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Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c26: VIII Ksemendra

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c26

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VIII Ksemendra

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The industrious Kashmiri polygrapher Kṣemendra, with the surname Vyāsadāsa, is notable in Sanskrit Poetics for his two interesting treatises, *Aucitya-vicāra* and *Kavi-kaṇṭhābharaṇa*. He refers to another work of his¹, devoted to the treatment of poetic figures, entitled *Kavi-karṇikā*.

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¹ in *Aucit. vic. śl. 2*.

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Kṣemendra himself gives us an indication of his date. The concluding verses of his two works, as well as of his *Suvṛtta-tilaka* (ed. Kāvyamālā pt. 2, 1886), state that he wrote in the reign of king Ananta of Kashmir; while the colophon to his *Samayamātṛkā* tells us that it was finished in the reign of the same king in 1050 A.D. His *Daśāvatara-carita*, on the other hand, is dated by himself in 1066 A.D., in the reign of Kalasa, son and successor of Ananta. Bühler² is right, therefore, in fixing the period Kṣemendra's literary activity in the second and third quarters of the 11th century³.

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² *Kashmir Rep. p. 46*.

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³ Dhanika, who lived towards the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century, appears to quote (on i 61) two verses which occur in some MSS of Kṣemendra's *Bṛhatkathā* (ii 216, 217), and this apparently militates against this conclusion of Kṣemendra's date; but we know that the

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Peterson proposed¹, against the opinion of Bühler, who appears to have left the question open, the identification of Kṣemendra with Kṣemarāja, the Śaiva philosopher of Kashmir, who was a pupil of Abhinavagupta, and who wrote, among numerous other works, a commentary on the *Śivasūtra* and on Abhinava's *Paramārthasāra*. Stein supports this identification, but Peterson himself appears to admit later on² that his own theory is doubtful. In his *Aucitya-vicāra*, Kṣemendra pays homage to Acyuta or Viṣṇu; but we know that he was, like his father, a Śaiva in his youth but was converted afterwards into Vaiṣṇavism, as he himself indicates, by Somācārya. This fact, as well as chronology, does not stand in the way of the proposed indentification, but there is no direct evidence to support it. Kṣemendra describes himself as the son of Prakāśendra and grandson of

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¹ i p. 11, 85 and Bühler in *IA* xiii, 1884, p. 29. Bühler really proposed the indentification of Kṣemarāja, author of *Sāmbapañcāśikā* with Kṣemendra who wrote *Spanda-saṃdoha*, but distinguished both from the poet Kṣemendra Vyāsadāsa (See *Kashmir Rep.* p. 81 and fn).

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² iv p. xxiii,

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*Bṛhatkathā-mañjarī* was composed about 1037 A.D., and as the four lines in question occur in one of the MSS only, it is generally admitted now, for this and other reasons, that they are later interpolations. Kṣemendra (*Aucit. vic. ad śl.* 11, 16, 20) quotes Parimala (otherwise known as Padmagupta) who was a contemporary of Dhanañjaya and Dhanika.

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Sindhu¹, and the name of his preceptor is given as Gaṅgaka². He was also the father of Somendra, and preceptor of Udayasiṃha and rājaputra Lakṣanāditya³. We know nothing, on the other hand, of Kṣemarāja’s genealogy or personal history. But we are told at the end of the Bṛhatkathā-mañjarī that Kṣemendra learnt sāhitya from Abhinavagupta, while Kṣemarāja at the end of his Svacchandóddyota⁴ (as well as in the colophon to his Stava-cintāmaṇi) is described as śiṣya of the same great philosopher. It is worth noting, however, that while Kṣemendra’s surname Vyāsadāsa⁵ is given in all his works (with the exception of his Kalā-vilāsa), it does not occur in any of Kṣemarāja’s philosophical treatises. Kṣemendra has taken care to let us know a great deal about himself, but Kṣemarāja always hides his light under the bushel and is apparently free from this trace of natural vanity. The question, therefore, cannot be taken as definitely settled, and can be satifactorily solved when, as Bühler long ago pointed out⁶, the name of Kṣemarāja’s father is found.

