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A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s5: The Most Important Poets of the Later Centuries

A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s5

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English

The Most Important Poets of the Later Centuries

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Rājānaka Ratnākara, the writer of Haravijaya, Vakroktipañcāśikā and a large number of verses ascribed to him in anthologies, lived under the Kashmirian kings Cippaṭajayāpīḍa (826-838 A.D.) and Avantivarman (855-883 A.D.)¹.

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¹ His verses have been translated by Aufrecht, ZDMG 36, 372ff Cf. Peterson, Subh. 96ff; Jacobi WZKM 2, 212ff.; 5, 25 ff.; Rājataraṅgiṇī 5, 34; V S. Apte, Rājaśekhara, His Life and Writings, Poona 1886, p. 16f.; Bühler, Report 42ff. and Stein Rājataraṅgiṇī, Trans. Vol. I, p. 95f.

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At the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 10th century A.D., under the patronage of Mahendrapāla and Mahīpāla of Kanauj, there lived the dramatist Rājaśekhara², who calls himself the teacher of Mahendrapāla and a contemporary of Kṛṣṇaśaṅkaravarman. Verses of Rājaśekhara are frequently quoted in anthologies of which a large number written on different poets is particularly important for history of literature, and these stanzas have perhaps been taken from a work on poetics ascribed to him³.

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² Cf. Fleet, Ind. Ant. 16, 175ff.; Kielhorn, Ep. Ind. 1, 1889, 171; Bhaṭṭanāthasvāmin (Ind. Ant. 41, 1912, 143) places him between 884 and 959 A.D. From an inscription we learn that he was a distinguished poet of the 11th century A D., see Kielhorn, Ep. Ind. 1, 1,253f. According to Hultzsch (Ind. Ant. 34, 1905, 177ff.) Rājaśekhara was not a Brāhmaṇa, but a Kṣatriya and the teacher of Mahendrapāla only in fine arts. Mahendrapāla ruled from 899 to 907 A.D, see D.R. Bhandarkar, Ep. Ind. 9, 27. V. S Apte, loc. cit. deals in detail about Rājaśekhara; Sten Konow, Karpūramañjarī ed., p. 173ff.; Thomas, 8off. Rājaśekhara has been quoted in the commentary on Daśarūpa, in the Sarasvatīkaṇṭhābharaṇa of Bhoja, by Ruyyaka, Kṣemendra and Abhinavagupta and in the Yaśastilaka of Somadeva.

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³ See, however, above, p. 36, note 2. A collection of these verses is found in the introduction to the printed edition of Karpūramañjarī in Km. 4. Cf. Peterson, Subh. 101; Karpūramañjarī ed. p. 196f.; Zachariae GGA 1887, p. 89 A.

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In the 11th century A.D., the city of Dhārā in Mālava played a great rôle in literature. Here ruled King Muñja (974-995 A.D.)⁴, who was a great patron of poets, a lover of literature, and a poet himself. He was succeeded by his younger brother Sindhurāja Navasāhasāṅka. We know Padma-gupta, the author of Navasāhasāṅkacarita, as the court poet of both. Much more famous as a lover of poets is Bhoja (1018-1060⁵ A. D.)', nephew of Muñja. There are a number of tales and anecdotes told about his love for literature and his generosity towards poets and learned men, very like the tales about Vikramāditya. There are many scholarly works (on poetics, medicine etc.) and poems that are ascribed to him¹. Many of his stanzas are included in anthologies. It is remarkable that we do not till now know of any important poet by name to have in fact lived in his court.

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⁴ Vākpati II, Utpalarāja Amoghavarṣa, Pṛthvivallabha and Śrivallabha too were his names. Cf. Smith, Early History 395. Perhaps many of the verses ascribed to "Vākpati" in anthologies belong to this king; see Thomas 103.

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⁵ So also Smith, Early History, 395f. Cf. Buhler, Ep. Ind. 1, 222ff. Vikramāṅkadevacarita, Introd. p. 23, and Stein, Rājataraṅgiṇī Transl., Note on 7, 190-193. The inscriptions of Bhoja are dated 1019 and 1021; see D.R. Bhandarkar, Ind. Ant. 1912, 201. For a list of works ascribed to him see Aufrecht, CC I, 418; II, 95.

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¹ Cf. Aufrecht, ZDMG 27, 67ff., Thomas 63ff.

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In the 11th and 12th centuries Kashmir became a prominent seat of literature and science. In about 1070-1090 A.D. here lived the poet Bilhaṇa, son of Jyeṣṭhakalaśa, who won equal fame as a writer of lyrical, epic and dramatic poems. He left Kashmir during the reign of Kalaśa (1064-1088 A.D.), probably in 1065, visited different courts in India, and finally became a court poet of King Vikramāditya VI of the western Cālukya dynasty, for whom he wrote the Vikramāṅkadevacarita² at a time when Harṣa of Kashmir was still a prince (between 1081 and 1089 A.D.).

