A History of Sanskrit Literature c14.s5.1

c14.s5.1

Kalhaṇa tells us himself that he was not the first to seek to write a chronicle of the kings of Kashmir from the earliest days; it appears that extensive works of ancient date contained the royal chronicles, but these had apparently disappeared in his time through the energy of one Suvrata in composing a poem embodying them, evidently written in the Kāvya style, and, therefore, difficult to follow. He consulted also, he says, eleven works of former scholars as well as the still extant *Nīlamatapurāṇa*. The polymath Kṣemendra had written a *Nṛpāvali* which Kalhaṇa censures for want of care, but which probably was a careful summary of his sources and, therefore, is a real loss. From Padmamihira Kalhaṇa took eight kings beginning with Lava who come first after the gap of thirty-five lost kings in Book I; Padmamihira's source was a certain Pāçupata Helārāja whose work must have been extensive but which Kalhaṇa did not know. From Chavillākara, whose text he cites, he derived some really historical information in the shape of Açoka's name and his devotion to Buddhism. If the other authorities he used carried their work from the beginnings to their own times, or were mere chronicles of recent events, we do not know. Kalhaṇa probably used some writers of this kind, as he emphatically disclaims this sort of work as worthy of him, and insists on covering the whole history of Kashmir so far as his sources allow.