About the Author

Kalidasa, perhaps the most extraordinary of India's classical poets, composed seven major works: three plays, two epic poems, and two lyric poems. According to legend, he lived at the end of the fourth century, and was one of the 'nine jewels' in the court of the Gupta king Chandragupta II. Although very little is known about his life, Kalidasa's popularity has endured for centuries. A.N.D. Haksar is a well-known translator of Sanskrit classics. A long-time career diplomat, he served as the Indian high commissioner in Kenya and the Seychelles, minister in the United States, and ambassador in Portugal and Yugoslavia. His translations from the Sanskrit include Hitopadesa, SimhasanaDvatrimsika, Subhashitavali, Kama Sutra, The Courtesan's Keeper, The Seduction of Shiva, Suleiman Charitra, Raghuvamsam, and Three Hundred Verses, all published in Penguin Classics.