Ritusamhaaram
Ritusamhaaram... or Ritusamharam 0r Ritusamhara as in a misspelt Itrans, but it is The Medley of Seasons or The Garland of Seasons. around the deity of Nature called year. It is not annihilation of seasons according to the wording - samhaara- but, if a long vowel A is substituted in the word samAhAra, then it is an assimilation of seasons Ritu - samAhAram. These six seasons are the makeup material for the presiding deity of Nature, namely shiva-pArvati , the Five-faced God shiva, whose five faces symbolise the five subtle elements of creation.
mahA kAvya
mahaa kaavya, great-epic, is one which shall contain laudation of: nagara, saagara, shaila, vasanta aadi R^itu varNana, suurya candra udaya astamaya, udyaana vana vihaaara, jala kriDaa, madyapaana, surata, vivaaha, vipralambha, putrodaya, mantra [ raajya mantra,] dyuuta, jaitrayaatra, yuddha, nayaka abhyudayaadi varNananaatmakam.
Laudation of cities, oceans, mountains, Spring and other seasons, sun, moon, and their dawning and dusking, pleasure-gardens and pleasure-trips, swim sports, wine drinking, lovemaking, marriages, separation, birth of sons, kingcraft, sending messengers, campaigns, war, and hero's accomplishment. Even if some of these are not narrated, noblemish attaches to mahaakaavya. But this work contains only one item - praise of seasons, and yet it has its own prominence in poetry.
Kalidas is famous for his upama - upama kaalidaasasya - simile, with its various shades like metaphor - condensed simile, pathetic fallacy, personal metaphor etc., and they are used variously in this work also. In Sanskrit upama is of two kinds; one puurNopama - full simile - when all the four parts, like upamaana - comparable object; upameya - object compared; saadhaaraNa dharma - commonality; vaacaka - word connecting them; then it will be full simile. Secondly, luptopama - deficient simile - if one, two, or even three of the above are deficient, it will be still a simile, a deficient simile. The connecting words generally employed are: iva - va - yadvaa - yathaa [shabdaaH] samaana - nibha - sannibhaaH - tulya - samkaasha - niikaasha - prakaasha - pratiruupakaaH; and there are many more verses like this laying rules of poetics. As and when possible these are detailed, though not justifiably.
Let us firstly know 'the words, ideas, phrases' used by these poets, which in their basic nature are utterly compounded, undecipherable, and un-understandable to ordinary or initiatory readers of Sanskrit, then we can go to alankaara shaastra - poetics/prosodies.
Translations are always approximations, and this too is not different or, a poetical, or a highbrow trans -lation, but it is a literal transcription [something like medical transcrition, which is on the rise these days,] with word-for-word separation, only to know each word employed, say like an explicative guidebook for superfine translations. The practice hitherto followed for translating Sanskrit is without dividing compounds - samaasaa-s. But this work is to showcase the Sanskrit verbiage, lyrical values, phonetic beauty of verses with their alliteration, etc. Hitherto available overall translations by eminent scholars do not account for the words employed. If any overall translation is read, this sort of word separated works will help the readers in knowing as to how many words of the poet are translated and how many are skipped, for their own metrical exigencies or expressions.
In our translation of Ramayana, the usage of brackets was inordinate, as we wanted the readers to identify the words of the poet, to tell apart from our ellipses. Though this work is also commenced in the same fashion, the brackets, ellipses, subtext, second and third meanings are all merged into one gist. Hence we request readers to read word-separated paras than the gist for the bhAva, import of verse.
An appeal to readers
kAlidAs kA kavitva ek pAu; hamAra paitya tiin pau
poetry of kAlidAsa is one-fourth; our atrabilious - prattle is three- fourths; is the maxim cast upon translators whenever anybody attempts to translate kAlidAsa. So, when reading this we have put up with over-amplification of import of verses.
This book is ill fated in print media and almost unavailable. The version of shrii M.R. kaaLe and its shadow by shrii C.R. Devadhar are published by MotilalBanarasidas, but they appear to be out of stock, and copies of these two are somehow obtained from puuNe, after enquiring with archeologists.
If you are an advanced, or rather, an expert reader of Sanskrit, please skip this page, for this page gives you nothing but an eyesore or headache - for its unorthodox cleaving of compounds. Kindly communicate any typos, misspells, or mistakes, because this text is taken from Southern recension and differs in many words with the Northern texts, say the one explained by shrii M. R. kaaLe et al.
The Indian seasons are six, and the poet starts with summer:
| No. | R^itu | Season | Hindu months | Gregorian months |
| 1 | griiSma | Summer | jyeSTha to aashaaDha | June to August |
| 2 | varSa | Rainy | shraavaNa to bhaadrapada | August to October |
| 3 | sharat | Autumn | aashviiiyuja to kaartiika | October to December |
| 4 | hemantha | pre-winter | margashiirSa to pouSa | December to February |
| 5 | shishira | Winter | maagha to phaalguna | February to April |
| 6 | vasantha | Spring | chaitra to vaishaakha | April to June |
Desiraju Hanumanta Rao