A HISTORY OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE CLASSICAL PERIOD -1

A HISTORY OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE

CLASSICAL PERIOD

VOL. I

General Editor and

Contributors to this Volume:

 

S. N. DASGUPTA

 

and

S. K. DE,

General Editor:

S. N. DASGUPTA, C.I.E., M.A., PH.D. (CAL. et CANTAB.),

HONY. D.LITT. (ROME)

LATE GEORGE V PROFESSOR OF MENTAL AND MORAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA

AND LATE PRINCIPAL, GOVERNMENT SANSKRIT COLLEGE, CALCUTTA

Contributors to this Volume:

S. N. DASGUPTA, C.I.E., M.A., PH.D., D.LITT.

(Preface, Introduction, History of A{arpfeara Literature and Editor's Notes)

S. K. DE, M.A., D.LITT. (LOND.)

PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND BENGALI, UNIVERSITY OF DACCA

( History of Kavya Literature )

UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA

PREFACE

The first information regarding the existence of Sanskrit

and the literature of the Upanisads was carried to the West by

the Latin translation, by Anquebil Duperron, of the 50 Upanisads

from the Persian translation of Dara Shiko which at once

elicited the highest approbation of Schopenhauer. There was

a time when it was openly doubted in Europe whether there was

any genuine Sanskrit language and the distinguished English

philosopher Dugald Stewart (1753-1828) in one of his papers

described Sanskrit as a forgery of the .Brahmins. But the

indefatigable work of Sir Wjlliam Jones, Colebrooke and others

made Sanskrit known to the Western world. It was then recognised

that the Sanskrit language with its old and modern

descendants represents the easternmost branch of the Indo-

Germanic Aryan stock of speech. Numerous special coincidences

of language and mythology between the Vedic Aryans and the

people of Iran also prove incontestably that these two members

of the Indo-Germanic family must have lived in close connection

for some considerable period after the others had separated from

them.

The origin of comparative philology dates from the time

when European scholars became accurately acquainted with

the ancient languages of India. Before this the classical scholars

had been unable to determine the true relations between the then

known languages of the Aryan stock. It is now almost universally

recognised that Sanskrit is the eldest daughter of the old

mother-tongue of the Aryan people and probably the only

surviving daughter. But none of the other six principal

members of the family has left any literary monuments and

their original features have to be reproduced as best as possible

from the materials supplied by their own daughter-languages.

VI PREFACE

Such is the case with regard to the Iranic, Hellenic, Italic,

Celtic, Teutonic and Letto-Slavic languages. The oldest of the

Indian speeches is to be found in the Rgveda. In the language

of the Rgveda, one can trace a gradual and steady development

of the language of the classical Sanskrit through the later

Saipbitas, the Brahmanas and the Upanisads. The development^

however, is not as spontaneous as the modifications that are

effected by popular speech. It has been controlled by tradition and

grammatical studies. Changes in the speech of the upper classes

are largely prevented by the sacred devotion to it and this was

further supplemented by the work of the early grammarians,

whose analytical skill far surpassed anything achieved in the

West up till recent times. The Sanskrit grammarians tried

as far as possible to remove irregularities and they hardly allowed

any scope to new formations and this preserved to a very great

extent the purity of the language and its well-ordered nature

which would otherwise have been impossible. The conservative

tendency of Indian literary culture, which we have tried to

demonstrate in the field of the development of Sanskrit literature

in the Introduction, is remarkably manifested also in the

permanent form that has been given to the Sanskrit language.

The word samskrta means purified and well-ordered. By 150

B.C., by the joint works of the 3 grammarians, Panini,

Katyayana and Patanjali, the language attained a stereotyped

form which remained the same throughout the centuries, though

it remained the literary language of the people. It can hardly

be doubted that though Panini recognised fully the Vedic accents

and forms, yet in his time it was Sanskrit and not the older

Vedic languages that were spoken. Yet Sanskrit cannot be

regarded as an artificial creation of the grammarians, for its

development from the Vedas through the Brahmanas and the

Upanisads can be clearly traced. The Sanskrit language, which

Panini calls bhasa, or speech, is closely akin to the language of

the Upanisads and the Brahmanas. Though this bhasa Sanskrit

is not so luxurious in form as the Vedic Sanskrit, yet there is

PREFACE Vll

no artificial symmetry and there is a profusion of nipatas or

irregular forms which makes the study of Sanskrit so bewilderingly

difficult to students.

Sanskrit was indeed the language not only of Mvya or

literature but of all the Indian sciences, and excepting the Pali

of the Hmayana Buddhists and the Prakrt of the Jains, it was

the only language in which the whole of India expressed all her

best thoughts for the last 2 or 3 thousand years, and it has united

the culture of India and given it a synchronous form in spite of

general differences of popular speech, racial and geographical,

economical and other differences. It is the one ground that has

made it possible to develop the idea of Hindu nationhood in

which kinship of culture plays the most important part. Under

the shadow of one Vedic religion there had indeed developed

many subsidiary religions, Saiva, Vaisaava, Sakta, etc., and

within each of these, there had been many sects and sub-sects

which have often emphasised the domestic quarrel, but in spite

of it all there is a unity of religions among the Hindus, for the

mother of all religious and secular culture had been Sanskrit.

Variations from Sanskrit as determined by Panini, Katyayana

and Patanjali may occasionally be noticed in the Ramayana,

the Mahdbharata and some of the other Puranas and Patanjal

also noticed it when he said chandovat kavayah kurvanti and

an early poet such as Kalidasa also sometimes indulges in such

poetical licenses. Lesser poets who wrote inscriptions also often

showed their inability to conform to the grammatical rules of

Panini. But apart from this the Sanskrit language has not

suffered any change in the course of ages. It must, however, be

noted that the technical and non-Brahminical works sometimes

reveal a laxity of Sanskrit speech and in the case of the early

Buddhist writers there was an intentional disregard to the rules

of Panini, probably in their effort towards the simplification of

the Sanskrit language. The most notable example of this is the

gatha language of the Lalitamstara and similar other works.

