कालि-दास m. m. (
fr. काली, the goddess
दुर्गा, and
दास, a slave, the final of
काली being shortened;
cf. [Pāṇ. 6-3, 63] ),
N. of a celebrated poet (author of the
शकुन्तला,
विक्रमोर्वशी,
मालविकाग्निमित्र,
मेघ-दूत, and
रघु-वंश; described as one of the nine gems of
विक्रमादित्य's court, and variously placed in the first, second, third, and middle of the sixth century A.D.; the name is, however, applied to several persons, especially to two others who may have written the
नलोदय and
श्रुत-
बोध [hence the
N. is used to denote the number, ‘three’], and seems, in some measure, to have been used as an honorary title).