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KalidasaThe Recognition of Sakuntala
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 400A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Acts VI-VIIChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act VI Summary
Dusyanta’s brother-in-law, the police chief of the city, apprehends a thief with the king’s ring. The man says he is a mere fisherman who happened to find the ring in the belly of a fish. He took the ring to the market to sell, which is where the police grabbed him.
The chief takes the ring to Dusyanta. Later, he tells his officers that the ring must have been very important to the king, as he became very agitated when he saw it. The king absolved the fisherman of any crime and has ordered he be paid the cost of the ring in exchange for his trouble. The policemen befriend the fisherman and together they all head to the wine shop to celebrate the ring’s recovery.
Sanumati, a celestial nymph, enters, as if from the sky. She is here on the request of the nymph Maneka, her friend and Sakuntala’s mother. Sakuntala is safe with her mother, who has asked Sanumati to find out what is happening with Dusyanta. Sanumati makes herself invisible to observe what is happening in the king’s gardens. Two gardeners enter. They banter and joke as they pick flowers. A chamberlain enters, scolding the women. No flowers must be gathered as Dusyanta has cancelled the spring festival. Even though winter has gone, the distraught king has frozen the cuckoo’s song. The gardeners want to know the reason for the king’s odd decision. The chamberlain says that since he saw his ring, the king has recalled everything about his time with Sakuntala. Overcome with remorse at his actions, Dusyanta mourns that “pleasures repel him” (74). In an aside, Sanumati expresses her delight at this turn of events.
Dusyanta, dressed in penitent’s robes, enters with Madhavya. The chamberlain notes that even though the king is dressed in rags, his “exceptional beauty” (74) cannot be dimmed. Sanumati too thinks Dusyanta is handsome beyond compare. She can now understand why Sakuntala pines for him, despite his cruelty to her. As Dusyanta mutters to himself and laments, Madhavya says in an aside that the king is caught in “Sakuntala fever” (75).
Madhavya tries to distract Dusyanta by a comedic routine, pretending to break the arrow of Kama, the god of love, with his old stick. Dusyanta cannot be mollified and asks for the portrait of Sakuntala, which he has been painting, to be brought to him. Dusyanta asks Madhavya why he did not remind Dusyanta of his love for Sakuntala earlier, since Madhavya knew about it. Madhavya replies that his judgement became clouded during that time, but maybe that is because things had to work out a certain way. Madhavya is sure Dusyanta and Sakuntala will be reunited soon.
Dusyanta continues to rave, addressing the signet ring as treacherous because it abandoned Sakuntala’s finger. When he left the grove, he asked her to mark every passing day by each syllable of his name inscribed on the ring. When the last syllable was reached, Dusyanta would send his ministers to fetch her to the city. Now Dusyanta’s heart burns at the memory. The attendant brings the painting. Dusyanta laments that he ignored the real Sakuntala when she stood before him and is now destined to feast his eyes only on her image. Dusyanta paints a bee in the picture, as if to recreate the image of the bee attacking Sakuntala the day the king met her. He addresses the bee, warning it that he will forever imprison the creature if it bruises the lips Dusyanta kissed. Madhavya notes in an aside that the king has gone mad.
A doorkeeper arrives with a letter: The king must settle a civil case. A rich merchant has died at sea without leaving an heir. Therefore, his wealth will pass to the king. However, one of his wives is pregnant. The king says the wealth will pass to the unborn child. He also feels the law is unduly cruel and announces that from now on, when a pious man dies childless, Dusyanta will ensure his estate passes to his family. The doorkeeper says the king’s good judgement will be proclaimed from the rooftops.
The case forces the king to consider his own childless state. When Sakuntala came to him pregnant with their child, he himself turned away good fortune (a son). He wonders if the Puru line will die out with him. Sanumati notes in an aside that his line will not be broken. Happy that Dusyanta has repented of his actions, Sanumati departs for the skies, eager to tell Indra, the king of the gods, about what is happening.
Meanwhile, a doorkeeper rushes in, saying Madhavya has been seized by an invisible spirit. Voices ring out offstage, with Madhavya begging for mercy and a voice threatening him with death and dismemberment. Dusyanta pulls out his arrow to seek out the invisible spirit, and Matali, the charioteer of Indra, appears. Recognizing him, Dusyanta welcomes Matali. Matali says he only pretended to attack Madhavya to rouse Dusyanta from his sadness. Indra has called upon Dusyanta for help defeating a posse of near-invincible demons. Dusyanta agrees to fight.
