Details

Subjects:

Clouds.
Folklore -- India.
Folklore.
India.
Spirits.
Yakṣas (Hindu deities).
Kubera (Hindu deity).
Hindu mythology.
Clouds -- Poetry.

Form/Genre:

Poetry.
Poems.
Manuscripts, Sanskrit.
Manuscripts.

Language:

In Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)

Biography/History:

5th century Sanskrit poet.

Summary:

Manuscript used for recitation and contemplation and tells the story of a mischievous spirit (yakṣa) who has been banished from his service to the Hindu god of wealth Kubera. The spirit asks a cloud to send a message to his wife who remained in Kubera's realm, hence the title of the work, Cloud messenger (Meghadūta). Manuscript lacks an ending.

Notes:

Title supplied by cataloger.
Written in 9 lines per leaf.
15 leaves foliated 1-15, upper left and lower right verso.
Mistakes covered over in yellow or blacked out; some corrections and additions in margins, many in a different hand; verse numbers highlighted in red throughout; vertical margins marked with double black line.

Cited in:

Listed in H. I. Poleman, Census of Indic Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1938), Poleman 1631 (UP 508).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 390, Item 508

OCLC:

847747244