BHUBANESWAR: Kalidasa’s classic ‘Meghadootam’ was inspired from Ramgiri and Gupteswara caves in Gajapati district of Odisha. It was at this place that the 5th century Sanskrit scholar witnessed many beautiful sights of moisture-laden clouds which originated from the Andaman sea taking an eastward course, former Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy said.
Addressing the gathering during release of an English translation of ‘Meghadootam’ here on Wednesday, Tripathy said there are several evidences which corroborate the fact that Kalidasa wrote the 111-stanza poem at Ramgiri hills which were explored by him and Prafulla Chandra Tripathy during their travel to Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur districts.
Both Tripathy and Prafulla Chandra Mishra have translated ‘Meghadootam’ into English. “The book combines dignity with majesty. It is high time we need to market good and neat-looking books in Odisha to encourage writers,” Tripathy said. Speaking on the occasion, Mishra said Kalidasa writes about the scent of fresh paddy plants in his poems. “Claims by Maharashtrian writers that ‘Meghadootam’ was written at Ramtek near Nagpur does not hold ground because that region has black soil not suitable for paddy cultivation,” he said.
The writers said they referred to specialised Geography books used by aviators to understand the path followed by monsoon winds basing on which Kalidas wrote ‘Meghadootam’. “It was evident that monsoons took a de-tour towards Odisha after hitting the Western Ghats,” they said.
Among others, poet Hara Prasad Das, Editor, Sambad Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, writer Pitabasa Routray and litterateur Krushna Keshab Sarangi also spoke.