Raghuvamsha of Kalidasa - Summary of sargas and special verses (Kannada)

Raghuvamsha by Kavikulaguru Kalidasa is the foremost in the list of the 5 great poems (Pancha Mahaakaavyas) of Sanskrit. It is one of the first kaavyas taught to Sanskrit students in traditional learning. The kavya is as glorious and noble as the heroes portrayed within – Kalidasa’s creativity and beauty of expression are at it’s height in Raghuvamsha, and the kaavya exemplifies the 2-fold derivation of the term Mahaakaavya as महतां काव्यम् (Poem about Great People) and महत् काव्यम् (A poem which is great in it’s stature). Raghuvamsha describes the glorious feats of the kings of Suryavamsha, starting with Dileepa and proceeding with his son Raghu, Raghu’s son Aja, Aja’s son Dasharatha and Dasharatha’s son Srirama.

In these lectures, Mahamahopadhyaya Sri So Ti Nagaraj gives a summary of each sarga of the Raghuvamsha, drawing attention to the outstanding features - both from the literary and dharmic perspectives. The teacher’s favourite quote is, “Study of Literature is useless without studying Shaastra; Study of Shaastras is useless without studying Literature ''. With this as the backdrop, he beautifully brings out the salient aspects of Raghuvamsha in multiple dimensions.