Malavikagnimitram
Topic: Gupta Empire and the Classical Age · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Malavikagnimitram is a Sanskrit play by Kalidasa. It is usually seen as his earliest play. It tells the love story of Agnimitra, a ruler of the Shunga dynasty, and Malavika, a maid in the queen's household. Malavika later turns out to be a princess. The play also gives some history: it mentions a Shunga fight with the Yavanas, as the Greeks were called. In its prologue, Kalidasa praises the older dramatist Bhasa.
Example
In the play, Prince Vasumitra, Agnimitra's son, guards the horse of a horse sacrifice held by the Shunga king. He defeats a Yavana force on the banks of the Sindhu river. The story is fiction, but historians use this mention as a clue to Shunga–Greek conflict.
Don't confuse with
- Abhijnanashakuntalam: Kalidasa's most famous play, about King Dushyanta and Shakuntala. Malavikagnimitram is about Agnimitra.
Related concepts
- Aryabhata
- Aryabhatiya
- Hindu-Arabic numerals
- Bakhshali manuscript
- Surya Siddhanta
- Varahamihira
- Bhaskara I
- Virahanka
- Kalidasa
- Abhijnanashakuntalam