AVANTI SUNDARI

 

                                          "Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra Devata,                                                                                       yatraitaastu na pujyante sarvaastatrafalaah kriyaah"                                                                      

is a famous sloka taken from Manusmruthi which means where Women are honored, divinity blossoms there, and where women are dishonored, all action no matter how noble remain unfruitful.

Women must be honored and adorned by their fathers, brothers, husbands, and brothers-in-law, who desire (their own) welfare.

The only daughter is like ten sons. The result of the upbringing of ten sons is achieved only by the nurturing of the girl.

The incomparable radiance that was born from all gods and pervaded the 3 worlds, came to one place and took the form of a woman.

Where the female relations live in grief, the family soon wholly perishes; but that family where they are not unhappy ever prospers.

The houses on which female relations, not being duly honored, pronounce a curse, perish completely, as if destroyed by magic.

Men who seek (their own) welfare, should always honor women on festivals with (gifts of) ornaments, clothes, and (dainty) food.

These are the Sanskrit wise sayings glorify the greatness of women, their power and the indispensable presence.

Hence, I am being a Sanskrit professor, wishing to share the great women characters found in Sanskrit literature

AVANTI-SUNDARI  AN ACCOMPLISHED WOMAN

Avantisundari, an accomplished Chahamana or Chauhan princess, was a rhetorician, poet and writer. She inspired her husband Rajashekhara, a court poet of the Gurjara Pratihara King Mahendravarman and later of the Kalachuri King Yuvaraj I. 

Avantisundari wrote in Sanskrit and Prakrit and her views on aesthetics were treated with respect. Her husband cited her views on poetics in his famous work Kavya-mimansa.

According to her, a poetical composition that gives pleasure to connoisseurs should be looked upon as perfect. Though she and her husband had different views, they nevertheless seem to have been able to work and write together. 

Rajashekhara quotes Avantisundari as saying that a suitable subject for poetry is made so by the possession of several traits or qualities, and that the expression of one or more of these traits constitutes the style and eloquence of a poet. 

Three of Avantisundari’s stanzas are cited in Hemchandra’s Desi-naamamaalaa, where the meanings of certain Prakrit expressions are illustrated. 

Unfortunately no more of her work has been discovered.

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