Abhijnana Shakuntala

Abandoned by parents immediately after birth, Shakuntala grew up in the ashram of the sage Canva , turning into a beautiful and modest girl. One day, while Canva sets out on a pilgrimage, the king of Hastinapura Dushyant accidentally finds the sage's ashram during a hunt. Attracted by the extraordinary beauty of Shakuntala, Dushyanta proposes to her and marries her. Soon, however, royal duties called Dushyanta to Hastinapura. Before leaving his wife, he gives her his ring, upon presentation of which she will be recognized as a royal wife in the palace and will be received accordingly. Soon, the sage Durvasa , known for his angry character, arrives at the ashram. Shakuntala does not accept him properly and Durvasa curses her that her husband Dushyanta will forget about her existence. The only thing that can remind Dushyant about Shakuntal is a ring that was presented to her earlier.

Shakuntala goes to Hastinapura to meet her husband, but crossing the river, drops the ring into the water. Upon arrival at the palace, Dushyanta refuses to recognize his wife in her and Shakuntala returns to the ashram of her adoptive father. Soon, however, one fisherman finds a ring in the belly of the fish he caught. The soul-maker realizes his mistake, but too late. Then Dushyanta triumphs over the army of the Titans and, as a reward, receives from Indra the opportunity to make a journey through the paradise planets. After returning to Earth, Dushyanta accidentally meets Shakuntala and her son and recognizes them.

In the original version of the story described in the Mahabharata, Shakuntala reunites with her husband only after Dushyanta finds their son Bharata playing with the lions. Bharata is the ancestor of the Kauravas and Pandavas fighting in the bloody Battle of Kuruksetra .

"Abhijnana-Shakuntala" became the first Indian drama translated into European languages. The earliest translation into English ("Sacontalá or The Fatal Ring: an Indian drama") was made by William Jones in 1789. The drama aroused the general attention and admiration of the reading public, including Goethe and Wilhelm Humboldt. Another famous translation of the play into English was made by Monnier-Williams in 1855. In 1792, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin published excerpts from Abkhijnjan-Shakuntaly in the Moscow Journal. He translated them from the German translation of Forster, made from the English translation of W. Jones. Karamzin wrote in the Moscow Journal : “On almost every page ... I found the highest beauties ... Kalidas is as great for me as Homer”, and expressed the hope “that these fragrant flowers of Asian literature will be pleasant for many readers who have delicate taste ” ^[1] . Since then, about five dozens of translations into almost all European languages ​​have appeared (including translation from the original into Russian by N. V. Putyaty , published in the Russian Bulletin of the early 1880s) and editions of the original Sanskrit text, which has several reviews . In Indian languages, Abhijnana Shakuntala has also been translated many times. For example, in Malayalam there are 25 different translations of it.

In 1914, director Alexander Tairov chose the play "Shakuntala" in the translation of Konstantin Balmont for the premiere performance of the " Chamber Theater " founded by him. The premiere of the plays took place in Moscow on December 24, 1914. Actress Alisa Koonen acted as Shakuntala, the scenery was created by the artist Pavel Kuznetsov , and the processing of traditional Indian music presented by Inayat Khan was performed by composer Vladimir Paul ^[2] .

In 1921, the Italian composer Franco Alfano composed the opera La leggenda di Sakùntala (The Legend of Shakuntala).

• Ashwaghosh . Buddha's life; Kalidasa . Dramas / Per. C. Balmont . - M.: Khudozh. lit. , 1990. - S. 365-464. - 573 p.

• Figueira, Dorothy M. (1991), Translating the Orient: The Reception of Śākuntala in Nineteenth Century Europe , New York: SUNY Press , ISBN 0791403270 , < https://books.google.com/books?id=aN_U4bJvrRMC >  

• English translation by Arthur Ryder
• An article on the analysis of "Shakuntaly" at the circle on the history of the ancient East, the Faculty of History, Odessa University. I.I. Mechnikov (in Russian)