SANSKRIT IN KASHMIR REGION

        

The most outstanding contribution of Kashmir to the rich and varied cultural heritage of India has been the development and spread of the Sanskrit language and literature. Almost the entire body of Sanskrit literature has had its origins in Kashmir.

Besides Rajatarangini of Kalhana, the history of Kashmir is enshrined in three other Sanskrit works of Jonaraja, Srivasa, Prajyabhatta and Suka.

Ancient writers in Sanskrit:-

Charaka 300 BC. One of the most important authors in Ayurveda. Charaka, also known as Charaka Muni or Agnivesa, was an ancient Indian physician and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a traditional system of medicine that originated in India more than 5,000 years ago.  He was also known as the court physician during the reign of the famous king Kanishka of Kushan Empire.

Vishnu Sharma the author of Panchatantram was an Indian scholar and author who was lived in the period from 200 BCE to 300 CE. Some scholars place him in the 3rd century BCE. Vishnu Sharman was one of the most widely translated non-religious authors in history. The Panchatantra was translated into Pahlavi in 570 CE by Borz ya and into Arabic in 750 CE by Persian scholar Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa as Kal lah wa Dimnah (Arabic: ). In Baghdad, the translation commissioned by Al-Mansur, the second Abbasid Caliph, is claimed to have become "second only to the Qu'ran in popularity".  As early as the eleventh century this work reached Europe, and before 1600 it existed in Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, German, English, Old Slavonic, Czech, and perhaps other Slavonic languages. Its range has extended from Java to Iceland.  In France, "at least eleven Panchatantra tales are included in the work of La Fontaine.

Vagbhata the author of Ashtangajrudayam 7th century, considered one of the 'trinity' with   Charaka and Sushruta of Ayurveda.

Jayanta Bhatta, c. 9th century was the author of NyayaManjari, an independent treatise on the Nyaya system together with incidental comments on the Nyayasutra of Gautama.  His another work Nyayakalika contains an enumeruttikara.  He was earliest wroter to adopt the literary style for sastric subjects.

AbhinavaGupta 950-1016 CE was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.

Abhinavagupta was born in a Brahmin family of scholars and mystics who whose ancestors immigrated from Kannauj by the great king of Kashmira, Lalitaditya Muktapida. He studied all the schools of philosophy and art of his time under the guidance of as many as fifteen (or more) teachers and gurus.   In his long life he completed over 35 works, the largest and most famous of which is Tantrāloka, an encyclopedic treatise on all the philosophical and practical aspects of Kaula and Trika (known today as Kashmir Shaivism). Another one of his very important contributions was in the field of philosophy of aesthetics with his famous Abhinavabhāratī commentary of Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata Muni.

Kshemendra 990-1070 CE was an 11th-century Sanskrit polymath-poet, satirist, philosopher, historian, dramatist, translator and art-critic from Kashmir in India.  Around eighteen of Kshemendra's works are still extant while fourteen more are known only through references in other literature. 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.

His Abridgements are:-

Ramāyaṇamanjari-Verse abridgement of the Ramayana (Sanskrit)

Bhāratamanjari-Verse abridgement of the Mahabharata (Sanskrit)

Brihatkathāmanjari-Verse abridgement of the Brihatkatha (Sanskrit)

Poetics are:-

Auchitya Vichāra Charchā, Kavikanthābharaṇa, Suvrittatilaka.

Satires are:-

Kalāvilasā - "A Dalliance with Deceptions"

Samaya Mātrikā - "The Courtesan's Keeper" (Sanskrit)

Narmamālā - "A Garland of Mirth"

Deśopadeśa - "Advice from the Countryside"

Didactic works are:-

Nitikalpataru, Darpadalana, Chaturvargasaṃgraha, Chārucharya,

Sevyasevakopadeśa, Lokaprakāśa and Stūpāvadāna.

Devotional works are:-

Avadānakalpalatā - Former lives and good deeds of Buddha (English)

Daśavataracharita - Ten incarnations of Vishnu (Sanskrit)

Historical Work:- Nrpavali

Jalhana 12th century, the author of Mugdhopadesa (not to be confused with Jalhana who commissioned the Suktimuktavali)

Sarangadeva 13th century, a musicologist, wrote Sangita Ratnakara, one of the most important text when it comes to Indian music.