History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c19.s2.t3: Śrīharṣa

History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c19.s2.t3

Language: English

Śrīharṣa

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Jayacandra’s name has been made memorable in the history of Sanskrit literature for the patronage that he extended to the poet Śrīharṣa, son of Hira by Māmaladevī. Śrīharṣa’s connection with the royal court is not only attested by the Jain Rājaśekhara in his *Prabandhakoṣa*,³ but he himself states in the colophon to his chief work, the *Naiṣadhacarita*, that he was honoured by the king of Kānyakubja with a pair of betel-leaves,⁴ it being customary with the Hindu Rājās to welcome men of eminence thus. A curious story is associated with this poet, and we therefore apologise for alluding to it in brief. He is believed to have been the nephew of Mammaṭa, to whom he showed the *Naiṣadhīya* after having composed it in one hundred cantos. The latter turning over its pages remarked : "What a pity! you did not show this to me before I wrote the seventh chapter of my *Kāvyaprakāśa*, where I have dealt with the defects of poetry. It would have saved me the trouble of hunting for examples of several defects."¹ Dejected by this severe criticism, the young poet threw away his manuscript into a river, whence his disciples rescued the portion that has come down to us in the shape of the twenty-two cantos. Historically Śrīharṣa's works are valueless, but he was doubtless a man of parts, and earned the praises of Govinda Ṭhakkura in his *Kāvyapradīpa* as "one who was superior to him in all good qualities and inferior only in age."

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³ Cf. Rājaśekharasya kathanaṃ “Śrīharṣaḥ Kānyakubjādhipati Jayacandrasya sabhāsanmahākavirāsīt ……….”

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⁴ Cf. “Tāmbūladvayaṃ-āsanaṃ ca labhate yaḥ Kānyakubjeśvarāt.” *Naiṣadhīyacarita*, ed. Śivadatta (Bombay, 1919), XXII, p. 528.

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¹ *Indian Thought*, Vol. VII, No. I (1914), p. 75.

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Among Śrīharṣa's other known works are :

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(a) *Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya*, "The most famous and important of those Vedānta treatises which emphasise the negative or sceptical side of the system."

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(b) *Sthairya-vicāraṇa*, mentioned in the fourth canto of the *Naiṣadhacarita*.

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(d) *Gauḍor-visa-kula-praśasti*, mentioned in the seventh canto.

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(e) *Arṇava-varṇana*, mentioned in the ninth canto.

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(f) *Chinda praśasti*, mentioned in the seventeenth canto.

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(g) *Śiva-śakti-siddhi*, mentioned in the eighteenth canto.

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(h) *Navasāhasāṅka-carita*, mentioned in the twenty-second canto, verse 151.

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We may also add here that tradition affirms that Śrīharṣa was one of the five Brahmans of Kānyakubja, who were invited by king Ādiśūra of Bengal to reorganise the caste-system and intoduce Kulinism there. The story is no doubt persistent, but it does not deserve much credence, as it is not confirmed by any inscriptions or authentic work.