Kalidasa, an Indian poet, who, according to tradition, lived at the court of King Vikrama-ditya, in the 1st century B. C. He was one of the poets called the nine precious stones of the court. Vikramaditya (sun of strength) is a title given to several Hindoo monarchs, and many scholars believe Kalidasa to have flourished in the 11th century A. D. at the court of King Bhoja. The works attributed to him are so various that the existence of several poets of his name at different periods has been supposed. His best production is the drama Sa-kuntala, which was translated into English by Sir William Jones in 1789, and immediately excited in Europe a lively interest in Sanskrit literature. It was translated into German by Forster (1790), Herder (1803), and others, and into French by Chezy (published with the Sanskrit original, 1830). He is the author also of the drama Vikramurvasi (translated into English by H. H. Wilson; published with a Latin translation by Lentz, Berlin, 1833); the comedy "Malavika and Agnimitra" (published with a Latin translation by Fallberg, Bonn, 1840); the epical poem Raghuvansa (published in Sanskrit and Latin by Stenzler, London, 1832); the Kumara-Sambhdva (also edited by Stenzler, London, 1838); the Megha-duta, or "Cloud Messenger" (translated into English verse by H. H. Wilson, Calcutta, 1813, and London, 1843); and other dramatic and lyrical pieces.