Kshemendra (Template:IAST3; Template:Circa) was an 11th-century Sanskrit poet from Kashmir in India.
Biography
Kshemendra was born into an old, cultured, and affluent family.Template:Sfn His father was Prakashendra, a descendant of Narendra who was the minister to Jayapida.Template:Sfn Both his education and literary output were broad and varied. He studied literature under "the foremost teacher of his time, the celebrated Shaiva philosopher and literary exponent Abhinavagupta".Template:Sfn Kshemendra was born a Shaiva, but later became a Vaishnava.Template:Sfn He studied and wrote about both Vaishnavism and Buddhism.Template:Sfn His son, Somendra, provides details about his father in his introduction to the Avadana Kalpalata and other works. Kshemendra refers to himself in his works as Vyasadasa (Template:IAST3; Slave of Vyasa), a title which was perhaps won or adopted after the completion of his Template:IAST.Template:Sfn
Kshemendra was in great demand as a skilled abridger of long texts.Template:Sfn His literary career extended from at least 1037 (his earliest dated work, Brihatkathāmanjari, a verse summary of the lost "Northwestern" Bṛhatkathā; itself a recension of Gunadhya's lost Bṛhatkathā — "Great Story") to 1066 (his latest dated work, Daśavataracharita, "an account of the ten incarnations of the god Template:IAST").Template:Sfn
Extant works
Around eighteen of Kshemendra's works are still extant while fourteen more are known only through references in other literature.Template:Sfn In addition to the genres listed below, he also composed plays, descriptive poems, a satirical novel, a history, and possibly a commentary on the Kāma Sūtra.Template:Sfn
Abridgements
- Ramāyaṇamanjari — Verse abridgement of the Ramayana (Sanskrit)
- Bhāratamanjari — Verse abridgement of the Mahabharata (Sanskrit)
- Brihatkathāmanjari — Verse abridgement of the Brihatkatha (Sanskrit)
Poetics
- Auchitya Vichāra Charchā
- Kavikanthābharaṇa
- Suvrittatilaka
Satires
- Kalāvilasā — "A Dalliance with Deceptions"
- Samaya Mātrikā — "The Courtesan's Keeper" (Sanskrit)
- Narmamālā — "A Garland of Mirth"
- Deśopadeśa — "Advice from the Countryside"
Didactic works
- Nitikalpataru
- Darpadalana
- Chaturvargasaṃgraha
- Chārucharya
- Sevyasevakopadeśa
- Lokaprakāśa
- Stūpavādana — See Saratchandra Das (ed.), 'Stupavadana', Journal and Text of the Buddhist Society of India, vol.11, pt.1, p. 15.
Devotional works
- Avadānakalpalatā — Former lives and good deeds of Buddha (English)
- Daśavataracharita — Ten incarnations of Vishnu (Sanskrit)
Notes
References
- Three Satires: From Ancient Kashmir{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Penguin Books(2011). ISBN 9780143063230
- Indian Kāvya Literature: The art of storytelling{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Motilal Banarsidass(1992). ISBN 9788120806153