S7singh at 16:42, 20 September 2025

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{{Short description|Indian poet}}
{{distinguish|Bhairavi}}
{{use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{use Indian English|date=March 2017}}

'''Bharavi''' ({{IAST|Bhāravi}}) was a 6th century Indian poet known for his epic poem ''[[Kirātārjunīya]]'', one of the six ''[[mahakavya]]s'' in [[classical Sanskrit]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=C. Kunhan Raja|url=http://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.36442|title=Survey of Sanskrit literature|date=1962|publisher=|isbn=|location=|pages=136}}</ref>

== Date ==

According to multiple grant inscriptions of the [[Western Ganga dynasty|Ganga dynasty]], such as the Gummareddipura inscription, the Ganga king [[Durvinita]] wrote a [[Kannada]]-language commentary on the Canto 15 of Bharavi's ''[[Kirātārjunīya]]''.{{sfn|Muddachari|1971|p=128-129}} The date of the Gummareddipura inscription is debated among scholars, but the end of Durvinita's reign is dated to c. 580 CE, which means that Bharavi lived around or before this time.{{sfn|Dixit|1954|p=x}}

''Avanti-sundara-katha'' of [[Daṇḍin|Dandin]] (7th-8th century) suggests that Bharavi was a contemporary of the kings Simha-vishnu, Vishnu-vardhana, and Durvinita; he was also a contemporary of Dandin's fourth-generation ancestor Damodara (see [[#Biography|Biography]] below).{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=4}}{{sfn|Sastri|1927|pp=170-171}} Based on this account, Sanskrit scholar G. Harihara Sastri theorizes prince [[Kubja Vishnuvardhana]] of [[Chalukya dynasty|Chalukya]] family was a patron of Bharavi, before he became the [[Eastern Chalukyas|Eastern Chalukya]] king around c. 615 CE. Sastri thus places Bharavi around the beginning of the 7th century.{{sfn|Sastri|1927|p=171}} According to Indologist [[A. K. Warder]], the Vishnu-vardhana of Dandin's account is more likely to be the 6th-century [[Second Aulikara dynasty|Aulikara]] ruler [[Yashodharman|Yashodharman Vishnu-vardhana]], which places Bharavi's floruit in {{circa|lk=no|530–550 CE}}.<ref name=warder>{{citation | year=2004 | title = Indian Kāvya literature, Part 1 | author1=A. K. Warder | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass | isbn=978-81-208-0445-6 | pages=198–233 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTlLXw46g-cC&pg=PA198}}</ref>{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=6}} Sanskrit professor M.K. Gangopadhyaya similarly places Bharavi around 500-550 CE.{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=6}} According to historian B. Muddachari, Bharavi lived "on either side of the beginning of the 6th century".{{sfn|Muddachari|1971|p=128}}

The [[Aihole inscription]] (634 CE) of the Chalukya king [[Pulakeshin II]] (a brother of Kubja Vishnuvardhana) states that its composer [[Ravikirti]] "attained the fame of [[Kalidasa]] and Bharavi".{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=5}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Sastri |first=Gaurinath |title=A Concise History of Classical Sanskrit Literature |year=1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYxpvZLg4hAC |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0027-4 |page=80 }}</ref> Thus, by 634 CE, Bharavi was acknolwedged as a great poet comparable to the famous Kalidasa.{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=6}}{{sfn|Kale|1998|p=xix}}

== Place ==

Majority of scholars theorize that Bharavi was from the southern region of India. The inscriptions that mention him are from western [[Deccan]] region. R.R. Bhagawat Sastri, who first suggested that Bharavi from southern India, argues that his description of the Sahya mountains (the [[Western Ghats]]) in southern India is vivid and more realistic than his rather fanciful description of the Himalayas in northern India. Mahamahopadhyay Durgaprasada dismisses this argument, pointing out that Ratnakara - a Kashmiri poet from northern India - has described several rivers and mountains of southern India. Gangopadhyaya similarly argues that Bharavi may have simply visited the Sahya mountains at some point in his life. Critics of this theory also point out that Bharavi mentions the Sahya mountains only once, but he has devoted around 52 verses to the Himalayas.{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|pp=6-7}}

