hides her feelings. Priyamvada and Anasuya reveal Sakuntala’s biological parentage to Dusyanta: Sakuntala is the daughter of the celestial nymph Maneka and a warrior-sage. Abandoned by her birth parents, she was found by the sage Kanva, who decided to raise Sakuntala as his own daughter. Dusyanta is delighted at the information, since this means that, like him, Sakuntala too is of warrior lineage, and thus, an equal match.

Meanwhile, the sages from Kanva’s ashram request Dusyanta to stay for a few days to defend the grove against evil demons. Dusyanta readily complies. After he has defeated the demons, Dusyanta and Sakuntala meet in secret, where Sakuntala reveals her feelings for Dusyanta. Dusyanta and Sakuntala enter a Gandharva or love marriage, which can be performed in secret without any need for an officiant. They consummate the marriage, and soon Sakuntala is pregnant. When Dusyanta leaves the grove for his capital city, he gives Sakuntala his signet ring, promising her he will soon send for her and proclaim her queen.

Separated from Dusyanta, Sakuntala is so distracted and lovelorn, she inadvertently ignores the visiting sage Durvasas. Unknown to Sakuntala, Durvasas, known for his fearsome temper, curses her that her lover will forget her. Priyamvada mollifies the sage, and he alters the curse so that it will be lifted when Dusyanta spots the signet ring. When Kanva returns to the hermitage, he learns of Sakuntala’s marriage with Dusyanta. To Sakuntala’s relief, he blesses the union and Sakuntala’s pregnancy, prophesizing that Dusyanta and Sakuntala’s son will rule the world. Kanva sends off Sakuntala to the capital, along with a retinue of sages.

However, Durvasas’s curse has worked and Dusyanta has forgotten all about Sakuntala. When Kanva’s sages reach the palace with the message that Dusyanta should unite with his wife, Dusyanta repudiates Sakuntala, calling her a liar. An angry Sakuntala tries to show Dusyanta the ring as proof, but discovers the ring is missing. Sakuntala is plunged in grief. Fearing her reputation is destroyed, the sages refuse to take her back to Kanva’s ashram. Dusyanta agrees to let Sakuntala stay in his court priest’s house for the duration of her pregnancy. Maneka, the celestial nymph who is Sakuntala’s mother, saves her from the difficult situation by spiriting Sakuntala off to heaven, the realm ruled by Indra, king of the gods. Though Dusyanta still does not remember Sakuntala, his heart feels he has unknowingly committed an injustice.

Meanwhile, police officers in the city find a fisherman trying to sell the king’s signet ring. Suspecting he has stolen the ring, they apprehend the fisherman. It is revealed that the ring slipped off Sakuntala’s finger when she was washing up in a river on the way to Dusyanta’s palace. The ring was swallowed by a fish and discovered in its belly by the fisherman. The fisherman is freed, and the ring brought to Dusyanta. The sight of the ring lifts the curse and Dusyanta is filled with remorse at his treatment of Sakuntala. Dusyanta dons penitent’s robes, neglects his kingly duties, and spends his days in his garden, grieving his separation from his wife. Sanumati, a celestial nymph who is Maneka’s friend, secretly visits Dusyanta’s garden to assess the situation. Convinced that Dusyanta’s betrayal of Sakuntala was inadvertent and his penance real, Sanumati flies away to heaven.

Indra, the king of the gods, decides to use Sanumati’s information to his advantage. He calls on Dusyanta to fight demons in his realm. Roused from his depression, Dusyanta defeats the evil spirits in a war that lasts years. On his way back to earth, he visits a celestial mountain where the ancient gods Marici and Aditi stay. In their hermitage, he comes across a young boy who calls himself Sakuntala’s son. Realizing that Sakuntala has been sheltering at the hermitage and the child is their son, Dusyanta is delighted.

Dusyanta is soon reunited with Sakuntala. Marici reveals to Dusyanta and Sakuntala that Dusyanta’s forgetting of Sakuntala was the result of a curse. Therefore, he asks the couple not to bear ill-will toward each other, and prophesizes that their son Sarvadaman will come to be known as “Bharat the Sustainer,” and become a ruler unlike any other. The play ends happily, with Marici and Aditi blessing the humans and asking them to return to earth.