Chapter 15.2 - Introduction to the Historical Kavyas

Before the discussion on Mahakavyas is brought to a close, it may be worthwhile to say a few words about what have come to be known as the historical kavyas. Except for Kalhana's

Rajatarangini which is fairly accurate in its historical account of the kings of Kashmir approximating closely to the modern texts on history there are only a few works in Sanskrit which answer the requirements of true history. The Rajatarangini, as per the admission of its writer, is not the first work on the chronicle of Kashmir and that extensive works had already been written on it including that of Suvrata which he had embodied in his work. According to Kalhana he had consulted for tracing the history of Kashmir eleven works of former scholars, the Nilamata-purana as also the Nrpavali of Ksemendra that in spite of its shortcomings to which he (Kalhana) draws attention had provided him with a summary of his sources. From the Padma-purana Kalhana took eight kings beginning with Lava who come first after a gap of thirty-five lost kings in Book 1. Kalhana had many other sources for his material. He consulted, he says, inscriptions of various kinds, those recording the construction of temples, memorials, palaces, the records of land grants, Prasastis (eulogies), engraved on temples and other buildings and manuscripts of literary works recording names of rulers and dates. The Rajatarangini is a voluminous work of 7826 verses divided in eight Books and gives an account of the rulers of Kashmir from the beginnings to 1151 A.D., a period of about a thousand and five hundred years. Kalhana's father Campaka was the minister of Kashmir ruler Harsa (1089-1101 A.D.). After the death of Harsa, Campaka had developed indifference to political life. Kalhana who must have been very young at that time was also not directly involved in the political events of his time. That probably provided him with objectivity to describe the contemporary events. After Harsa, Uccala and Sussala came upon the throne. The history of Kashmir since that time is that of intrigue, cruelty and immorality. The Rajatarangini presents Sussala's son Jayasimha as the kingollection.

Though history is the predominant note of the Rajatarangini, it is a kavya, poem and has to have poetic flashes. Some of its verses can pass off as excellent poetry as can be seen from the following: ksutksamas tanayo vadhuh paragrhapresyavasannah suhrt dugdha gaur asanadyabhavavivasa hambharavodgarini nispathyau pitarav aduramaranau svami dvisannirjito drsto yena param na tasya niraye praptavyam asty apriyam// "One who has seen his son emaciated through hunger, wife serving in other's households, the friend fallen in adversity, the mlked cow helpless because of lack of fodder and lowing (thereby), the parents with no wholesome food with death imminent, the master vanquished by enemy, there is nothing more unpleasant for him in hell". In spite of the best efforts of Kalhana there have crept in his work some erros. At places the chronology is defective. Some of the episodes recounted seem to be based on blind faith. The account up to the 8 th cen. A.D. is incomplete and unclear. After the 8 th cen., however, it is reliable and detailed. Kalhana had an abiding faith in fate. In every event he saw its working. Harsa's death at the hands of his servants after passing through a miserable life in spite of his being so intelligent and astute, he attributes to the working of fate. He had full faith also in transmigration, the result of the actions of earlier births, good and bad omens and so on. While dealing with historical kavyas it may be pertinent to mention that these works, though they had historical themes, were kavyas primarily with all their attendant appurtenances and can in no way be termed as texts on history. There has been an old complaint that India has no historians and no sense of history which is justified on the ground that despite the abundance of literature, history is miserably represented. The nearest approach to a true historian is Kalhana. Prior to him another -0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

Kashmiri poet Bilhana had composed around 1085 A.D. the Vikramankadevacarita in whose 10 th canto he has given an account of himself which records him to have been born in a Brahmana family in the Khonmukh village near the then capital city of Pravarapura, of Jyesthakalasa and Nagadevi. He had migrated from his home during the reign of King Kalasa himself and had after moving about in the pilgrimage centers like Mathura, Kanyakubja, Prayaga and Kasi and having spent some time in the court of Prince Karna and possibly of the Calukyan King Karnadeva Trailokyamalla (1064-1094) of Anhilvad had settled in the kingdom of Vikramaditya VI (1076-1127) who had appointed him his court-scholar (Sabha-pandita) and had conferred on him the title of Vidyapati. In his eighteen-canto Mahakavya the Vikramankadevacarita Bilhana has described the life of the Calukyan King Vikramaditya. His work throws good light on the relationship among the Colas and the Calukyas and the other kings of the South in an highly poetic style a sample of which can be had from the following: karnamrtam suktirasam vimucya dose prayatnah sumahan khalanam/ niriksate kelivanam pravistah kramelakah kantakajalam evall "Keeping aside the joy of the wise sayings which are nectar to ears, the half-wicked put in greater effort in looking for shortcomings. A camel entered in a pleasure-grove looks for the bed of thorns only." Of the other historical Sanskrit Mahakavyas mention may be made of the Navasahasankacarita of Parimala Padmagupta which has the theme of the winning of the Naga king's daughter by King Sindhuraja Navasahasanka, the younger brother of Vakpatiraja II that throws light on the historical facts of the Parmar dynasty of Gujarat; the Prthvirajavijaya of Jayanaka which describes the life of the last great Hindu emperor of

India Prithviraj Chauhan giving along with this description valuable information about the Chauhan kings of Ajmer from the middle of the 8 th cen. A.D. to the end of the 12 th cen. A.D.; the Dvyasrayamahakavya of Hemacandra Suri, so called because of its serving the dual purpose, dvyasraya, of teaching the rules of Sanskrit and Prakrit grammar, of Sanskrit in its first twenty cantos and of Prakrit in its sundsequent eight of its total of twenty-eight cantos and at the same time describing the history of the Calukyas of Gujarat; the Kirtikaumudi of Somesvaradeva, the court-poet and the royal priest of Lavanyaprasada of Anhilvad which first deals with the kings of the Calukya dynasty beginning with Mularaja and ending with Bhima II and then switches to the description of the life of minister Vastupala; the Sukrtasankirtana, an eleven-canto Mahakavya, of Arisimha which again is a description of the life of the minister Vastupala who served Viradhvaja of Dholka and his son Visaladeva starting with the description of the Capotkata dynasty and the Vaghela dynasty of Gujarat; the Vasantavilasa, a fourteen-canto Mahakavya, which has the same theme as the earlier two; the Hammiramahakavya of fourteen cantos of Nayacandra Suri which describes the glory of the Chauhan kings with special reference to Hammira and is an important document on the history of Ajmer and Ranathambhor (Ranastambhapura) and the eight-canto Madhuravijaya of Gangadevi which describes the achievements of the author's husband Kampana, one of the sons of King Bukka, the ruler of Vijayanagara of the South and the thirteen-canto Mahakavya the Saluvabhyudaya of Rajanatha Dindima which deals with the exploits of Saluva Narasimha who in the view of Krishnamachariar was the commander of the forces of Vijayanagar under King Mallikarjuna and his successors as also the ancestors of Saluva. Mahakavyas in Sanskrit are being written even now, their number going into several scores. This genre, as it would appear, has a special fascination for the Indian mind.