1920s

Sakuntala's Farewell

Indian, 1895 - 1989

Sakuntala (pronounced "Shakuntala") is the mother of a seminal character in the Mahabharata, a sacred epic. As an infant she was abandoned by her mother in the forest, only to be discovered by the seer Kanva, who raised her in his hermitage. In this print, a fully grown Sakuntala bids farewell to her adopted home as she sets off to find her husband, King Dushyanta, who, as a result of a curse, has forgotten about her. Sakuntala's story was popularized through a Sanskrit play written by Kalidasa sometime between the fourth and sixth centuries. This illustration may have been inspired by Mukal Dey's mentor, Abanindranath Tagore, who translated Kalidasa's play into Bengali in 1895. At Santiniketan, the university town where Dey studied, India's ancient traditions played an important role in the arts curriculum.