Beginning
of journey
My journey will begin on the second week
of March 2018 and the personalities that I have chosen to meet are some of the
famous writers that I have always wanted to meet. I believe that this will be a
very interesting and fascinating trip as I will be able to know their interests
and work. The three writers that I have chosen to meet are Dante, Kalidas and Visnusarman.
I will first go to Italy to meet Dante. He is a famous Italian poet and has
written many poems and has contributed much toward the medieval literature.
After meeting Dante, I will go to India to meet Kalidas. Kalidas is famous for
his works such as ‘Kumarasambhava’ and ‘Raghuvamsha’ are his two epic poems.
‘Malavikagnimitra’, ‘Vikramorvashiya’ and ‘Abhijnana Shakuntala’. After meeting
Kalidas I will meet Visnusarman who resides in Kashmir. Kashmir is one of the
beautiful places on earth and meeting him there will fulfill my desire to meet
such a great personality in such a lovely place.
Literary Encounters
Dante was born in the year 1265 in
Italy. He was born to a family that was involved in the complex Florentine
political scene and that had become one of the significant features in his work
Inferno years later. The theme of his work are based on imagination
and his belief in the perfection of God’s justice (Hawxwell, 2015). The second chosen
writer Kalidas lived before the 6th century A.D. about 1400 years ago. Kalidas
is also known as Shakespeare of India. Kalidasa period is 4-5the century A.D.
He is famous for his great plays and poems. Most of his plays represented the
theme of love and duty (Keedus, 2016). The third author is Visnusarman who
belonged to Kashmir and his famous works include the fables and tales of
animals. Vishnu was the secular author of his times and much of his work is
translated in different languages. For instance his famous work “The
Panchatantra” had been translated into Middle Persia in 570 CE by Borzuya and
into Arabic Language in 750 CE by Persian people. He is also famous for
awakening the intelligence of people of his time (Maurer, 2005). The theme of
his works revolves around worldly wisdom.
I would like to meet Dante in a
place that is close to nature such as hills, trees, and river. I would like to
ask him questions in such a setting where there is sound of a river flowing by
and sun is shining on the sky. For Kalidas, I will choose a setting of a
theatre. As I have planned to meet Visnusarman in Kashmir so I would probably
choose a place where there is fauna and flora and mountains.
Dante’s work has made a leap into
the worlds of psychoanalysis and analytical psychology which is evident through
his work Divine Comedy. I will ask
Dante about “how his works are connected to the depth of modern therapy and
psychoanalysis”? (Hawxwell, 2015). Kalidas examines in succession the six
seasons of the Indian year-Summer, Rains, Autumn, Early Winter, Winter, and
Spring-describing their effects on nature and on human emotions. So regarding
this I will ask Kalidas about his work “ The Seasons” ( The New Nation, 2011)
and will inquire what influenced him to write 'The Seasons'? Similarly, for Visnusarman I would rather ask
him about his motivation to write books that became famous for animal fables. Maurer,
W. H. (2005). Because of its widespread popularity
the Pañcatantra has been endlessly recopied and recast over the
centuries, leading to many recensions. Its fables were also variously
abbreviated or condensed for incorporation into other works. Therefore, I would
inquire about his thoughts to write the fables.
Returning home from
journey
My encounter with all these writers
in such beautiful places was indeed very much fascinating and I cherish each
moment. After my trip, I wonder how Dante’s universe is a way of reminding
ourselves of an internal world which is not our own, as our culture has
discarded it. The things that surprise me for Kalidas’s work is how he has
combined the beauty of the continuity in flawless Sanskrit which is no doubt
unmatched in all times. Regarding Visnusman I am still thinking about his
stories that are intermingled in one another and how each character of his
story recites a verse of general wisdom or one about a situation like the
matter at hand.
Returning home from journey was very
informative for me and now I sometimes think
·
Shall I go to Rome now to visit some
ancient Roman writers such as Julius Caeser or Virgil?
·
Should I follow the teachings of Visnusman
and apply those in my daily life to become a better person and a better human
being?
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