Women 5 - raja Ravi Varma's Painting Of vivacious Shakuntala Poem by Geeta Radhakrishna Menon

When the beautiful and charming Shakuntala
Who lived with her foster father Sage Kanva,
In a forest dwelling in a humble thatched hut,
Surrounded by nature's foliage of trees and flowers,
Suddenly, most unexpectedly, in the forest,
She meets the handsome Prince Dushyanta, on a hunt in the forest,
Here even history recalls - that the time stood still with abated breath!

It was a meeting willed by nature's destiny,
When two pairs of romantic eyes met with
Such breathless enchantment,
A powerful play of sense and senses,
With ardent curiosity,
And a revolution of mind,
Beyond reason and logic!

It was love at first sight, without any doubt,
Shakuntala and Dushyanta, could not take their eyes off each other,
As their youthful minds embraced and plunged,
Into the depth of deepest desires and attraction.
As her friends pulled her away from the startling encounter,
The vivacious Shankuntala, had to look back at her secret sweet heart - once more!
With the pretensions of a thorn in her dainty foot!

A mythological love story,
From the fascinating Mahabharata,
Immortalised by Kalidasa in his 'Abhijnana-Shakuntalam'
Retold again, with a splash of bright colours,
Revived as a visual delight by the vibrant painter,
Raja Ravi Varma continues to be a household name in Kerala,
Revered and honoured for his captivating artistic expressions.