Sometimes even later Brahminical works which tried to bring a

Vlii PREFACE

halo of antiquity, often made lapses in order to force upon the

people the imeprssion of their archaic nature as may be found in

many of the Tanfcra works, or in the works of divination and

incantation as found in the Bower manuscripts where there is

ample evidence of Prakrtism and careless Sanskrit. Instances,

however, are not rare where actual Prakrt forms were Sanskritised.

The incorporation of Dravidian and other words into

Sanskrit has also been widely recognised. The words formed by

the unadi suffix will supply innumerable instances of how current

words gained a footing into the Sanskrit language and fanciful

derivations were attempted to justify such uses. '

Not only in fairly early times was Prakrt used for the edicts

and the prasastis but it was also used in writing poetical and

prose kdvyas in later times. The word Prakrta is seldom used

in early Sanskrit in the sense of a language. Its real meaning

is

original/

natural/

normal/ and it has been used in this

sense in the Vedic literature in the Prdtitdkhyas and the

Srautasutras and also in Patafijali's Mahabhasya. The word

prdkrtamdnusa is used in the sense of

' an ordinary man '

or

a man in the street.' Hernacandra says that Prakrta is so

called because it has been derived from Sanskrit which i?

the prakrti or source (prakrtih samskrtam tatra bhavam tata

dgatanca prdkrtam). But there is another view as held by

Pischel where the Prakrt is derived as

'

coming from nature

without any special instruction, i.e., the folk language. But it

is impossible for us to decide in what way the Prakrt language

grew. In the writings of the Prakrt grammarians and writers

on Poetics, the term denotes a number of distinctly artificial

dialects, which, as they stand now, could hardly have been

spoken vernaculars. Sir George Grierson divides Prakrt into

3 stages, first, the primary Prakrt, from which the Vedic language

and Sanskrit were derived; second, secondary Prakrt, consisting

of Pali, the Prakfts of the grammarians and literature and the

Apabhram^as ; the third Prakrt consists of the modern vernaculars.

But the inscriptions of A3oka show at least the existence

PREPACK IX

of three dialects, the Eastern dialect of the capital which

was the official lingua franca of the Empire, the North-western

and the Western dialects. We next find the post-A3okan

Prakrts in the inscriptions and the Prakrt of A^vaghosa of the

1st century A.D. Here we find the old Ardha-magadhi, the old

Sauraseni and the old MagadhL According to the current

tradition the Jaina doctrines preached by Mahavira were

delivered in Ardha-mlgadhi but the scriptures of the Svetambara

Jainas chat are now available have been very much influenced

by the Maharastri and the later texts were written in Jaina

Maharastri, while the Digambara scriptures are in Sauraseni.

The Pai^acI is also a form of Prakrt though only few books

written in this dialect are now available. PaisacI was probably

the language current in the Vindhya regiofi. The characteristics

of the old Prakrts consist largely in the transformation of the

vowels r and I, ai and au, and in the reduction of the sibilants and

nasals with also other changes in consonants. Literature of a

secular character might have been composed in old Praskrts until

the 2nd century A.D. But about that date new changes were

effected leading to the transformation of the old Prakrt to a new

stage of development. This resulted in the formation of the

Maharastri in the dominions of the Satavahanua in the Southwest

and the rise of the Magadh! and the Sauraseni, as may be

noticed in the dramas of Bhasa and Asvaghosa on the one hand

and Kalidasa on the other. By the '2nd century A. Q. we find

the Maharastri lyric in the poems of Hala. The Maharastri

Prakrt became important as the Prakrt of the dramas and of the

epic poetry. The SaurasenT was but occasionally used in verse

and sometimes in the dram.i. The SaurasenI is more closely

allied to Sanskrit thin the Maharastri and it was generally used

in dramas by men of good and noble position. The MagadhI

on the other hand was reserved for people of low rank. The

Natya-$astra speaks, however, of different types of Prakrt such as

Daksinatya, Prdcya, Xvantl and Dhakkl, which are the different

type* of the SaurasenI, though Candatt and Sakarl are types of

X PREFACE

the Magadhi. The Prakrt of the verses of the Natya-tastra need

not be assumed to be the Prakrt of a different fype but it may

well be regarded as a variant of the Sauraseni. The poetry of

&aurasenl Prakrt is closely akin to the Maharastrl. A separate

note has been added regarding the Apabhramsa, the importance

of which for literary purposes may now be ignored.

A few Histories of Sanskrit Literature, such as History

of Sanskrit Literature (1860) by Maxmiiller, History of Indian

Literature (1878) by Weber, Indiens Litteratur und Kultur (1887)

by L. V. Schroeder, Literary History of India by Frazer,

History of Sanskrit Literature (1900) by Macdonell, Die Litteratur

des alien Indiens (1903) by Oldenberg, Les Litteratures de

VInde (1904) by V. Henry, G-eschichte der Indischen Litteratur

by Winternitz, Sanskrit Drama (1924), History of

Sanskrit Literature (1928), as well as Classical Sanskrit

Literature by Keith, and Geschichte der Sanskrit-philologie und

Indischen Altertumskunde (1917, Vol. I and L920, Vol. II)

by Windisch, have been written. Of these, Winternitz's work

in three volumes seems to be the most comprehensive treatment.

The Calcutta University had completed the English translation

of the first two volumes under the supervision of Professor

Winternitz himself. The English translation of Volume IIT

had advanced a little when Professor Winternitz died. The

Calcutta University had then entered into correspondence with

some European scholars about the supervision of the translation

of Volume III. This correspondence having failed, I was

approached by the University to undertake the work and

it was proposed by me that as the translation of Volume III had

only advanced but little, it would be better to plan another work

dealing with the subjects that form the content of Volume III

of Professor Winternitz's work. It was also felt necessary that

the title of the book, as it appeared in Professor Winternitz's

work, History of Indian Literature, should be changed to History

of Sanskrit Literature , as

" Indian Literature

"

is too vast a

subject to be taken up as a sort of appendage to the history of

PREFACE XI

Sanskrit literature, as Prof. Winternitz had done. As my

hands at the time were too full with other works, it was arranged

that under my chief editorship within an Editorial Board the

work should be done by subscription by the scholars of Bengal.

