Kalidas owes his fame to his Sanskrit play Abhijnana-Shakuntala (Shakuntala Recognized by the Token Ring), the long epic poem Kumara-Sambhava (Birth of Kumara) and the lyric poem Meghaduta (Cloud Messenger). Kalidasa, who lived some time in the middle of the 4th and early 5th centuries A.D., has left no account of his life. According to popular legend, he owed his ingenuity as much to Goddess Kali's blessings as to his own talents.