A HISTORY OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE CLASSICAL PERIOD -5

A HISTORY OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE

CLASSICAL PERIOD

VOL. I

General Editor and

Contributors to this Volume:

S. N. DASGUPTA

and

S. K. DE,

In the Western province of Malwa we find record of

other kings such as Buddhagupta and Bhanugupta.

Towards the close of the 5th century Bbatarka

established himself at Valabhi in Kathiawad in 770.

The great Buddhist scholars, Gunamati and Sthiramati

resided in Valabhi and Valabhi became a great centre

of learning. After the overthrow of Valabhi its place

was taken by Anhilwara, which retained its importance

till the 15th century.

The Huns, however, overthrew the Gupta Empire

and became rulers of Malwa and Central India. But

Mihirakula was defeated by a confederacy of kings

INTRODUCTION CX111

headed by Baladitya and Yafodharman, a Raja of

Central India. Mihirakula fled to Kashmir. The

Kashmirian king allowed him the charge of a small

territory. Mihirakula then rebelled against his benefactor

and killed his whole family. But this Hun

leader had become a devotee of Siva. With the death

of Mihirakula India enjoyed immunity from foreign

attacks for a long time.

We must now come to Harsa (606-647). Harsa

was a great patron of learning and Bana has given

some account of him in his Harsacarita. Harsa' s

Empire was almost equivalent to that of Samudragupta.

Harsa was himself a great poet. He wrote three

dramas, the Ratnavatt, the Priyadar&ka and the Nagananda.

Candra, probably Candragomin, the great

grammarian, wrote a Buddhist drama called Lokananda

describing the story as to how a certain Manicuda gave

away his wife and children to a Brahmin out of generosity.

He lived before 650 A.D. as he is cited in the

Kaika Vrtti. A contemporary of his, Candradasa, had

dramatised the Vessantara legend. Whether Candra

and Candragomin are identical, may be a matter of

indecisive controversy. But Candra or Candraka's

poems are quoted in the Subhasitavali and he was

admired by the rhetoricians. Almost a contemporary

of Harsa was Mahendravikramavarman, son of

the Pallava king Simhavikramavarman, and he

also was himself a king who ruled in Kafici. He

wrote a prahasana (Mattavilasa) showing the same

technique as that of Bhasa. Bana, we know^

not only wrote the Harsacarita and the Kddambari,

but also the Candl-tataka, the Mukuta-taditaka

(a drama) and Pdrvatlpqrinaya (a rupaka). It is

doubtful whether he or Vamana Bhatta Bana was the

author of the Sarvacariia-nataka, The grecit dramatist

The Huns

supplanting

the Guptas.

Mibirakula

becomes a

Saiva.

Development

of

literature

from the

7th to the

10th century,

CX1V INTRODUCTION

Bhavabhuti also flourished about 700 A.D. His three

plays, the M&latimadhava, the Uttaracarita and the

Viracarita are masterpieces of Sanskrit drama. Though

the exact date of Subandhu, author of the Vasavadatta,

cannot be determined yet as both Bana and Vamana of

the 8th century refer to him, he must have flourished in

the 6th or the 7th century. Bhatti also probably

flourished in the 6th or the 7th century. Bhamaha

was slightly junior to him. The Natyatastra had been

written probably in the 2nd century A.D. The poet

Medhavin and the Buddhist logician Dharmaklrti, who

was also a poet, flourished probably in the 6th century

and Dandin, author of the Karyadara and the Da^akwnaracarita

probably also flourished in the 6th century.

Dinnaga, the Buddhist logician, bad flourished in the

5th century during which time Vatsayana also wrote

his Bhasya on the Nyayasutra. The Sanikhya-karika

of Isvarakrsna was probably written by the 3rd century

A.D. and the Nyayasutras were probably composed

near about that time and the Vedanta-sutras of Badarayana

were probably composed by the 2nd century A.D.

and we have already mentioned Vasuvandhu, author of

the Abhidharmakosa and many important Buddhist

works, who lived in the 4th century and was

a senior contemporary of Samudragupta. Udbhata

probably flourished in the 8th century and the

Dhvanyaloka was probably written in the latter

half of the 9th century. Udbhata was not only

a rhetorician but he had also written a Kumarasambhava.

We have already said that Vamana

lived probably in the 8th century, but as Vamana

quotes from Magha, Magha must have lived probably

in the middle of the 7th century. The Katika

commentary was written about 660 A.D. and the Ny&sa

was probably written between 700 and 750 A,Df

iNtRODtCTlON CXV

Rudrata also flourished before 900 and Abhinavagupta

who wrote his Locana on the Dhvanyaloka probably

about 3 50 years after, flourished in the 1 1th century

and RajaSekhara probably lived in the first quarter of

the 10th century. Vigakhadatta, the author of the

Mudraraksasa, probably lived in the 9th century.

Bhattanarayana, the author of the Benisamhara, is

quoted by Vamana, and must, therefore, have Jived

before 800 A.D. If he were one of the Brahmins who

were brought to Bengal from Kanauj by king AdiSura,

he may have lived in the 7th century A.D. Kumaradasa,

the author of the Janakiharana, was probably a

king of Ceylon and probably lived in the beginning of

the 6th century. Mentha lived probably in the latter

part of the 6th century and king Pravarasena, the

author of the Setuvandha, must have lived during the

same time. The Kashmirian author Bhumaka who

wrote his Ravanarjuriiya in 27 cantos, probably also

lived at this time. Towards the close of the 9th century

we have the Kapphanabhyudaya based on the tale of the

AvadanaSataka by SivasvamI, one of the few exceptions

where the Avadana literature has been utilised. But

there are some other poets like Bhattara Haricandra or

Gunadhya or Adhyaraja whose works are not ;now

available.

After Harsa, the Empire was practically broken and

we have a number of kingdoms in various parts of the

country. China was trying to assert suzerainty in the

northern frontier and when its power vanished in the

first half of the 6th century, the domains of the White

Huns were extending up to Gandhara and between 563

and 567 this country was held by the Turks. In 630

the Northern Turks were completely vanquished by the

Chinese who extended their domains to Turfan and

Kucha, thus securing the northern road communication

Political

and literary

contact with

the neighbouring

countrUi.

iNTRODtCtlOfo

from East to West. Gampo, the Tibetan king (A.U>.