Volume I deals with Kavya and Alamkara and Volume II is

expected to deal with other Technical Sciences. In Volume If

I had the good fortune to get the co-operation of Prof. Dr. S. K.

Da in writing out the portion on Kavya. But for his valuable

scholarly assistance and promptness of execution the publication

of Volume 1 might have been long delayed. I have tried to

supplement Prof. De's treatment with an Introduction and

additional Editorial Notes and it is expected that these may also

prove helpful to students. Our indebtedness to Prof. Wjnternitz's

German Edition, Vol. Ill, and Prof. Keith's works, as well as to

other Western and Indian scholars, cannot be exaggerated. For

want of space it was not possible to go into greater details

regarding the Alamkara-Sastra, but I hope that what appears

there may be deemed sufficient for a general history of Sanskrit

literature. The Introduction is intended to give a proper

perspective for reviewing the history of Sanskrit literature in its

background of racial, social and historical environment, an

appreciation of which I consider essential for grasping the

significance of the Sanskrit literary culture.

It is to be regretted that some of the contributions, such as

those on the Historical Kavyas, or the elements of literature in

the Inscriptions, or the Prakrt literature, could not be incorporated

in the present volumel though these should have been included

here. This was due to the fact that those contributions were

not received in time. It is expected, however, that these will

appear in Volume II. la the meanwhile, both in the body of

the book and in the Editorial Notes some general estimates have

been taken of these, though very little has been said about the

elements of literature in Inscriptions.

By way of confession of a hasty observation in the Alamkara

section that the Latin word aurum may be connected with the

B(l) 1343B

word alam in Sanskrit I beg to point out that since that section

has been printed, an eminent philologist has assured me that

neither aurum is Latin nor can it be philologically connected with

alam in Sanskrit.

In conclusion, I like to express my thanks to Mr. Krishnagopal

Goswami, Sastri, M.A.," P.R.S., Smriti-Mimansa-Tirtha,

Lecturer in the Post-Graduate Department of Sanskrit of the

University of Calcutta, who has kindly prepared a list of contents

aad a detailed Index for this volume.

S. N. DASGUPTA.

NOTE

Since on account of circumstances over which there was no

control the publication has been unusually delayed for nearly six

years, I owe an apology for my inability in bringing the work

up to date.

University of Dacca, ) __

1948. 5 S. K. DE.

INTRODUCTION

Winternitz, in Vol. Ill of bis History of

Indian Literature , German Edition, speaks of "the

Sutas as the representatives of the old heroic poetry

who lived in the court of the princes and sang to extol

them. They also went forth to battle so as to be

able to sing of the heroic deeds of the warriors from

their own observation. These court bards stood

closer to the warriors than to the learned Brahmins.

They also acted as charioteers of the warriors

in their campaigns and took part in their martial

life/'

But Winternitz does not give any reference

from which he draws his views about the suta as the

traditional keeper of heroic poetry. The siiia occurs

along with the rathakara and karmara in the AtJiarva

Veda III, 5, 6, 7. We find reference to this suta in

Gautama (IV. 15), Baudhayana (10, I. 9. 9.), VaSistha

(XVIII. 6), Mann (X. II), Visnu Dh. S. (XVI. 6),

Yaj. (I. 3.), and the Suta-samhita, where he appears as

a pratiloma caste born of a Ksattriya male and a

Brahmin female. Kautilya says in his Arthasastra

(III. 7) that Romaharsana, called also Suta in

the Puranas, was not born out of a pratiloma

marriage. The suta has been referred to as sacred in

the Visnupurana and the Agnipurana. The duty of

the sutas according to Manu (X. 47) was to drive

chariots and according to the Vaikhanasa-smarta-sutra

(X. 13) it was a part of his livelihood to remind the

king of his duties and cook food for him. According to

Karnaparva (XXXII, 46. 47), Sutas were the servants

Function

of the sat as

accord ing to

Winternitz.

Sutas were

not repOBit

o r i e a of heroic

poetry.

XIV INTRODUCTION

(paricdrakas) of the Ksattriyas. According to Vayupurdna

(Ch. I.), the Sutas used to preserve the

pedigrees of kings and great men and also the traditions

of learning and books. But nowhere do we find

that Sutas had any other work than those said

above or that they ever played the part of a bard

reciting the glories of the kings or were in any

sense the depository of heroic poetry. His chief duty

was the taming of elephants* driving chariots and

riding horses. The difference between suta and rathakdra

is that the former was born from Ksattriya male

and Brahmin female in wedlock, the other out of

wedlock through clandestine union.

Artificiality rjijie theory that these bards were gradually not an in- ^ *

dispensable superseded by erudite poets also demands confirmation.

character \ J L

of Sanskrit It is also doubtful to affirm that the poets always

described fights and battles from hearsay. Judging

from the Mahabharata and the state of events given in

it in terms of tithis and naksatras which synchronise

throughout the whole book, one should think that there

were either dated notes of events or that the poets

themselves according to some definite traditions synchronised

the dates. Again, we know so little of the

earlier poetry that we have no right to say that in

earlier poetry greater stress was laid to form and erudition.

The artificial poetry began at a much later date,

from the 6th or the 7th century. Neither in the

Rdmdyana nor in the Mahabharata do we find any

influence of artificiality. Whatever may have been said

in the Tantrdkhydyikd (1.321), the Mahabharata is

regarded as an itihasa, and seldom regarded as a kdvya

which place is assigned to the Rdmdyana. It is also

doubtful (at least there is hardly any evidence) that th$

panegyrics were the first thing of kdvya. It is also

wrong to hold thatthe Kdvya style means an ornate style.

INTRODUCTION XV

At least none of the rhetoricians hold this view and

there is hardly any evidence in its favour. Winternitz,

therefore, is entirely wrong when he says,

" The more

strenuous the effort of the poet, the more ' ornate '

his

expressions, and the more difficult his work of art, the

more did the prince feel flattered by it." The earliest

Sanskrit rhetorician Bhamaha holds a different view

regarding kdvya. He says that even if kdvya requires P etry

explanatory interpretation like a Sdstra, then it would

indeed be a matter of great regret for the common man.

