The Economy of the Meghaduta P.V. Viswanath 1 April 2020 Abstract While the focus of Kalidasa’s Meghaduta is the love story between the yaksha and his wife, the poem also provides a surprising amount of information about the economy of that time. Assuming that Kalidasa wrote about things that he knew from personal experience, this could also be used to throw some light on de-urbanization theories of ancient India. While the present article only discusses the Meghaduta, I am now working on the Raghuvamsa, which – particularly in canto V – contains a rich description of the country and may be expected to provide useful data on the economy. I hope to continue this work by examining other works of Kalidasa. Finally, an analysis of authors during the following two centuries could help put the economic evidence drawn from Kalidasa’s into perspective. 1 Lubin School of Business, Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, New York, NY 10038; Tel: (212) 618-6518, Fax: (212) 618-6410, email: pviswanath@pace.edu, web: http://webpage.pace.edu/pviswanath