630) who had become a Buddhist, was friendly to India.

In 659 China rose to the height of its power and was in

possession of this country upto Kapi6a. The Turks

were finally routed by the Chinese in A.D. 744 and

between 665 and 715, the northern route from China to

India between the Xaxartes and the Indus was closed

and the southern route through Kashgar was closed by

the Tibetans and the road over the Hindukush was

closed by the Arabs with the rise of Islam. But again

by 719 the Chinese regained influence on the border of

India. Buddhism developed in Tibet as against the

indigenous Bon religion. The Indian sages, Santarak$

ita and Padmasarmbhava, were invited to Tibet.

Contact between politics of India and that of China

had ceased in . the 8th century owing to the growth of

the.Tibetan power. In the 7th century, the Tantrik

form of the Mahayan a, so closely allied to the Tantrik

worship in India, had established itself in Nepal.

Nepal was conqured by the Gurkhas of the Hindu faith

and there has been a gradual disintegration of Buddhism

from that time. Kashmir was being ruled by Hindu

kings and in the 8th century we had Candrapi<Ja,

Muktapida and Jayapida, and in the 9th century there

were the kings Avantivarman and Sankaravarman and

in the 10th century we have the kings Partha, Unmattavanti

and later on Queen Didda, all of whom were

tyrannical. In the llth century we have king Kalasa

and Hara, after which .it was conquered by the

Moslems.

Political After Harsa's death, in the 8th century we have

i^u after king YaSovarman in Kanauj, a patron of Bhavabhuti

Har?a. an(j Vakpatiraja. At the end of the 8th century, the

reigning monarch Indrayudha was dethroned by

Dharmapala, king of Bengal, who enthroned a relative

INTRODUCTION cxvli

of his, Cakrayudha, who was again dethroned by

Nagabhata, the Gurjara-Pratihara king. He transferred

bis capital to Kanauj. In the 9th century we have

king Bhoja. Bhoja's son Mahendrapala had for his

teacher the poet Rajasekhara. These kings were all

Vaisnavas. After this the power of Kanauj began to

wane. In the 10th century Jayapala, king of the

Upper Valley of the Indus Region and most of the

Punjab, attacked King Sabuktagln and in the subsequent

battles that followed was worsted and committed suicide.

In Kanauj, king Rajyapala was defeated by the Moslems.

With the disappearance of the Gurjara-Pratihara

dynasty of Kanauj, a Raja of the Gahadwar clan named

Candradeva established his authority over Benares and

Ayodhya and also over Delhi. This is known as the

Rathore dynasty. In the 12th century we have Raja

Jayacand under whose patronage Sriharsa, the poet,

wrote his great work Naisadhacarita.

It is unnecessary to dilate more upon the political

history of India. Bui from the body of the book and

from what has been said in the Editorial Notes, it

would appear that the current opinion that the glorious

age of the Sanskrit literature synchronised with the

glorious epoch of the Guptas, is not quite correct. On

the other band, great writers like Kalidasa and Bhasa

flourished before the dawn of the Christian era at the

time probably of the Mauryas, and also shortly after the

reign of Pusyamitra at the time of the great Hindu

ascendency ; the rise of Buddhism gave a great impetus

to the development of sciences and particularly to philosophy

; but inspite of Buddhism, Hinduism became

the prevailing religion of the kings of India and in

many cases the kings themselves turned to be

poets. Inspite of the colossal political changes and

turmoils in various parts of the country and various

A general

review of

the growth

of Sanskrit

Literature.

fcJcviii

foreign inroads and invasions, we had a new era of

literary culture and development till the T2th century,

when the country was subjugated by the Mahommedans.

Many writers have suggested that it is

the foreign impact of the Sakas, the Hunasf the

Turks, the Chinese, the Tibetans, that gave an

incentive, by the introduction of new ideas, to literary

development. But such a view will appear hardly

to be correct, for to no period of the literary

development of India can we ascribe any formative

influence due to foreign culture. The Hindu literary

development followed an insulated line of Trivargasiddhi

all through its course from the 12th

century onwards. With the occupation of Upper

India by the Moslems and their inroads into

Southern India and with the growth of stringency

of the Smrti rules and the insulating tendency,

the former free spirit gradually dwindled away

and we have mostly a mass of stereotyped literature

to which South India, jvhich was comparatively

immune from the Moslem invasion, contributed largely.

Southern India also distinguished itself by its contributions

to Vainava thought and the emotionalistic

philosophy which had its repercussions in North India

also. Some of the greatest thinkers of India, like

Nagarjuna and Sankara and Ramanuja, Jayatlrtha and

Vyasatlrtha, hailed from the South and deyotionalism,

which began with the Arvars in the 3rd or the 4th

century A.D., attained its eminence in the 16th or the

17th century along with unparalleled dialectic skill of

Venkata, Jayatlrtha and Vyasatirtba. Philosophy in

the North dwindled into formalism of the new school of

NySya, the rise of emotionalism in Caitanya and his

followers^ and the stringency of the Smyti in the

nivandhas of Baghunandana.

INTRODUCTION CX1X

In attempting to give a perspective of the growth

and development of Sanskrit literary culture from the appearance

racial, religious, social, political and environmental Jj

backgrounds, we have omitted one fact of supreme

importance, viz., the rise of geniuses, which is almost

wholly unaccountable by any observable data, and though

poets of mediocre talents may maintain the literary flow

yet in the field of literature as also in politics it is

the great geniuses that stand as great monuments of the

advancement of thought and action. No amount of

discussion or analysis of environmental conditions can

explain this freak of Nature just as in the field of

Biology the problem of accidental variation cannot be

explained. Why a Sudraka, a Bhasa4 a Kalidasa,

a Bhavabhuti or a Bana lifted up his head at particular

epochs of Indian history, will for ever remain

unexplained. Kaja^ekhara regards poetic genius as

being of a two-fold character, creative and appreciative.

He alone is a poet to whom any and every natural or

social surrounding provokes his creative activity to

spontaneous flow of literary creation. This creative

function may manifest itself through properly arranged

words in rhyme or rhythm in the appreciation of

literary art and also in the reproduction of emotions

through histrionic functions. This individuality of

genius in a way prevents the determination of great

works of literary art as being the causal functions of

historical conditions.

But though the consensus of opinion among the

rhetoricians point to the view that the mark of true of poets.

