Which one of the following books is NOT written by Kalidas ?
1. Meghaduta
2. Raghuvamsam
3. Shringar Shatak
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Correct — C, Only 3. Shringar Shatak — the Śṛṅgāra Śataka — is not Kalidasa's. It is one of the three 'centuries' of Bhartrihari, whose Śatakatraya gathers a hundred verses each on niti (worldly wisdom and ethics), shringara (love) and vairagya (renunciation). The other two titles are squarely inside Kalidasa's accepted corpus. Meghadutam is his lyric of a banished yaksha who asks a passing monsoon cloud to carry a message to his wife in Alaka, and it founded the whole later sandesha-kavya or 'messenger poem' genre. Raghuvamsam is his mahakavya in nineteen cantos on the dynasty of Raghu, running from Dilipa and Raghu through Rama down to Agnivarna. So only item 3 names a work Kalidasa did not write.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) This picks out Meghaduta and Raghuvamsam as the non-Kalidasa works, which reverses the truth exactly: after Abhijnanashakuntalam these are his two most celebrated compositions, one lyric and one epic.  (b) Half right. Shringar Shatak is indeed not Kalidasa's, but Raghuvamsam is. Candidates hesitate over Raghuvamsam because its subject matter overlaps the Ramayana and the Ikshvaku-Raghu line, but the poem itself is Kalidasa's mahakavya, not Valmiki's epic.  (d) This makes Meghaduta the odd one out. Meghadutam is in fact among the most securely attributed of all Kalidasa's works and the model every later Sanskrit 'messenger poem' imitates.

Concept: Kalidasa, traditionally placed at the Gupta court of Chandragupta II 'Vikramaditya' around the 4th-5th century CE, is credited with seven works: three plays (Abhijnanashakuntalam, Vikramorvashiyam, Malavikagnimitram), two mahakavyas (Raghuvamsam, Kumarasambhavam) and two lyric poems (Meghadutam, Ritusamharam). Bhartrihari is a different figure altogether — the poet of the Śatakatraya, traditionally identified with the grammarian-philosopher of the Vakyapadiya, though scholars still debate whether the poet and the grammarian were one person. Learn Kalidasa's list of seven as a closed set and every 'which is NOT by Kalidasa' item becomes mechanical.

State PCS 2025 Q92 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q92 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer