Bāṇabhaṭṭa (7th century) also known as
Bāṇa was a Sanskrit scholar and poet of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. He was the
Asthana Kavi (Court Poet) in the court of King
HarshaHarsha or Harshavardhana or "Harsha vardhan" was an Indian emperor who ruled Northern India for forty one years. He was the son of Prabhakar Vardhan and younger brother of Rajyavardhan, a king of Thanesar...
vardhana, who reigned in the years c. 606-647 CE in north India. Bāna's principal works include a biography of Harsha, the
Harṣacarita and one of the world's earliest novels,
KādambariKādambari is a detailed, exquisite novel in the Sanskrit language, which Bānabhatta wrote in the seventh century.The romantic novel transcends the bounds of mortal existence, and moves through three lives until deep, passionate love attains its fulfillment...
(
Kādambari is the name of the heroine of the novel).
Bāṇabhaṭṭa (7th century) also known as
Bāṇa was a Sanskrit scholar and poet of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. He was the
Asthana Kavi (Court Poet) in the court of King
HarshaHarsha or Harshavardhana or "Harsha vardhan" was an Indian emperor who ruled Northern India for forty one years. He was the son of Prabhakar Vardhan and younger brother of Rajyavardhan, a king of Thanesar...
vardhana, who reigned in the years c. 606-647 CE in north India. Bāna's principal works include a biography of Harsha, the
Harṣacarita and one of the world's earliest novels,
KādambariKādambari is a detailed, exquisite novel in the Sanskrit language, which Bānabhatta wrote in the seventh century.The romantic novel transcends the bounds of mortal existence, and moves through three lives until deep, passionate love attains its fulfillment...
(
Kādambari is the name of the heroine of the novel). Bāṇa died before finishing the novel and it was completed by his son (Pulinda in some manuscripts), which is known as the
Uttarabhāga of the novel. The other works attributed to him are the and a drama, the .
Life
A detailed account regarding his ancestry and early life can be reconstructed from the introductory verses attached to the
Kādambari and the first two
ucchāvasas of the
Harṣacarita, while the circumstances behind the composition of the
Harṣacarita are described in the third
ucchāvasa of the text.
Early life
Bāna was born to Chitrabhānu and Rājadevi in the village of Pritikuta on the banks of the Hiraṇyavāhu (the present day
Son RiverSon River of central India is the largest of the Ganges' southern tributaries. A British 1850s diary shows that the river was written in English as Soane.-Course:...
) in a Maga Brahmin family of
VātsyāyanaMallanaga Vātsyāyana is the name of an Indian philosopher in the Vedic tradition who lived some time in the Gupta period . His name appears as the author of the Kama Sutra and of Nyāya Sutra Bhāshya, the first commentary on Gotama's Nyāya Sutras. It is, however, unlikely that the same Vatsyayana...
gotraA Gotra is the lineage or clan assigned to a Hindu at birth. In most cases, the system is patrilineal and the gotra assigned is that of the person's father. Other names used to refer to it are Vansh, Vanshaj, Bedagu, Purvik, Purvajan, Pitru...
. Chitrabhānu expired when he was fourteen, Rājadevi having expired even earlier. After the death of his father, Bāṇa led a wandering life for some period but later came back to his native village. Here, on a summer day, on receiving a letter from Krishna, a cousin of King Harsha he met the king while he was camping near the town of Manitara. After receiving him with mock signs of anger, the king showed him much favour.
Composition of the Harshacharita
When Bāṇa returned from the King Harsha's court, his cousins pressed him with a request to write a narrative on the life of King Harsha. But he decided to write only a part of the life of him as he was not sure whether he could do the slightest justice to the remarkable career of the king. From the third to eighth
ucchāvasas of the work, he described the ancestry and the life of king Harsha till the rescue of his sister Rajyashri.
Critical comments
There is a well-known, interesting statement in Sanskrit, involving a play on words:
Kādambari rasajnānām āhāropi na rochate. It can be read to mean "While savoring (the contents of) 'Kādambari', readers do not find interest in (eating) food", or "Oh, Kādambari, while savoring liquor, people do not find interest in (eating) food".