Page:Kalhana's Rajatarangini Vol 1.djvu/32

 Cheracter and scope of Kalhana’s Chronicle.

4 INTRODUCTION. [Prelim,

dependent more than any other branch of Indian scholarship—for as such we must class it—on courtly patronage. If then the Kavi had enough criginality to choose his theme outside the hackneyed spheres of mythology and romance, what subject more suitable could he find than the life of the ruler who waa likely to reward hig Isbours?

This restriction of the subject of the historical Kavya has effected in two directions its value as a source of historical information, The fact that it treats of contemporary events i ese an undoubted ae But. this is impaired to no small extent by the obvious limitations implied by the penegyrical character of these poems. As the events described are supose to be well known to the reader, the author's skill is not directed towards a lucid exposition of the facts and their causes, but rather towards their poetic embellishment. Hence results a striking want of accurate details without which the narrative cannot attain true historic reality, and an equally striking abundance of obscure allusions, the point of which aust necessarily often escape us.

This character of the Caritas directly accounts for their rare preservation, Written for the delectation of a particular court and period, they were bound soon to lose popularity if they ever attained it, When no longer read by the Pandits, these works ceased to be copied, and the few extant manuscripts were exposed to all the risks attending Indian libraries. We can hence scarcely feel surprised that 80 few only of these texts should have come down to us.!

The interest of Kalhaua’s RayataRaNaryt for Indian history generally lies in the fact that it represents a class of Sanskrit composition which comes nearest in character to the Chronicles of Mediseval Europe and of the Muhammadan East. Together with the later Kasmir Chronicles which continue Kalhana’s narrative, it ig practically the sole extant specimen of this class,

A Kavya in form and paaiee the Rajatarangini has yet a scope and aim widely different from that of the Caritas we have previously noticed. Its author's object, is to offer a connected narrative of the various dynasties which ruled Kaémir from the earliest period down to his own time. He begins with the legends which represent the popular traditions of the country regarding its earliest history. These he follows up by a narrative of subsequent reigns taken from older written records and arranged in a strictly chronological order. ‘The final portion of the work, consider- able both in extent and historical interest, is devoted to an account of the events which the author knew by personal experience or from the relation of living witnesses. These events are narrated from the point of view of a more or less independent Chronicler and by no means with the purely panegyrical object: of the court-poet, which reigns supreme in the Caritas,

elhans nowhere claims the merit of originelity for the plan and form of his York. On the contrary, he refers to various earlier compositions on the history of Kasmir kings which he had used. But none of these older works has come down tous. Nor hes Sanskrit literature in any other part of India preserved for us remains of Chronicles similar to the Rajataraigini, though indications of their former existence have come to light in various quarters. The complete loss of such texts makes it impossible for us to ascertain what Kelhana’s work owed to an

having first ized the historical value of to his edition of ‘he ibronahtadinocarta, the Caritas, He bes explained their che- pp. 1 sqq.
 * To Professor BUmtee belongsthe merit of with admirable lucidity in the introduction

acter and the cause of their disappearance