kAyastha Scholarship

Source: TW

Sanskrit poets

Medieval Kayasthas were ardent scholars of Sanskrit. Thus, they feature prominently as composers of Sanskrit eulogies. We shall document some Kayastha poets of high calibre in this thread.

  1. The Mandsaur stone slab Inscription of the Naigama family, who served as hereditary viceroys to Aulikaras in the 6th century CE, mention a member of their family named ‘Bhagavaddoṣa’ who was a skilled poet of Sanskrit and Prakrit. The verse 17 of this Inscription suggests that he was perhaps one of the most renowned poets of his time, so much so that other poets used to sing his praises in their own poems. The Naigamas are today known as Nigams and constitute one of the 12 subcastes of northern Kayasthas. 2/n

  2. Next we have two inscriptions from Surwaya near Gwalior composed by Mathura Kayasthas during the reign of a Yajvapala king. The eminent epigraphist, Dinesh Chandra Sarkar remarks that the Kayasthas of the Mathura community were ‘assiduous students of Sanskrit’ and composed Prashastis of ’no mean order.’ 3/n The first Prashasti, dated 13th century CE, was composed by a Mathura Kayastha named Jaya Simha. The verse 22 mentions Jaya Simha as a great poet. 4/n

3.The next Prashasti from Narwar, also dated 13th century was composed by Sivanabhaka, a Mathura Kayastha whos was none other than the brother of Jaya Simha mentioned above. He was just as gifted a poet as his brother. Verse 27 mentions him as the master of Pada (grammar), pramana (logic), Kavita (poetry) and Sahitya (rhetoric). Both the brothers are known from other records of the Yajvapalas as well. 5/n

  1. We now have a family of Srivastava Kayasthas who were hereditary poets, from the Kalachuri realm of Ratanpura in Chhattisgarh. They are known from several Inscriptions around the 12th-13th centuries. 6/n

  2. Ratna Simha, a Srivastava Kayastha, is mentioned as proficient in all Sanskrit doctrines, viz Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Shastras etc. He is a lion to his opponents in debate, ie Shastrartha. His scholarly acumen was inherited by his son Devagana who was a great poet of Sanskrit and was like Bhrigu’s son (Sukra or Parasurama) in the administration of justice. n/n

Buddhist euologies

In this thread we shall document some interesting Buddhist eulogies in Sanskrit composed by Kayastha poets which not only highlight the capabilities of Kayasthas as great Sanskritists but also the social history of Buddhism in early mediaeval India.

  1. A Sanskrit Prashasti dated 1176 Vikrama Samvat records the restoration of the Jetavana Vihara at Sahet-Mahet in Sravasti by a Srivastava Kayastha named Vidyadhara. 1/n It was composed by poet Udayi, a Srivastava Kayastha and a kin of Vidyadhara.

The eulogy begins with Salutations to, ‘Shakya Sinha’ that is lord Buddha and goes on to praise Vidyadhara Srivastava as a ‘second Bodhisattava’ and his wife Jijja as ‘resembling the ocean born Lakshmi.’ The record also invokes Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu showcasing the syncretism of mainstream Hinduism and Buddhism cherished by Kayasthas of medieval times. This is also one of the last known records of Buddhism in northern India. 2/n

We had posted about this Inscription in a previous thread. Notably, this record was discovered alongside Vaishnavite images of Lord Buddha. 3/n

  1. The next poetic eulogy was composed by Kayastha Manoratha which records donations by a certain Buddhist hermit in Bodhgaya in the 12th century CE. The hermit in question was a Rajaguru of the Gahadavala ruler Jayachandradeva, aka Jaichand. This record shows that Gahadavalas were the last great kings to actively patronise Buddhism in northern India. 4/n

  2. An undated copper plate Inscription from Gorakhpur records the grant during the reign of an unidentified king named Jayaditya of Vijayapura, circa 10th century CE. The grant records donation to Goddess Durga by a minister of the king. But the composers of the record, the Kayastha brothers Nagadatta and Vijayadatta as well as the kings were adherents of Buddhism. 5/n

The Prashasti states that the Kayastha Nagadatta was akin to Sugata or Lord Buddha and the king Jayaditya was like a Bodhisattva on the path to Buddhahood. This record goes to show that Kayasthas also served as Gurus and spiritual advisors to king in the mediaeval times. The exact location of the kingdom of Vijayapura remains elusive. Some scholars suggest that it was perhaps located near Allahabad in the vicinity of the Vindhyas, whiles others suggest it was located further north in the Himalayas. 6/n

  1. The last poetic eulogy in the list comes from Bodhgaya and is dated to the year 1813 of Buddha’s Niravana or the 14th century CE. It was composed by a Kayastha poet named Indra Nandin. The Nandin lineage is a branch of Bengali Kayasthas. It is interesting to note the presence of Bengali Kayasthas in medieval Bihar. 7/n

The main object of inscription was to record the restoration of a Buddhist shrine at Bodhgaya by a small king from western India. However the importance of this inscription lies in its date. The exact date of Buddha’s Nirvana even in the times of Hiuen Tsang remained doubtful. However, this record shows that adherents of Buddhism in certain parts of India maintained a calendar pertaining to the departure of Buddha till the mediaeval times. 8/n

The Part I of this thread is quoted below. Check this thread out, if you haven’t already. n/n

rAmAyaNa-s

The timeless tale of Ramayana has been retold several times over millenia. On the occasion of #Diwali we present to you a thread on versions of the epic authored by Kayasthas in Sanskrit and regional languages.

Pictured: Ram, Sita and Lakshamana in the constitution of India by Nandalal Bose.