**

poetry is the creation of sentiments, yet Baja^ekhara

and others regard wide experience as an essential

characteristic of a good poet. A poet's words should

have a universality of application and the manner of

his delivery should be such that his failures should be

CXX INTRODUCTION

unnoticeable. Raja^ekhara further maintains that

though genius is of supreme importance, yet learning

is also essential. He distinguishes two types of

poets, the Sastra-kavi, who depicts sentiments

and the kavya-kavi who by his mode of delivery softens

difficult ideas and thoughts. Both have their

place in literature. Both reveal two tendencies

which are complementary to each other. The acceptance

of learning within the category of the essential

qualities that go to make poetry, has well-established

itself not only in the time of Raja^ekhara but long

before him in the time of Bhatti and probably much

earlier than him. Bhatti takes pride in thinking that

his poems would not be intelligible to people who are

not scholars. This wrong perspective arose probably

from the fact that the grammatical and lexicographical

sciences as well as the philosophical discipline

had attained a high water-mark of respect with

the learned people who alone could be the judges of

poetry. This view, however, was riot universal ; for as

has elsewhere been noted, Bhamaha urges that kdvya

should be written in such a manner as to be intelligible

even to those who have no learning or general

education.

literary We have seen that Sanskrit had become almost

standard* absolutely stereotyped by the middle of the 2nd century

g"uage.

n

B.C. ; we have also seen that the Prakrt, as we find in

literature in spite of their names as Magadhi, Saurasen!

and Mahara^ri, was not really the spoken language

of those parts of the country. What we have are the

standardised artificial forms of Prakrt which were used

for the purpose of literature. It is doubtful^ to what

extent one can regard the Prakrt of the A6okan inscriptions

to be the spoken dialect of any part of the country,

though it has been held by many scholars that the

INTRODUCTION CXX1

Eastern dialect was the lingua franca of the whole

Empire and we assented to this view in the Preface.

The variations found in the Girnar, the Kalinga and

the Siddapur edicts would raise many problems of considerable

difficulty.

Another important question that may arise particularly

in connection with the drama and the prose litera- spoken

language?

ture, is the question as to whether Sanskrit was the

spoken language at any time. In our Preface we

pointed out that neither Samskrta nor Prakrta was

regarded as the name of speech so far as it can be

traced from the evidences of earlier Sanskrit literature.

Panini distinguishes between the Vedic and the

Paninian language, as Vaidika and Bhasa (spoken

language). Patanjali in his Bhasija says that the

object of grammar is to supply rules of control for

current speech (laukika in the sense of being known to

the common people, or as having sprung from the

common people.Y But why should then there be at all

rules for the control of speech ? The answer is : one,

for the preservation of the integrity of the Vedas ;

2 and

two, for making proper transformations of suffixes from

the forms given in the Samhitas for practical sacrificial

use ; and three, in pursuance of the general duty for all

Brahmins to study the Vedas of which the chief accessory

is grammar ; four, grammar is the shortest

route for the study of correct words ; five, for arriving

at certainty of meaning and for laying proper accents on

words. In addition to this, Patanjali adds some supple-

1 lobe vidita iti lokasarvalok&tthaft iti thafl !

athava bhav&rthe adhyatm&ditvat thaft ]

evarp vede bhava vaidikah \ MahSbha$ya Paspad&hniks.

2 There may be forms in the Vedas which are Dot found in the current

speech and one who is not versed in grammar might easily be led to think that

the Vedic form is erroneous.

p 1343B

CXXll INTRODUCTION

mentary reasons. These are as follows : the Asuras

who imitated the Brahmins in performing the sacrifices

often misused the words or misplaced the accents.

Thus, instead of putting the pluta accent on he and

pronouncing the word arayah after it, they used the

words helaya, helaya, and were defeated for the reason

that they could not get the benefit of the sacrifice for

victory ; for this reason, a Brahmin should not mispronounce

the words like the mlecchas. A wrong word or

a wrong accent fails to denote the proper meaning. So

to safeguard oneself from wrong usage one should study

grammar. The study of grammar is also necessary for

the comprehension of proper meaning. There are

more wrong words and accents in currency than proper

words and accents, for in place of one proper word or

accent there may be many wrong words and accents

and only the man who knows grammar can distinguish

between the right and the wrong word. Here

we find the purificatory influence of grammar. Moreover,

rules of decorum require that the pluta accent

should be given in offering salutations to respected

persons, whereas in greeting a woman or a person

coming from a distant place, one should omit the pluta

accent. None but one versed in grammar can distinguish

these. People often think that the Vedic words

may be known from the Vedas and the current words

from current speech, but the above discourse will show

that there is a necessity for studying grammar for the

acquirement in both.

A review of the above discourse reveals to us the

following uncontestable facts viz., that even in

the time of Patanjali the Paninian language was used

in current speech though many mispronounced and misaccented

or corrupt or foreign words had crept into the

current speech. The current speech was thus not

INTRODUCTION CXX111

exactly what we call Paninian Sanskrit but Sanskrit

in which there is a very large admixture of corrupt

words, for Patanjali expressly says bhuyamsah

apasavdah, and a codified grammar was needed for

sieving out the corrupt words though it cannot be

denied that inspite of the sieving some popular words

of foreign or aboriginal character were accepted as

genuine Sanskrit words. The word titan occurring in a

verse quoted by Patanjali is an instance of it. We also

find that by Patanjali's time the tradition was that the

Asuras had accepted Brahmiuic forms of sacrifice but

they could not attain the fruits of them as they could

not properly pronounce the Sanskrit words. The rules

of accent prescribed for greeting persons also show that

Sanskrit as mixed up with corrupt words was in use

among the people. Those, however, who achieved the

discipline of a grammatical study used the words recognised

as chaste by the grammatical tradition. The

mixed language as used by common folk was not unintelligible

to the learned nor the speech of the learned

unintelligible to the common people. A parallel may

be drawn from the existing literary Bengali language

and the spoken language varying from district to district

with regard to words and accents. The learned

Bengalees may not even understand properly in some

cases the dialectical folk languages of another locality.

Thus the Chittagong dialect of Bengali would hardly

be intelligible to a learned Bengalee of Calcutta. A

learned Chitlagong-man may talk in standard Bengali

with other learned men but may at the same time use

his own dialect in talking with the common people of

his native place or he may even intersperse Chittagong

words with the words of standard Bengali. The standardisation

of accent is still more difficult to be

attained.

