11. Chronological Order of the Works

It is not easy to arrange the works of Kṣemendra in a chronological order. Different scholars have divergence of opinion in this regard. The poet himself gave the chronological order of some of his works. Kṣemendra composed the Bṛhatkathāmañjarī in 1037 A.D., the Samayamātṛkā in 1050 A.D., the Bauddhāvadānakalpalatā in 1052 A.D., the Aucityavicāracarcā in 1059A.D. and the Daśāvatāracarita in 1066A.D.

Pādatāḍitaka M.S.Kaul Shastri^[1], the editor of The Deśopadeśa and Narmamālā of Kṣemendra has arranged the works (both known and unknown) of Kṣemendra in the following order–

a. Bṛhatkathāmañjarī,
Bhāratamañjarī,
Rāmāyaṇamañjarī

b. Pavanapañcāśikā,
Suvṛttatilaka

c. Vinayavallī,
Lāvaṇyavatī,
Munimatamīmāṃsā,
Nītilatā,
Bauddhāvadānakalpalatā,
Avasarasāra,
Lalitaratnamālā,
Muktāvalīkāvya
Vātsāyanasūtrasāra,
Aucityavicāracarcā

d. Padyakādambarī,
Śaśivaṃśa,
Deśopadeśa,
Narmamālā,
Citrabhārata,
Kanakajānakī,
Amṛtataraṅga,
Caturvargasaṅgraha,
Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa

e. Darpadalana,
Kalāvilāsa,
Samayamātṛkā,
Sevyasevakopadeśa

f. Daśāvatāracarita,
Cārucaryā

In the group ‘a’ he keeps the Rāmāyaṇamañjarī later than Bhāratamañjarī The Rāmāyaṇamañjarī must have been composed before Bhāratamañjarī, because in the Bhāratamañjarī Kṣemendra is mentioned as Vyāsadāsa while in the Rāmāyaṇamañjarī he is not mentioned as Vyāsadāsa. But taking this point only one cannot say that Rāmāyaṇamañjarī is the earlier composition than Bhāratamañjarī as in the Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa also the title Vyāsadāsa is not available. However, the writing style of Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa indicates that it is a matured composition of Kṣemendra. The Citrabhārata and the Caturvargasaṃgraha is placed in the group‘d’, while these two works are composed before the Aucityavicāracarcā, which is placed in the group‘c’. Earlier it is mentioned that Samayamātṛkā is composed in 1050 A.D., the Bauddhāvadānakalpalatā is composed in 1052 A.D. and the Aucityavicāracarcā is composed in the 1059 A.D. It is clear that Suvṛttatilaka is composed first, but Pādatāḍitaka Kaul has placed it in the group ‘e’. Suvṛttatilaka is placed in the group ‘b’, but the style and the language of the work indicates that it is a later composition of Kṣemendra. In the list, the Lokaprakāśa and the NK is absent.

V.P Mahajan^[2] has given the chronological order of Kṣemendra’s works as follows—

1^st period—
Bṛhatkathāmañjarī,
Rāmāyaṇamañjarī,
Bhāratamañjarī,
Padyakādambarī.

2^nd period—
Deśopadeśa,
Narmamālā,
Nītilatā,
Suvṛttatilaka,
Lāvaṇyavatī,
Munimatamīmāṃsā,
Avasarasāra,
Lalitaratnamālā,
Muktāvalī

3^rd period—
Nṛpāvalī,
Lokaprakāśa,
Nītikalpataru,
Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa,
Samayamātṛkā,
Kanakajānakī,
Bauddhāvadānakalpalatā

4^th period—
Aucityavicāracarcā,
Caturvargasaṃgraha,
Sevyasevakopadeśa

5^th period—
Kalāvilāsa,
Cārucaryā,
Darpadalana,
Daśāvatāracarita

In the above mentioned list the Amṛtataraṅga, the Citrabhārata and the Śaśi is not mentioned. In the 3^rd period Kanakajānakī is placed after Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa, but Kanakajānakī must have been written earlier than Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa as Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa mentions the work Kanakajānakī Again the work Sevyasevakopadeśa is placed in 4^th period after the work Aucityavicāracarcā, while the work is quoted in the work Aucityavicāracarcā and also in the Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa On the other hand, Aucityavicāracarcā is kept in the 4^th period, while this work is composed earlier than the Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa, which is placed in the 3^rd period.^[3]

