Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c13.79

c13.79

In the latter half of the eleventh century Vidyâpati Bilhaṇa, of Kashmir author of the play Karṇasundari, wrote his Vikramâṅkadevacharita² in honour of his patron in which love, politics and warfare march side by side. The ideal of conquest and universal dominion is here reiterated. The monarch must, above all, possess vigour and energy. King Anantadeva of Kashmir is painted as a model of virtue, generosity, veracity and heroism. His arms stretch far beyond Kashmir.³ His brother Kṣitipati was not only a scholar himself but a patron of learning and withal a warrior.⁴ At the end of the work, Bilhaṇa winds up the story of his own life by a solemn exhortation to princes, in view of the fleeting nature of all prosperity, to worship those true poets "who work the salvation of your bodies of glory through the nectar of their verse, and renouncing pride make them your spiritual guides."¹ Padmagupta’s Navasâhasâṅka-charita ² is another work, written about the eleventh century, which celebrates the glories of Sindhurâja in the usual manner.