== Biography ==

As with most ancient [[Sanskrit]] poets, very few concrete details are available about Bharavi's life. He does not provide any personal information in his only extant work, the ''Kiratarjuniya''. Much of the information about his life comes from legends and stories that are of doubtful historicity.{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=1}}

=== Mention in ''Avanti-sundara-katha-sara'' ===

A historically plausible account of Bharavi is found in ''Avanti-sundari-katha'' and its metrical summary, the ''Avanti-sundari-katha-sara'', both of which are attributed to the 7th-century poet [[Daṇḍin|Dandin]].{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=3}} According to a manuscript of ''Avanti-sundari-katha'' from the Madras Oriental Manuscripts Library, a [[Gandharva]] visitor to the court of the [[Pallava dynasty|Pallava]] king [[Simhavishnu|Simha-vishnu]] narrates a Sanskrit verse to the king. The king is impressed and asks about the composer of the verse, and the visitor provides the following information: the poet Damodara was the son of Narayana-svami, a [[Brahmin]] of [[Kaushika]] [[gotra]]. His ancestors had migrated from [[Anandapura]] in the north-west to [[Achalpur|Achalapura]] in [[Nasikya kingdom|Nasikya]]. The poet was a vegetarian, and considered meat-eating a sin, but had to eat meat during a hunting expedition of his friend prince Vishnu-vardhana. To expiate this sin, he set on a pilgrimage, during which he entered the court of the [[Western Ganga dynasty|Ganga]] king [[Durvinita]].{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=3}}{{sfn|Muddachari|1971|p=126-128}} On hearing this account, King Simha-vishnu invited the poet to his court. The poet, who was around 20 years old at the time, responded after several invitations. The king treated him like a son, and he lived in the company of prince [[Mahendravarman I|Mahendra-vikrama]]. The poet had three sons, and his second son Manoratha had four sons. Manoratha's youngest son Viradatta was the father of Dandin.{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|pp=3-4}}{{sfn|Muddachari|1971|p=126-128}}

''Avanti-sundari-katha'', the original prose is available only in fragments, and various scholars have filled the [[lacuna (manuscripts)|lacunas]] in its manuscript using their own judgment.{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=5}} Sanskrit scholar M. Ramakrishna Kavi theorized that Damodara was an alias of Bharavi, based on a verse in the metrical version ''Avanti-sundari-katha-sara''.{{sfn|Sastri|1927|p=169}} This claim has been repeated by later writers as well.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dhruv Dev Sharma |title=Panorama of Indian Anthroponomy |year=2005| publisher=Mittal |isbn=978-81-8324-078-9 |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a4rccspy46sC&pg=PA117 }}</ref>{{sfn|Krishnamachariar|1989|p=147}}

G. Harihara Sastri dismisses the identification of Bharavi with Damodara, stating that Kavi's interpretation is based on a misreading of the verse, and that the metrical version was apparently written by a later writer. Based on an analysis of palm-leaf manuscript of the ''Avanti-sundari-katha'', Sastri concludes that Dandin's text states that "Damodara, associating himself with Bharavi, the great [[Shaivism|Śaivite]] and the fountain of the Muse, allied himself by ties of friendship with the prince Viṣṇuvardhana".{{sfn|Sastri|1927|pp=169-170}} Dandin states that Damodara wrote the ''Gandha-madana'' and a treatise on poetics (in Sanskrit and Prakrit) under the patronage of king Simha-vishnu. However, Bharavi is known to have composed only ''Kiratarjuniya'', which further suggests that Damodara and Bharavi were two different persons.{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=5}}

Thus, all that can be inferred from Dandin's text is that Bharavi was a Shaivite, a great poet, and a courtier of Vishnu-vardhana; and that he introduced another poet named Damodara to Vishnu-vardhana.{{sfn|Sastri|1927|pp=169-170}}{{sfn|Muddachari|1971|p=128}}{{sfn|Krishnamachariar|1989|p=149}}

