The Cloud Messenger Meghdoot

Lyric poetry took shape in India since the dawn of civilization as is evident from Vedic hymns and poems. Different metres took shape over centuries and classical Sanskrit literature provides fine example of lyrics. Kalidasa, the great Indian poet excelled in lyrical poetry and even his plays have that lyrical quality.

© Rashrothan Parishad

Poet Kalidasa writer of "Meghadoota".

Meghadoot or "Cloud Messenger" (a.k.a. Meghadoota, Meghadut) consists of 115 stanzas composed in the Mandakrantha metre, of four lines of seventeen syllables. The theme of 'Megha dut' is the message of love from Yaksha which he wants to send to his wife living far away.

Once this Yaksha, attending on Kubera, the god of wealth, was found neglecting his duties and incurred the wrath of his master. As punishment, he was banished to the sloping mountain of Ramagiri (in present day Madhya Pradesh). This Yaksha led a lonely and emaciated life. The rainy season approached and with it, dark moving clouds.

The sight of clouds made the Yaksha sadder still, missing his wife all the more. He thinks of sending a message, through a cloud, moving northwards towards Himalayas, where his wife lived. He addresses a huge dark cloud.

The first half of the Meghadoot, consists of the description of the regions the cloud has to traverse. He advises the cloud messenger to rest on the peaks of Mount Amrakuta, after quenching the forest fire through his showers. River Narmada, Vindhayas, town of Vidisha and the stream of Vetravati as also the city of Ujjayini are mentioned. This appears to be the most familiar region of the poet.

Then the cloud is directed to Avanti, sacred place of Kurukshetra & the Ganga and the mountain from which she descended. Further north appear the snow fields, till the Mount Kailas, where exists the beautiful Alka, the Yaksha's beloved's place.

© K.L.Kamat

Megha-Doot, the Cloud Messenger
Detail from an Indian Postage Stamp

In the second half of the Kavya (lyric), the scenes of Alka are described, as also Yaksha's own residence. His wife's beauty, her surroundings, her mental and physical conditions are described. The Yaksha imagines her emaciated body, sleepless nights and viewing through the window, the endless sky. When finally she is able to catch the huge dark cloud, he should reach her the message that her husband is still alive and ever longing to see her.

The Yaksha always saw her hidden in the different aspects of nature, which are vividly described.

In creepers I discern thy form, in eyes of started fawns thy glances
In the moon, thy lovely face, in peacock's plumes thy shining tresses.
The sportive frown upon thy brow, in flowing water's tiny ripples.
But never in one place combined can I, alas ! behold thy likness.

The Yaksha advises (through the cloud) his beloved, to be courageous. One day, the sorrow will end and they would surely be re-united.

Then he begs the cloud to return back, after successfully delivering his message, with reassuring news. Finally the exiled lover bids the messenger farewell, with the hope that he may never, for a moment, be separated from his spouse, the lightening!

Ambikatanayadetta (D.R. Bendre) has translated 'Medghadoot' in Kannada. Some feel that it is as lyrical and emotion-filled, as the original immortal love lyric.