अभूत् प्राची पिङ्गा रसपतिरिव प्राश्य कनकम्।
गतच्छायश्चन्द्रो बुधजन इव ग्राम्यसदसि॥
क्षणात् क्षीणास्तारा नृपतय इवानुद्यमपरा।
न दीपा राजन्ते द्रविणरहितानामिव गुणा॥।

Bhoja Raja was a scholar king.

He has authored quite a number of books in Sanskrit like the Champu Ramayana, Vidvajjana Vallabha, Yukti Kalpa Taru.

His kingdom was in the Malwa region which includes the Western districts of the present day Madhya Pradesh and South-eastern districts of Rajasthan.

There were many great scholars in his court including the renowned poet Kalidasa.

Once four girls arrived in his court.

They had completed their education at Kashi and were on the way home.

In our culture, a lot of importance was given to the education of girls.

They had equal opportunities.

They were respected.

They were free to move about.

See here, four girls travelling all the way alone from Kashi to Malwa, easily walking into the king’s court.

They had heard about the intelligence of Bhoja Raja and also the smartness of the scholars in his court.

They wanted to test them.

All four girls were very beautiful.

They wore exactly the same kind of clothes.

They spoke and behaved in the same manner.

They threw a challenge to the King: can you find out which community each one of us belongs to?

Bhoja Raja realized- this was not going to be easy, the girls have come well prepared.

He said: we will definitely do that.

Be our guest for three days, in the meantime, we will solve this puzzle.

The girls were accommodated in the guest house of the palace.

Scholars started interacting with them.

Two days passed, still, they could not make out anything.

The girls ensured that they did not drop any hint about the communities they belonged to.

Finally, the task came upon Kalidasa.

Kalidasa disguised himself as a vagabond and slept near the window of the guest house in the night hoping to overhear the private conversations of the girls.

But, they kept silence throughout the night.

At twilight, the girls opened the window towards the East and each one said a verse in Sanskrit, describing the sunrise.

The first one said: अभूत् प्राची पिङ्गा रसपतिरिव प्राश्य कनकम्

The East has become golden in colour as if mercury has ingested gold.

You know this- gold can mix with mercury, the liquid metal and give it a golden colour.

The second girl said: गतच्छायश्चन्द्रो बुधजन इव ग्राम्यसदसि

The Moon has become pale like a scholar in a group of ignorant people.

The third girl said: क्षणात् क्षीणास्तारा नृपतय इवानुद्यमपरा

Like small kings who are not hard working and enterprising, the stars have disappeared.

And the fourth girl said: न दीपा राजन्ते द्रविणरहितानामिव गुणाः

The lamps have lost their lustre just like how qualities of those without wealth go unnoticed.

Kalidasa carefully noticed the face of each girl as they came one by one to the window and said these verses.

Next day the court assembled.

It was the last day to solve the challenge of the girls.

Everyone looked towards Kalidasa in expectation.

Kalidasa started pointing out one by one.

To the first girl, he said: you are from the family of goldsmiths.

To the second girl, he said: you belong to a family of scholars.

To the third girl, he said: you are from a family of warriors.

And to the fourth girl, he said: you are from the family of traders.

Before we proceed another point here.

The four girls belonged to different communities.

But see, they study together, move around together and are respected equally.

Division and discrimination based on caste was never part of our culture.

Kalidasa asked the girls: am I right?

Yes, you are.

How did Kalidasa identify their communities?

The first girl said: अभूत् प्राची पिङ्गा रसपतिरिव प्राश्य कनकम्

She is talking about metals.

She is connecting sunrise to metals.

So she should be from a family of goldsmiths.
A person’s background will have bearing on his perspective of the world.

The second girl said: गतच्छायश्चन्द्रो बुधजन इव ग्राम्यसदसि

She is talking about a scholar losing his relevance in a group of ignorant people.

For her, knowledge and respect are important.

So she should be from a family of scholars.

The third girl said: क्षणात् क्षीणास्तारा नृपतय इवानुद्यमपरा

About kings not working hard and losing their power.

She should be from a royal family.

And the fourth girl said: न दीपा राजन्ते द्रविणरहितानामिव गुणाः

About wealth.

In general, your qualities are appreciated only if you are wealthy, affluent.

She must be from a business family.

This is the power of observation.

People like Kalidasa became famous not just like that or luck, they had these qualities in them.

And they worked hard to develop them further.

You can also learn a lot by paying close attention to people by closely observing people.