Preface to the first edition

Śrīharṣa’s Naiṣadhīyacarita, or Naiṣadhacarita, is one of the five traditional Mahākāvyas or later Sanskrit epics, the others being Kālidāsa’s Raghuvaṃśa and Kumārasambhava, and the two poems of Bhāravi and Māgha. The Naiṣadhacarita deals with a part of the well-known story of Nala and Damayantī, and it is principally remarkable for its treatment of the character of Nala in Canto IX, which I have also considered in the preliminary Note to the Synopsis (p. xxvi). There is here a conflict of emotions, a clash of love and duty, rare in Sanskrit poetry, but which is not without its appeal to the imagination of the modern reader. This is perhaps the most universal element in Śrīharṣa’s treatment of the Nala story, and furnishes evidence of the poet’s power to handle tense moments of emotion and pathos. The Naiṣadhacarita, like other Kāvyas, has its full share of epigrams and ethical reflections, the most remarkable of which are perhaps those glorifying the individual conscience as the criterion of right and wrong, e.g., “With the good, the purity of their motives has their own conscience for witness” (9. 129); “The good are far more ashamed of themselves than of others” (6. 22). There are, likewise, quite notable observations on benevolence, charity, manly virtue, jealousy and similar topics, which show the poet to have been alive to the problems of life and conduct. Description of Nature, the forte of Sanskrit poets, is not prominent in our poem, but there are elaborate pictures of sunrise and the rising moon in Cantos XIX and XXII. The poem abounds in animated dialogues, enlivened by wit and repartee; while the description of Damayantī’s Svayaṃvara with its splendour and gaiety, occupying no less than five Cantos (X-XIV), is the most comprehensive narrative of its kind in Sanskrit literature. The merits of the poem need not blind us to its defects and shortcomings, many of which are peculiar to the age of decline in which it was written. But in spite of the abundance of artificial fancies and conceits, and the fondness for word-play and obscure learning, the poem maintains a high level of style, and the ornate verse of the Naiṣadha has been for ages a rare intellectual treat to students in India.

Poetic merits apart, the chief interest of the Naiṣadha lies in the fact that it is in many ways a repository of traditional learning, and contains literary, lexicographical and socio-religious data, important for the study of the cultural history of medieval India. No apology is needed for translating a lengthy Mahākāvya, which is in some respects the most difficult of the later Sanskrit epics.

The present Translation is based on the fourth Nirnayasagar edition of the Naiṣadhacarita published in 1912, and generally follows the commentary of Nārāyaṇa. The Translation, however inadequate, will, I hope, facilitate the study of the poem and make its contents more widely known; I have spared no pains to make my version faithful if not elegant. No translation of the Naiṣadha can, however, serve any scholarly purpose unless it is accompanied by a critical examination of the many obscure allusions and words which occur in the poem. An attempt has been made to deal with these in the Appendices and the Vocabulary. Philosophical doctrines like the Vaiśeṣika theory of darkness and the Nyāya conception of salvation, and allusions such as those to Rādhā and the Buddhist goddess Tārā have been discussed in the Appendices; while the Vocabulary includes all rare and difficult words which either are not found, or are inadequately dealt with in the existing lexicons. Certain words have been included owing to their scarcity in Kāvya literature. The Vocabulary has been prepared with some care, and I shall consider my labours amply rewarded, if it is found useful when the time comes for compiling an up-to-date lexicon of the Sanskrit language on critical and historical principles.

The inadequacy of the commentary of Nārāyaṇa was brought home to me while translating the poem. But after the completion of the translation, I had the good fortune to obtain access to several unpublished commentaries, some of which are earlier than Mallinātha and Nārāyaṇa, and represent the earliest exegetical attempts to elucidate the Naiṣadha, besides providing valuable readings which often differ from those found in the current Text. I have taken this opportunity to give a number of extracts from these commentaries in the Notes, and have also reproduced the material portion of the learned commentary of Cāṇḍū-paṇḍita composed in the thirteenth century. Cāṇḍūpaṇḍita, it may be mentioned, was also the author of a commentary on the Ṛgveda, and an interesting specimen of this pre-Śāyaṇa [Sāyaṇa?] commentary will be found in the Notes. Full details about the commentaries have been given in the Introduction.

It was my intention to discuss in detail the contents of the poem as a whole, its date and authorship in a separate section of the Introduction, and there are in fact a few references to it in the footnotes to the Translation. I have been compelled, however, to reserve the discussion under this head for a later publication. If everything goes well, the above discussion may be expected to appear as part of a general survey of the Mahākāvya literature now in preparation.

In conclusion, I have to acknowledge the help which I have received from various quarters in the preparation of the present volume. My sincere gratitude is due to the authorities of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona for lending and allowing me to retain rare and valuable manuscripts for a protracted period. I am particularly indebted to Mr. P. K. Gode, M.A., Curator of the Manuscript Department of the Institute, for his unfailing courtesy and promptness in replying to my queries and providing all the help I required. To my friend Rev. T. Sefton, Chaplain at Clewer, Windsor, I owe a debt of gratitude for not only correcting some of the proofs, but for many valuable suggestions which, I doubt not, have improved the tone and quality of the Translation. Last but not least, I must offer my thanks to my friends Prof. S. K. Bhuyan and Prof. B. K. Kakati of Cotton College, Gauhati, and Mr. Girishchandra Borooah of Golaghat for help in various matters connected with the publication of this work.

With regard to the printing, the proofs were corrected with care, but I could not exercise any effective supervision as the book was printed far away from my place of residence. I should have liked also to make a few minor alterations here and there in the Translation, and I must crave the indulgence of my readers for any mistakes that may have crept in. Finally, my thanks are due to the well-known firm of Moti Lal Banarasi Dass for undertaking the expense of publication at a time of widespread economic depression.

K. K. Handiqui

Jorhat College,
Jorhat (Assam),
1934