Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c8.1

v1.c8.1

Lollaṭa and Śaṅkuka are known definitely as commentators on Bharata not only from Abhinavagupta’s references to them as such, but also from numerous other writers following him¹. To Śaṅkuka, who is also cited as Śaṅku, are also ascribed several verses in the anthologies of Śārṅgadhara, Jalhaṇa and Vallabhadeva², which indicates that there was also a poet of the same name. Kalhaṇa mentions (iv 703-5) a poet Śaṅkuka and his poem *Bhuvanābhyudaya*. The reference is to the time of Ajitapīḍa, whose date is given as 813 by Cunningham and as 816 A.D. by S.P. Pandit. If our Śaṅkuka is identical with this poet, then he may be assigned to the first quarter of the 9th century. As to the date of Lollaṭa, we have no materials to decide, but all later citations agree in supporting the tradition that he was earlier than Śaṅkuka, whose theory on *rasa* is said to have been directly levelled against that of Lollaṭa. Judging from his name, Lollaṭa was probably a Kasmirian; and if any chronological inference may be drawn from Abhinavagupta’s reference to an opinion of the Kasmirian Udbhaṭa being controverted by Lollaṭa¹, he may have been later than or contemporaneous with Udbhaṭa, whose latest date is 813 A. D. These hypothetical facts give us the curious conclusion that Udbhaṭa, Lollaṭa and Śaṅkuka were probably contemporaries or lived sufficiently near one another in point of time.²