Act VII Summary
Dusyanta and Matali enter the stage on a flying chariot, discussing their recent victory against the demons. Dusyanta is surprised that Indra, the king of the gods, has showered him with praise for doing what is only Dusyanta’s duty. Even Indra’s son, Jayant, grew jealous when Indra crowned Dusyanta with a garland of coral. Matali is pleased by Dusyanta’s humility. He tells Dusyanta his new fame is well- deserved, because he is only the second, after the supreme god Visnu, to save Indra’s heaven from demons. The vault of heaven is now adorned with Dusyanta’s fame, either through sagas and paintings etched on the leaves from the celestial tree, or through the song of nymphs.
Dusyanta senses the chariot has descended to the level of the clouds, because “our wheels glisten from rain and mist” (91). He can see the topography of the earth becoming clearer, mountain peaks and ribbon-like rivers coming into sight. He spots the great mountain known as the Golden Peak, haunt of the demigods, where the supernatural couple Marica and Aditi live. Dusyanta asks Matali to take him to the hermitage of Marica and Aditi so he can pay them his respects. Matali says Dusyanta’s humility and piousness make him different from Indra himself.
Dusyanta alights; as he enters the hermitage on the mountain he feels a vein in his right arm throb, again predicting a romantic union (as in Act I). Dusyanta cannot believe the good fortune of love will return to him, since he abandoned it once. An offstage voice booms, as if reprimanding a child. A boy enters, accompanied by two hermits. The women scold the child for attempting to open the mouth of a lion cub to count his teeth. They refer to the boy as “Sarvadamana” (94), the tamer of all. The child replies to the women cheekily.
Dusyanta feels drawn to the “spoilt boy” (94), noting that his palm bears the signs of a world-conqueror and that he is extraordinarily beautiful. He steps out, gently asking the child not to disturb the peace of the ashram and to behave as is appropriate for the son of a sage. The hermits inform Dusyanta that the child’s parents are not hermits; his father is from the Puru dynasty and his mother is the daughter of a celestial nymph. Dusyanta begins to realize that the child is his, but wants to be sure before claiming parentage.
When the child thinks talk of a sakuna bird (from where Sakuntala got her name) refers to his mother, Dusyanta’s hopes grow stronger. The child drops the amulet on his arm and Dusyanta picks it up. The hermit-women tell Dusyanta the amulet is enchanted: If anyone but the child or his parents pick it up, it turns into a snake. Dusyanta’s hopes are realized and he embraces the child. Sakuntala is informed about what has happened.
Sakuntala enters. For a moment she cannot recognize the gaunt Dusyanta, wasted from his grief, and wonders who dares to touch her child without her permission. Dusyanta tells her the cruelty he showed her has been returned, since it is now Sakuntala who cannot recognize him. Sakuntala recognizes him and becomes choked with emotion, which proclaims Dusyanta’s victory. Dusyanta falls at Sakuntala’s feet to seek forgiveness and says he was as deluded as the proverbial foolish man who mistakes the garland around his neck for a snake and discards it. Dusyanta and Sakuntala reunite, with Dusyanta explaining the recovery of the signet ring to Sakuntala. Matali enters and tells Dusyanta that Marica has granted him an audience.
Sakuntala, Dusyanta, and their son appear before Marica and Aditi, who are the parents of Indra and the other gods. They bow before the supernatural beings and receive their blessings. Dusyanta narrates his rejection of Sakuntala to Marica. Marica assures him the rejection was not Dusyanta’s fault, but the result of the curse of Durvasas. Now that this has been settled, Marica asks Sakuntala to hold no ill-will toward the innocent Dusyanta. He prophesizes that Dusyanta and Sakuntala’s son will be a warrior who will rule the earth’s seven continents and will come to be known as “Bharata, the sustainer.” Aditi asks that news of Dusyanta and Sakuntala’s reconciliation be sent to Kanva.
Before returning to earth, Dusyanta asks three last boons of Marica and Aditi: that he rule virtuously; that he honor sages and ascetics; and that at the end of his life, he may attain moksha or liberation—freedom from the cycle of birth and death.
Acts VI-VII Analysis
The last two Acts of the play trace the falling action and comedic (happy) resolution of the plot. Acts VI and VII are marked by parallels with earlier Acts. For instance, just as Act I began with Dusyanta entering the stage on a chariot, so does Act VII. In Act I, Dusyanta and Sakuntala met at Kanva’s earthly hermitage, while in Act VII they meet at the celestial ashram of Marici and Aditi. Descriptions of the beauty of the landscape abound in Act VII as they did in Act I. Acts II and VI also have narrative similarities, with Madhavya present in both. Dusyanta is lovelorn for Sakuntala in Act VI, just as he was for her in Act II. In both Acts II and VI, Dusyanta is called away to defend a realm against demons: In Act II, the realm to be defended was the earthly realm, while in Act VI, it is the celestial realm of Indra.