According to Dr. Suryakanta^[4], Kṣemendra’s works may be arranged in chronological order in the following way-

1^st period—
Rāmāyaṇamañjarī,
Bhāratamañjarī,
Vyāsaṣṭaka,
Bṛhatkathāmañjarī,
Vātsāyanasūtrasāra,
Padyakādambarī

2^nd period—
Deśopadeśa,
Narmamālā,
Pavanapañcāśikā,
Suvṛttatilaka
Nītikalpataru,
Lāvanyavatī,
Munimatamīmāṃsā,
Nītilatā,
Avasarasāra,
Lalitaratnamālā,
Muktāvalī,
Kalāvilāsa
Samayamātṛkā,
Bauddhāvadānakalpalatā,
Aucityavicāracarcā

3^th period—
śaśivaṃśakāvya,
Citrabhārata,
Kanakajānakī,
Amṛtataraṅga,
Caturvargasaṃgraha,
Kavikaṇṭhābharaṇa

4^th period—
Lokaprakāśa,
Nṛpāvalī,

5^thperiod—
Darpadalana,
Sevyasevakopadeśa,
Cārucaryā,
Daśāvatāracarita

In the above mentioned chronological arrangement Bṛhatkathāmañjarī is kept after Rāmāyaṇamañjarī and Bhāratamañjarī. Bṛhatkathāmañjarī is the first composition (1037A.D.) of Kṣemendra. Generally, a writer first starts his career by translating a work. Kṣemendra also might have started his career by composing Bṛhatkathāmañjarī in Sanskrit which is the translation of Guṇādhya’s Bṛhatkathā, written in Paiśācī Prākrit. After composing this work, Kṣemendra must have composed the epitomes like Rāmāyaṇamañjarī and Bhāratamañjarī. Moreover, in the list the Citrabhārata and the Caturvargasaṃgraha are kept after the Aucityavicāracarcā, but these two works must have been composed before the Aucityavicāracarcā, because Aucityavicāracarcā quotes verses from these unknown works.

Thus, it is seen that scholars are not unanimous regarding the chronological order of Kṣemendra’s works. It seems that in the first period, Kṣemendra wrote mostly the poetical works and in the later period some of his didactic and satiric poems. Between the works of these two periods, it is impossible to fix the chronological order of Kṣemendra’s works.^[5] The satirical works of Kṣemendra namely the Kalāvilāsa, the Deśopadeśa and the Narmamālā bear no date of composition. Due to non-availability of such a date, the chronological order of the satirical works of Kṣemendra is also difficult to determine. Kalāvilāsa ‘is perhaps one of Kṣemendra’s earliest works’, though ‘on vague stylistic grounds it is usually supposed that Deśopadeśa is earlier’.^[6] On the other hand, Pādatāḍitaka M.K. Shastri, places the Deśopadeśa and the Narmamālā in the same period. According to Dr. Suryakanta, the Deśopadeśa and the Narmamālā were two of Kṣemendra’s earliest works (cf. p.87 of the dissertation).

In this context, it can be noted that in the Deśopadeśa, Kṣemendra himself says that he does not have expertise in satirizing.^[7] It gives an impression that he was lacking in self confidence while composing this satire. As such it can be assumed that of the three satirical works, the Deśopadeśa would have been his first satirical work.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Shastri, Pt. M.S. Kaul, The Deśopadeśa and Narmamālā of Kṣemendra, p.25

[2]:

Nītikalpataru, Introduction, p.v

[3]:

Suryakanta, Dr., K ṣemendra Studies, p.27

[4]:

ibid.pp.27-28

[5]:

Sternbach, Ledwik, Unknown Verses Attributed to Kṣemendra, p.1

[6]:

Warder, A.K., Indian Kāvya Literature, 6:4876, 6:4973

[7]:

ityuddeśanidarśanena vividhaṃ yat kiṅciduktaṃ mayā tat sarvaṃ smitakāraṇaṃ sahṛdayāḥ śṛṇvantu santaḥ kṣaṇaṃ/
kṣemendraḥ praṇatiṃ karoti na paṭurlokopahāseṣvalaṃ kintveṣa vyapadeśataḥ pratipadaṃ deśopadeśaḥ kṛtaḥ// Deśopadeśa VIII.52