Kalhana’s chronicle has attracted much western attention. Dr. Wilson, General Cunningham, Professor G. Buhler are the leading western scholars who felt attracted by Kalhana’s chronicle, The Rajatarangini or the “River of Kings” by Pandit Kalhana is the most earliest history of Kashmir. It is a historical poem, which was written between 1148 and 1150 A.D. The book provides valuable social and political information about Kashmir and the rest of India. This chronicle of Kalhana has helped many Indian Scholars to fix the dates of Kashmir history and that of India also. The book is written in Sanskrit language and has been translated into many languages by many scholars and translators. The first translation of a portion of the Rajatarangini was carried out in Persian, at the behest of Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin (1421-1472) A.D of Kashmir. The version was entitled Behr-ul-Asmar, (or the sea of tales). When Jalal-u-din Akbar conquered Kashmir, he commanded Abdul Kadir Al-Badaoni, in 1594 A.D. to complete the translation. Abul Fazal included a summary of the ancient history of Kashmir in his Ain-i-Akbari and confessed that Kalhana was the source of his information about Kashmir. During Emperor Jehangir’s rule, Malik Haider came out with an abridged edition of the Rajatarangini in Persian in 1617 A.D. Sir William Jones, the pioneer of European Sanskrit Studies, had declared in the Asiatic Researches at the beginning of the 19th century that he was intending to make the Kashmiri Sanskrit material as the source of the history of India but he could not keep his promise due to his untimely demise. A lot of textual material was obtained by Moorcroft who came to Srinagar in 1823 A.D with the permission of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and had a Devanagiri script prepared from an old sharda manuscript. This became the basis of an edition of the Rajatarangini which was published in Calcutta (Kolkatta) under the auspices of the Asiatic society of Bengal in 1835 A.D. Dr. Horace Hayman Wilson published his “Essay on the Hindu History of Cashmir”, which contained a critical summary of the first six parts (tarangas) of the Rajatarangini. It familiarized European historians for the first time with the important work of Kalhana. The original Sanskrit text was drawn from the first complete translation of the Rajatarangini and it was published in French in 1852 A.D. A. Troyer, a Frenchman was the translator who had made the same materials as those used at Calcutta (Kolkatta) in 1835 A.D as the basis of his translation. Jogesh Chunder Dutt used the Calcutta (Kolkatta) edition for the translation of the chronicle into English which was entitled “Kings of Kashmira”. The deep interest of scholars, writers and translators in the Rajatarangini continues without any break and even in modern times people are interested in its translation. The most important among the Europeans was M. A. Stein who made many tours to Kashmir and came to Know about the ancient book which had been written by a Kashmiri scholar, Pandit Rajnaka Ratnakanta, probably about the third quarter of the 17th century. Stein was assisted by Pandit Govind Kaul of Srinagar and he studied not only the old Sanskrit texts but the characteristic traditions of Kashmir. His Sanskrit text was published in 1892 A.D and he translated the Rajatarangini into English prose in 1900. And at the same time, Pandit Durga Prasad of Kashmir, also brought out his edition. The most important translation of Rajatarangini was done by R. S. Pandit, who generally followed the Sanskrit text of Stein, with frequent references to the critical edition of Pandit Durga Prasad. About R. S. Pandit’s translation of the Rajatarangini, Jawaharlal Nehru said, “It is history and it is a poem, though the two perhaps go ill together and in a translation especially we have to suffer for this combination. It is a story of medieval times and often enough it is not a pleasant story. _____________________ And yet Kalhana’s book is something for more than a record of King’s doings. It is a rich storehouse of information, political, social and to same extent, economic”. The book of Kalhana deals with the history of Kashmir up to 1150 A.D and large portions of history of Kashmir deal with the events that took place in Kalhana’s own time. Kalhana describes what he himself experienced and witnessed on the political and social front of Kashmir. His information about the geography of Kashmir has become a source of information for Kashmiris who now know much about their valley. The translations of different authors signify that Kalhana was a knowledgeable man and his ideas about the people and their manners show his own personality.