CXX1V

Dr. Hannes Skold in his work on the Nirukta says

that the derivations suggested by Yaska are only intelligible

if we assume that he was conversant with some

kind of Middle Indian Prakrt speech. Prof. Liiders

says that the language of Asoka's Chancery was

a high language but the actual spoken speech had

almost advanced to a stage of the literary Prakrts.

Keith holds that Yaska spoke Sanskrit as he wrote it

and the officials of Asoka spoke in the language similar

to what they wrote, while the lower classes of the people

spoke in dialects which had undergone much phonetical

transformation. From Patafljali's statement referred to

above we can gather that the upper classes who were

conversant with grammar spoke the chaster speech but

as we go down the stratum the language was of a

corrupt nature. The alien people on whom the Aryans

had imposed their language could not also speak it

correctly. The directions of royal edicts as found in

the Arthatastra, Chapter 31, would lead to the presumption

that the edicts were drafted in Sanskrit. A3oka

was probably the first to issue edicts in some form of

Prakrt as found in the inscriptions. It is also difficult

to assert that A^oka's inscriptions were written in

accordance with the speech of the countries in which the

edicts appeared; for, though the language and the

grammar of the edicts have many differences in different

localities yet these would be too small in comparison

with the actual dialectical varieties that might have

existed between Mysore and Guzerat. We think therefore

that though the Prakrt speech was current in

A4oka's time and even in earlier times among the

common people, among the higher classes Sanskrit was

used in common speech. But the tatsama words flowed

continuously into the current speech.

INTRODUCTION CXXV

The study of Sanskrit kavyas and their appreciation

have their own difficulties. Excepting in the case of a

few writers of elegance like Kalidasa, Bhasa or Sudraka,

most of the Sanskrit works in poetry are not easily

accessible to those who have no proficiency in the

language and even for the proficient it is not always an

easy reading and at times one cannot make much of

them without commentaries. The study of Sanskrit

kavyas, therefore, cannot be an easy pastime and cannot

always be enjoyed as recreation in leisure hours.

t The

great poets of India, -' as Keith says,

"

wrote for

audiences of experts ; they were masters of the learning

of their day, long trained in the use of language and

they aimed to please by subtlety, not simplicity of

effect. They had at their disposal a singularly

beautiful speech and they commanded elaborate and

most effective metres." Under the circumstances,

though the kavya literature contains within it some

of the great master-pieces of poetical works, it cannot

hope to become popular with those who have a mere

lisping knowledge of Sanskrit or who are unwilling to

take the trouble of undertaking a difficult journey

through the intricacies of the language. To the trained

ear the music of the poetry is so enthrallingly bewitching

that the mere recitation of the verses in the proper

manner produces a sense of exhilaration. I have seen

that even in Europe, when I recited the verses, persons

who had but little acquaintance with Sanskrit, had

been tremendously affected by the sonorous rhythm of

the Sanskrit verses and large audiences almost felt

themselves spell-bound by the mystery of the music.

Another difficulty regarding Sanskrit poetry is that,

more than the poetry in other languages, the charm of

Sanskrit poetry in untranslatable, as a large part of

it is derived from the rhythm and % the cadence..

Difficulties

of appreciating

Sanskrit

Poetry.

INTRODUCTION

Keith says : "German poets like Kiickert can indeed

base excellent work on Sanskrit originals, but the

effects produced are achieved by wholly different means,

while English efforts at verse translations fall invariably

below a tolerable mediocrity, their diffuse tepidity

contrasting painfully with the brilliant condensation of

style, the elegance of metre and the close adaptation of

sound to sense of the originals."

Not a less attractive part of Sanskrit poetry is its

Sanskrit charming descriptions of natural scenes and the

** **' beauties of the seasons. As we go from poet to poet

we often notice a change of outlook and perspective

which cannot but leave a bright and exhilarating effect

on our imagination. Thus, throughout the descriptions

of natural scenes and objects as depicted by

Kalidasa, we find that the whole Nature is a replica of

the human world the same feelings and emotions, the

same passions and sorrows, the same feelings of

tenderness, love, affection and friendship that are found

to reign in the human mind, are also revealed in the

same manner for Kalidasa in and through all the objects

of Nature. The Yaksa in the Meghaduta employs the

cloud as the messenger to his love-lorn lady in the

Alakapuri, and the cloud itself is made to behave as

the friend, benefactor and lover of the flowers and

rivers, mountains and forests, over which it may pass

dropping showers of rain. Nature may be dumb but

yet she understands the sorrows of men and is friendly

to them. In addressing the clouds he says :

"

Though

you do not give any verbal response to my words yet

I cannot think that you will not render me a friendly

turn, for even in your silence you supply water to the

catafea." In the last verse of the Meghaduta, Kalidasa

says addressing the cloud :

" Oh Cloud ! may you not

be separated from the lightning who is your wife.

INTRODUCTION CXXV11

f

Either for the sake of friendship or for the sake of

kindness or by finding me aggrieved, you may serve me

as a messenger and after that you may go wherever you

please." The seasons appeared to Kalidasa almost

as living beings. They are not merely the friends of

man but throughout .Nature the life and personality of

the seasons are realised in joy and love, and in Kalidasa's

descriptions this aspect of Nature becomes

extremely vivid.

But when Valmiki looks at Nature, his general

emphasis is on the realistic aspect of Nature. The

aspect of its utility to man is thin and shadowy. But

as we proceed onwards we find that gradually Nature

begins to rise to the human level and often its

practical utility to man is emphasised, e.g., in the

Rtusamhdra of Kalidasa. The emphasis on the pragmatic

aspect has indeed a deleterious effect on the

nature of poetry, but oftentimes in the descriptions of

the poets the pragmatic aspect is thinned away and

human diameters are ascribed to Nature, or Nature

has been enlivened with the fulness of human consciousness.

Starting from realism we often pass into idealism

as self-reflection. In the Rcimayana, for example,

Valmiki in describing the situation of Rama in his

separation from Sita and in contrasting it with the state

of Sugriva, describes the sorrow of Rama. Thus he

says : "1 am without my wife and my throne and am

being broken into pieces like the bank of a river. As

the rains make all places extremely impassable, so my

sorrow is broad and wide and it seems to me as if I

can never ford over to my great enemy Ravana." But

Valmiki here does not describe what Rama would have

done if his wife was near by. He had seen the

lightning by the side of the dark cloud and he was at

once reminded as to how Sita might have been lying

CXXVlli INTRODUCTION

in the lap of Eavana. Looking at the new showers of

rain he is reminded of the falling tears of Slta.

