Source: TW
Lest we forget Sanskritists situated at the bottom of caste-hierarchy
On the World Sanskrit Day 2024
(A folio from the manuscript of Amarukashataka digitised by Chunilal Gandhi Vidyabhavan, Surat, Gujarat, India.)
It has been some time since studies in Sanskrit and Indian knowledge systems have gained momentum. One part of these studies is centred on the history of Sanskrit language, its literature and the scholars who created it. The names we usually hear are those of Kalidasa, Banabhatta, Bharavi, Magha, so on and so forth. Those interested in studying the impact of India’s religio-social classification on Sanskrit literature, often state in various ways that only those who belonged to the so-called upper castes were allowed to receive education and therefore it were they who composed Sanskrit literature. They further say that most of these authors were Brahmins. This line of thought has been in the mainstream for a long time and has been generally accepted. If this idea is true, then a large chunk of India’s population, since the ancient times, who did not belong to such castes, were barred from receiving education, and so they were not at all represented in the long list of Sanskrit authors. But is this really the case? Let us find out.
Although the biographical information of Sanskrit authors is generally unavailable, many intellectuals believe that they must belong to the so-called upper castes. Usually in the absence of data, conclusions are impossible to be drawn. But that is not the case here. I was asked by one such academician, “what is the contribution of those belonging to the so-called lower castes with regards to Sanskrit and India’s intellectual traditions?”. Despite the problem with the inherent assumption in the question itself, I began a difficult task of finding Sanskrit authors who did not belong to the upper strata in the caste hierarchy.
The difficulty stems from the already stated fact, that is, the general absence of biographical information of Sanskrit authors. I shall not be quoting Hindu scriptures to show that education was meant for all and that the only restriction was with regards to learning the Vedas in a traditional manner (reading Vedas was open to all).+++(4)+++
I will rather engage in presenting some historical persons, who did not belong to the so-called upper castes and yet produced works of Sanskrit literature or contributed to their preservation. After collecting data for a long time, I finally compiled a list of such authors beginning from the period before 8th century CE and going upto 19th century CE. This is not a final list.
Goldsmith
The first in my list is Amaru or Amaruka, author of the Sanskrit work Amaruka-shataka, dated to a period before the 8th century CE. Although he did not himself say anything about his lineage, a later commentator on his work addressed Amaru as the ‘ornament of the lineage of goldsmiths’ (nadindhama-kulatilaka), as noted by Peter Peterson and Pandit Durgaprasada in their book ‘The Subhashitavali of Vallabhadeva’, published in the year 1886.+++(4)+++ Traditionally the goldsmith caste is categorised with the fourth varna, that is Shudra, as can also be seen in the traditional Sanskrit lexicon called Amarakosha (Shudravarga, verse 8) composed by Amara Simha. Amaru’s poetry is mentioned by the renowned scholar of poetics Anandavardhana in his text Dhvanyaloka (3.7).
Reddi
Let us move to three royal scholars of the Reddi clan. Kataya Vema, from the 14th to 15th centuries CE, is the author of Kumaragiri-rajiya, which is a commentary on Kalidasa’s work Abhijnanashakuntala. In their inscriptions, Reddi kings proudly proclaim themselves as being Shudras.
His brother-in-law, king Kumaragiri composed a Sanskrit text on Natya-Shastra called Vasanta-rajiya, a note of which has been taken by Dr. V. Raghavan in his paper ‘Later Sangita Literature’.
Komati Vema or Peda Komati Vema, another Shudra king from the 14th to 15th century CE, authored two Sanskrit works. One is a commentary titled Shringara-dipika on Amaruka-shataka, and the second is a commentary titled Bhava-dipika on Hala’s Gahasattasai. Reference to his lineage is made in inscriptions by his son Vema, which have been published in Epigraphia Indica (Volume 11, no. 33).
(A folio from the manuscript of Samara Simha’s Tajika-tantra-sara with a commentary, digitised by eGangotri.)
Pragvata lineage
Next are two scholars of the Pragvata lineage, members of which had served as ministers to the Chalukya dynasty. The first is Tejah Simha, who composed a Sanskrit text on astrology called Daivajnalamkriti in 1337 CE.
At the end of his text, in the concluding verses, he calls himself the son of a Shudra. His father was Vijaya Simha, a minister probably during the reign of the Chalukya king Saranga Deva. In the same text he tells that Vijaya Simha was a master of all Shastras like Sahitya, Nyaya (logic), etc. Description of his manuscript is found in ‘A descriptive catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the collection of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal’ (pg. 303), published in 1945.
The second scholar from the same lineage is Samara Simha, who authored an astrological text called Tajikatantra-sara, a manuscript of which along with a commentary is residing at Shree Raghunath Sanskrit Research Institute Library, Jammu.
Nepal
Not only in the southern and western parts of India, we had Shudra Sanskritists in the Nepal region also. In the 15h century CE Nepal, we find the Sanskrit poet Shubharaja. He authored two Sanskrit plays namely ‘Rupamanjari-parinaya’ and ‘Pandava-vijaya’. In the prologue to the latter play, Shubharaja calls himself the ‘son of poet Abhayaraja born in a Shudra lineage’. His works are yet to be published in print. The works of his father are most probably yet to be found.
