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Kalidasa and Horace Hayman Wilson, The Mégha Dúta; or Cloud Messenger: A Poem in the Sanskrit language: by Calidasa. Translated into English verse, with notes and illustrations, by H.H. Wilson, Calcutta printed: London: reprinted for Black, Parry, and Co., 1814

xxii, 23-175 pp.; full leather bound with new spine with gilt text and 4 raised bands
8.75 x 5.25 x 0.5 in (22.2 x 13.5 x 1.8 cm)

Wilson's first published Sanskrit translation, the first publication of the Meghaduta in the West.

The first English translation of the Meghaduta, India's most famous ancient poet Kalidasa's most famous text. This classic Sanskrit love poetry gained popularity in Europe in the early nineteenth century, owing mostly to the current translation by Horace Wilson. It narrates how a yaksha (or nature spirit), who had been banished by his master to a remote region for a year, asked a cloud to take a message of love to his wife and was written in the 4th-5th centuries by the Classical Sanskrit poet Kalidasa. The poem became well-known in Sanskrit literature and inspired other poets to produce similar poems (known as "messenger-poems", or Sandesha Kavya) on similar subjects.

Wilson's comments on his translation of the old poetry are included in this edition.

Horace Wilson, the translator, was Oxford's first Sanskrit professor. He became well-known for his numerous translations of ancient Sanskrit writings. He chose the most important book in Indian literature for his first published translation: the Meghaduta. It was initially published in a limited edition in Calcutta, and it was a success, prompting a second edition to be produced in London, the current work: "published under the sanction of the College of Fort William." As a result, it was the first Western publishing of the Meghaduta.

Wilson's work not only stimulated widespread interest in ancient Indian poetry, but it also began his career. The following is the rationale for publishing, as stated in the foreword: “The very high panegyric bestowed on Mr. HORACE Wilson's Translation of the Mégha Dúta, or Cloud Messenger in the Discourse delivered by the Right Honourable LORD Minto, to the Students of the College of Fort William in Bengal, on the 20th September 1813, has induced the publishers to reprint the English Translation, that the public may be acquainted with this ancient Sanscrit Poem by CÁLIDÁSA.”.

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