  1. The Sanskrit text Ramacharitam authored by Sandhyakar Nandin of Bengal in the 12th century is a retelling of Ramayana which uses double entendre to also narrate the biographical sketch of the Pala king Ramapala. The author was patronised by the Pala king Madanapala. A native of Varendra, ie North Bengal, he belonged to a family of hereditary ministers of the Pala kingdom. His father Prajapati Nandi was the Sandhi-Vigrahika or the Minister of Peace and War of Ramapala. Ramacharita contains a detailed account of the Varendra rebellion that happened during the reign of Ramapala and as such is considered to be an important historical text.

  2. Rama-Vikrama, another text from 12th century Bengal is a Sanskrit play composed by the Bengali playwright Sagara Nandi. Unfortunately this text is lost and is only known from reference to this work in another text by the author. 2/n

  3. Durgabari Ramayana is a 15th century lyrical composition in Assamese by Durgabar Kayastha based on an earlier Assamese Ramayana by Kaviraja Madhava Kandali. This composition is performed as Ojapali, a traditional performing art of Assam involving singing and folk dance. 3/n

  4. The Jagamohan Ramayana is a 15th century Odia retelling of the epic by Jagamohan Dasa, a Karana Kayastha of Odisha. This version is presented as a dialogue between Shiva and Parvati. 4/n

  5. In the 16th century, a Srivastava Kayastha named Gobind Das translated the Valmiki Ramayana into Hindi during the reign of Akbar making it perhaps the earliest Hindi version of Ramayana. 5/n

  6. Naval Singh, a Srivastava Kayastha and a poet of Brajbhasha patronised by the King of Samthar, authored several poetic works on the Ramayana in the 19th century. 6/n

  7. Janaki Ramayana is a 19th century version of the epic in Maithil, authored by Pandit Lal Das, a Karna Kayastha of Mithila. Unlike other versions of the Ramayana which have all focused on Lord Rama, in this version the protagonist is Mata Sita. This is perhaps the only such version in existence. The entire retelling of the epic is from the perspective of Sita focusing on her divinity.

  8. Vijaya Nayaka Ramayana is a Bhojpuri version of the text authored by the poet and freedom fighter Raghuveer Naryana in the early 20th century. The original manuscript of the text is also in the Kaithi, aka Kayasthi script which was employed for writing Awadhi and Bhojpuri in the past. 8/n

  9. The later medieval Kayasthas were also known for their expertise in the Persian language. Several Farsi retelling of Ramayana have been authored by Kayasthas during this period. During 1623-24 CE, Girdhardas Kayastha rendered the amalgamation of Valmiki Ramayana and Tulasi Ramacharitamanas into a Persian Mathnawi, ie poetic version, dedicating it to the Mughal emperor Jahangir. 9/n

  10. In AH 1097, circa 1685-6 CE, Kayasth Chandraman Bedil authored Farsi Ramayana titled “Nargisistan” during the reign of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. 10/n

  11. Amar Singh, a Srivastava Kayastha from Allahabad, also translated the Ramayana into Farsi during the reign of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. This work is titled “Amar Prakash.” At the end of the text he gives an account of his genealogy mentioning that one of his ancestors, Gobind Das Srivastava, had translated the Sanskrit Valmiki Ramayana into Hindi during the reign of Akbar. 11/n

  12. Ramayan-e-Khushtar by Munshi Jagannath Srivastava Khushtar is widely considered to be the greatest retelling of the epic in Urdu. It was completed in the year 1852 and was dedicated to the Nawab of Awadh Wajid-Ali-Shah. 12/n

  13. In 19th century Awadh, another Kayastha named Munshi Shankar Dayal Farhat, published his version of Urdu Ramayana titled Ramayan-e-Farhat. 13/n

  14. We will end this thread with this verse from the Valmiki Ramayana:

यावत् स्थास्यन्ति गिरयः सरितश्च महीतले ।
तावद् रामायणकथा लोकेषु प्रचरिष्यति ॥
“As long as the mountains and rivers shall endure upon the earth,
So long will the tale of Ramayana be told among people.”

Bengali Kayasthas have a rich tradition of Sanskrit scholarship. Atleast two Sanskrit works based on the Ramayana are known to have been authored by Bengali Kayasthas.

Lexicons

Some notable Sanskrit lexicons authored by Kayasthas-

We have seen earlier how Kayasthas have produced Sanskrit litereteurs of note. In this thread we will document some prominent Sanskrit lexicons authored by members of this community.

  1. Paramandiyanamamala (परमानन्दीयनाममाला) This lexicon was jointly authored by Makarandadasa and his father Thakkura Paramananda who were Mathur Kayasthas. They seem to belong to a family of landlords from Yavanapura. The book seemingly consists of three independent sections, viz

i) Namamala (नाममाला): It is further divided into 4 sections, first dealing with synonyms and the rest with homonyms.
ii) Anekarthasangraha (अनेकार्थसंग्रह): It lists a number of homonyms for a given word in alphabetical order.
iii) Linganushasan (लिंगानुशासन): The last section deals with the substantive of masculine, feminine, neuter, epicene, masculine and neuter, feminine and neuter, and triple gender.

The Mathur Kayasthas have historically been great scholars of Sanskrit language. The eminent epigraphist D.C. Sircar has remarked that ’the Kayasthas of the Mathur community’ were ‘assiduous students of Sanskrit’ and composed Prashastis of ’no mean order.’ You can read more about some notable Sanskrit poets of this community in the thread quoted below.

  1. Sabdakalpadruma (शब्दकल्पद्रुम)

This work was composed by Raja Radhakanta Deva Bahadur in the 19th century who belonged to the Kayastha zamindar family of Shobhabazar, now in Bangladesh. It is perhaps the most notable Sanskrit lexicon of the recent times, and the last of its kind to be produced in the long tradition of Indian lexicography beginning with Amarasimha in the ancient times.