https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=KalhanaKalhana - Revision history2026-08-01T00:13:56ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Kalhana&diff=449767&oldid=prevCleanupBot at 06:34, 22 March 20262026-03-22T06:34:21Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Kashmiri poet and chronicler}}<br />
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{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}<br />
'''Kalhana''' (c. 12th century) was the author of ''[[Rajatarangini]]'' (''River of Kings''), an account of the [[History of Jammu and Kashmir|history of Kashmir]]. He wrote the work in [[Sanskrit]] between 1148 and 1149.<ref>Stein, Vol. 1, p. 15.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Editorial Staff |date=2025-02-04 |title=The Life and Legacy of Pandit Kalhana and the Historical Significance of Rajtarangini in Kashmiri History |url=https://azaditimes.com/history/the-life-and-legacy-of-pandit-kalhana-and-the-historical-significance-of-rajtarangini-in-kashmiri-history/ |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=The Azadi Times |language=en-US}}</ref> All information regarding his life has to be deduced from his own writing, a major scholar of which is [[Aurel Stein|Mark Aurel Stein]]. Robin Donkin has argued that with the exception of Kalhana, "there are no [native Indian] literary works with a developed sense of chronology, or indeed much sense of place, before the thirteenth century".<ref>Donkin, p. 152.</ref><br />
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==Life==<br />
{{History of Kashmir}}<br />
{{History of India}}<br />
Kalhana was born in a [[Hindu]] [[Brahmin]] family to a Kashmiri minister, Chanpaka, who probably served king Harsha of the [[Lohara dynasty]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kalhana | title=Kalhana &amp;#124; Kashmir Brahman |work=Encyclopædia Britannica }}</ref> It is possible that his birthplace was [[Parihaspore]] and his birth would have been very early in the 12th century. The introductory verses to each of the eight Books in his ''Rajatarangini'' are prefaced with prayers to [[Shiva]], a Hindu deity. In common with many Hindus in Kashmir at that time, he was also sympathetic to Buddhism, and Buddhists tended to reciprocate this feeling towards Hindus.<ref>Stein, Vol. 1, pp. 6-9, 15.</ref> Even in relatively modern times, Buddha's birthday has been a notable event for Kashmiri Brahmins and well before Kalhana's time Buddha had been accepted by Hindus as an [[avatar]] of [[Vishnu]].<ref>Stein, Vol. 1, p. 9.</ref><br />
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Kalhana was familiar with earlier epics such as the ''Vikramankadevacharita'' of [[Bilhana]], the ''[[Ramayana]]'' and the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', to all of which he alludes in his own writings.<ref>Stein, Vol. 1, pp. 10-11.</ref> However, his own writings did not employ what Stein has described as "the very redundant praise and flattery which by custom and literary tradition Indian authors feel obliged to bestow on their patrons". From this comes Stein's deduction that Kalhana was not a part of the circle surrounding Jayasimha, the ruling monarch at the time when he was writing the ''Rajatarangini''.<ref>Stein, Vol. 1, p. 17.</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Dynasties of Ancient Kashmir]]<br />
*[[Historiography of India]]<br />
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==References==<br />
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==Bibliography==<br />
*{{cite book |first=Mark Aurel |last=Stein |title=Kalhana's Rajatarangini: a chronicle of the kings of Kasmir, Volume 1 |edition=Reprinted |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1989 |orig-year=1900 |isbn=978-81-208-0369-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dfT2D8mnukC |access-date=2011-07-11 |ref=Stein1900V1}}<br />
*{{cite book |first=Mark Aurel |last=Stein |title=Kalhana's Rajatarangini: a chronicle of the kings of Kasmir, Volume 2 |edition=Reprinted |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1989 |orig-year=1900 |isbn=978-81-208-0370-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KzxTkI9iAxkC |access-date=2011-07-10 |ref=Stein1900V2}}<br />
*{{cite journal |journal=Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society |volume=224 |year=1998 |title=Beyond price: pearls and pearl-fishing: origins to the age of discoveries |first1=Robin A. |last1=Donkin |publisher=American Philosophical Society |isbn=978-0-87169-224-5 |author-link=Robin Donkin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=leHFqMQ9mw8C}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
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*Dhar, K. N. [http://www.koausa.org/Glimpses/Kalhana.html ''Kalhana - The Chronicler''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311012500/http://koausa.org/glimpses/kalhana.html |date=11 March 2016 }}. Retrieved on 15 November 2008.<br />
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[[Category:Historians of India]]<br />
[[Category:12th-century Indian historians]]<br />
[[Category:Kashmiri male writers]]<br />
[[Category:12th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian male writers]]<br />
[[Category:Scholars from Jammu and Kashmir]]<br />
[[Category:Kashmiri Hindu people]]</div>CleanupBot