This signifies that at least Bhamaha thought that kdvya

should be written in such a manner that it should be

intelligible to all. He says further that there are

indeed different types of style but it is only that type

of style which is intelligible to the ignorant, to women

and children, that is sweet. Thus, in II. 1-3, he

says : mddhuryam abhivdnchantah prasddam ca sumedhasah

\ xamdsavanti bhuydmsi na paddni prayunjate II

kecidojo'bhidhitsantah samasyanti bahunyapi II travyam

ndtisamastdrtham kdvyam madhuramisyate \

cividvadahgandbdlapratitdrtham

prasddavat II

It should be noted that this opinion of Bhamaha is

based upon the study of previous good poetry and the

opinions of other poets. Thus, he says in the colophon

of his work :

avalokya matdni satkavlndm avagamya svadhiyd ca

kdvyalaksma \

sujandvagamdya bhdmahena grathitam rakrilagomisununedam

\

This opinion may be confirmed by reference to

the -writings of other rhetoricians who followed

Bhamaha. It is a pity that Winternitz should have

such an unfounded and uncharitable opinion of Indian

poetry. It is also difficult to imagine why Winternitz

IdentificAt

i o n of

K i v y a as

"ornate

p o el r y

"

untenable.

XVI INTRODUCTION

Bhatti's

view of

poetry.

Alamkara

earlier

erature.

should render kavya as ornate poetry, which he defines

as that in which "the poet makes it his highest ambition

to astonish his readers or hearers by as numerous,

as original and as elaborate similes as possible/

1 His

remarks about ornate poetry apply only to the poets of

a degenerate time, when the true ideals of real poetry

was lost sight of and when the poets had to pose

themselves as great pundits. It is no doubt true that

many of the famous poets like Bhatti, Magha or Sriharsa

follow the worst standard of artificial poetry and

indeed Bhatti boasts that his kavya is such that it is

not intelligible without explanation ; yet it must be

pointed out that this was not the opinion of the critics

of literature and that for that reason kavya style should

not be confounded with artificiality. During the period

that many of these poets flourished there was such an

ascendancy of the scholarly philosophers, that the poets

often thought that learning was greater than poetry

and they tried to pose their learning through their

poetry. But I do not see how a poet like Asvaghosa

can be regarded as a representative of ornate poetry

in the same sense in which Mahaksattrapa Rudradaman's

inscription-texts can be regarded as ornate.

Prof. Winternitz contended that to know of the

origin of ornate poetry we must know the origin of the

Alamkara literature and he seems to imply that that type

of literature may be called ornate in which an acquaintance

with the Alamkara literature or its principles may

be presupposed. He held further that surely Valmlki

did not as yet know any manual of poetics. But what

is the reason for such an assurance ? We know that

upamas were well-known even in Vedic times and

Yaska deals with upama in a fairly systematic manner.

Panini also seems to be fairly acquainted with some of

the fundamental types of upama. We have also reasons

INTRODUCTION kvii

to believe that the alamkara type of thought had its

origin in the Vyakarana school. We do not also know

that there were no treatises of alamkara written before

Viilmlki.

The comments that have been made above will show

that the theory of ornate poetry (kunstdichtung) is beset

with many difficulties. Though it is needless to trace

the origin of Sanskrit Kavyas to the Vedas or the

Brahmanas, it cannot be decided that some of the early

Upanisads like the Katha, Mundaka and the fivetdtvatara

contain verses in the classical style. Indeed the

style of the Mahabharata and the Gita may be regarded

as the prolongation of the classical style which had

begun already at the time of the Upanisads. Among

the early literature the Kamayana and the Mahabharata

(though the latter is called itihasa) must be regarded as

the earliest literature of the Kavya form that is available

to us. Rhetoricians in a much later time have quoted

verses from the Mahabharata to demonstrate the theory

of pyanjana and (junibhtita-ryanjana.

1 Though there

is a difference of atmosphere in the Mahabharata

which lays greater stress on the practical problems

of life and conflict of ideals, yet the atmosphere of

Rdmdyana is not far removed from that of Kalidasa.

As Dr. De has shown, we can hardly trace the origin

of Sanskrit Kavyas to Prakrt sources. It has also

been pointed out by Dr. De that the theory of

Renaissance of Sanskrit Kavya in the 5th or 6th

century A.D., as proposed by Maxmiiller, cannot

properly be supported. It is true that no extant

Birect evolution

of

the classical

style from

the Vcdic

literature.

The theory

of the Renaissance

of Sioskrit

literature

untenable.

1 See Mahabharata, Striparva, Chap. XXIV, verse 17.'* ayam sa rasanotkarsl,

etc." Also, Santtparva Apad lharma, Chap. 153, verses 11 and 1'2.

These have bien referred to in tlie Kdvyapraktita, Chip. V, verses 45 and 46,

as examples of gnnibhuta vyahgya, and Chap. IV, as example of prabandha

vyafljand.

C 1843B

XVlll INTRODUCTION

Continuity

of the Kavya

literature.

Continuity

of the Kavya

style.

kavyas of any importance are available before A6vaghosa.

But there are plenty of references scattered

over which suggest the existence of 'a fairly good field

of Kfwya literature during the 5th to the 1st century

B.C. Even Panini is said to have written a work

called Jambavatlvijaya and Pataujali refers to a kdvya

by Vararuci.

Patanjali also refers to three akhyayikas, Vasavadatta,

Sumanottara, and Bhaimarathl, and two dramas

called Kamsabadha and Balibandha. He also quotes a

number of verses from which the continuity is apparent.

Lalitavistara also mentions Mvya-Mrana as a subject

which was studied by Buddha. These and various other

reasons adduced in the text show fairly conclusively the

existence of Kavya literature from the 2nd century B.C.

to the 2nd century A.D. It has already been noticed

that many of the verses of the Upanisads may well

have been included in a classical work of Mvya in later

times. But most of the literature has now been lost.