=== Other accounts ===

According to one legend, Bharavi was a poor poet. After his wife rebuked him for not making money, he decided to seek royal patronage. During his journey to the royal capital, he stopped by a lake and wrote a verse encouraging the reader to not perform any act rashly. The king, who had come there during a hunting excursion, read the verse and impressed, invited Bharavi to the royal palace. However, when Bharavi arrived at the palace, a royal employee turned him away, disgusted by his poor appearance. Meanwhile, the king had inscribed the verse in gold in his bedroom. One day, he found his queen laying in the bed with a young man. He became enraged and was about to kill the two, when he saw the verse inscribed on the wall, and stopped. The queen then introduced the young man as their long lost son. The king was happy to find an heir to the throne; he found the poet and rewarded him lavishly.{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|pp=1-2}}

Yet another legend describes Bharavi as a contemporary of Kalidasa and Dandin, stating that all three poets enjoyed the patronage of king [[Vikramaditya|Vikrama]] in [[Kanchi]].{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|pp=2-3}}

Gangopadhyaya describes both these legends as "absurd and useless".{{sfn|Gangopadhyaya|1991|p=2}}

==Work==
{{main|Kirātārjunīya}}
Bharavi's only known work is ''[[Kirātārjunīya]]'', an eighteen canto epic poem, the story for which comes from the ''[[Mahabharata|Mahābhārata]].'' ''[[Kirātārjunīya]]'' "is regarded to be the most powerful poem in the Sanskrit language".<ref>{{citation | year=2002 | title = Encyclopaedia of teaching history | author1=M.P. Singh | publisher=Anmol | isbn=978-81-261-1243-2 | page=297 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Td-hg719PNUC&dq=kiratarjunia&pg=PA297}}</ref> [[A. K. Warder]] considers it the "most perfect epic available to us", over [[Aśvaghoṣa]]'s [[Buddhacharita]], noting his greater force of expression, with more concentration and polish in every detail. Despite using extremely difficult language and rejoicing in the finer points of [[Sanskrit grammar]], he achieves conciseness and directness. His alliteration, "crisp texture of sound", and choice of [[Sanskrit metre|metre]] closely correspond to the narrative.<ref name=warder/>

His poetry is characterised by its intricate styles and ethereal expressions. Like [[Kalidasa]] for his similes (''upamā'') and [[Daṇḍin]] for his wordplay (''padalālityam''), Bharavi is known for his "weight of meaning" (''arthagauravam'').{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

It is thought that Bharavi's Kiratarjuniya influenced the 8th century CE poet [[Magha (poet)|Magha]]'s Shishupala Vadha.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Das |first=Sisir Kumar |title=A history of Indian literature, 500-1399 : from courtly to the popular |date=2005 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |others=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=81-260-2171-3 |location=New Delhi |oclc=235946715}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Dixit |first=S.V. |title=Kirātārjunīyam of Bhāravi: Cantos I-III |year=1954 |publisher=Nirnayasagara Mudranalaya |oclc= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiVNngEACAAJ }}
* {{cite book |last=Gangopadhyaya |first=Mrinal Kanti |title=Bharavi |series=Makers of Indian literature |year=1991 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=9788172010645 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=it1jAAAAMAAJ }}
* {{cite book |last=Kale |first=M.R. |title=The Kirātārjunīyam of Bhāravi: Cantos I-III |year=1998 |orig-year=1966 |edition=Fourth |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=81-208-0573-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MPVj2Uc5YkEC }}
* {{cite book |last=Krishnamachariar |first=Madabhushi |title=History of Classical Sanskrit Literature |edition=Third |year=1989 |orig-year=1974 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |pages=147–148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4dVRvVyHaiQC&pg=PA149 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Muddachari |first=B. |title=Durvinita - A Man of Letters |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=33 |year=1971 |pages=126–130 |jstor=44145322 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Sastri |first=G. Harihara |title=Bharavi and Daṇḍin |journal=Indian Historical Quarterly |volume=III |year=1927 |pages=169–171 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.33111/page/n181/mode/2up }}
{{refend}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bharavi}}
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Sanskrit poets]]
[[Category:6th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:6th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Pallava poets]]
[[Category:Western Ganga dynasty]]

Bharavi - Revision history

S7singh at 16:42, 20 September 2025