kAlidAsa The celebrated author of the aBijYAnaSakuMtala , vikramorvaSIya, mAlavikAgnimitra, raGuvaMSa, kumArasaMBava, meGadUta , ftusaMhAra ; also of the poems nalodaya and of some other minor works. The earliest known authentic reference to Kālidāsa is in an inscription dated 556 Śake or 634 A. D. , in which he and Bhāravi are spoken of as being renowned poets. The verse is as follows:- yenAyoji na veSma sTiramarTaviDO vivekinA jinaveSma . sa vijayatAM ravikIrtiH kavitASritakAlidAsaBAravikIrtiH .. Bāṇa's reference to him in the beginning of his Harṣa-charita also shows that he must have flourished before the time of Bāṇa, i. e. before the first half of the seventh century. But how long before the seventh century the poet flourished is not yet known. According to Mallinātha's explanation on Me. 14 nicula and diNnAga were contemporaries of Kālidāsa. If Mallinātha's suggestion be correct-and it is very doubtful if it be really so-then our poet must have lived in the middle of the sixth century which is the date usually assigned to diNnAga . There is one point which, if definitely settled, would give the poet's precise date. It is the mention by Kālidāsa of his patron Vikrama. Who this Vikrama is it has not yet been definitely settled. Popular tradition identifies him with the founder of the Saṃvat Era which is said to have commenced 56 B. C. If this view be correct, Kālidāsa must be considered as belonging to the first century before Christ. But some scholars have recently come to the conclusion that what is called the era of Vikramāditya 56. B. C. was a date arrived at by taking the date ( pb ) of the great battle of Korūr in which Vikrama finally defeated the Mlecchas, i. e. 544 A. D. and then by throwing back the beginning of the new era 600 years before that date, i. e. 56 B. C. If this conclusion be accepted as correct-and scholars do not seem to have yet agreed on the point-Kālidāsa must have flourished in the sixth century A. D. The question is still an open one.