Ṛtusaṃhāra often written Ritusamhara,[1][2] (Devanagari: ऋतुसंहार; ऋतु ṛtu, "season"; संहार saṃhār, "compilation") is a long poem or mini-epic in Sanskrit by Kalidasa. The poem has six cantos for the six Indian seasons - grīṣma (summer), varṣā (monsoon/rains), śarat (autumn), hemanta (cool), śiśira (winter), and vasanta (spring). It is generally considered to be Kaldiasa's earliest work.
The word संहार means "coming together" in Sanskrit.[3] It is often translated as Medley of Seasons or Garland of Seasons, but not "birth and death" of seasons, which arises from the mistranslation of samhāra which means destruction in some modern Indic languages.
The changing seasons are depicted against the thematic backdrop of how lovers react to the landscape. This imbues the poem with a strong strand of erotic love (shringara) rasa. The predominant emphasis on a single rasa has been criticized as not living up to the standards of Kalidasa as mahākavi (great poet), with these "lapses" being attributed to the poet's immaturity. Sometimes even his authorship has been challenged on the grounds of weak poetic imagination.
As an example, here is verse 1.4 of Grishma, where the lovers are struggling against the heat:
Of these verses (4-9 of Grishma canto) the Mysore scholar K. Krishnamurthy says:
However, others have cited the primacy of shringara rasa (considered as a primeval source for other rasas), and also the balance the poet seeks to achieve by setting the lovers against the background of nature, as redeeming features of the work.
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Playwright and theatre director, Ratan Thiyam, stage his production based on the poem as closing production of 4th Bharat Rang Mahotsav in 2002.[5]
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