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² Cf. Rājatar. 7, 938; Peterson, Subh. 66ff. Pischel KG 208; Duff 128; Bühler, Vikramāṅkadevacarita, Introd. p. 20ff.; and Fleet, Ind. Ant. 20, 1ff. 93f., 266ff., 280f. (on the Chronology of Cālukyas).

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In Kashmir there lived also the prolific writer Kṣemendra³, who has enriched almost all branches of literature. He wrote epics and dramas, abridged the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, rendered the Kādambarī and Bṛhatkathā into verses, composed religious poems and didactic stanzas, wrote works on poetics, prosody and politics, and did not spare even obscene topics. Some of his books are dated 1037, 1050, 1052 and 1066. In his earlier years he was an ardent devotee of Śiva, but later got converted to Vaiṣṇavism and followed the dictates of the Bhāgavata with ardour. Although he was not a Buddhist, yet he had a heart, large enough, to adopt Buddhist legends for his subjects.

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³ On him, cf. Bühler, Report 45 ff.; Peterson, Report 1882-1883, p. 46f.; JBRAS, Vol. 16, Extra number p. 4ff.; Subh. 26ff., Lèvi, JA 1885, s. 8, vol. VI, 397 ff., and Stein Rājataraṅgiṇī Trans. II, p. 375f. Two epics Muktāvalī and Lāvanyavatī, the drama Citrabhārata and a chronicle Rājāvalī (severely criticised for untrustworthiness by Kalhaṇa Rājatar. 1, 13) are no more available.

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A little junior to Kṣemendra, between 1063 and 1081 A.D., Somadeva¹, the master story-teller wrote his famous Kathāsaritsāgara “The Ocean of Streams of Stories”. Then came the poet Maṅkha, under King Jayasiṁha (1128-1149 A.D.) of Kashmir, who wrote an epic Śrīkaṇṭhacarita². Again, about 1148 A.D. Kalhaṇa, the greatest, nay, the only great historian that India has produced, wrote his famous chronicle of Kashmīr—the Rājataraṅgiṇī.

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¹ Somadeva wrote his work for the purpose of diverting the mind of Queen Sūryamati, who burnt herself with her husband Ananta, who committed suicide in 1081 A.D ; see Bühler, Ueber das Zeitalter des kaśmīrischen Dichters Somadeva, Wien 1885 (SWA).

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² Bühler, Report 50ff.

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The court of King Lakṣmaṇasena of Bengal³, who came to the throne in 1119 A.D., too developed into a centre of poetry and learning. In his court lived Umāpatidhara⁴, Dhoī⁵, Govardhana, and above all Jayadeva, the most famous poet of the Gītagovinda-fame.

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³ Cf. R. Pischel, Die Hofdichter des Lakṣmaṇasena (AGGW 39, 1893 and M. Chakravarti, JASB N. S. 2, 1906, 157ff. [According to D. D. Bhattacharya, Lakṣmaṇasena was born in 1119 A.D. and reigned approximately from 1170 to 1200 A.D.]

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⁴ Umāpati or Umāpatidhara wrote one Candracūḍacarita, that is no more available. Numerous verses composed by him are found in anthologies; see Aufrecht, ZDMG, 40. 1886, 142f. Probably he is also the author of a poetical inscription of Vijayasena, the grand’father of Lakṣmaṇasena; see Kielhorn, Ep. Ind. 1, 305ff.

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⁵ Dhoī (or Dhoyī or Dhoyīka, with the title Kavirāja) has been treated by M. Chakravarti, JASB, N.S. 2, 1906, 15ff.

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In the court of Kings Vijayacandra and Jayacandra of Kanauj, in the second half of the 12th century A.D., there lived probably Śrīharṣa, the author of Naiṣadhacarita⁶.

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⁶ That the name of the poet is Śrīharṣa and not Harṣa is proved by the fact that in the colophons to the cantos of Naiṣadhacarita he calls himself “Śrīharṣa”. At the same place he gives the names of his father and mother as Hīra and Māmalladevī and enumerates the titles of many of his written works, of which the philosophical Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya alone is extant. Bühler (JBRAS 10, 1871, 31ff., 1874, 279ff.) on the basis of statements in Rājaśekhara’s Prabandhakośa has determined his age. K.T. Telang (Ind. Ant. 2, 71 ff.; 3, 81ff.) and Rāma Prasāda Chanda (Ind. Ant. 42, 1913, 83 f., 286f.) doubt its credibility and like to place the poet in 9th or 10th century A.D. Cf. D. R. Bhandarkar, ibid p. 83 n; Peterson, Subh. 136f. and Krishnamacharya 44ff.

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Here only the most prominent names have been enumerated. It will be shown, however, in the chapters, following, dealing with the different classes of poetry, that beside these numerous others continued writing even later than the 12th century, right down to the modern times, with more or less recognition.

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