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"Scattered throughout the most various departments of Sanskrit literature are innumerable apophthegms in which? wise and noble, striking and original thoughts often appear in a; highly finished and poetical garb. These are plentiful in the law books ; ia the epic and the drama they are frequently on the lips of heroes, sages and gods ; ar^din fables are constantly uttered by tigers, jackals, cats and other animals. Above allr the Mahabharata, which to the pious Hindu constitutes* a moral encyclopaedia, is an inexhaustible mine of proverbial philosophy. It is, however, natural that ethical maxims should be introduced in great abundance into works which, like the Panchatantra and Hitopadesa, were intended to be handbooks of practical moral philosophy." The doctrinal keynote of all didaqtic poetry is the vanity of mundane pleasure and human existence,. Retirement from the world and tranquillity of heart is the only goal. Universal brotherhood and national tolerance form the theme of the ethical sermons.
K&lidasa as a poet and dramatist has been described,. His Meghaduta is a lyric piece of about a hundred and odd stanzas. The poet ascribes to. the cloud human organs and feelings. The poem opens with the sight of a cloud by Yaksha, who was by a curs.e separated from his beloved wife.. He imagines a friendly messenger arid addresses him. He lays down the route leading to Yaksha's home at Alakapuri.. He then describes the probable condition of his wife and lastly the substance of the message itself. The route chosen* affords to the poet splendid opportunities to allude to many interesting scenes in Hindu nature and mythology. The poem has been for centuries a standard of poetic art. The plan by i|self shqws the originality of Kalidasa and this poem,, short as it is, contributes as much glory to his name as his.e the dawn of its civilization, -which found .an abundant expression in the so-called pf poetic art an4 im^naacts, describing the* f