The obscurity and indistinctness in the narrative of the translation reflects vagueness in Kalhana’s book itself. The narrative is such as, if Kalhana was writing for the readers who were well acquainted with the Kashmir of his day. However, with regard to the topography of Kashmir, local references seem to be exact and clear. In spite of the shortcomings, the Rajatarangini is an important historical commentary with regard to the past of Kashmir and though Kalhana has given a wonderful picture of our native land with rise and fall of empires, the conflict of different races, cultures and civilizations yet it cannot be delineated as the most authentic history of Kashmir due its abstruseness and fragmentized historical dates and incidents.
We also come to know that Kashmir was a place of Kings and rulers and hence the intrigues and strife’s were the part of the game. The translation of the chronicle makes it explicitly clear that Kalhana did not hold any office under any of the rulers he saw or witnessed. On the contrary, his father Canpaka enjoyed high position in Harsha’s rule. The chronicle does not have any clue wherein it could be found that Kalhana was patronized by any ruler as a poet or historian and there are no references which can show that he wrote has compositions on the instructions of Jayasimha in whose rule he completed his book. He, however, describes the defects and follies of certain rulers and praises other rulers for their qualities. The translation of the chronicle depicts Kashmiris in their real colour and at times one comes to know that Kashmiris lacked physical and moral courage, the fact which the other historians have also highlighted in their compositions. translation Kalhana enlightens that besides merchants, traders and agriculturists, the Kashmiri society was full of teachers, astrologers, physicians, labourers, artisans, soldiers and carters, workers of water wheels and hand mills and there were divisions and sub-divisions among these classes of people according to their professions. The Rajatarangini gives an impression that Kashmiri women received a liberal atmosphere and education in their parent’s house. They could speak Sanskrit and Prakrit languages fluently. Kalhana’s chronicle proves that there was no seclusion of women, nor were they segregated or veiled in any way. They were queens also and took active part in the affairs of the government. Even women of lower status also took an active part in the affairs of the state and more importantly, were not discriminated on the basis of sex. The chronicle also states that there were instances of immorality prevailing among some classes of women. The custom of dedicating girls (devadasies) to temples for singing and dancing was prevalent in Kashmir also. The Chronicle also elucidates that the Kashmiris were highly superstitious like Indians in India. They believed in black magic, and sorcery affecting the lives of human beings and thereby shewing that there was wide spread witchcraft and necromancy in Kashmir. The Chronicle is an important historical record of Kashmiris, which gives a detailed account about the Kings, masses and olden times of Kashmir. The Chronicle can be called as a valuable contribution to the history of Kashmir as well as to the literature of Kashmir. It makes amply clear that Kalhana was not only a historian but also a poet of par-excellence and his Rajatarangini is more than an account of the rulers of the Kings of Kashmir. The translation of Chronicle augments that that it serves moral lessons indicating that Kalhana was of the belief that the glories of the world were transitory and there must be a moral code of conduct in everything. In the 8th canto or part itself, he says, “Shadow is itself unrestrained in its path while sunshine, as an incident of its own nature, is pursued a hundredfold by nuance. Thus is sorrow from happiness a thing apart; the scope of happiness, however, is hampered by the aches and hurts of endless sorrow”. The translation brings to our notice that the Chronicle suffers from many drawbacks. There are no accurate dates of the rulers and one cannot believe that the names of the rulers can be also authentic. The translation signifies the contemporary events and at the same time indicates that the Chronicle is full of obscurities and ambiguities in terms of the narrative and construction of certain ideas. The obscurity and indistinctness in the narrative of the translation reflects vagueness in Kalhana’s book itself. The narrative is such as, if Kalhana was writing for the readers who were well acquainted with the Kashmir of his day. However, with regard to the topography of Kashmir, local references seem to be exact and clear. In spite of the shortcomings, the Rajatarangini is an important historical commentary with regard to the past of Kashmir and though Kalhana has given a wonderful picture of our native land with rise and fall of empires, the conflict of different races, cultures and civilizations yet it cannot be delineated as the most authentic history of Kashmir due its abstruseness and fragmentized historical dates and incidents.
(The author is a freelancer. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
