Hiya singh at 13:46, 27 March 2026

2026-03-27T13:46:28Z

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{{short description|Sanskrit poet}}
'''Kumāradāsa''' is the author of a [[Sanskrit]] ''Mahākāvya'' called the ''Jānakī-haraṇa'' or Jānakī's abduction. ''Jānakī'' is another name of [[Sita]], wife of [[Rama]]. Sita was abducted by [[Ravana]] when she along with the Rama, exiled from his kingdom, and [[Lakshmana]] was living in a forest which incident is taken from [[Ramayana]] ('Rama's Journey'), the great [[Hindu]] [[Epic (genre)|epic]] written by [[Valmiki]].

The [[Sinhalese language|Sinhalese]] translation of his work, ''Jānakī-haraṇa'', gave credence to the belief that Kumāradāsa was King [[Kumara Dhatusena of Anuradhapura|Kumāradhātusena]] (513-522 A.D.) of [[Sri Lanka]] but most scholars do not make any such identification even though the poet at the end of his poem says that his father, Mānita, a commander of the rearguard of the Sinhalese King Kumāramaṇi, died in battle on the day he was born and that his maternal uncles, Megha and Agrabodhi, brought him up. [[Rajashekhara (Sanskrit poet)|Rajasekhara]], who lived around 900 A.D., in his ''Kāvyamīmāmsā'' refers to the poet as born blind - मेधाविरुद्रकुमारदासादयः जात्यन्धाः. There is also a tradition that this poem was written by [[Kalidasa]]. Kumāradāsa came after Kalidasa and lived around 500 A.D., later than [[Bharavi|Bhāravi]] but before [[Magha (poet)|Māgha]]. While writing ''Jānakī-haraṇa'', he certainly had before him ''[[Raghuvaṃśa]]'' of Kalidasa.<ref>{{cite book|title=Janakiharana of Kumaradasa: A Study|author=C.R. Swaminathan(ed. V. Raghavan)|date=December 2000|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|pages=19–30|isbn=9788120809758|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cbqo4PshqQcC&dq=janakiharana&pg=PR21}}</ref> Another legend recounts that Kālidāsa visits his friend Kumāradāsa, the king of Ceylon (modern day Lanka) and is murdered by a courtesan and overwhelmed with grief, Kumāradāsa also threw himself to the funeral pyre of Kālidāsa.<ref name=academi>{{cite web |title=About Kalidasa |url=http://www.kalidasaakademi.nic.in/About_Kalidasa/about_kalidasa.html |publisher=Kalidasa Academi |access-date=30 December 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728012216/http://www.kalidasaakademi.nic.in/About_Kalidasa/about_kalidasa.html |archive-date=28 July 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In his "Survey of Sanskrit Literature", about Kumāradāsa and ''Jānakī-haraṇa'' (20 Cantos), which poem the poet is believed to have written during his stay in [[Kanchipuram]] where he lived,<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sunday Times March 25, 2012 - Plus-Letters to the Editor|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/120325/Plus/plus_03.html|quote=It is time we revived the ancient fraternal ties..}}</ref> C. Kunhan Raja Ph.D. says:

:"In language, in the metres that he adopts, in the descriptions, in the entire technique of the epic, the influence which Kālidāsa must have exerted on the poet is quite plain…….he is quite original in his presentation of the theme…..He must have been a great scholar and grammarian…. he is never pedantic in his use of the language. He ranks as among the best poets, and in tradition, he is brought into an equal position with Kālidāsa and ''Raghuvaṃśa''."<ref>{{cite book|title=Survey of Sanskrit Literature 1962 Ed.|author= C. Kunhan Raja Ph.D.|year= 1962|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|page=135|isbn= 9780842600286|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hutjAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

A verse in the Subhāṣita-ratna-kośa refers to Kumāradāsa's Jānakī-haraṇa:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|sa-Latn|jānakī-haraṇaṃ kartuṃ
raghuvaṃśe puraḥsthite /
kaviḥ kumāradāso vā
rāvaṇo vā yadi kṣamaḥ //}}
|
To have produced an Abduction of Sita,
When the Dynasty of Raghu was present before him —
One must have been Kumāradāsa
or else been Rāvaṇa.}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Sanskrit poets]]
[[Category:Epic poets]]
[[Category:Kalidasa]]

Kumaradasa - Revision history

Hiya singh at 13:46, 27 March 2026