लाल अशोक / रक्त अशोक — Lāl Aśoka / Raktāśoka
लाल अशोक रक्त अशोक
Ashoka tree
Saraca asoca (Roxb.) W.J.de Wilde
Sanskrit verse in Devanagari
उत्तरमेघः —श्लोक १८
रक्ताशोकश्चल-किसलयः केसरश्चात्र कान्तः
प्रत्यासन्नौ कुरबक-वृतेर्माधवीमण्डपस्य ।
एकः सख्यास्तव सह मया वामपादाभिलाषी
काङ्क्षत्यन्यो वदनमदिरां दोहदच्छद्मनास्याः ॥ २.१८॥
Transliteration
raktāśokaś cala-kisalayaḥ kesaraś cātra kāntaḥ
pratyāsannau kurabaka-vṛter mādhavī-maṇḍapasya |
ekaḥ sakhyās tava saha mayā vāma-pādābhilāṣī
kāṅkṣaty anyo vadana-madirāṃ dohada-cchadmanāsyāḥ || 2.18 ||
Plant part in the verse
Expression | Botanical / poetic feature | Poetic role |
रक्ताशोक | Red Ashoka tree | Flowering love-tree |
चल-किसलयः | Trembling young leaves | Freshness, spring movement |
वामपादाभिलाषी | Longing for the lady’s left foot | Aśoka-dohada |
माधवीमण्डपस्य | Mādhavī bower nearby | Love-garden setting |
कुरबकवृतेः | Enclosed by Kuravaka shrubs | Garden architecture |
दोहदच्छद्मना | Under the pretext of dohada | Erotic tree-personification |
English translation
Near the Mādhavī bower, enclosed by Kuravaka shrubs, stand the red Aśoka with trembling young leaves and the charming Kesara / Bakula tree. One of them longs for the touch of your friend’s left foot, as it once did when I was with her; the other, under the pretext of dohada, desires the wine of
her mouth.
Literary meaning
This is a love-garden verse from Alakā. Mādhavī forms the bower, Kuravaka forms the hedge, Raktāśoka and Bakula stand nearby, and both trees are personified through dohada, the classical idea that certain trees flower through contact with beautiful women. Raktāśoka becomes the tree of foot-touch, spring desire, flowering, and romantic memory.
Why did Kālidāsa select Lal Asoka?
1. For the dohada tradition
Kālidāsa selected Raktāśoka because it is the classical tree of woman’s foot-touch. The phrase वामपादाभिलाषी directly activates this poetic tradition.
2. For red-orange flowering
The name रक्ताशोक brings colour into the garden. Its flowers move from yellow-orange to scarlet, creating a powerful visual image of passion and spring.
3. For trembling young leaves
The expression चल-किसलयः shows Kālidāsa’s botanical eye. Young Aśoka leaves hang soft and moving, often coppery-red before they mature.
4. For śṛṅgāra rasa
The verse is full of love imagery: Mādhavī bower, Kuravaka hedge, Aśoka foot-touch, Bakula mouth-wine, and dohada. Raktāśoka is one of the strongest plants for śṛṅgāra.
5. For memory of union
The Yakṣa says the tree desired the lady’s foot when he was with her. The plant therefore carries memory of past intimacy and present separation.
6. For living garden design
Raktāśoka is not isolated. It is placed near the Mādhavī bower and Kuravaka hedge, making it part of a designed Alakā love-garden.
Kālidāsa selected Raktāśoka because it is the perfect tree of spring passion and dohada. Its red flowers, trembling young leaves and longing for the beloved’s foot make it a living symbol of love, memory and flowering desire.
