Kalidasa’s fragrance in Quality Control
Long before we had cloud storage, in fact around 56 BCE, Mahakavi Kalidasa sent a message through a cloud – in his famous kavyam called ‘Meghasandesha’ (or Meghaduta, the cloud messenger)
The plot is fictional – a yaksha is cursed by his boss Kubera to be seperated from his beloved wife for one year – 8 months into the curse , unable to bear the seperation , the yaksha sends a message of hope to his wife, through a cloud
The descriptions in this poem though are not fictional – in fact the places, events and geographical details are accurate, vivid, varied & and justify the high stature of Mahakavi accorded to kalidasa ( as in “उपमा कालिदासस्य”)
The verses are set in Mandakranta meter, which as name suggests is slow moving, as befitting a cloud
Was kalidasa a native of Kashmir ? His accurate description of the geography of the Himalayan region would suggest as much, though there is a cloud of mystery about Kalidasa the person
In one beautiful verse , kalidasa decsribes the devadaru tree found in the Himalayan region :
भित्त्वा सद्यः किसलयपुटान् देवदारुद्रुमाणांकिसलयपुटान्देवदारुद्रुमाणां ये तत्क्षीरस्रुतिसुरभयो दक्षिणेन प्रवृत्ताः । आलिङ्ग्यन्ते गुणवति मया ते तुषाराद्रिवाताः
translated as :
The winds from the snowy mountain,Opening all at once the folding sprouts of the Devadāru tree, Will be fragrant with the streams of their sap. I will embrace them (the breeze) when they come South
The reason for this fragrance is this – The heartwood of the devadaru (himalyan cedar) has a divine fragrance – which is so potent that even the breeze flowing through the forest of devadaru trees can carry their fragrance
I am reminded of this verse from kalidasa whenever we receive a batch of Devadaru from our suppliers – every batch of raw material that we receive at Krya undergoes organoleptic testing (panchendriya parikshan) to check for quality.
one of the 5 dimensions of this quality check is the fragrance
When I break a piece of devadaru wood & I can see the distinct striations in cross section as it releases that divine fragrance – I am assured that we have received a good batch of raw material
Devadaru has wide applications as per ayurvedic texts both for internal and external use – and my co-founder Preethi values its vata-balancing, calming properties for krya’s Abhyanga oils and Hair oil formulations
A strong foundation in Sanskrit greatly enhances the study and understanding of Ayurveda. And kalidasa’s works are the very foundation in all sanskrit courses – so any future student of Ayurveda, studying kalidasa’s work would already have this vivid unforgettable image of the devadaru herb with its key characteristics in their head
Every single day I find a new reason to be amazed by our Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) – how each branch of learning supports and reinforces others and the depth, profundity and timeless nature of each branch of our Shastras