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Sakuntala as pregnant at the time when she was sent to her husband's palace, whereas according to the Mahabharata she appears to have been sent to Dushyanta's abode with her child six years old, Kalidasa might have effected this change to show that Kanva, though a hermit was acquainted with the affairs of the world and was therefore reluctant to keep a mature daughter in his house, such being evidently contrary to decorum. In a third place Kalidasa by a miracle transports Sakuntala, sorely smitten with sorrow on account of the King's refusal, to the hermitage of Maricha, whereas according to the original Sakuntala was immediately relieved of her grief by the be-friended King who was forced to take her as his wedded wife through the instrumentality of an unseen voice publicly proclaiming the innocence of Sakuntala. Kali-dasa's object in separating Sakuntala from the King for several years appears to be to give the latter, a loom penitentiey and to secure thereby for himself an opportunity to expatiate on Vipralambha Sringara which we see so exquisitely delineated in his Megha Duta, Kumarasambhava and Vikramorvasiya. The pathos and tenderness with which the author describes Sakuatala's grief when she was about to depart to her husband's abode ; her strong attachment to her comrades and to the lower animals, nay, to the very trees and creepers she tended with her gentle hands; the sorrow of separation felt by Kanwa, who with the consciousness that such sorrow should not have found a place in his heart yields to the fragile bent of human nature; the natural timidity which Sakuntala as a well-bred maiden felt when she first saw her lovei* and her exemplary self-control in spite of the strong temptation evinced when Dushyanta proposed to marry her ; all these must for ever make the undying fame, of that immortal bard, a permanent record of national pride and glory. unannounced, J£ considered to be.