Imagined landscapes or through the year : the descriptions of all seasons and all seasons’ gardens in Indian literature

The descriptions of nature and the influence of nature on humans are perhaps one of the favourite subjects of poets all over the world. Obviously, we find them in the oldest layers of Indian literature as well as in the literature written in various modern Indian languages. In Sanskrit kāvya tradition, however, they belong to poetical convention (kavisamaya) forming a well defined canon of topoi. The depiction of each of the six seasons of the year should follow certain prescriptions presented in detail by theoreticians of Sanskrit literature. Each season has its protagonists in the world of flora and fauna as well as in the human sphere. At a certain point of time the coherent compositions of stanzas devoted to the cycle of six seasons (ṣaḍṛtuvarṇana) began to appear. As is well known making use of ṛtu topos is obligatory for the epic poems (mahākāvya) writers. And indeed these poems picture at least two or three seasons. The whole cycle of seasons we find in certain mahākāvyas only.