Avaghosa's Kavya as well as Kudradamana's

inscriptions show an acquaintance with the principles

of alamkara. The Prakrt inscriptions of the first two

centuries of the Christian era as well as many texts of

the Buddhists or the verses later found in the Pali

Jatakas all reveal the fact that they were written on

the model of Sanskrit writings of their time. The

writings of Matrceta, Kumaralata, Arya-6ura, so far as

they have been recovered, and the verses that are found

in the Camka-samhita also confirm the view that the

Kavya style was flourishing at the time and this could

not have been the case if there were no poetical

texts at the time. There is also reason to believe that

erotics, dramaturgy, the art of dancing and singing

were all keeping pace with the literary development of

the time.

INTRODUCTION XIX

But definite dates of the poets in the history of Indian

literature are difficult to be got. The Aihole inscription

of 634 A.I), mentions the names of Kalidasa and

Bbaravi and we know that Bana flourished in the

7th century A.D. They are the two fixed landmarks

in the early chronology of Sanskrit poets. The

testimony of Bana as well as the other references

that we find of the existence of many poets at the

time prove fairly conclusively that the 4th and 5th

centuries may be regarded as a very prominent period

of literary production. This gets further confirmation

from the evidence of inscriptions which are written in

a fine literary style. Already from the evidence of

Bhamaha we know that many writers on alamkara had

flourished before him and that he had drawn on them

in the composition of his work. The panegyric of

Samudragupta by Harisena (about 350 A.D.) may be

taken as a typical case.

But from the Oth century onwards we find that the

poets often manifest a tendency for display of learning

and scholarship and skill in the manipulation of Mords

and verbosity and a studied use of alamkaras. We know

that in the 4th century Yasubandhu had written his

Abhidharmakosa. in this great work he mercilessly

criticised not only other schools of Buddhism but also

the Hindu schools of philosophy, such as Samkhya,

Vaisesika and the like. Dinnaga and Vatsyayana

flourished about the 5th century A.D. and from this

time onward the quarrel of the philosophers and learned

scholars of divergent schools began to grow into such

importance that it practically influenced every other

department of thought. The old simplicity of style

which we find in Patanjali and Savara had now

disappeared. Saiikara and Jayanta who flourished

probably in the 7th and 9lh century are indeed noble

Literature

in the first

six hundred

years of the

Christian

era.

Greater

complexity

of style in

later times

from sim.

plicity to

pedantry.

XX INTRODUCTION

exceptions, but even then the difference between their

style and that of Patanjali and Savara, is indeed very

great. Learning appealed to people more than poetic

freshness. We can well imagine that when most of

the great poets flourished in the court-atmosphere

where great scholars came and showed their skill in

debate and wrangle, learning and scholarship was

more appreciated than pure fancy of poetry. Rabindranath

draws a fine picture of such a situation in which

he depicts the misfortune of the poet Sekhara.

Learning ^r - De has in a very impressive manner described

the court atmosphere and how it left its mark on

Sanskrit poetry. As a result of the particular demand

in the court atmosphere the natural spontaneity of the

poet was at a discount. The learning and adaptation

to circumstances was given more importance than the

pure flow of genius. Thus, Mammata, the celebrated

rhetorician in discussing the nature of poetic powers

say? that poetic power is the skill that is derived by

a study of human behaviour, learning, familiarity with

literature, history and the like, training taken from one

who understands literature and exercise. 1 There was

the other important thing for a court poet that he

should be a vidagdha or possess the court culture, and

Dandin also says that even if the natural powers be

slender, one may make himself suitable for the company

of the vidagdha through constant practice. This shows

that learning and exercise were given a greater place of

importance than the natural spontaneity of poetic

genius. As a result of this Sanskrit poetry not only

became artificial but followed a traditional scheme of

description and an adaptation of things. The magic

of the Sanskrit language, the sonorousness of its wordloka&

strakSvjSdyavekgaQit I

Hi hetusladudbhave II

INTRODUCTION XXI

jingle also led the poets astray and led them to find their

amusement in verbal sonorousness. But whatever may

be said against long compounds and punsjt^cannot also

be denied that the Sanskrit language has the special

genius of showing its grandeur and majesty through

a noble gait. An Arab horse may be more swift

and effective for all practical purposes but a well-adorned

elephant of a high size has a grace in its movement

which cannot be rivalled by a horse. These long

compounds even in prose give such a natural swing

when supplemented with the puns and produce an exhilaration

which, though may not be exactly of the poetic

type, has yet its place in the aesthetic atmosphere

which is well illustrated in the writings of Bana and

in many inscriptions.

The sloka form in which the Sanskrit Kavyas are

generally written renders the whole representation into

little fragmentary pictures which stand independently

by themselves and this often prevents the development

of a joint effect as a unitary whole. The story or the

plot becomes of a secondary interest and thejuain attention

of the reader is drawn to the poetical effusions of

the writer as expressed in little pictures. It is curious

also to notice that excepting a few poets of the type of

Bhavabhiiti, the rugged, the noble and the forceful

elements of our sentiments or of the natural objects

could hardly be dealt with success. Even Kalidasa

failed in his description of sublime and sombre scenes.

His description of the lamentation of Eati at the death

of Madana in the Kuniarasambhava has no tragic effect

on us and it seems to be merely the amorous sentiment

twisted upside down.

In studying the literature of a country, we cannot

very well take out of our consideration a general cultural

history of its people. The Aryans after their migration

Some cbaracterisiics

of Sanskrit,

poetry.

ReJigiosocial

restrictions

on

society.

XX11 INTRODUCTION

to India bad come to live in a country peopled by

aliens having a culture far below their own (excepting

probably the Dravidians) whose cultural and other

tastes were entirely different. The great problem

before them was the problem of the fusion of

races. It was the main concern of the leaders of

society to protect the purity of the race, its culture and

religion as far as possible. They initiated the system

of varnasrama and enunciated rigorous regulations for

the respective duties of the four varnas. There is

ample evidence in the Smrtis that inspite of the

rigorous regulations, these were often violated and as

time passed on, rigours increased. Thus marriage with

girls of lower varnas which was allowed at one stage

was entirely stopped in later times. There is, however,

evidence to show that marriages took place not only

with the girls of lower varnas but many kings had

devoted Greek wives. But still the problem of fusion

of races gradually increased when the Huns, the

Scythians and the Greeks not only entered the country

and lived there but became Hinduised. So long as

many rulers of the country were given to military

adventures and the people as a whole entered into

commercial negotiations and intercourses with different

countries and established settlements in different lands

the balance or the equilibrium of society had a

dynamic vigour in it. Intercourse with other people

stagnating on equal terms expanded the mental vista, but when,

effect of the ^ f

.

rigorous for reasons unknown, there came a period of stagnation

of smrti. and people became more or less narrow and provincial,

they lacked vigour and energy of free thought. In

society the rigour of social rules increased, and people

followed these rules inspite of the fact that obedience to

such rules was in direct contradiction to the professed

systems of philosophy. Philosophy became divested of

INTRODUCTION xxiii

social life and whatever divergence there might have

been in the philosophical speculations of different sects

and communities they became equally loyal to the

same smrti laws. vWhen the smdrta followed the

injunctions of smrti on the belief that they all emanated

from the Vedas, the Vaisriava followed the

same smrti rules on the ground that they were the

command meats of God. The maxim of the Mlmdmsd

was that no smrti laws would have any validity if

they are not supported by the Vedas. But there were

really many smrti laws about which no evidence could

be found in the Vedas. The legal fiction was invented

that where corroborative Vedic texts were not available,

one should suppose that they existed but were lost. The

whole effort was suicidal. It denied in principle the

normal human fact that society is a human institution.

With the change of condition and circumstances,

material wants and means of production and external

influences of diverse kinds, man must change and with

the change of man, the social institutions, duties and

obligations must also change. The attempt to bind

with iron chains all movements of society, so that these

must adapt themselves to the conditions that prevailed

in Vedic times, was like the attempt of the Chinese to

make the feet of the ladies manacled in iron shoes, so

that when the lady grew to the adult age, her feet

should remain like those of a baby. This extreme

conservatism of social laws had an extremely depressive

effect as regards the freedom of mind and it enslaved

the temper of the mind and habituated it to respect the

older traditions at the expense of common sense and

wisdom. The elasticity of mind that we find in the

Mahdbharata soon disappeared and people got themselves

accustomed to think in terms invented for them by their

predecessors. Yet it is not true that they were always

INTRODUCTION

faithful and loyal to the customs of Vedic times* Any

Brahmin or community of Brahmins of influence could

make a smrti law which proved binding to successive

generations of people. This may be illustrated by the

case of beef-eating. Beef-eating is a recognised Vedic

custom and even to-day when marriage ceremonies are

performed, there is a particular mantra which signifies

that a cow has been brought for the feast of the bridegroom

and the bride-groom replies out of pity that the

cow need not be butchered for his gratification. But

yet according to the later smrti, cow-killing or beefeating

is regarded as one of the major crimes. Again,

while sea-voyage was allowed in ancient times and

therefore had the sanction of the Vedic literature, it ha.*

..been prohibited by the later smrti. The list of kalivarjyas

may all be taken as instances of drawing up a

tighter noose at the neck of the society. Thus, there was

not merely the convenient fiction on behalf of the .smrti

but even injunctions that were distinctly opposed to the

older Vedic practices, which were forced upon the people

by the later codifiers of smrti for the guidance of society.

It is difficult to understand how the injunctions of the

smrti writers derived any authoritative value. Probably

in some cases many older instances had gone out of

practice or become repugnant to the people, or that the

codification of some smrti writers might have had the

backing-of a ruling prince and was for the matter of that

held sacred in his kingdom. But it may also have been

that some smrti writers had risen to great eminence

and authority and by virtue of the peoples' confidence

in him, his decisions became authoritative. In the case

of Raghunandana, who lived in Navadwipa about 500

years ago, we find that either by personal influence or by

propaganda he succeeded in making his views and interpretation

stand supreme in Bengal in preference to the

INTRODUCTION xxv

Views of older smrti authorities like Yajnavalkya or

Vijftane^vara.

Dharmaastras were probably in existence before

Yaska, but the important Dharmatastras of Gautama, the

' _ r * sattra and

Baudhayana and Apastamba probably flourished between

600 and 300 B.C. Before the Dharmagastras or

the Dharmasutras we have the Grhyasutras. The

Hiranyakei Dharmasulras were probably written sometimes

about the 4th century A.D. The Va&stha

Dharmasutra was probably in existence in the 1st or the

2nd century of the Christian era. The Visnu Dharmasutra

had probably an earlier beginning, but was

thoroughly recast in the 8th or the 9th century A.D. The

Harita was probably written somewhere about the 5th

century A.D. The versified tiahkha is probably a

work of later date though it may have had an earlier

version. We have then the smrtis of Atri, U6anas,

Kanva, Kagyapa, Gargya, Cyavana, Jatukarna, Paithlnasi,

Brhaspati, Bharadvaja, Satatapa, Sumanta, of

which the dates are uncertain. But most of the

smrtis other than the older ones were written* during

the period 400 to 1000 A.D. In ancient times the

number of smrtis must have been very small and the

extent of limitations imposed by them were also not so

great. Thus, Baudhayana speaks only of Aupajangham,

Katya, Kagyapa, Gautama, Prajapati, Maudgalya,

Harita. Vasistha mentions only Gautama, Prajapati,

Manu, Yama and Harita. Apastamba mentions ten.

Manu speaks of only six besides himself, such as, Atri.

