History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c14.21

c14.21

Harṣa’s interest in literature is further evident from his patronage of authors of repute and merit. The most shining light in his literary coterie was undoubtedly Bāṇa or Bāṇabhaṭṭa, who composed the well-known Harṣacarita devoted to the laboured and fulsome panegyric of his royal patron. It belongs to the domain of a writer on Sanskrit literature to discuss his writings, but suffice it here to say that among Bāṇa’s other works are (a) Caṇḍīśataka, (b) the Pārvatīpariṇaya,¹ (c) and the Kādambarī. Curiously enough, he left both the romances—the Harṣacarita and the Kādambarī—unfinished. The latter, however, was taken up by his son, Bhūṣaṇabhaṭṭa, in the midst of a speech in which Kādambarī’s sorrows are told, and the style of this later addition fortunately is an exact and skilful imitation of the first portion. The next member of this distinguished circle was Mayūra, whose chief contribution to the literature of the day was the Sūryaśataka. Chronologically antecedent to this was perhaps the Mayūraśataka, since in the legend the latter is said to have caused the leprosy which the former cured.² That Mayūra was in the court of Harṣa may be substantiated by the following stanza occurring in Sārangdhara’s Paddhati and other works :