Contribution of Kalhana as a historian.

 

Introduction

·      It is one of the most important earliest Sanskrit works, written in 12^th century which has elements of scientific historiography. It is written in poetic form, in 8 books (tarang).

·       It generally records the heritage of Kashmir, since the geological age, but a major chunk discusses the misrule prevailing in Kashmir, before the Muslim invasion.

Why in Kashmir?

·  Kashmir had distinct geographical features and was kind of excluded from the mainland, hence maintained a separate cultural identity with a strong regionalism. Moreover its proximity to Central Asia and China would have also contributed to it as these civilizations had traditions of history writings.

·     Development of Buddhism: Buddhism which has struck roots in Kashmir has a much stronger tradition of historiography than Hinduism.

·   Disclaimer: During the period, due to feudalism, regional feeling was strong elsewhere as well. Such attempts to write local chronicles (गाथागीत) were initiated in other regions as well, but what differentiates Kalhana is his historical sense.

Motivation and his views on History

·       Kalhana was of the view that ancient history written by the authors of that age lacks authenticity. They just used to write some facts based on eulogy to please their patrons. According to him narration of events was not the true way of writing history. It was just like a chronicle with no validity.

·       He believe the poet(historian) as an exponent of moral maxims and want the people to learn from their mistakes.

·       He was writing during a very turbulent period. Harsha’s reign has ended and it was a period of wars and struggles. By writing he wanted to point that all earthly possessions and pleasures are useless.

Importance

·       His sources vary from literary sources such as Nipravaly by Kshemendra, Parthivavali by Helaraja and based his work on Harishchandra, Brihat Samhita and local ‘rajkathas’. He displays surprising advanced technical expertise for unconventional sources such as epigraphic sources, coins, monumental remains, family records and local traditions.

·       He never shows any ruler in either black or white but gives a detailed and objective analysis. Kalhana was different from other raso writers in the sense that he probably didn't have the patronage of any ruler. That is why his work could rise above the petty nature of his contemporaries.

·   His works were continued by Akbar, Rajtarangini by Jonaraja etc but they are much inferior. He mentions his sources in detail. He mentions the 11 scholars who gave him the family tree of Kashmir rulers. He mentions the legends, myths, folklore etc. wherever he had to rely on it.

Content

·    Political: He describes in detail the misrule that was prevailing in Kashmir. Local feudal elements (Damras) have become very strong and were trying to destabilize the throne.  Hence, he says that king should be strong and must ensure that there is no concentration of wealth even in the villages, lest they challenge the royal authority.

·       Administration: He has severely criticized the bureaucracy, most of whom were Kayastha and alleges that they were behind most of the conspiracies against the King.

·       Society: He also describes the social life, with rich drinking perfumed wines and eating meat, while poor surviving on wild vegetables. It says Harsha introduced a general dress in Kashmir of long coats.

·       Economy:  He has given a striking description of agriculture and water works such as dams to prevent landslide, which were supervised by a minister of Avantivarman. This led to subsequent economic prosperity of Kashmir and it led to withdrawal of Kashmir from the plains politics since the need to move there was lessened.

Limitations

·       In the opening chapters, he comes as a mere presenter of folklore and is not very sure of the dates. This is because the sources that he was referring to were not historical. His work is divided into 8 parts. First 3 cover history of more than 3000 years which mainly rely on Puranas and legends. His real historiography only begins from 4^th part and in 4^th - 6^th he covers the Karkota and Utpal rulers.

·     One of the limitations is his strong feeling of regionalism. He includes all the important monarchs as ruler of Kashmir (eg Maurya).

·       He shows a feeling of favoritism towards Brahmins.