Indian Antiquary Vol 03

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 40

30
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY, 1874.
for reasons adduced, it must be at least about two centuries earlier than the period to which Harshaprabhandha assigns the subject of ite narrative."
The couplet of Sri Harsha, in which he indicates his authorship of Sahasanka Charita (No. 7 in the above list) runs thus :
द्वाविंशो नवसाहसांकचरिते चंपूकृतोऽयं महा
काव्ये तस्य कृती नलीयचरिते स! निसॉन्ज्वलः Pandit Narayana, the annotator, comments on "FTTHIESTA " as follows:
नवो यः साहसाकोनाम राजा तस्य चरिते विषये चंपू गद्यपद्यमयी कां करोतीति कृत् तस्य विनि
मितः वसोऽपि ग्रंथो येन कृत इति सूच्यते thus making Navc to qualify TTGTT, and not to Charite, as might, in the first instance, be imagined.
If this King Såhasånka was new when Sri Harsha wrote his (S&hasanka's) history, it will only be fair to presume that Sri Harsha was, if not contemporary, at least one who lived immediately or shortly after the reign of Sahasanka, and that his rule was either personally witnessed or was fresh in the poet's memory when the Charitra was composed. The question then turns to some extent on the age of this SAhasanka. In finding this out we are assisted by Maheswara, the lexicographer. In the preface to his Visva Prakasa Nighantu, where he, fortunately for the chrono logy of other KosakÅrås, expatiates at some length on his personal history. Maheswara informs us that he is descended from Sri Krishna, physician to Sahasanka, sovereign of Gadhipur,t and has elsewhere given Saka 1033, or A.D. 1111 (one thousand one hundred and eleven) as the date of his compilation. In a subsequent stanza he makes us believe that he is the grandson of Sri Krishna. $ If Maheswara was an author 80 early as in the first decade of the 12th century, it cannot be an unwarrantable presumption that he flourished in the latter part of the 11th century. Again, we know his grandfather was a contemporary of Sahasänka. Now coupling the two facts together, we may, we think, fix the era of Sahasanka's rule in the early part of the eleventh century, if not in the latter extremity of che tenth. If, then, it be granted that the Såha
sanks of Mahswara and Sri Harsha are identical (and this may be presumed in the absence of proof to the contrary), the Naishadhakara could only be living subsequent to the tenth century, or during the last several years of it. The only alteration that will need to be made in determining the poet's date, then, is obviously, therefore, dependent upon how we are disposed to construe the word Nava. If he is made a contemporary of Sahasanka, the question is already answered. Or if it is thought not safe to presume so much, we will add, say the period of one generation, or forty years, or half a century at the utmost (though thirty-three is generally considered as about the proper average). || Even this concession will but bring us to the middle of the eleventh century.
According to Prof. Wilson, Gadhipir is "a' name from which the modern Ghazipur might be supposed to be derived, but which is enumerated by the vocabularies as a synonym of Kanyakubja or Kananj. Sáhasánka also is a name of Vikramaditya;" but he remarks that "neither time nor place allow of the persons being identified in this instance, and some historical notices of the former might possibly be derived from another composition in which Maheswara informs us he had written the history of this primce or Sahasanka Charita.. The period in which the Visva was compiled was one very likely to have been a season of literary patronage at Kanauj, as the Masalman princes of the house of Ghizni and Ghor were for some time, both before and afterwards, fully occupied with those dissensions which gave the Indian sceptre to the latter, and consequently left the Hindu princes in the undisturbed enjoyment of their patrimonial sway, and the tranquil exercise of their privileges."
But, without digressing further, it must be stated that the above passage from Prof. Wilson has thrown a difficulty in our willingness to give unhesitating credit to the fact of Jayanta Chandra's sovereignty at Kanyakubja, and to his patronage
of Sri Harsha (vide Ind. Ant., vol. II., p. 241). 1 A caution must be given here that the above
remarks must be taken with great reserve, because "nava såhäsanka charite, &c. is only one of the two readings which seem to have been current
• Ind. Ant., vol. II., p. 74. 1. See Viśva Koša, verses 4 and 5.
1 See preface to Professor H. H. Wilson's Sanscrit Diotionary, p. 28.
See stanzas 9 and 10, Viśva Kosa. || See DeQuincey's Essay on Style.
TAs a mere etymological speculation, Prof. Wilson suggests the possibility of Sahasanka being a title of Srt Chandradêva, who, according to an inscription published by Mr. Colebrooke (As. Res., vol. IX., 461) founded the ruling dynasty of Kanauj about the end of the eleventh century,
which "realm he acquired by his own strength." On the examination of the passages in italics, he fancies it might be found connected with the name given by MÅhés. wara to S&hasinka, compounded as that is of Sahasa, strength, and anka, mark or distinction.
This seems questionable in the extreme. In the MS. copy in my possession transcribed in a comparatively recent date this stanza reads Te
a , and with a very feasible transposition of letters, viz. f into ft (rachi into chari) the meaning given by Pro. W. is obtain ed. Perhaps by collation of reliable MSS. the truth may be extracted.