Nature thus reminds the human situation and events

but there is no tinge of any pragmatic perspective

regarding the rains. But human comparisons are

quite common. Thus in describing the hills he speaks

of them as if they were wearing garments of black

deer-skin and he compares the rains with the holy

Jihread and music of the rains with the chanting of

Vedic hymns. But apart from such human analogies

the general tendency of Valmiki's description is

realism descriptions of fruits and flowers, of birds and

beasts, of muddy roads and moist winds, and so on.

Bhavabhuti seems to have followed this realistic tendency

of Valmlki in his descriptions of Nature, which

is sometimes sublime and sombre. Such a realistic

tendency can be found in other poets also. Thus, the

poet Abhinanda speaks of dreadful darkness torn sometimes

into pieces by the gleaming lightning ; even the

tree before us cannot be seen ; their existence can only be

inferred from the collection of fire-flies; the whole night

is ringing with the humming of crickets.

Thus, the different poets of India had approached

Nature from diverse points of view, some realistic, some

pragmatic, some idealistic.

Thus, in spite of criticisms that may be levelled

against Sanskrit poetry, to a learned Sanskritist who

is acquainted with the trailing history of the allusive

words and its penumbra, the double meanings and the

associated myths, Sanskrit poetry with its luxurious

images, cadence of rhyme, jingling alliteration of wordsounds,

creates a wonderland of magic and joy that

transports the reader to a new world of beauty. The

delicate and passionate flickerings of love with which

Sanskrit love poetry is surcharged, are as much exciting

INTRODUCTION CXX1X

to our primal tendencies as appealing to our cultured

tastes. Though much of Sanskrit poetry has been lost

through the ravages of time, yet what remains is

worthy of the pride and satisfaction of any great itation.

There is no compeer in the world of the Mahabhdrata

and the Ramayana taken together, and Kalidasa stands

supreme before our eyes as a magic-creator of beauty

and enchantment, and Bhavabhuti as the creator of the

sombre and the sublime.

CHAPTER I

ORIGINS AND CHARACTERISTICS

1. THE ORIGIN AND SOURCES OF THE KIVYA

Even if there is no direct evidence,

1

it would not be entirely

unjustifiable to assume that the Sanskrit Kavya literature, highly

stylised though it is, had its origin in the two great Epics of

India. The Indian tradition, no doubt, distinguishes the

Itihasa from the Kavya, but it has always, not unjustly, regarded

the Ramayana, if not the MaMbharata, as the first of Kavyas.

1 This rapid survey is only an attempt to give, from the literary point of view only, and

from direct reading of the literature itself, a connected historical outline of a vast and

difficult subject. It does not pretend to be exhaustive, nor to supersede the excellent and

methodical presentations of Moritz Winternitz and Sten Konow, with their valuable

bibliographical material, as well as the brilliant accounts of Sylvain L6vi and A. B. Keith,

to all of which, as also to various monographs and articled of individual scholars, every

writer traversing the same ground must acknowledge his deep indebtedness. But the aim of

the present account is not to offer a mere antiquarian or statistical essay, not to record and

discuss what has been said on Sanskrit literature (the value of which, however, is not and

cannot be ignored), but to give, as concisely as possible, a systematic and literary account

of the literature itself. Even if strict chronology is not yet attainable, it should be recognised

that our general knowledge of the subject is not today so nebulous as to make the application

of historical or literary methods altogether impossible. It is felt that Sanskrit literature, as

literature, need no longer be looked upon as a literary curiosity, deserving merely a descriptive,

erudite, apologetic or condescending treatment, but that it ranks legitimately as one of the

great literatures of the world, to the appreciation of which broader historical and literary

standards should be applied. The bibliographical references and purely learned discussions,

which are available in their fulness elsewhere, are, therefore, reduced as much as possible to a

minimum, and emphasis has been laid upon the literary aspects of the problems, which have,

so far, not received adequate attention. Tt is cot claimed that the work is final in thia respect

but it is hoped that a beginning has been made. The only apology that is necessary,

apart from the obvious one of the writer's imperfect knowledge and capacity, is that it is

written within certain limits of time, which allowed less provision of material than what

could have been accomplished by longer preparation, and within certain limits of space,

which did not permit him to enter fully into some of the difficult, but interesting,

problems.

The Mahabharata certainly afforded, by its diversified content,

inexhaustible legendary and didactic material to later Kavya

poets; but from the point of view of form, it is simpler and less

polished, and conforms more to the epic standard. It could not,

in spite of later addition and elaboration, afford such an excellent

model for the factitious Kavya as the more balanced and poetical

Ramayana did. The unity of treatment, elegancies of style

and delicate verse-technique, which distinguish the Ramayana,

may not be studied, but they are none the less skilful and

effective. It is probable that some part of its stylistic elaboration

came into existence in later times, but there is nothing to show

that most of these refinements did not belong to the poem itself,

or to a date earlier than that of the Kavya literature, which

imitates and improves upon them. The literary standard and

atmosphere of the epic are indeed different from those of Amaru

and Kalidasa, but the poem, as a whole, grounded like the

Mahabharata as it is in the heroic epos, is undoubtedly the

product of a much more developed artistic sense. 1 The pedestrian

naivete of the mere epic narrative is often lifted to the attractive

refinement of greater art ; and the general tone of seriousness

and gravity is often relieved by picturesque descriptions of the

rainy season and autumn, of mountains, rivers and forests, as

well as by sentimental and erotic passages and by the employment

of metaphors and similes of beauty. If in the Kavya

greater importance is attached to the form, the Ramayana can

in a very real sense be called the first Kavya; and the literary

embellishment that we find in it in the skilled use of language,

metre and poetic figures is not wholly adventitious but forms an

integral part of its poetic expression, which anticipates the

more conscious ornamentation and finish of the later Kavya.

