Kalidasa’s Abhijnanashakuntalam is a masterwork of classical Sanskrit drama that explores the evolving nature of love as a journey of emotional, moral, and spiritual refinement. Unlike Western romances that often culminate in union, Kalidasa’s vision of love encompasses stages of attraction, separation, suffering, and reunion—ultimately merging aesthetic emotion with metaphysical insight. Grounded in Bharata’s Natyashastra and the theory of rasa, this paper examines how Kalidasa portrays love not merely as human passion (kama), but as a force of cosmic order and spiritual realization. Through close reading and cultural analysis, the paper argues that Abhijnanashakuntalam elevates romantic love into a form of dharma and moksha, weaving philosophical ideals into emotional experience.
Kurulkar et al. (Fri,) studied this question.