Harshacharita (socio-cultural Study)
by Mrs. Nandita Sarmah | 2014 | 67,792 words
This page relates ‘Similarities (6): Religion and Religious Cults’ of the English study on the Harshacharita: A Sanskrit (poetical work) which can be studied as a Historical book of Indian society during the 7th century. It was originally written by Banabhatta who based his Harsacarita on the life of the Gupta emperor Harshavardhana. This study researches the religion, philosophy, flora and fauna and society of ancient India as reflected in the Harsha-Charita.
1. Similarities (6): Religion and Religious Cults
[Full title: Similarities between the Two Societies of the Kādambarī and the Harṣacarita (6): Religion and Religious Cults]
There were three competing religions viz., Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism which flourished in the time of Bāṇabhaṭṭa. This infers from the description of various sects,[1] theories of the various religious philosophies[2] and the description of nagnāṭaka.[3] There were also found many religious cults such as-Mother Goddess cult, Śaivate cult, tāntrika cult in the 7th century A.D.
Both in the Kādambarī and the Harṣacarita, it is found that Goddess Durgā[4] had been worshipped with different names, such as—
The people also believed in Śaivism. Lord Śiva is mentioned with various names in both the kāvyas, such as—
Bāṇa describes, in his Kādambarī, lord Śiva[18] as the creator, preserver, and the destroyer of the three worlds.
Tāntrika rites were practiced in the societies at that time. Mantrasādhaka[19] (i.e., a magician) and eindrajālika[20] (i.e., a juggler) were those who followed these rites. It is found in the Harṣacarita that tāntrika ascetics lived in cremation ground or in a tract or circle of ashes.[21] It is mentioned in the Kādambarī, that the tāntrika knew antardhyānamantra[22]—power of making a person invisible.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
[a]. ….narapatidarśanakālamadhyāsyamānam…..jainairārhataiḥ pāśupataiḥ pārāśaribhirvarṇibhiśca………., Harṣacarita,II.p.28
[b] …..jinasyārthavilokiteśvarasyārhato…, Kādambarī,p.313
[2]:
[a] bauddheneva sarvāstivādaśūreṇa…., Ibid.,p.88
[b] jinadharmeṇeva jīvānukampinā…, Ibid.
[c] na jinasyevārthavādaśūṇyāni darśanāni…, Harṣacarita,II.p.35
[d] sakalajanopakārasajjā sajjanatā jainī, Ibid.,VIII,p.133
[e] bhagavana bhaktajane sañcariṇi sugata supto’si, Ibid.,VIII.p.134
[f] śaivenavidhinā dikṣitaḥ…, Ibid.,III,p. 50 [g] gṛhe gṛhe bhagavānapūjyat khaṇḍaparaśuḥ, Ibid.
[3]:
[a] abhimukhamājagāma śikhipicchālāñchano nagnāṭakaḥ, Harṣacarita,V.p.75
[b]…siddhādeśānnagnakṣapaṇakānpapṛccha, Kādambarī,p.109 [c]..mayurapitchavāhi kṣapaṇaka…, Ibid.,p.31
[4]:
…pattikālikhitadurgāstotrena…., Ibid.,p.338
[5]:
[a] kvacidupāsyamāna caṇḍikām, Harṣacarita,V.p.76
[b] caṇḍikārudhira…., Kādambarī,p.56
[6]:
[a] Ibid., p.44
[b] Kādambarī,p.89
[7]:
Ibid.,p.26
[8]:
Kādambarī,p.109
[9]:
Ibid.,p.23
[10]:
Ibid.
[11]:
[a] Harṣacarita,p.9,47 [b] Kādambarī,p.84,339
[12]:
Harṣacarita, p.46,76
[13]:
Ibid.,p.76
[14]:
Ibid., p.47,48
[15]:
Ibid.,p.76
[16]:
Ibid.
[17]:
Kādambarī,p.84
[18]:
[a] mahākālabhidhānena bhūvanatrayasargastitisaṃhārakāriṇā, Ibid. [b] aśeṣatribhūvanavanditacaraṇaṃ carācaraguruṃ ……., Ibid.,p.208
[19]:
Harṣacarita, I.p.19
[20]:
Ibid., I.p.19
[21]:
…kṛtabhasmarekhāparihāraparikare…. brāghracarmanyupaviṣṭam, Ibid.,III.p.46
[22]:
bardhitāntadhānamantrasādhanasaṃgraheṇa…, Kādambarī,p.339