A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s5.t1: The author

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s5.t1

Language: English

The author

v3.c44.s5.t1.1

Lolimbarāja 489 was a son of Divākara 490 and a resident of the town Junara 491 in the Poona district of Mahārāṣṭra. He married the daughter of a Muslim sūbedār (governor of a province), 492 called Murāsā, whose name was changed into Ratnakalā after becoming his wife, 493 and whose beauty, learning, etc., are eulogized in numerous verses of Lolimbarāja's works. 494 Lolimbarāja was a courtier of one or more royal persons, 495 as shown by epithets conferred upon himself 496 and by references to a king called Hari, son of Sūrya, 497 on whose request he composed the Harivilāsakāvya. 498 This Hari may have been some minor ruler since no important king of this name is known from the period of Lolimbarāja's literary activity. 499 After Ratnakalā's death, when the poet was about fifty years of age, he turned to an ascetic mode of life and became a sādhu. 500

v3.c44.s5.t1.2

Lolimbarāja appears to have belonged to those Mahārāṣṭra brāhmaṇas who especially study the Mādhyamdina recension of the Śuklayajurveda. 501 He was especially devoted to the goddess Saptaśṛṅgī, 502 who has a shrine on the slopes of the mountain Sahya in the Nāsik district. 503

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Lolimbarāja's fame as a poet appears from quotations in anthologies. That he was aware of his excellence in writing poetry is evident from a series of laudatory epithets found in his own works. 504 He claims that he was not only an expert in poetry and medicine, 505 but also in music. 506

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The chronological order of Lolimbarāja's works has been established by B. Tripāṭhī as follows: 507 (1) Vaidyāvatamsa, (2) Vaidyajīvana, (3) Camatkāracintāmaṇi, (4) Vaidyakākāvya, (5) Ratnakalācarita, (6) Harivilāsakāvya.