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| Yakṣa |
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| Śakuntalā |
Though India stands only second to Russia in honouring the illustrious Viśva-mahākavi (World Poet) and Kavi-kula-guru, two stamps issued on 22nd June, 1960 were outstanding in design and printing. The 15nP stamp illustrates the scene from the Meghadūta (Cloud Messanger) in which the Yakṣa while sojourning in Rāmagiri, appealed to the cloud to carry his message of love and pathos to his beloved in far-off Alakā on Mount Kailās. The stamp bears as theme the following Sanskrit verse from the Meghadūta.
आषाढस्य प्रथमदिवसे मेघमाश्लिष्टसानुम् |
वप्रक्रीडापरिणतगजप्रेक्षणीयं ददर्श ||
āṣāḍhasya prathamadivase meghamāśliṣtaṣnuṃ /
vaprakrīdā pariṇatagajaprekṣanīyam dadarśa //
vaprakrīdā pariṇatagajaprekṣanīyam dadarśa //
तव न जाने हृदयं मम पुनः कामो दिवापि रात्रावपि |
निर्घृण ! तपति बलीयः ||
tava na jāne hṛdayam mama punaḥ kāmo divāpi rātrāvapi |
nirgḥṛṇa tapati balīyaḥ |
निर्घृण ! तपति बलीयः ||
tava na jāne hṛdayam mama punaḥ kāmo divāpi rātrāvapi |
nirgḥṛṇa tapati balīyaḥ |
The scene on the Rs.1.03 stamp is from the Abhijñana-śākuntala which depicts the incident of Śakuntalā's writing a love-letter to her beloved Duṣyanta in the midst of the sylvan beauty of the hermitage of her adopted father, the sage Kaṇva.
Philatelic Notes:
Two FDCs in different sizes, were issued.
The small cover is in size 154 x 90 mm.
The longer one measures 228 x102 mm.
Airmail letter postage to UK, etc. was Rs.1.03 then.
Surplus stock of R.1.03 was cancelled and overprinted with Re.1 on 02.02.1963 to reduce the inconvenience of odd value of Rs.1.03.
Kalidasa's Major Works
1. Abhijñāna-śākuntalam
2. Vikramorvasīyam
3. Mālavikāgnimitram
4. Raghuvaṃśam
5. Kumārasambhavam
6. Meghadūtam
7. Ṛtusaṃhāram
The Brochure on Kalidasa Stamps
7. Ṛtusaṃhāram
The Brochure on Kalidasa Stamps
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| Cover Page |
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| Page 1 |
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| Pages 2-3 |
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| Pages 4-5 |
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| Pages 6-7 |
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| Pages 8-9 |
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| Pages 10-11 |
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| Pages 12-13 |
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| Pages 14-15 |
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| Pages 16-17 |
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| Pages 18-19 |
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| Page 20 |
I am extremely happy to see the wonderful and extra ordinary work done by Shri Ramanathan, for pursuing details of stamps, and special covers issued on Sanskrit all over the world. Sanskrit which is a Vedic Language and for which all Indians should be proud of, should be encouraged to be learnt from the school days. The collection which Shri Ramanathan is fantastic, and very interesting. I have seen some of these in my collections long back but never occured to me that they are so great. In fact thee way in which they are presented in the blog are marvellous. Hats off to You Shri Ramanathan. Here is a Naval Salute to Shri Ramanathan.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding work!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Ramanathan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this detailed treatise of these stamps. The Meghdutam stamp is incorrectly also attributed to Raja Ravi Varma by a lot of people but the distinct Bengal school of art style had always intrigued me.
The details provided by the brochure confirm that the painting is indeed by Dr. Radha Charan Bagchi. Thank you again for providing such clear details.
Warm regards,
Saurav Chatterjee
Wonderful Information. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete