[Reader-list] History: Kalhana

[Pawan Durani]

Kalhana

The Great Poet-Historian of Ancient Kashmir

The very name of Kalhana brings to our minds the vision of wonder and
splendour that was Kashmir. Francis Young Husband remarks: "Kashmir, a
country of such a striking natural beauty, sure at some periods of
history must have produced a refined and noble people. Amid these
glorious mountains, breathing this free and bracing air and brightened
by constant sunshine, there must have sprung a strong, virile and yet
aesthetic race". And it is to this race from the pre-historic time to
1150 A.D. that Kalhana holds his colourful mirror. Packed into the
pages of his Rajtarangini is a massive amount of information and
wisdom presented in a deeply fascinating and illuminating Sanskrit
poetry. Written about eight hundred years ago, during 1149-50,
Rajtarangini is a glorious history and a beauteous poem, replete with
the charm of Kalhana's noble, melodious and graceful Sanskrit
language.
KALHANA AS A MAN
Poetry-narrative poetry especially-acquired interest, importance and
intensity of appeal in proportion to the personality of the poet that
it reflects. We must know the indefinable essence of the poet's mind,
the je ne sais guoi that distinguishes him from others and that endows
him with a peculiar fascination. Not much is known about the life of
Kalhana. It is only in the colophons of his work and from his
successor Jona Raja that we know some facts about his origin and
person. Kalhana was the son of Campka, who was a "dwarpati", a
commandant of the king Harsha who ruled from A.D. 1089-1101. When
Jayasimha ascended the throne of Kashmir after the death of Sussala in
A.D. 1127, Kalhana became his court poet.
Undoubtedly, this must have given the poet-historian an opportunity to
have a close-up of the contemporary political scene of the state. He
had received an excellent education, which amply equipped him for the
colossal task that he intended to undertake. We can, from his
voluminous book, easily trace the outlines of his life as a student.
He was acquainted with the older standard Kavyas such as Raghuvansha,
and Meghadutta. He also had meticulously studied Bilhana's historical
poem Vikramankadevacharita of Kanauj. Kalhana had an intimate
knowledge of the great epic Mahabharata, for we find numerous
references to this book in Rajtarangini. We have sufficient indication
of his literary training as there are frequent allusions and
references to particular poets and scholars. Besides he had made a
deep study of Jotishsasha. He had also received training in rhetoric,
grammar and poetics.
Kalhana appears to have been a sober-minded historian of an unfeigned
character.No doubt, he had aversion for material rise and rewards, and
he seems to have possessed coruscating wit and wisdom. In an endearing
naivete in Kalhana were compounded goodness, charity, learning, piety,
and a belief in the good of everyone. Even though he was a staunch
Hindu Brahmin yet he had deep sympathy and affection for Buddhism and
what it professed.
KALHANA AND HISTORY
There are two aspects of Rajtarangini like the two sides of a coin,
one is historical and the other is poetic. Am Toynbee opines that' in
any age of any society the study of history like other social
activities, is governed by the dominant tendencies of the time and
place". In the days Kalhana lived, all the social, cultural and
political activities revolved round the person of the king; he was the
pivot. And the "Divine Right of Democracy" as against the "Divine
Right of the Kings" was unknown in those days. In the bonds of the
feudal system of the benign kind, the people saw a symbol of the true
brotherhood of Man. Therefore, in those days, as to Carlyle in the
present days, "history was the essence of innumerable biographies. It
is the record of great personalities". Thus Kalhana also gives us the
"river of kings" and does not expatiate upon the socio-economic and
other problems of the common people. He thought, as was the belief in
those days, that a spiritual logic governs the lives of the great
men-kings, queens, ministers, etc., which the Greeks called Nemesis
and we may call law. Therefore, his job, in the words of R.G. Col
lingwood, was "to tell man what man is by telling him what man has
done".
Secondly, in those days, history was a special branch of literature
and Prof. G.M. Trevelyan also holds that "while the historical facts
should be scientific in method, the exposition of them for the reader
should partake of the nature of art, the art of written word, commonly
called literature". As regards Kalhana's philosophy of history, it was
based on the Hindu theory of Karma, actions of the present existence
as also of the past one. These form the causes for the effects.
Kalhana was a staunch Brahmin. He owes to Brahminism a taste for
intellectuality, the habit and need for it and, to a great extent, a
pride in it. Combined with a natural gift of a wellbalanced
temperament and a keen intelligence, that influence endowed him with a
spiritual faculty and a profound belief in the high ideal of
renunciation. At many places he tried to show that this world was but
a vanity fair and depicted that vanity of human wishes. He showered
encomiums on kings who, in the later stage of life,. renounced the
world and went to the woods to seek God.
No man worked more consciously at his subjectthan he, no writerhas
tried to test the facts as scrupulously as was then possible, or
preserving more judicial detachment. The first three books of
Rajtarangini, no doubt, are a coat of many colours, yet for all its
composite character it is not a thing of patch-work quality, but a
harmonious assortment of myths, tales and true history. Kalhana
desired to set down the truth as far as he could know. For the earlier
part of his chronicle he assiduously collected and studied the works
of previous writers and borrowed from the oral tradition and mythology
but in the contemporary records (from the fourth book onwards) he
wrote of things he had seen or heard in many instances, because of his
early high position, he had been in personal contact with the
warriors, statesmen and ministers. He could even handle the state
documents and hence the value of his records. About the history of
contemporary times as well, he writes frankly and fearlessly so that
he could have almost been involved in a libel action had he lived in
these times. He has studied the chronicles with gems of enchanting
anecdotes but these too open to us a window into the past, for inspite
of a certain wildness and riotous imagination, there is a considerable
amount of general and local topography to be gleaned from these
fantastic tales. But, even for a modern critic he has one rare
quality, that is, the power of vitalizing the past for us, which
compensates for so many defects, like lack of reasonableness.
A few names, those of Parvarsena II, Lalitaditya, Jayapida,
Avantivarman, Queen Didda, Sussala and Jayasimha, etc. stand out among
a host of petty kings, most of whom, as Kalhana says, resemble the
bubbles produced in the water by a downpour of rain. They did little
to merit the remembrance by posterity.
Parvarsena II. Matrigupta, the Brahmin ruler of Kashmir, turned a
recluse at the death of his patron Vikramaditya and left for Banaras
to spend his last days in worship and meditation. Parvarsena, who was
then in Kangra, marched on to Kashmir to recover the throne of his
forefathers. Thus in 580 A.D. he ascended the throne and made his name
immortal by founding the city of Parvarsenagar, the present city of
Srinagar. In Rajtarangini, we find the reflection of shimmering
Srinagar of his time which, was an Elysium for its happy denizens.
Lalitaditya. He was a great conqueror and his extensive conquests made
the kingdom of Kashmir the most powerful empire in India. In this he
was helped by the commander of his army, Mulchander, a scion of the
ruling family of Nagarkot, Kangra. Lalitaditya is also considered as
founder of Hindu art and the Sun-Temple of Martand stands a living
testimony to his greatness.
Jayapida. He too made many conquests and was a great patron of art and
letters. His benefactions to Brahmins are laudable. But, in the later
part of his life, he became Mephistophelian in character and conduct.
At the end he fell a victim to divine vengeance when a Brahmin of Tula
Mula cursed the king for his arrogance.
Avantivarman. He ruled from 853 A.D. and his period was one of
consolidation, peace and prosperity. In his time there was a great
engineer Suya, who rescued Kashmir from a devastating flood. The river
Jhelum, which is a gullet of Kashmir, had got clogged with waste
matter, stones and earth. By a clever stratagem, Suya got the blockade
of the river cleared by a rabble. His artefact canals helped to bring
the bounteous harvests and thereby the country became affluent.
Avantivarman found the town of Avantipura and built a great temple of
Surya there. Its ruins rank among the most magnificent monuments of
ancient Kashmir.
Queen Didda. Abhimanu, who was on the throne from 958 A.D. to 972
A.D., was a child when he ascended the throne and so his mother became
the regent and exercised all royal powers herself. She ruled with an
iron hand with the help of her minister, Phalguna, who belonged to
Poonch. This minister, who was earlier dismissed by her and then
recalled, became her favourite and also her paramour. She led a life
of dissipation which was her undoing. During her rule a large part of
Srinagar was burnt.
Sussala. He became the king in 1112 A.D. and after wreaking vengeance
upon his brother's assassins, ruled peacefully but in 1128 he was
murdered. During his rule administration was not corrupt and there was
absence of low moral and political standard as in the time of his
predecessors.
Jayasimha. He ruled from A.D. 1128-55. He was a model for
Machiavelli's prince, for he gained his ends by sheer diplomacy. He
conquered his enemies by this method and brought peace to the Valley.
He had an able and astute commander of the army, Mulchander, a scion
of the ruling family of Nagarkot, Kangra.
The special merit of Kalhana is his impartiality and independence and
even of Harsha, under whom his father served, he speaks with asperity.
In the later parts of the chronicle he shows a profound sense of
historical truthfulness. In the topographical details he is
marvellously exact. Dr. Sunil Chander Ray says: "But he does not act
as a mere reporter. Kalhana, the narrator ofevents and Kalhana, the
thinker who explains the facts by causes and effects and exposes the
principles which underline them are one and invisible self, who does
not marshal the facts to illustrate his thesis, much does he
manipulate them to fit a doctrine of his own; his philosophy waits
upon the facts and does not govern them".
According to Suresh Chander Bannerji, the ancientpoetical works of
Kashmir can be divided into the following classes:
(i) Poems with historical themes
(ii) Didactic and satirical poetry
(iii) Court-epics
(iv) Devotional poems
(v) Anthologies
(vi) Miscellaneous poems
Kalhana looked upon himself in the light of a poet and with the
following words he introduces his book:
"Worthy of praise is that power of true poets, whatever it may be,
which surpasses even the stream of nectar, in as much as by their own
bodies of glory as well as those of others obtain immortality. Who
else but poets resembling Prajapatis and able to bring forth lovely
productions can place the past before the eyes of man?" These words
suffice to show that his Rajtarangini belongs to the first genre. The
form and style suited for this type of a poem does not allow the
lavish and luxuriant use of the subtle arts of Alamkarshastras, and
though he had received thorough training in rhetorics, the
Alamkarshastra and had a good mastery of Sanskrit kavya and the
principles underlying them, he still falls victim to "amplification"
and rhetorical frills and ornamentation at frequent places.
Stein says that Kalhana avoids, to a great extent, the use of endless
similes, the hackneyed description of seasons, scenery, etc.
Rajtaranginl, comparatively free from these burdensome embellishments,
shows, to a great extent, directness and simplicity of diction. Poetry
(Kavya), the ancient poets defined as "speech, the soul of which was
Rasa ".
According to R.S. Pandit, there were eight Rasas or sentiments
I. Sringara (Love)
II. Hasya (Mirth)
III. Karuna (Pity)
IV. Yira (Heroism)
V. Raudra (Anger or fury)
VI. Bhayanaka (Terror)
VII. Bibhatsa (Disgust)
VIII. Santa (Tranquility or contentment
These being the essence of poetry, one finds them in the verses of
Rajtarangini. According to Stein, it is the Santarasa, or the
sentiment of resignation which is exhibited in the various component
parts of the poem. Unfortunately, the deep desire of emphasizing this
Rasa is found supreme in many long stories ofrenunciation and tragic
ends of the kings. In describing the individual characters of such
kings this sentiment plays a dominant part.
But all other Rasas are found in various parts of the narratives. In
fact, at different places, particularly at the beginning and at the
end of each cantos, the metres are changed to suit the particular Rasa
Rajtarangini essentially contains narrative poetry and such a poetry
deals with incidents and actions rather than with thought and emotion.
But this is a vague division. The prominent feature is the narrative
poetry which usually contains a story and makes liberal use of
description. Rajtarangini too contains the story element, the
narrative element and description blended harmoniously.
The Story element. The book is bedecked with a number of significant
and inspiring incidents in the very life-stories of the kings. It is
not without purpose that he brings stories of high romance in the
books. Some of these stories are masterpieces ofcharm and restrained
horror and show Kalhana's interest in occult and witchcraft. These
stories are part and parcel of the main history. Take, for example,
one of King Sandhiman, who was a minister of Jayendra. He was a man of
remarkable intelligence. Some sycophants of the king poisoned the ears
of the king against Sandhiman and he was put in a prison and after ten
years, when the king was on the death-bed, he ordered that he should
be killed. His Guru Isana heard of it and went to the cremation ground
to perform the last rites. He found Sandhiman's body eaten by wolves.
Isana pulled down the skeleton and found on its forehead inscribed
these words:
"Poverty so long as there is life, ten years imprisonment, death on
the top of the stake and then there will be sovereignty".
Isana, the Guru remained there to see the fulfillment of the prophecy.
And once at midnight he saw, Yognis, the celestial beings, were
repairing the dead body. Then they brought life to it. Thus Sandhiman
became alive and in the company of his Guru entered the city of
Srinagar and the people crowned him as their king.
Similarly, there are other romantic stories, for example, the
lovestory of King Durlabhaka and the wife of a bania from Rohtak, from
whose union was born the great King Lalitaditya; the love of
Chakarvarrnan for a dancing girl Hamsi, whom he made his chief queen.
Then there is the odyssey of Jayapida and the sacrifice of his servant
for him. The book abounds in innumerable beautiful stories which are
like pearls strung on the thread of history.
Kalhana saw history as a pageant sweeping by with tableau, characters
and moments of high drama. But behind the changing scenes was a
movement, a pattern which he discovered and tried to interpret. He saw
the stories of the kings and the great struggles as expression ofmoral
destiny and felt, in the lives of the kings, queens and other men, the
"still sad music of humanity". He has made the dry bones of his
characters live for us and they move with easy conviction.
NARRATION
Kalhana actually knows how to tell his tales and historical events,
how to weave his stories into patterns of pleasing poetry, how to
narrate in felicitous words. He has this gift in a facile and
abounding measure. Kalhana's narration contains beautiful passages
which are full of force and vigour and many flourishes. The phrases
and the language used are sweet and clear. One may note with what
charm Kalhana narrates the meeting of King Jayapida with the dancing
girl Kamla:
Kamla, the dancing girl too
saw with wonder the wondrous
king with an uncommon mien.
The maid by mellifluous conversation
conducted him to Kamla's abode.
The king was struck with her courtesy
her tenderness, her grace, her loveliness.
When the moon had risen
she took him to her chamber of repose.
There lying on a golden couch,
elated by the inebriating wine practised
the arts of amour on the Emperor.
But when he did not untie the nether garments
Kamla felt humble and humiliated.
The king clasped her to his big bosom
and softly and sadly said:
"It's not, oh, beauteous one,
with eyes like the lotus petal,
that you have not touched my heart,
but my misfortunes of the moment
make me the offender".
How sweet and amorous are some portions of his narration-they are the
very ambrosia for the sensuous.
DRAMATIC POWER
His lengthy subject matter did not allow him the use of dramatic
narration but still he displays the use of dramatic force in the
treatment of certain incidents, which are full of pathos and pain. The
end of the ill-fated Harsha, staggering to his doom, his helplessness,
betrayal and desertion by all are clearly narrated with dramatic art.
The following lines may, in this connection, be noted:
History of Harsha is wondrous and woeful
as of reincarnate Rama or marvellous Mahabharata
Like the lightning in the clouds
fortune is fidgety and forsakes;
sudden rise has a sudden fall;
men proud of pep and power
with love and lure for gold
are never satiated with riches.
The king and concubines in his harem
But none wept, none felt sorrow
at his tragic time.
Many a servant who danced to his tune
forsook him and left him forlorn
How sad! men leave not mundane matters
and take to woods on seeing
the heartlessness of people;
whose minds are engrossed in pleasures.
We know not where from we come
nor where we go hereafter.
Between the two eternities
we toss on the rock of life,
like actors we act our sad part
and then depart.
DESCRIPTION
The descriptions given by Kalhana are fresh and vivid. The language
corresponds to the sentiment and the kind of effect he wants to
produce in the mind of the reader. We shudder to read of the shocking
sight of Harsha's end:
On the bank of the river
Stood the king, sadly saw the Damaras
dark and ugly, on the opposite bank.
The queens, fair as fairies
Fresh and fragrant with rosy ornaments
were on sudden dismayed.
The king entered his magnificent mansion
with hundred doors, perspiring,
his armour slipping from shoulders;
his hair dishevelled;
with no ornaments in ears;
his lips pale and parched
which he licked with his tongue.
Pathetically he gazed at his queens,
who with sad steps and languished looks
climbed up and set the palace on fire.
The dark Damaras rushed in
and made away with cloth, the
glittering pearls and plates and darling damsels.
The lovely queens perishing in the leaping flames.
The bursting sounds of burning houses
were roarings of summer clouds on the sea.
The king's kingdom gone, his glory gone;
All, all gone, he yearned to die
not knowing where to lay his head.
Thus Kalhana, when fired by the dramatic dealings of his subject into
descriptive writing of the highest kind, can be eloquent and
impressive without being in any way flamboyant or verbose. He
beautifully and succinctly describes Kashmir as:
"Learning, high dwelling houses, saffron, iced water, grapes and the
like-what is common place there is difficult to secure in Paradise".
One can enjoy the descriptive splendour in the story of king
Durlabhaka's love for the wife of a merchant from Rohtak, Nona:
The king was entertained by Nona
in his magnificent mansion
lighted by bright stones
his wife was exalted in charm and loveliness
Full breasts she had, charm of exquisite hip
Ah! the very spirit of felicity in love.
She kindled great passion in the king,
without gaining contact he felt
she was ambrosia of bliss who
had touched him in the marrow.
The lady-love looked with a slight turn of face
and herself was struck with the dart of love.
Equally eloquent and impressive is Jayapida's end. Kalhana's
description of his death has the "solemn inevitability of Greek drama
and is a masterpiece of restrained horror". He gives a good picture of
the courts of various kings and queens chivvying and slobbering over
their favourites.
CHARACTERIZATION
His verses open for us the magic casements through which we have a
glimpse of the world of his time. We see the swaggering soldiers, the
noble or quixotic kings, high-born maidens, sparkling dancing girls,
odious hypocrites, cantakerous queens, supernatural beings and even
common men drawn with rare skill. There is a prodigious number of such
characters in the book whom he had boldly and brilliantly observed or
heard of and his lively and prolific pen has drawn them with realism
and historical truth. Kalhana has concentrated on the nuances of
character and all his characters are individualised and throb with
life and with infinite credibility. In fact, they are all described
with the authenticity which springs from direct knowledge. Of course,
he does not probe into the inner workings of their minds; this he
could not do for he was essentially a historian and could see them
from the outside.
In most of his tragic characters, there is some fraility, which brings
about them their tragedy:
"Chakarvarman loves flattery and those who flattered him; Hayendra's
ears could be poisoned easily. Thus his courtiers poisoned his ears
against his ablest minister Sandhimati. Harsha suffered from his
lackadaisical nature and outrageously neglected the state affairs. In
the end he takes refuge in a beggar's hovel where he is hunted down
and mercilessly killed.
Sussala had the terrible spirit of vengeance. And then the great
Lalitaditya, the "meteor of his conquest lured (him) too far".
He uses great poetic power in the description of his characters, for
example, he describes Jaluka thus: The English rendering has been done
by J.C. Dutt.
About Jayasimha he writes:
"Then became king, that son of Jaluka, leader of men and gods, who
with the nectar of his glory rendered gleaming white the cosmic
world".
"His talk which, though indistinct owing to his youth, is full of
dignity, resembles the sound, soft with nectar, which issued when the
ocean was churned".
USES OF FIGURES
According to Alamkarasastras, the essential elements of kavya are
metaphors, similes, puns and the endless varieties of poetic figures.
Kalhana makes frequent use of these rhetorical ornaments in some
particular portions, more or less episodic. The length of the history
he has to narrate, Kalhana himself explains, puts fetters on his own
pen and it was difficult for him to make a liberal use of such
embellishments. If we have to find out his dexterity and skill in
writing in florid style we must read such incidents as Chakravarman's
and Sussala's triumphant entries into the capital or Bhikscan's last
fight. Note some of these similes found in his book:
1. "As the approach of the monsoon is known by the frisking bucking of
the heifers, by the ascent to the tree tops of the serpents, by the
transport of their eggs by the families of ants, so now the king
considering through evil portents that disaster was close at hand set
about preparing for adequate measures".
2. "Now in the beginning of the year ninety six the Damara horde was
ready to swoop down like a glacier at the touch of heat".
3. "for the former, seated on an elephant, with a drawn sword was
always roaming about absorbing from the land all that was valuable
just as the sun sucks of moisture".
Rajtarangini is full of wise maxims and proverbs, for example:
1. "The sun does not come to his spouse in the evening without
conquering the whole world".
2. "Mean persons who have failed in the competition for fame and who
have lost their sleep on account of poverty of merit injure through
jealousy the lives of those who are blessed with intelligence".
3. "There is not a son of harlot who is immoral, no one is free from
treason who has been a suspect, no one who talks little speaks
uselessly, no one who is not a government servant has an ungrateful
mind; no one is a m iser but one born in the house of him who refuses
to give in charity; no one is continually miserable save the envious;
none is universally ridiculed but he who is of mature age; none is
hostile to the father if not begotten by another; there is none
lustful who is not devoid of shame ; no one is greater miscreant than
he who has a little learning".
4. " He who has been the support for his rise to a high place the king
cuts him down, like a woodcutter the branch of the tree by which he
has gone up, when he is coming down".
KALHANA'S PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS
In the Middle Ages, in Kashmir, cosmic force, the animating principles
of Indian Pantheism, was worshipped under the name of Shiva. Shiva
represents the sublime aspect of God. A profound philosophy, known as
Kashmir Shaivism, had developed since the ninth century, which
inspired the artist, the sculptor as well as the poet. Kalhana too had
perfect devotion to Lord Shiva and his cognition, conation and
affection, the three functions of his mind, seem to have come to have
Shiva alone as their end. Thus Kalhana believes that man's mind should
flow constantly towards Shiva- and make it get absorbed there. The
faith of Kalhana in Lord Shiva is known by the fact that each book of
Rajtarangini starts with his payer to the Lord.
Besides, he believed in the power of Fate and the influence of
spiritual merits from the previous births. Kalhana, musing over the
incomprehensive power of Destiny argues:
"Occupied in different affairs, with the limitation of dependence,
everyone strives to frustrate Fate's Persistent operations with
energy. It is amazing that its wondrous power, even in these
conditions, comes to light, through whose might the success of various
events is achieved free from hindrance".
But the main philosophy which he emphasises in rhetorical language is
renunciation which governs the didactic feature in his book. The
transitory nature of all mundane glory, the uncertainty ofroyal
possessions and the retribution which inevitably follow offences
against the moral laws, these are lessons which Kalhana never tires of
impressing upon his readers. Thus Kalhana insists on moral endurance,
moral duty and moral individuality, obedience to the eternal laws of
right, resistance to the oppression of outward and inward evil.
CONCLUSION
But his subject-matter and insistent awareness of moral mission made
him too self-conscious, deprived his poetry of high imagination,
rather made it in many portions banal and broke the wings of his
songbirds, to some extent, in such places. Moreover, to a modern man
with scientific outlook, some parts would appear just a balderdash and
the beliefthat Destiny always holds a Damocles' sword on one's neck
too is hardly tenable now. Dr. Sunit Chander Ray, however, believed
that "in spite of historical materials in the early portions of his
work, Kalhana's splendour of imagination, depth and range of thought
and above all the power of centralizing many talents to a single
purpose had given his Rajtarangini a literary immortality".

Source:

The Rich Heritage of Jammu and Kashmir

Studies in Art, Architecture, History and Culture of the Region

By Prof. Somnath Wakhlu