O.N.V. Kurup regards Kalidasa of history and legend—city-bred, a loyal court poet, a philanderer—as totally apocryphal. In Ujjayini, Malavika, the daughter of an elderly ballad singer in Kalidasa’s village, wins his heart. But one day, Palanquin comes from Ujjayini to take her away to the capital to adorn the king’s harem. The poem recreates Kalidasa’s unrequited love for Malavika.
