Part 2 - Life and Date of Rājaśekhara

The author of the Sanskrit literature usually does not reveal their identity, because they were hardly aspirant for name and fame. They used to be very humble therefore it is difficult to locate their date of birth, place of birth and their contribution which is surely the subject of investigation and research. For many Sanskrit authors like Aśvaghoṣa, Bhāsa and Kālidāsa are do not give us any information about themselves or the age in which time they are lived. But the great-master mind Rājaśekhara’s personal history gives us more information than other Sanskrit poets. However all the scholars are not unanimously agree about his proper times, their views are different from each others. In this causes we can try to get help with some of the historical evidences, i.e. inner and outer.

In the prologues of his dramas Bālarāmāyaṇa, Bālabhārata and Karpūramañjarī he was adorned Upādhyāya in the court of Mahendrapāla of Kanouj and he was also patronized by Mahendrapāla’s son and successor Mahipāla. C.f.

“āpannāttiharaḥ parākramadhanaḥ saujanyavārāṃnidhi-
  styāgī satyasudhāpravāhaśaśṛbhatkāntaḥ kavīnāṃ gurūḥ |
vaṇyaṃ vā guṇaratnarohaṇagireḥ kiṃ tasya sākṣādasau
  devo yasya mahendrapālanṛpatiḥ śiṣyo raghugrāmaṇīḥ ||”

- Bālarāmāyaṇa of Rājaśekhara: I/ 18

In the Siydoni Inscription described that the king Mahendrapāla was reigning in 903 and 907 A. D. and Mahendrapāla in the year 917. A. D.^[1] Thus Rājaśekhara may be flourished between last quarter of ninth century and first quarter of tenth century.

There are some inner evidences from where we can try to fix the date about Rājaśekhara. In the Kāvyamīmāṃsā he quotes about Vākpatirāja^[2], the author of Gauḍavaho and Udbhaṭa^[3], the sabhāpati of Jayāpīda, king of Kāśmira (779 to 813 century A. D.) and Ānandavardhana,^[4] the author of Dhvanyāloka flourished in the reign of Avantīvarmā of Kāśmīra (857-884 century A. D.). Therefore, in the Yaśaṣṭilaka [Yaśastilaka?] Champū of Somadeva also refer about the Rājaśekhara which was completed in 960 century A. D. and Soṭṭala [Soḍḍhala] (990 century A. D.) also praised of Rājaśekhara. Thus we can think that Rājaśekhara was lived in 857-990 century A. D.

Beside those, there are some other sources also help to us about the date of Rājaśekhara. V. S. Apte fixes the earliest possible date of Rājaśekhara from the verse in the drama Bālarāmāyaṇa and Bālabhārata as:

“babhūva valmīkabhavaḥ purā kavistataḥ prapede bhuvi bhartṛmeṇṭhatām |
tataḥ sthito yo bhavabhūtire khāyā sa vartate samprati rājaśekharaḥ || ”
   - Bālarāmāyaṇa -1/16 and
   - Bālabhārata-1/12

Here, Rājaśekhara describe himself as the incarnation of the great poets Vālmīki, Bhartṛmeṇṭha and Bhavabhūti. Bhavabhūti flourished in the last quarter of the seventh century A. D. Hence, Rājaśekhara flourished after seventh century and places him in tenth century A. D.

F. Max Muller posits Rājaśekhara in the fourteen century A. D. Here he seems to have confused about the author of Kāvyamīmāṃsā with later poet with same name who wrote the Prabandhakoṣa in 1347 A. D.^[5] According to Anandaram Barooh, Rājaśekhara was lived in the seventh century A. D.^[6] Therefore, Peterson and Durgaprasada think that, Rājaśekhara was born in the middle of the eighth century A.D.

In this way various scholar are divided for their different views of Rājaśekhara’s date. At lastly we can fixed the date of Rājaśekhara is between the last quarter of ninth century A. D. and the beginning of the tenth century A. D.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Epigraphic Indica, Vol-I, Pp- 171.

[2]:

“na” iti vākpatirājaḥ | Kāvyamīmāṃsā, Pp- 62

[3]:

“tasya ca tridhā'bhidhāvyāpāraḥ” ityaudbhaṭāḥ | Kāvyamīmāṃsā, Pp- 22

And:

“aytu nāma niḥsīmā'rthasārthaḥ |
kintu dvirūpa evāsau vicāritasustho'vicāritaramaṇīyaśca [ iti ] |
tayoḥ pūrvamāśritāni śāstrāṇi taduttaraṃ kāvyāni” ityodbhaṭā | Kāvyamīmāṃsā, Pp- 44

[4]:

“pratibhāvyutpattyoḥ pratibhā śreyasī” ityānandaḥ | Kāvyamīmāṃsā, Pp- 16

[5]:

Rājaśekhara’s Karpūramañjarī, Ed.by Sten Konow, MLBD. Delhi, 1963, Pp-178

 

[6]:

Ibid.