_The Birth of the War-god_ is an epic poem in seventeen cantos. It
consists of 1096 stanzas, or about 4400 lines of verse. The subject is
the marriage of the god Shiva, the birth of his son, and the victory
of this son over a powerful demon. The story was not invented by
Kalidasa, but taken from old mythology. Yet it had never been told in
so masterly a fashion as had been the story of Rama's deeds by
Valmiki. Kalidasa is therefore under less constraint in writing this
epic than in writing _The Dynasty of Raghu_. I give first a somewhat
detailed analysis of the matter of the poem.

_First canto. The birth of Parvati_.--The poem begins with a
description of the great Himalaya mountain-range.

God of the distant north, the Snowy Range
O'er other mountains towers imperially;
Earth's measuring-rod, being great and free from change,
Sinks to the eastern and the western sea.

Whose countless wealth of natural gems is not
Too deeply blemished by the cruel snow;
One fault for many virtues is forgot,
The moon's one stain for beams that endless flow.

Where demigods enjoy the shade of clouds
Girding his lower crests, but often seek,
When startled by the sudden rain that shrouds
His waist, some loftier, ever sunlit peak.

Where bark of birch-trees makes, when torn in strips
And streaked with mountain minerals that blend
To written words 'neath dainty finger-tips,
Such dear love-letters as the fairies send.

Whose organ-pipes are stems of bamboo, which
Are filled from cavern-winds that know no rest,
As if the mountain strove to set the pitch
For songs that angels sing upon his crest.

Where magic herbs that glitter in the night
Are lamps that need no oil within them, when
They fill cave-dwellings with their shimmering light
And shine upon the loves of mountain men.

Who offers roof and refuge in his caves
To timid darkness shrinking from the day;
A lofty soul is generous; he saves
Such honest cowards as for protection pray,

Who brings to birth the plants of sacrifice;
Who steadies earth, so strong is he and broad.
The great Creator, for this service' price,
Made him the king of mountains, and a god.

Himalaya marries a wife, to whom in course of time a daughter is born,
as wealth is born when ambition pairs with character. The child is
named Parvati, that is, daughter of the mountain. Her father takes
infinite deli