Bbrgu, Vasistha, Vaikhanasa and Saunaka. But in all

their works the writers are mentioned only casually and

there is no regular enumeration of writers on Dharma in

one place. Yajnavalkya is probably the earliest writer

who enumerated twenty expounders of Dharma. Kumarila

who flourished in the 7th and the 8th century speaks

D 1843B

XXVI INTRODUCTION

of 18 Dharma Samhitas. We have then the 24 Dharmd

Samhitas which in addition to Yajnavalkya's list

contains 6 more. There is another smrti called

Sattrimhnmata quoted by Mitdksara which contains

36 smrtis. The Vrddhagautama Smrti gives a list of 57

dharma-sastras and the Prayoga-parijata gives a list of

18 principal smrtis, 18 upasmrtis and 21 smrtikdras. The

Later Smrtis Nirnayasmdhu and the Mayuhha of Nllakantha gives a

list of 100 smrtis. Thus as time advanced the number

of smrti authorities increased and there was gradually

more and more tightening. TheManusmrti had probably

attained its present form by the 2nd century A.D. and

the Ydjflavalkyasmrti was probably composed in the 3rd

oHth century A.D. We find that though the smrtis had

begun at an early date and were supposed to have been

based upon Vedic injunctions and customs, yet new

smrti authorities sprang up giving new injunctions

which can hardly be traced to Vedic authorities. Many

of the older authorities were again and again revised to

harmonise the changes made and these revised editions

passed off as the old ones as there was no critical

apparatus of research for distinguishing the new from

the old.

The Puranas also indulged in the accretions of the

many materials of the Dharma-tdstra. From the 10th

century onwards we have a host of commentators of

smrtis and writers of digests or nibandhas of smrtis. A

peep into the smrtiastras and nibandhas of later times

shows that there was a regular attempt to bind together

all possible actions of men of different castes of

society by rtgorous rules of smrtis. Such an attempt

naturally has its repercussions on the mental freedom

and spontaneity of the mind of the people.

This tendency may also be illustrated by a reference

to the development of the philosophical literature.

INTRODUCTION XXVli

It is curious, however, to note that though the Indian

systems of philosophy diverged so diametrically from

one another, they all professed to be loyal interpreters

of the Upanisads. Saiikara'sown interpretation

of the Upanisads consists chiefly in showing the purport

of the Upanisads as condensed in the sutras. The

Brahmasutra itself says that there is no end to logical

discussions and arguments and no finality can be

reached by logical and philosophical debates. It is

always possible to employ keener and keener weapons of

subtle logic to destroy the older views. The scope and

area of the application of logic must always be limited

by the textual testimony of the Upanisads, which alone

is the repository of wisdom. It is curious to note that

the same Upanisadic text has been interpreted by some

writers as rank nihilism, by others as absolutism and by

others again as implying dualism, pluralism or theism.

But the spirit was still there that the highest wisdom

and truth are only available in the Upanisadic thought.

So great has been the hold of the Upanisads on the

Indian mind that even after centuries of contact with

the Western world, its science and philosophy, Indian

mind has not been able to shake off the tight hold of

the Upanisads on its thought. The late poerTagore,

who happened to be probably the greatest poet and

thinker of our age, drew most of his inspiration and

ideas from the Upanisads. In all his writings he largely

expanded the Upanisadic thought assimilating with it

some of the important tendencies of Western biology

and philosophy, but always referring to* Upanisads or

interpreting them in that light for final corroboration.

The collapse of the Indian genius in formalistic lines

and in artificiality in social customs, behaviours and

actions, in philosophy and in art, is naturally reflected

in the development of the Sanskrit literature of a later

Loyalty to

the past, the

chief characteristic

of

Indian

culture.

XXV111 INTRODUCTION

The tightening

grip

of the Smrtis

affected

freedom of

thought

and patteroised

life.

Its effect

on literature.

age. In the earlier age also the reverence for the past

had always its influence on the genius of the poets of

succeeding ages. It may be presumed that the court

atmosphere of the Hindu kings was always dominated

by a regard for the Hindu Dharmatastras as it was also

the general attitude of the people. This tightening of

the grip on the mind to follow the past was so much

impressed upon the people that when after an age the

poetical practice was established, the rhetoricians

recorded this practice and made it a pattern for all kinds

of literature. Just as the various writers on Smrti had

tried to record the customary practice and behaviour of

all the daily actions of all class of people, so the rhetoricians

also recorded the practice of the past poets and

this served as a pattern or guide for the poets of

succeeding generations.

When we read the works on rhetoric by Bhamaba,

Dandin, Vamana, Udbhata and Rudrata, and other

writers of earlier times, we find discussions on Kavya

of a structural nature. They discuss what constitutes

the essence of Kavya, the nature of adornments, the

relative importance^of the style, the adornment and the

like, or whether or not suggestivity or rousing of sentiments

should be regarded as being of primary importance

in good literature. But seldom do we find an

enumeration regarding requirements of the various

kinds of poetry, mahakavya, khanda-kavya, etc., or a

detailed description of the patterns of the different kinds

- of characters of heroes and heroines, or an enumeration

of the subjects that have or have not to be described in

works of poetry. These patterns, when enumerated by

the rhetoricians, become patterns of poetic behaviour

which must be followed by the poets and loyalty to

these patterns became often the criteria of good or bad

poetry, just as the patterns of conduct recorded in the

INTRODUCTION XXIX

Smrti-tiastras became the criteria of good or bad conduct

of the people.

It must also be noted that as the number of injunctions

increased and as the Smrti-$astra demanded a

complete patternisation of the conduct of all sections of

people, freedom of life and behaviour gradually began

to disappear. In whatever community or clan of people

one may have had a chance of enquiring into, one

would find the same pattern of behaviour as was

running through the ages. It was an attempt towards a

mummification of social life from which all novelty was

gone. Even if there was anywhere any violation of

the pattern, the poet could hardly utilise it without

shocking the sense of decorum and religious taste of the

people. Thus, the poet had hardly any field of new

experience. The freer life of older limes became gradually

encased within the iron casings of the laws of

smrti. Thus Kalidasa in describing his ideal king

Dillpa, says that his subjects did not deviate even by a

line from the course that was followed from the time of

Manu. It is thus easy to say that when life is unchangeably

patternised and there is no freedom and

spontaneity or change or variety in life, poetry cannot

reflect any new problems of life and necessarily it must

follow artificial patterns which had been current

through centuries. This was further enhanced by the

fact that the same tendency of working after a pattern

out of a reverence for the past also intellectually compelled

the poet to look for the pattern of his work to

earlier poets or to generalisations made from them as

recorded in the Alamkara literature. I* wish to affirm

here that the reason why the earlier Sanskrit literature

like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and the works

of Sudraka, Bhasa, etc., are more human, and the reason

why poets of a later period became gradually more and

Patternisation

of

life explains

monotony

regarding

choice of

subjects.

