Abhigyaana-Shaakunthalam is the work in which Kalidasa achieves a unique harmony in weaving a fabric of human life with threads of human frailties and tragedies. The story for this play is based on a tale in the Indian epic Mahabharata. The tale depicts how India came to be called Bharatvarsha or Bharat, a name that is still official in Indian languages. In essence the story is as follows: King Dushyanta falls in love with the hermit- girl Shakunthala. They marry by a ceremony of Ghandharva, a form of Hindu wedding ceremony where two can marry with mutual consent with Nature (or its deification) as witness. They consummate their vows and when the time comes for Dushyanta to return to his palace, he promises to send an envoy to escort her to his palace. As a symbolic gesture he gives her a signet ring. It so happens that when the irascible hermit, Durvasa, stops at Shakunthala’s home hut for hospitality; Shakunthala, in her marital bliss, does not hear his calls. The ill- tempered sage turns backs unattended, giving her a curse that he who engrosses her in thoughts shall not remember her. Shakunthala discovers she is pregnant with Dushyanta’s child, and her father sends her to the royal court for their reunion. En-route, she loses the ring. Because of the curse and the circumstances in which she presents herself in the palace, Dushyanta fails to acknowledge her as his wife. The spell is broken when a fisherman finds the ring in the entrails of a fish and presents it to the King. The curse is lifted, the King remembers, and seeks her forgiveness. Their son is called Bharata, whose rule confers on India its name.