Meghdutam (cloud messenger)

Meghdutam (cloud messenger) is a lyrical poem in 2 cantos Purvamegha and
Uttaramegha of 67 and 58 shlokas each.
It tells a story of a man separated from his lover for neglecting his duties. It describes his “viraha”(lit. means separation). Viraha is a mental state that can lead to depression, intense longing, brooding, anger and a feeling of worthlessness because object of love is either not attainable or reachable.

“Yaksha” belong to a class of demigods. They dwelled in a place called Alkapuri situated somewhere in Kailasha, the snowy mythical abode of Shiva in Himalaya. It is believed that they had the powers like flying through the air and becoming invisible. They are represented as servants of Kubera (God of wealth). Their duty is to keep guard over his garden and treasure. There was this love blind Yaksha condemned to banishment by his Lord for neglecting his duty with a yearlong exile from his lover at Ramgiri Aashram. According to some commentators his job was to bring fresh flowers every morning for his lord for the worship of Shiva (Lord of three worlds). But one day unwilling to leave the company of his wife early in the morning he brought lotus-buds during night. While Kubera was offering these to Shiva the next morning a bee lurking in one of the bud stung him. Incensed at this Kubera exiles him for a year at Ramgiri Aashram.

Thus days passed just by crying. One day with the arrival of shravan (monsoon) he stands helpless at the sight of the rain cloud, wondering megha (clouds) can travel anywhere at will, why not carry my tidings of welfare to his lover. He loses the sense of reality and begs megha to carry his message. He starts directing the route to megha ensuring his comfort by describing the beauty of the landmarks and providing him with information about the places like mountains and rivers where he can rest whenever he feels tired and fatigued and also instructing about the places where he should not overstay. Throughout the story there is a very surprising blend of nature, imagination, mythology, metaphors, syntactic, semantic details can be seen. Finally the output was in an audio visual format. The above images are some of the screen shots.

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Some Calligraphic exploration for the word “Meghdutam” in Devanagiri script.

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Following images depict the original sketches and the final image:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yaksha requesting megha (clouds)

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(Temple scene)

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Kubera ( God of wealth)

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Yaksha and Yakshini

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Following are few character explorations. The mood of the playful clouds has been taken as an inspiration while making such stylization.

 

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~ by deeptihalder on June 2, 2009.