Literary Reception of Kalidas in Mohan Rakesh’s ‘Ashadh Ka Ek Din’

Abstract

The paper uses Hans Robert Jauss’ reception theory to trace the literary relation between Kalidas’ Abhijnanashakuntalam with Mohan Rakesh’s Ashadh Ka Ek Din. It analyses the reception of Kalidas’ works and legacy in Rakesh’s play and draws out the implications of this literary reception. It points to the rewriting of the common trope of love, remembrance and forgetting by Rakesh that subtends artistic creation itself. This rewriting amounts to a critical reading of Kalidas by Mohan Rakesh and underscores his own views on modernity and tradition. The paper shows that his approach transcends the binary—that either reveres tradition or rejects it— instead, proposing a critical rereading of tradition that makes it productive and alive again. Through tracing the diachronic and synchronic reception, the paper draws out the aesthetic experience of Mohan Rakesh’s play by situating it in the horizon of expectations of its time and its historical relevance.