A History of Sanskrit Literature c14.s4.3

c14.s4.3

Debarred from politics, Kalhaṇa must have conceived the idea of rewriting the chronicles of Kashmir, perhaps at the instigation of Alakadatta, the patron of whom we hear only from the *Çrīkaṇṭhacarita*¹ of Maṅkha, who mentions him under his more elegant appellation of Kalyāṇa, of which his name is a vernacular equivalent. It is clear that he studied deeply the great poems of the past, such as the *Raghuvaṁça* and *Meghadūta* of Kālidāsa, and naturally the *Harṣacarita* of Bāṇa, as a model of romance based on a historical kernel. Bilhaṇa he knew well and used his work, and Maṅkha expressly tells us that Kalhaṇa's style had become so polished that it could reflect as in a mirror the whole perfection of Bilhaṇa's muse. But he studied also deeply the epics, as his constant references to the heroes of the *Mahābhārata* and his familiarity with the *Rāmāyaṇa* prove. He was naturally interested in literary history, and studied the science of astrology, as his references to Varāhamihira's *Bṛhatsaṁhitā* attest.