Sanskrit historical tradition: Rajatarangini of Kalhana

Raziuddin Aquil

The partisan historians and political propagandists are involved in a circuitous debate on the historicity and dating of Sanskrit epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. These classical texts are read like scriptures by sections of the believing masses and, though full of myths and legends, are celebrated as presenting an accurate account of India’s distant past. The intertwined aspects of religion and history are part of popular-devotional memory for close to two millennia. Historians subscribing to modern, scientific and rational historical methods should recognize this as a fait accompli. A more serious appreciation of India’s early history demands that attempts are made instead to read Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, which offers a most fascinating example of history-writing in Sanskrit in the form of poetry, kavya, written in Kashmir in the middle of the 12th century.

Indeed, if historians are seriously interested in exploring the notions of truth, chronologically arranged fine narrative of verifiable events of historical importance, surprisingly objective and un-biased accounts of matters involving even religious attitudes, and deploying a whole range of source-material as evidence, they can learn from the Rajatarangini of Kalhana, at least in terms of understanding the method and practice of a historian of early medieval India, sounding completely modern, except that he wrote in Sanskrit and in the form of poetry. Unfortunately, Kalhana’s text is not taken seriously by interested parties because of its non-religious and non-sectarian approach and it remains largely un-politicized despite a few motivated translations, primarily in English. The author belonged to a Brahmin family of considerable political clout and is yet free from any prejudices against say Buddhists and Jains who were otherwise at the receiving end of brahminical re-assertion in the period. In fact, Kalhana seamlessly transcends between early Hindu-mythic times and legends and a more credible specificity of Buddhist narratives in the latter part of his work.

It is important to recognize that Kalhana’s history was not just a one-off example of a historical text oddly emerging from nowhere. The genre of historical tradition, styled as rajatarangini, witnessed a number of scholars displaying their excellent expertise and it continued even under Muslim rulers all the way to the 16th century; the subsequent period also witnessed Persian and Urdu histories being modelled on the older Sanskrit form. Kalhana has written that he was wholly dissatisfied with the well-known works of history which were in circulation in his time – full of defects, ranging from limited source-base and missing chapters to factual inaccuracies and biased interpretations.

On his part, Kalhana was able to unearth neglected or even almost-lost sources relating to older kings, accessed all possible government documents, deployed tantalizing art-historical methods to study existing visual materials, and produce a brand new narrative of political and cultural significance with some candid observations on artistic language of poetry as the vehicle of sound political and cultural history. In his first chapter, taranga, Kalhana not only forgrounded his recovery of the lost rule of some 52 kings of Kashmir, which could help re-jig the chronology of India’s ancient past, but also criticized the then prevalent assumption on the correct date of the battle of Mahabharata.

Kalhana insisted that only an accomplished poet can produce a fine narrative of a historical past in the language intelligible in the present; kavya-amrit or rasa being superior to the usual amrit, and assured the readers that they will relish the shaant-rasa running through his text and sounding like music to the discerning ears. He also writes that catering to the taste of general readers interesting anecdotes have also been narrated at appropriate places, though he has cut-down the details for want of space. He pleads that his new interpretation or sort of ‘revisionist’ work on the history of Kashmir and by implication of the whole of India should not be dismissed as unimportant before reading or listening to it.

Of many things that Kalhana has observed regarding matters of current political interests, two may be mentioned here. First, he says, from time to time the country witnesses the rise of such blessed-souls as kings that their very presence leads to the removal of social-conflicts. The rulers who torture the subject, just vanish from the earth. By contrast, those who restore peace and prosperity in a backward country are able to perpetuate their rule and provide a stable government over a long period of time. He adds that people should learn about the distinctive character of kings of yore and back future rulers of the country accordingly. Second, and this seems extremely relevant at present, Kalhana has remarked that the people of Kashmir fear God, not any enemy, and added that they can be won over on the moral strength of good governance, and not through violent use of arms: vijiyate punyabalaibaralaiyartu na shastrinaam.