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THE DYNASTY OF RAGHU

_The Dynasty of Raghu_ is an epic poem in nineteen cantos. It consists
of 1564 stanzas, or something over six thousand lines of verse. The
subject is that great line of kings who traced their origin to the
sun, the famous "solar line" of Indian story. The bright particular
star of the solar line is Rama, the knight without fear and without
reproach, the Indian ideal of a gentleman. His story had been told
long before Kalidasa's time in the _Ramayana_, an epic which does not
need to shun comparison with the foremost epic poems of Europe. In
_The Dynasty of Raghu_, too, Rama is the central figure; yet in
Kalidasa's poem there is much detail concerning other princes of the
line. The poem thus naturally falls into three great parts: first, the
four immediate ancestors of Rama (cantos 1-9); second, Rama (cantos
10-15); third, certain descendants of Rama (cantos 16-19). A somewhat
detailed account of the matter of the poem may well precede criticism
and comment.

_First canto. The journey to the hermitage_.--The poem begins with the
customary brief prayer for Shiva's favour:

God Shiva and his mountain bride,
Like word and meaning unified,
The world's great parents, I beseech
To join fit meaning to my speech.

Then follow nine stanzas in which Kalidasa speaks more directly of
himself than elsewhere in his works:

How great is Raghu's solar line!
How feebly small are powers of mine!
As if upon the ocean's swell
I launched a puny cockle-shell.

The fool who seeks a poet's fame
Must look for ridicule and blame,
Like tiptoe dwarf who fain would try
To pluck the fruit for giants high.

Yet I may enter through the door
That mightier poets pierced of yore;
A thread may pierce a jewel, but
Must follow where the diamond cut.

Of kings who lived as saints from birth,
Who ruled to ocean-shore on earth,
Who toiled until success was given,
Whose chariots stormed the gates of heaven,

Whose pious offerings were blest,
Who gave his wish to every guest,
Whose punishments were as the crimes,
Who woke to guard the world betimes,

Who sought, that they might lavish, pelf,
Whose measured speech was truth itself,
Who fought victorious wars for fame,
Who loved in wives the mother's name,

Who studied all good arts as boys,
Who loved, in manhood, manhood's joys,
Whose age was free from worldly care,
Who breathed