Kalidasa on Shakuntala

“Amazed at the whole spectacle, the king, in the words of Kalidasa in his play thus speaks: In a dusty apparel, grey appearing With a face penance, impaired; with hair unknotted; So unkind as I was, yet chaste her bearing From myself, parted so long, remains devoted.”

“It tells the story of the hermit girl Shakuntala, the daughter of the celestial nymph Menaka and the sage Vishvamitra. The poet Kalidasa intends Shakuntala to be the focus of attention. This is not the story of King Dushyanta, or their son Bharata, who according to Mahabharata is the emperor whose rule gives India its Sanskrit name Bharat.”