History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s26.7

v3.c41.s26.7

This vernacular literature is chiefly in verse and is generally a translation or imitation of Sanskrit poems or Purāṇas. But original works in Sanskrit on a vast range of subjects were written in this sub-period to which it would not be out of place to direct the attention of the reader. The great seats of learning were Kashmir and Benares, as even Al-Beruni records and Nadia in Bengal, Tanjore in South India and Kalyan in Mahārāshtra. Kanauj and Ujjain perhaps were also as famous as before; the learned men of the Madhyadeśa who were great Mīmāṃsakas in the time of Bāṇa and Kumārila were still famous, studied Vedas and performed Vedic sacrifices as zealously as before.* The list of subjects includes poetics (Alankāra), philosophy, law (Dharmaśāstra), Logic (Nyāya), grammar, astronomy, medicine and music. Mr. P. V. Kane has given a detailed history of the development of Alankāraśāstra and shown how Mammata (1100) and others evolved the theory of Dhvani in this period. Philosophy also had its contribution from Rāmānuja and others which swelled the already vast philosophical literature of India including, as it did, Sānkhya and Yoga (common to all), Jain and Bauddha (unorthodox), and Kumārila and Śankara (orthodox) philosophies.* We have already noted how law was studied in all Hindu kingdoms at this period and how solid works like the Mitāksharā were written. In Logic again a new depature was made by Hindu logicians at Nadia. Hemachandra’s grammar Siddha Hema has already been mentioned. In astronomy Someśvara son of Vikramānka of Kalyan was a royal author in this period and Bhāskara’s Siddhānta-śiromani (1150) the greatest Hindu work on the subject belongs to this time. In medicine Dalhaṇa of Bhadāvara near Mathura and Chakrapāṇi, court-physician of Nayapāla of Bengal, wrote detailed commentaries on Charaka about 1050 A. D. The great learning of king Bhoja of Malwa and his authoritative works on many subjects have already been noticed. The land of Kerala was famous for learned astrologers and physicians (Marco Polo p. 376). On the west coast and the east coast, under the Kadambas and the Cholas, music was greatly studied and dancing was specially developed. And in Kashmir Harsha acquired fame by his musical compositions and also his patronage of music. Thus Hindu intellect maintained its reputation for acuteness and brilliancy in this sub-period by the production of such works as Kāya-Prakāsha and Siddhānta-Śiromani, Naishadha Mahākāvya and Gitagovinda the most charming lyric in the world. Indeed this galaxy of eminent authors Bhoja and Mammata, Bhāskara and Rāmānuja, Jayadeva and Śriharsha and many others illumines to some extent this sombre period of Mediæval Hindu history of India.