1 H. Jacobi, Das Ramayana^ Bonn, 183), pp. 119-26 and A. B. Keiib, History of Sanskrit

Literature, Oxford, 1928 (cited throughout below as USX), pp. 42-45, give some instances,

which can be easily multiplied, of the formal excellences of the Rawayana, which foreshadow

the Kavya. The Epics also show the transformation of the Vedic Anustubh into the Classical

Sloka, and of the Vedio Trisfcubh-Jagati into a variety of lyrical measures which are furtber

developed in the Kavya.

ORIGINS AND CHARACTERISTICS 3

There is no need, therefore, to trace back the origin of the

Kavya literature in the far-off Vedic hymns, and find its

prototype in the Narasamsa and Danastuti panegyrics, in the

semi-dramatic and impassioned Samvada-Akhyanas, in the

heightening of style found in the glowing descriptions of deities

like Usas, or in the legends and gnomic stanzas preserved in

the Brahmanas. The tradition of a non-religious literature was

already there from remote antiquity, surviving through long

centuries as a strong undercurrent and occasionally coming to

the surface in the more conventional literature ; but the imme-^

diate precursor of the Kavya is undoubtedly the Epics, which

themselves further develop these secular, and in a sense popular,

tendencies of the earlier Vedic literature.

It is also not necessary to seek the origin of the Sanskrit

Kavya literature in the hypothetical existence of a prior Prakrit

literature, on which it is alleged to have modelled itself. There

is indeed no convincing evidence, tradition or cogent reason to

support the theory that the Epics themselves or the Kavya were

originally composed in Prakrit and rendered later into Sanskrit.

The existence of a Prakrit period of literature preceding the

Sanskrit, which such theories presuppose, is inferred mainly from

the epigraphical use of Prakrit in the period preceding the

Christian era ; but it cannot be substantiated by the adducing of any

evidence of value regarding the existence of actual Prakrit works

in this period. Even assuming that a Prakrit literature existed,

the co-existence of a Sanskrit literature in some form is not

thereby excluded ; nor does it necessarily follow that the one

was derived from the other. It is possible to assume the

existence, from the Vedic times, of a popular secular literature,

current in a speech other than the hieratic, from which the

secular Vedic hymns derived their material ; and the tradition is

possibly continued in heroic songs, lyrical stanzas, gnomic verses

and folk-tales, which might have been composed in Prakrit ; but

the very language and treatment of the Epics themselves show a

stage of linguistic and literary development, in which a freer

and less polished, but more practical, form of Sanskrit than the

perfected speech of Panini was employed for conveying

a literature, not hieratic, but no less aristocratic. The influence

of a concurrent popular Prakrit literature may be presumed, but

the Epics, in form, substance and spirit, cannot be called popular

in the same sense ; they were loved by the populace, but in no

sense composed or inspired by them. They possess linguistic

and literary peculiarities of their own, which preclude the theory

of Prakrit originals, and which must be traced ultimately, in

unbroken tradition, to certain aspects of Vedic language and

literature, There is, again, no evidence to justify the high antiquity

claimed for the collection of Prakrit folk-tales of Gunadhya,

which ifi now lost, or for the Prakrit lyrics of Hala, which have

been misleadingly taken as the prototype of the Sanskrit lyrics.

Not only does the Prakrit of Hala's anthology show a fairly developed

form of the language, far apart from the Prakrits of the

early inscriptions and of the dramatic fragments of Agvaghosa,

but the Prakrit poetry which it typifies is as conventional as the

Sanskrit, and is not folk-literature in its true sense. Both the

Mahabharata and the Jatakas, again, show the currency of the

beast-fable, but in this sphere also we know nothing of any early

Prakrit achievement. Nor can it be shown that an original/

Prakrit drama was turned into Sanskrit; and our earliest specimens

of the Sanskrit drama in the A^vaghosa fragments, which

do not show it in a primitive tir rudimentary form, are already

written in Sanskrit, as well as in Prakrit.

The hypothesis of an earlier Prakrit literature started also

from the supposition that Sanskrit was little used until it was

recovered and restored sometime after the Christian era. The

theory is thus a revival in another form of Max Miiller's once

famous but now discredited suggestion

l of the cessation of literary

1 India: What can it teach us ? (London, 1882), p. 281 f. It is mainly on the basis of

Fergusson's theory of the Vikrama era that Max Muller connected his suggestion with the

legend of a king Vikraraaditya of Ujjayini, who was supposed to have driven out the Sakaa

from India and founded the Vikrama era in 544 A.D., but dated the era back to 57 B.G* Max

ORIGINS AND CHARACTERISTICS 5

activity in India until the sixth century A.D., when a Sanskrit

Renaissance was supposed to have begun. At a time when

scanty facts gave room for abundant fancies, the theory appeared

plausible ; it was apparently justified by the absence or paucity

of literary works before and after the Christian era, as well as by

the fact that the incursions of Greeks, Parthians, Kusanas and

Sakas at this time must have affected the north-west of India.

But the epigraphical and literary researches of Biihler, Kielhorn

and Fleet have now confirmed beyond doubt the indication, first

given by Lassen,

1

regarding the development of the Sanskrit

Kavya-form in the first few centuries of the Christian era, and

have entirely destroyed Max Miiller's theory of a literary interregnum.

Biihler 's detailed examination2

of the evidence borne

by the early inscriptions, ranging from the second to the fifth

Miillor, however, had the sagacity to perceive that Fergusson's theory would at once collapse,

if any document were found dated in the Vikraraa era before 544 A.D. The missing evidence is

now found f and both the assumptions mentioned above are now shown to be untenable (see

Fleet, Gupta Inscriptions, Introd. ; also IA, XXX, pp. 3-4). The Vikramaditya legend itself is

fairly old. It owed its currency, no doubt, from an ill-authenticated verse of a late work,

which associates Dhanvantari, K?apanaka, Amarasimha, Sanku, Vetalabhat^a, Ghafcakarpara,

Kalidasa, Varahatnihira and Vararuci as the nine gems of the court of this mythical king.

While we know for certain that Varahamihira flourished in the middle of tie sixth century,

Vararuci is undoubtedly a very old author to whom a Kavya is ascribed in Patafijali'a

Mahabhasya', while of the other poets, some are mere names, and some, who are by no means

contemporaries, are lumped together, after the manner of works like Bhoja-prabandha, which

makes Kalidasa, Bana and Bhavabhuti contemporaries 1 On this verse and on Jyotirviddbharana

(16th century) in which it occurs, see Weber iii ZDMG, XXII, 1868, pp. 708 : aUo

iotrod. to Nandargikar's ed. of Raghu-vamsa for references to works where this verse is discussed.