XXX INTRODUCTION

Kalidasa a

portraycrof

VanjaSrama

ideals.

more artificial, is largely due to the stagnation of society

and social life. Kalidasa, however, may be taken as an

exception, but it seems that in his time the ideal of old

varnaframa-dharma seemed still to inspiie the ideal of

the people. For this reason in two of his works,

Raghuvamsa and Abhijftana-talmntala he had taken

a theme of antiquity and of history. Thus in Raghuvamsa,

which is a history of the kings of Kagbu race,

he seems to have invented many episodes of the kings

of the past about whom practically no record is available

in Valmiki. It is curious to note, however, that

though he practically passed off the scenes of Rama's

life depicted by Valmiki, yet he expressed his gratitude

to him to the extent of comparing his work as being

merely of the type of passing a thread through pearls

through which holes have already been made by

Valmiki. Now, what may be the secret of Kalidasa's

feeling of gratefulness?

.Now it seems to me that Dillpa, Kaghu, Aja,

Dasaratha and Ramacandra are really the pivotal

characters of Raghuvamsa. If we take the lives of

them all and roll them up into one, we can very well have

a faithful picture of an ideal king, who is devoted to the

rules of varnasrama-dharma . Throughout the Ramayana,

in the character of Kama, beginning from the episode

of his marriage to the killing of Sambuka, we have the

picture of such a king, who is loyal to his father,

loyal to his people, who marries for progeny, shows

heroism by conquest and carries the fruits of civilisation

to other~countries. What Kalidasa meant by threading

the pearls is that he has really rolled up into one the

great ideas of Valmiki and manifested them in the

character of different kings beginning from Dillpa. His

success with these two Kavyas was largely due to his

natural genius and also because the thing he took up

INTRODUCTION

was hallowed with the glory of the past. In Sakuntala

he staged his theme in a fairly supernormal manner, love.

It was a prolongation of earth to heaven and as such

it was not normal or natural. We find here also the

same loyalty on the part of the king to varmframadharma

and the romance with Sakuntala was also not

clearly of the ordinary social order. Sakuntala was the

daughter on the one hand of Vigvamitra and on the

other, of Manuka, of an -ascetic Ksattriya and a heavenly

nymph. As such the love was not unsocial. In the

other drama Vikrarnorvasl also, he availed himself of a

Yedic story and described the love of the king with a

heavenly nymph. Had Kalidasa been a modern man,

he should have probably staged his drama in a

different manner. Believer as he was in some amount

of free love, the social conditions did not allow him to

depict it otherwise than with an Apsara. According to

the older smrtis and traditions available to us, we find

that a love affair with a courtesan's daughter was

thoroughly allowable in social practice. In the third

love affair described by Kalidasa, he takes a Yaksa and

his wife. In the fourth love affair in Malavikagnimitra,

which was his maiden work, he was not so daring and

took opportunity of the fact that it was the constant

practice of the kings to have more than one wife.

In that case also, Malavikfi was also a princess. She

was brought in the family by circumstances of an unnatural

character and though the queen had protected

her from the sight of the king, he accidentally saw her

portrait and gradually fell into love with her. The

parivrajika performed her part in the manner somewhat

foreshadowed in the Kamaastra. The other love

affair that Kalidasa describes was that of Siva and

Parvati and here also only in the 5th canto, that we

find a grfeat ideal depicted in the effort of ParvatI to

Jcxxii INTRODUCTION

Patterniaatiou

of life

by the

Smrtis

restricted

to the scope

of free love

a natural

desideratum

for the development

of

poetry.

attain, through penances, such proper worth as may

make her deserving of her great husband, and this is the

most important message of the book. Otherwise, the

Kavya, as a whole, falls flat on our ears. The 1st nnd the

2nd cantos are bores. The 3rd canto attains some vigour

and the 4th canto is a mere parody of the tragic consequences

following the effort of Kama to fascinate Siva.

The 6th and 7th cantos can well be read or omitted.

We thus see that the divine episode, even when delineated

by a master genius like Kalidasa, really failed

because it had not the realities of life. Its value with

us is the great idea that physical beauty by itself

cannot really win the heart of great souls and also the

idea that it is only then when a great soul is wedded

with a woman who by her moral austerities can make

herself pure and attract her husband through her

purity and spiritual greatness and the crucifixion of the

baser tendencies of life, that great leaders of nations

such as Karttikeya can be produced.

A member of the higher caste is to get married

the very day he ceases to be a Brahmacarl according to

the maxim that one cannot stay even a day without

belonging to an arama. Such marriages would naturally

be arranged for him by his parents and relations and

if after that he remains absolutely loyal to his wife,

there is hardly any room for any intrigue or romance.

Sanskrit poetry generally holds within it a charm

or attraction which is almost inimitable by any other

language, but owing to the patternised form of

life enjoined by the smrtis, the scope of life depicted

in the Kavyas became so narrow and limited. The

honest life formulated in the codes of duties, fixed

once and for all, cannot be the fit atmosphere for the

free development of poetic art. Freedom of love to

some extent has to be tolerated in society and boys

INTRODUCTION XXXU1

and girls have to remain unmarried up to an adult

age in order that love episodes may be possible. Where

the girls are married before they attain their puberty

and when such marriages are arranged by their

relations and when other forms of non-marital love

are not recognised, the sphere of love poetry naturally

becomes very limited. One has to find some instances

of illicit love in royal spheres or one has to

deal with heavenly nymphs or carry on with the tales

of the Rdmdijana or the Mahabharata.

Taking sex-love by way of illustration, we find

that the Kamasutra, written probably towards the

beginning of the Christian era, says (1.5.3) that sex

behaviour to girls of lower caste, who are not untouchables,

to prostitutes and to widows prepared to marry

again, is neither recommended nor prohibited. It

is only for pleasure.

 

Om Tat Sat
                                                        
(Continued...) 

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