THE CLOUD OF LONGING

A fulllength study and new translation of the great Sanskrit poet Kalidasas famed Meghaduta literally The Cloud Messenger The Cloud of Longing focuses on the poems interfacing of nature feeling figuration and mythic memory. This work is unique in its attention given to the natural world in light of the nexus of language and love that is the chief characteristic lakshana of the poem. Along with a scrupulous study of the approximately 111 verses of the poem The Cloud of Longing offers an extended look at how nature was envisioned by classical Indias supreme poet as he portrays a clouds imagined voyage over the fields valleys rivers mountains and towns of classical India. This sustained close reading of the Meghaduta will speak to contemporary readers as well as to those committed to developing a more indepth experience of the natural world. The Cloud of Longing fills a gap in the translation of classical Indian texts as well as in studies of world literature religion and into an emerging integrative environmental discipline.