It is remarkable, however, that the tradition of a great Vikram&difcya as a patron of

the Kavya persists in literature. Subandhu laments that after the departure of Vikramaditya

there ia no true appreciator of poetry ; and an early reference in the same strain is found in a

verse of Hftla (ed. NSPt v. 64). The Sanskrit anthologies assign some 20 verses to Vikramaditya,

and he is associated with Bhartrmen^ha , Matrgupta and Kalidasa (see F. W, Thomas,

introd. to Kavlndra-vacana samuccaya, pp. 105-06 and references cited therein). There ia no

satisfactory evidence to connect him with the later Vikramadityas of the Gupta dynasty ; and

if the original founder of the Vikraraa era was a Vikramaditya, all search for him has, so far,

not proved succeasful. tfor a recent discussion of the question, see Edgerton, introd. to

Vikramacarita, pp. lviiMx\i.

1 Laasen, Indische Alterthumskundc, II, p. 115(J f.

* Die indiechen Inschriften und das Alter der mdiachen Kuntspoesie in SWAt 1890, trs,

IA, gtu,p.291.

century A.D., not only proves the existence in these centuries of

a highly elaborate body of Sanskrit prose and verse in the Kavyastyle,

but it also raises the presumption that most of the Pra^astiwriters

were acquainted with ' some theory of poetic art/ If

Max Miiller conjectured a decline of literary activity in the first

two centuries of the Christian era on account of the incursions

of the Sakas, we know now that there is nothing to justify the

idea that the Western Ksatrapas or Satraps of Saka origin were

great destroyers. Their inscriptions show that they became

themselves rapidly Indian! sed, adopted Indian names and customs,

patronised Indian art and religion, and adopted, as early as

150 A. D., Sanskrit as their epigraphical language. There is,

therefore, no evidence for presuming a breach of literary

continuity from the first to the fifth century A.D. If the theory

is sometimes revived by the modified suggestion that the origin

of the Sanskrit Kavya is to be ascribed to the ascendancy of the

Sakas themselves, the discovery and publication of A^vaghosa's

works directly negative the idea by affording further proof of an

earlier bloom of the Sanskrit Kavya literature in some of its

important aspects, and perhaps push the period of its origin much

further back. The fact that a Buddhist poet should, at the

commencement of the Christian era, adopt the Sanskrit Kavyastyle

for the avowed object

1 of conveying the tenets of his

faith, hitherto generally recorded in tbe vernacular, is itself an

indication of its popularity and diffusion; and the relatively

perfect form in which the Kavya emerges in his writings presupposes

a history behind it.

The history, unfortunately, is hidden from us. We can,

however, surmise its existence in some form in Panini's time in

the 4th century B.C.,

2

if we consider that one of the direct results

1 As he declares at the close of his Saundarananda that his object in adopting the Kavyaform

is to set forth the truth which leads to salvation in an attractive garb, so that it should

appeal to all men.

3 Panini's time is uncertain, but we take here the generally accepted date, as also

P&taftjali's accepted date in relation to that of Pagini.

ORIGINS AND CHARACTERISTICS 7

of his elaborate grammar, as also its object, had been the

standardisation of Sanskrit, as distinguished from the Vedic

(Chandas) and the spoken dialect (Bhasa). Although Panini

shows himself fully conversant with the earlier Vedic literature,

there is no reason to suppose that the Sista speech of his day

was that of the priesthood alone ; his object was not to regulate

the hieratic speech but the language of polished expression in

general. Panini's own system, as well as his citation of the

views of different schools of grammar, shows that grammatical

studies must have been fairly well advanced in his time, and

presupposes the existence of a respectable body of literature on

which his linguistic speculations must have based themselves.

Nothing, unfortunately, has survived ; and this literature, which

must have been supplanted by the more mature writings of later

times, is now only a matter of surmise.

The evidence would have been more definite if any reliance

could be placed on the statement contained in a verse, ascribed

to Rajasekhara

J in Jahlana's Sukti-muldavaU (1257 A.D.) that

Panini wrote

"

first the grammar and then the Kfivya, the

Jarnbavati-jaya." A fragment

2 from Panini's Jambavativijaya

is preserved by Rayarnukuta in his commentary on Amaral{

o$a (1.2.3.6), which was composed in 1431 A.D. Much earlier

than this date, Nami-sadhu who wrote his commentary on

Rudrata's Kavyalamkara in 10G9 A.D.,'

{ cites

"

from Panini's

Mahakavya, the Patala-vijaya," a fragment (samdhya-vadhu'ni

grhya karena) in illustration of the remark that great poets permit

1 svasti Paninaye tasmai yasya Rudra-prasddatah \ ddau vydkaranani. kdvyam anu

Jambavati-jayam \\ This RajasSekhara could not have been the Jaina BajaSekhara, who

wrote his Prabandha-kota in 1348 A.D. ; but it is not clear if he was the dramatist Rajagekhora,

who flourished during the end of the Oth and the beginning of the 10th i-entury ; for in the

latter'a Kavya-mlmatysd there are references <o Panioi's learned achievements but no mention

of him as a poet.

2

payah-prsantibhih spjstd vdnti vatah tanaih fanaili. Altogether Bfiyamukuta quotes

three fragments from Panini (Bbandarkar, Report, 1883-84, pp. 62, 479). Another quotation

from J&mbavati-jaya is given by Aufrecht in ZDMG> XLV, 1891, p. 308.

3 S. K. De, Sanskrit Poetics, I, p, 98.

themselves the licence of ungrammatical forms,

1 and further gives,

as another example, a stanza

"

of the same poet

"

in which the

un-Paninian form apatyatl occurs.2 Both these Kavyas, ascribed

to Panini, are now lost, but their titles imply that they apparently

dealt with Krsna's descent into the lower world and winning

of Jambavati as his bride. It is not clear, however, from these

separate and brief references, if they are two different works or

one work with two different names. The tradition of Panini's

poetical achievement is also recorded in an anonymous stanza

given in the Sadukti-karnamrta (1206 A.D.),

8 while seventeen

verses, other than those mentioned above, are also found cited

in the Anthologies under the name of a poet PSnini,

4

of which

the earliest citation appears to be a verse given in the Kavindravacana-

samuccaya

5

(about 1000 A.D.). Most of these verses are

in the fanciful vein and ornate diction, and some are distinctly

1 Ed. NSP, ad 2 fl : mahdkavindm apy apasabda-pdta-darsandt, Nami-sadhu also quotes

in the same context similar solecisms from the poems of Bhartrhari, Kalid&sa and Bhai wi.

