Resumen
Resumen de The Birth of the War-God: A Poem by Kálidása
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You will love this poem if you enjoy myths of gods and demons, love stories told through nature, rich descriptions of mountains and flowers, and an early Indian voice that treats desire and duty with warmth.
De qué trata este libro
What would it take to stir a god who has shut every sense inside his own mind? In this poem the answer is a mountain's daughter, a flower-tipped arrow and severe penance. A demon is crushing heaven, and the only hope is a son of Śiva. But Śiva sits alone in the snow and wants no wife.
The Birth of the War-God is a Sanskrit narrative poem by Kālidāsa, also known for the play Sakontalá. Its seven cantos follow how Umá, daughter of the mountain king Himálaya, comes to be the bride of Śiva. You get gods who plead, a Love-God who takes aim, a widow's lament and a fierce penance.
En este resumen
- 1A mountain king and his daughter UmáFree
- 2The gods beg Brahmá for a champion
- 3Love takes aim at the meditating god
- 4One arrow lands and anger burns Love away
- 5Umá wins her god by penance and loyalty
- 6The Seven Saints carry the proposal to Himálaya
- 7Desire, discipline and the worth of a person
- 8How the poem is told and how to hear it
Idea clave 1 de 8
A mountain king and his daughter Umá
The poem opens with a place that is also a person. Himálaya, lord of the hills, stretches across the north from the eastern sea to the western sea, and the poet treats him as a king. The earth poured her gems, herbs and ores into this mountain.
Much of the first canto simply shows his realm. Red minerals in his rock color the passing clouds like a sunset. Birch bark serves lovesick girls as paper, and glowing herbs light the way for a lover walking at night. Wild cattle fan him with their tails, the way a king is fanned.
Himálaya takes a wife, the nymph Mená. Their daughter has lived before. In her earlier life she was Satí, the wife of Śiva, who gave up her body in anger when her father scorned the god. Now she is born again, and her anxious mother cries out for her to stop her stern vows. That cry becomes her name, Umá.
The saint Nárad sees that she is meant to be Śiva's bride. But Śiva lives alone, wrapped in a hide, served by a loyal bull. Himálaya sends Umá to wait on him. She gathers flowers and brings water, and the god accepts her help with calm courtesy, untouched.
The story begins with a girl born to win back a god who has closed his heart to love.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
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Questions about The Birth of the War-God: A Poem by Kálidása
What is The Birth of the War-God about?
It follows how Umá, daughter of the mountain king Himálaya, comes to marry Śiva so that a son can be born to lead the gods against the demon Tárak. Along the way come Káma's arrow, Rati's grief and Umá's penance.
Who are Umá, Śiva and Káma?
Umá is the mountain king's daughter and a rebirth of Śiva's first wife. Śiva is the hermit god who lives in meditation. Káma is the god of love, who shoots flower-tipped arrows and is the husband of Rati.
What does Umá mean, and why does she do penance?
Umá is the name that comes from her mother's cry telling her to stop her harsh vows. She does penance because beauty alone fails to win Śiva, and she believes that only strong devotion can earn such a husband.
Cite this edition
Kālidāsa. The Birth of the War-God: A Poem by Kálidása. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-birth-of-the-war-god-a-poem-by-kalidasa.
Kālidāsa. (2026). The birth of the War-God: A poem by Kálidása. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-birth-of-the-war-god-a-poem-by-kalidasa (Original work published ca. 400)
Kālidāsa. The Birth of the War-God: A Poem by Kálidása. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-birth-of-the-war-god-a-poem-by-kalidasa.
@book{kalidasa2026birth,
author = {Kālidāsa},
title = {The Birth of the War-God: A Poem by Kálidása},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-birth-of-the-war-god-a-poem-by-kalidasa},
note = {First published ca. 400}
}