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¹ concluding verse of the Daśāvatāra. 2 Aucit. vic. ad śl 31. 3 Kavi-kaṇṭhā° ad v i (pp. 138, 139). 4 Bühler op. cit. App. ii p. clxix (extract). 5 Three stanzas are attributed to Vyāsadāsa in Subhās° (460, 1658, 3039). 6 IA xiii loc cit

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A list of Kṣemendra’s numerous works is given below.

a. Aucitya-vicāra-carcā

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Editions. (1) Kāvyamālā pt. i 1886 (2) with comm. Sahr̥daya-toṣiṇī. Madras 1906. Our references are to the former. For an account of the work, see Peterson in *JRASBom.* xvi pp. 167 f., where all the quotations in the work are collected together and discussed.

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MSS. Aufrecht i 76b, 776b, iii 17a.

b. Kavi-kaṇṭhābharaṇa

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Editions. Kāvyamālā pt. iv 1887. A monograph on the work with analyais and German translation by Schönberg, Wien 1884 (in *Sb. der Wiener Akad.*)

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MSS. Aufrecht i 86b, iii 18b.

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There is no trace of Kṣemendra's *Kavi-karṇikā*.

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*The Works of Kṣemendra.* A revised list of the works of Kṣemendra, as mentioned by Peterson, Schönberg, editor of the Kāvyamālā (pt. i pp. 35, 115) and Aufrecht may be given here. Those which are quoted in *Aucitya-vicāra*, *Kavi-kaṇṭhābharaṇa* and the *Suvr̥tta-tilaka* are marked respectively with the signs (A), (K) and (S).

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¹ Amṛta-taraṅga (or ºtaraṅga) (K) 2 Aucitya-vicāra 3 Avasara-sāra (A) 4 Kanaka-Jānakī (K) 5 Kalā-vilāsa (ed. Kāvyamālā pt. 1) 6 Kavi-kaṇṭhābharaṇa 7 Kavi-karṇikā (A) 8 Kṣemendra-prakāśa (mentioned in *A Bod* 38b) 9 Caturvarga-saṃgraha (A and ed. Kāvyamālā pt. 5) 10 Cārucaryā (ed. Kāvyamālā pt. 2) 11 Citrabhāraṭa-nāṭaka (A and K) 12 Darpadalana (ed Kāvyamālā pt. 6) 13 Daśāvatāracarita-kāvya (ed. Kāvyamālā 26) 14 Deśopadeśa (K) 15 Dānapārijāta 16 Nīti-kalpataru (may be the same as Nīti-latā quoted in A) 17 Padya-kādambarī (K) 18 Pavana-pañcāśikā (S) 19

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Br̥hatkathā-mañjarī (ed. Kāvyamālā 69) 20 Bauddhâvadāna-kālpalatā (A) 21 Bhārata-mañjarī (ed. N. S. P.) 22 Muktāvali-kāvya (A and K) 23 Munimata-mīmāṃsā (A) 24 Rājāvali (mentioned in Kalhaṇa i 13) 25 Rāmāyaṇa-kathā-sāra (ed. Kāvyamālā 83) 26 Lalitaratna-mālā (A) 27 Lāvaṇyavatī-kāvya (A and K) 28 Vātsyāyanasūtra-sāra (A aud quoted in the Pañcasāyaka) 29 Vinaya-vallī (A) 30 Vetāla-pañcaviṃśati (from the Br̥hatkathā-mañjarī) 31 Vyāsāṣṭaka (A and K) 32 Śaśivaṃśa-mahākāvya (K) 33 Samayamātṛkā (ed. Kāvyamālā 12) 34 Suvr̥tta-tilaka (ed. Kāvyamālā pt. 2) 35 Sevyasevakôpadeśa (ed. Kāvyamālā pt. 2). The Hastijanaprakāśa, mentioned by Schönberg and Peterson is by Kṣemendra, son of Yadu Śarman (see Kāvyamālā p. 115 fn and Aufrecht i 765). The Navaucitya-vicāra in Schönberg is probably the same work as Aucityavicāra. The Kalāvilāsa has been translated into German by R. Schmidt in WZKM xxviii, 1914, p. 406f; the Darpadalana by the same in ZDMG lxix, 1915, p. 1f (also ed. and transl by B. A. Hirszbant, St. Petersberg, 1892).

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