Kalidasa's play 'Abhijnanashakuntalam' is a love story between Shakuntala and King:

Kalidasa's famous Sanskrit play "Abhijnanashakuntalam" ("The Recognition of Shakuntala") tells the love story of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala.

The story:

• King Dushyanta, while hunting, comes to the hermitage of the sage Kanva, where he meets Shakuntala, the sage's foster daughter.
• They fall in love and marry secretly by the Gandharva form of marriage.
• Dushyanta gives her his signet ring and returns to his capital, promising to send for her.

Lost in thoughts of him, Shakuntala fails to welcome the short-tempered sage Durvasa, who curses her that the person she is thinking of will forget her; he later softens the curse, saying that the king will remember her when he sees a token.

When Shakuntala goes to the king's court, she has lost the ring in a river, and the king does not recognise her.

Later, a fisherman finds the ring in a fish, and when the king sees it, he remembers everything and is filled with sorrow.

Finally, Dushyanta and Shakuntala are reunited in a heavenly hermitage, along with their son Bharata.

According to tradition, India is named "Bharatavarsha" after this Bharata.

About the play:

• It has seven acts.
• The story is based on an episode in the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, but Kalidasa added the curse and the ring.
• It is written in Sanskrit, but some characters, such as women and servants, speak Prakrit, as was the convention in Sanskrit drama.
• NCERT notes that in Kalidasa's plays, the king and most Brahmanas speak Sanskrit, while women and men of lower status speak Prakrit.
• It is considered the greatest Sanskrit drama.

Its international fame:

• It was translated into English by Sir William Jones in 1789, and then into German.
• The German poet Goethe praised it greatly.

About Kalidasa:

• He is regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in Sanskrit.
• He probably lived in the 4th-5th century CE, and is traditionally associated with the court of Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya).
• His other plays include "Malavikagnimitra" and "Vikramorvashiyam".

Why not the other options?

• ✗Pururavas is the hero of "Vikramorvashiyam".
• ✗Agnimitra is the hero of "Malavikagnimitra".
• ✗Udayana is the hero of Bhasa's "Svapnavasavadattam".