Eco Aesthetics of Shakuntala: Kalidasa to Raja Ravi Varma

Abstract This paper is an analysis of the Shakuntala Narrative from Mahabharata and how Kalidasa translates the narrative into a play and Raja Ravi Varma into paintings. The play and the paintings delve into the relationship between man and nature. The study employs an ecocritical perspective to the narrative through the medium of literature as well as art. Our ancient literature and texts are rich in environment and nature and so is the text by Kalidasa on which Raja Ravi Varma relies on to express the same richness of nature through the medium of paintings. Eco critical approach for this study is to analyze the relationship between man and nature, their co-existence and inter dependence. The primary concerns relating to the deterioration of environment these days and the idea of Sustainable development can also be seen through the personification of nature in the play and nature being the centre and not subsidiary to the characters or subjects of the play or paintings. Without nature or Ecology one cannot imagine life and in a similar manner one cannot imagine Kalidasa’s work without nature being central or Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings without natural landscapes. Keywords: Eco-criticism, Ecology, Literature, Painting, Intermedial Translation, Existence