2

gate'rdha-rdtre parimanda-mandam garjanti yat prdvjsi kdla*meglidh \

apafyati vatsam ivendu-bimbam tac charvari gaur iva hutpkaroti j|

3 5.26.5, which extols Bhavabhuti along with Subandhu, Kaghukara (KalidSsa),

Dftks^putra (Panini), Haricandra, Sura and Bbaravi.

* The Anthology verses are collected together and translated by Aufrecht in ZDMG,

XIV, p. 581f ; XXVII, p. 46f ; XXXVI, p. 365f ; XLV, p. 308f. They are also given by Peterson,

introd. to Subhasitdvalit pp. 54-58 and JRAS, 1891, pp. 311-19, and more fully by F. W.

Thomas, Kavmdravacana* , introd., pp. 51-53. Also see Aufrecht in ZDMQ, XXVIII, p. 113, for

quotations by Bayamuku$a. The following abbreviations will be used for the Anthologies cited

below : #t?s=Kavfndra-vacana-samuccaya, ed F. W. Thomas, Bibl. Ind., Calcutta, 1912;

SP=Sarngadhara-paddbati, ed. P. Peterson, Bombay, 1888; 567ifl = 8ubhasitavali of Vallabhadeva,

ed. P. Peterson, Bombay, 1886; <SW=Sukti-rnukt5vali of Jahlana, ed. Gaekwad's Orient.

Series, Baroda, 1939 ; fl/rw^Saduktikanpamrtn, ed. B. Sarma and H. Sarma, Lahore, 1933;

PdrPadyavalT, ed. S. K. De, Dacca, 1934.

6 No. 186, tanvangmam stanaii dr$tva. As it will be clear from the concordance given

by Thomas, the ascription in the Anthologies is not uniform. The Sbhv gives nine verses, of

which two only (upodha-ragena and ksapah, ksamlkrtya) are ascribed by SP. The Skm gives

8 verses including iipodha-ragena; while Sml assigns this verse, as well as ksapah kfamikrtya,

which last verse is given also by Sbhv and SP but which is anonymous in Kvs and ascribed

to Ofpkai}$ha in Skm. The verses panau padma-dhiyd and panau fana-tale are assigned to

PS^ini in Skm, but they are anonymous in Kvs, while the first verse is sometimes ascribed

to Acala. Some of these verses are quoted in the Alamkara works, but always anonymously,

the oldest citations being those by Vamana ad IV. 3 (aindrani dhanufy) and Inandavardhana,

p. 35 (upodha-rdcjena).

ORIGINS AND CHARACTERISTICS 9

erotic in theme. Among the metres employed we have one verse

in Sikharim, two in Sloka, two in Sardulavikrldita, three in

Sragdhara, three in Vam^asthavila and six in Upajati. It is

noteworthy that Ksemendra, in his Suvrtta-tilaka (iii. 30), tells

us in the llth century that Panini excelled in composing verses

intheUpaiati metre 1

; and we find that, besides the six Anthology

verses, both the verses quoted by Nami-sadhu, as well as two out

of the three fragments given by Rayamukuta, are in the Upajati.

Aufrecht, who first drew attention to the existence of

a poet named Panini, remarked that we did not as yet know

of more than one author of that name ; and the question

whether, despite the rarity of the name, we can assume the

existence of more than one Panini has not, in the interval,

advanced much beyond that stage. As the Indian tradition,

however, knows only of one Panini who wrote the famous

grammar and \vhom it does not distinguish from the poet Panini,

it has been maintained that the grammarian and the poet are

identical.

2 While admitting that the evidence adduced is late,

and that the ascription in the Anthologies, being notoriously

careless, should not be taken as conclusive, one cannot yet lose

sight of the fact that the tradition recorded from the llth century,

independently by various writers, makes no distinction between

Panini the grammarian and Panini the poet. The genuineness

of the Anthology verses may well be doubted, but the naming of

the two poems, from which verses are actually quoted, cannot be

so easily brushed aside. The silence of grammarians from

1 AB, we are told further, Kalidaaa ia Mandakranta, Bhavabhuti in SikharinT,

Bh&ravi in VarpSasthavila, Ratnakara in Vasantatilaka, and Rajagekhara in Sardulavikridita,

etc. The preponderance of Upajati in As*vaghos.a's Buddlia-carita (ed. E. H. Johnston, Pt. II,

p. Ixvi) undoubtedly indicates its early popularity, attested also by its adoption by Kalidasa io

his two poems.

* Tn the works and articles of Peterson cited above. Pischel, in ZDMG, XXXIX, 1885, p.

95f believes in the identity, but he makes it the ground of placing Panini at about the fifth

century A.D. ; Biihler, however, rightly points out (IA, XV, 1886, p. 241) that "

if the grammarian

P&nini did write a Kavya, it does not follow that he should be supposed to live in

the 4th or 6th century A.D. ; the Kavya literature is much older.

1 '

2- 1348B

Patafijali downwards is a negative argument

1 which proves

nothing, while the least valid of all objections is that the

Sanskrit of the poems could not have been the Sanskrit of Panini,

or that Panini could not have used such ungrainmatical forms as

grhya and apatyatl in defiance of his own rules (vii. i. 37, 81).

The occurrence of such archaisms, which are not rare in old

poets,

2

is itself a strong indication of the antiquity of the poem or

poems; and when we consider that only two centuries later

Patafijali refers to a Kavya by Vararuci, who was also perhaps

a grammarian-poet,

8 and quotes fragments of verses composed in

the same ornate manner and diction, the argument that the

language of the poems is comparatively modern and could not

have been that of Panini loses much of its force. In the absence

of further decisive evidence, however, the question must be

regarded as open ; but nothing convincing has so far been

adduced which would prove that the grammarian could not have

composed a regular Kavya.

 

Om Tat Sat
                                                        
(Continued...) 

(My humble salutations to Sreeman S N Dasgupta ji and Sreeman S K De ji for the collection)