Act VI is the only act of the play in which Sakuntala does not make an appearance, yet she is present in the painting Dusyanta makes of her. The painting is a key symbol which captures the pain of separation between Dusyanta and Sakuntala (See: Symbols & Motifs). If Dusyanta longed for Sakuntala’s presence in Acts I and II, in Act VI, the longing is intensified to the point of maddening grief. Just as Sakuntala wasted away for Dusyanta in earlier sections, here Dusyanta is described as wearing a penitent’s robes, “his lips are cracked / By sighs; Brooding all night has drained his eyes” (75). If Sakuntala was dressed simply in her forest-bark garments in the grove, the king is dressed even more plainly. Thus, Dusyanta swaps positions with Sakuntala: This signifies justice being served and Dusyanta’s atonement. Since the remorse of Dusyanta is made so manifest, this clears the way for his reconciliation with Sakuntala.
The elaborate extended metaphor of the portrait of Sakuntala also highlights how memory can never physically capture the object of Dusyanta’s love, invoking the theme of Memory and Forgetting. Dusyanta ironically notes, “I rejected my love / when she stood before me / Yet now I’m obsessed / by her painted image” (80). The plot device of Dusyanta telling Madhavya that he was joking about his love for Sakuntala (in Act II) is resolved in this section, as Dusyanta’s statement made Madhavya stay quiet in Act V. Madhavya admits, “Because I’m a dunderhead, I took [Dusyanta’s words] at face value” (77).
An important minor character introduced in this section is the nymph Sanumati, who watches Dusyanta during his penance in the garden. The eavesdropper or secret watcher was a stock feature of classical Sanskrit theatre, and her status as both a nymph and a divine spy reflects the theme of Human Agency and Divine Fate, as the gods are keeping a close eye on developments with Dusyanta. Sanumati—rendered invisible by her powers—moves from place to place with Dusyanta. Sanumati’s presence as a witness whose testimony is worthy also provides insight into the role of women in society. While women were subordinate to men, as is obvious in Act IV, they did have some agency and freedoms. In classical Sanskrit productions, female actors could have played the parts of women, in stark contrast to the prohibition on actresses on the Greek and Latin stages. Furthermore, the presence of the women gardeners in Act VI shows that women had access to public professions, such as palace gardening, too.
The mood of separation and parting peaks in Acts VI and VII. In Act VII, Dusyanta has won a victory against the demons. This victorious Dusyanta is a far cry from the withdrawn, penitent king of the previous act. Thus, he has reentered public life and embraced his dharma or duty as a king, once more introducing the theme of Duty (Dharma) Versus Love (Kama) into the center of the story. This foreshadows a peaceful resolution in his personal life as well, though not before he experiences the pangs of rejection for a little longer.
When Dusyanta sees his son for the first time, he does not recognize the child as his own, and more importantly, the child does not recognize Dusyanta. When Dusyanta hugs him, he protests, “Let me go!” (98). Sakuntala does not recognize Dusyanta either, “seeing the king pale from suffering” (99). Dusyanta notes the reversal of their roles, since it is now Sakuntala who does not recognize him. Thus, recognition, memory, and forgetting emerge as important moods in the register of grief and separation.
In the context of the social milieu of The Recognition of Sakuntala, the happy resolution includes not just the reunion of the separated couple and family, but also the restoration of larger social and cultural values. It is a father’s duty to recognize and honor his son, and sons were extremely important in the Vedic and post-Vedic cultures, as it was a son who performed his parents’ funereal rites, ensuring the safe passage of their souls. Similarly, a wife was also of critical importance to a man of status like a king, since none of the rituals could be performed without her presence. In reuniting with Sakuntala and their child, Dusyanta thus fulfils his ethical, public, and personal dharma, ensuring the continuation of his royal line.
The blessing by the elders Marici and Aditi mark that Dusyanta and Sakuntala’s union is complete. The schemata of life coming full circle is echoed by the earthly and supernatural realms coming together in Act VII. Supernatural elements have been present in the play from the onset, though most such occurrences have taken place offstage, such as Maneka’s rescue of Sakuntala. However, now Dusyanta visits the celestial hermitage after defeating demons attacking Indra’s heaven, thus transcending the bounds of earthly duty. Dusyanta’s victory foreshadows the fate of his son, Bharata, who is destined to be the greatest ruler of all.
