Kalidasa

Kalidasa is the greatest poet and dramatist of classical Sanskrit literature, often called the Shakespeare of India. He lived probably in the fourth or fifth century AD, at the height of the Gupta empire, and tradition counts him among the 'Nine Gems' at the court of King Vikramaditya. Of his life almost nothing is known beyond unreliable legend: it is said that as a young man he was a dull herdsman who, mocked by his wife, prayed devoutly to the goddess Kali and received wisdom and poetic genius; his name means 'servant of Kali'. He left three plays and four long poems, the most famous being Shakuntala and the lyric poem The Cloud Messenger.