Kerala
The next is Shankara Parashava from the southern India, from the 15th and 16th centuries CE, whose works belong to the fields of astronomy and mathematics. He wrote a commentary titled Kriyakramakari on Bhaskaracharya’s text Lilavati. He also authored two commentaries titled Kriya-kalapa and Laghu-vivriti on Nilakantha Somayaji’s Tantra-sangraha. Parashava caste, also known as Variyar, has been traditionally clubbed under the ‘Sat-Shudra’ category. Shankara Parashava himself tells in Kriyakramakari that he was a servant (paricharaka) at a temple.
Another scholar from the southern India is Achyuta Pisharati from the same time. He is known to have composed various Sanskrit texts like Praveshaka (a work on Sanskrit grammar), Sphutanirnaya-tantra, Chhayashtaka, Karanottama, so on and so forth. He was also the teacher of Narayana Bhattatiri, a well known and revered Sanskrit scholar who composed the text ‘Narayaniya’ based on the Bhagavata Purana. Narayana was a Brahmin, whereas his teacher Achyuta belonged to a clan traditionally clubbed under the ‘Sat-Shudra’ category.
In the 19th century CE, we find Shri Narayana Guru, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and a saint. He belonged to the Ezhava clan of Kerala. Murkot Kunhappa notes in his book ‘Sree Narayana Guru’, that one of Narayana Guru’s teachers was his uncle, named Krishnan Vaidiar, who was an Ayurvedic physician. The Ezhava clan had many such physicians and Sanskrit scholars. Apart from Sanskrit, Narayana Guru also wrote extensively in Malayalam, which was his native language.
Itti Achudem from the same community had contributed to the making of the 17th century botanical treatise composed in Latin titled ‘Hortus Malabaricus’, authored by Hendrik Van Rheede.
Bengal
Let us now move to the 18th century CE Bengal. Here we know of a Sanskrit scholar par excellence, who earned great honour and fame by authoring a comprehensive Sanskrit dictionary called Shabda-kalpadruma. He was none other than Radhakant Dev, who belonged to an influential family of the then Bengal region.
Subal Chandra Mitra, the biographer of Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, tells in his book ‘Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar A Story of His Life and Work’, that to convince the heads of Calcutta Sanskrit College to admit Shudras, Vidyasagar gave the example of Radhakant Dev. Dev belonged to a clan which was then clubbed within the Shudra category, and yet at his home, discussions on Shastras were performed by great Sanskrit scholars. Not just this, Dev was himself a reputed scholar of Sanskrit, which he proved yet again by creating the aforementioned dictionary, which got him appreciation from all over India and the world.
Manuscript copying
Not just by authoring Sanskrit texts, some even preserved Sanskrit compositions and texts by copying manuscripts. For example, in the 16 century CE, a Bengali Sanskrit scholar copied a Sanskrit manuscript (Krityakalpataru, Danakanda) for another scholar Vidyanivasa Bhattacharya. In the concluding Sanskrit verses composed by himself, the scribe Kavichandra tells that he is a Shudra.
Reference to this manuscript (number 1385) is found in the ‘Catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the library of the India office’ (part 3) published by Julius Eggeling in 1891.
Kingly patronage
Even as kings, Shudras facilitated and promoted Vedic and Sanskrit studies. For instance, The Reddi kings supported Vedic scholars and Sanskrit studies during their reign. Sanskrit scholar of the 16th century CE Shesha Krishna mentions in his text ‘Shudrachara-shiromani’, written in order to to enlighten Shudras about their spiritual and ritual activities, that a Shudra king named Pilaji had commissioned it. Theodore Benke takes king Pilaji to be Pilaji Ghorpade (16th century).
Font
The first Devanagari Sanskrit font created by Panchanan Karmakar, used in the book ‘A Grammar of the Sungskrit Language’ of W. Carey, published in 1806.
One monumental contribution, with which the popularisation of Sanskrit literature gained great momentum, was the creation of Sanskrit-Devanagari font by Panchanan Karmakar and Manohar Karmakar, who were traditional blacksmiths by profession as well as by caste. This happened in the period between eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries under the supervision of Charles Wilkins. William Carey published his book ‘A Grammar of the Sungskrit Language’ in 1806, which carries all the simple and complex characters of Sanskrit in the Devanagari script developed by Panchanan Karmakar and Manohar Karmakar. It is Karmakar duo’s work that has culminated in the present-day upgradation achieved by the printing systems in producing Sanskrit works in the Devanagari script on a massive scale. Fonts of other scripts were also developed by the Karmakars.
These scholars and personalities are the ones who have been identified (upto the writing of this article), either by themselves or by others.
Vidyarambha
The scriptures tell us about the ceremony called Vidyarambha, which is performed for all children when they reach the age of five years (irrespective of caste), through which education of a child begins as per the Hindu tradition. The surveys of schools, the students and syllabi as recorded by the British during and before Raj, tell a good deal about the reach of Sanskrit education in traditional education systems of the then India.
It is indeed interesting that many such records clearly state that the study of Sanskrit grammar and literature was open to all, although certain restrictions regarding the study of Indian philosophical treatises were noted, for reasons other than mere caste-restrictions. It would not be too wild to imagine that many more Sanskrit works composed by scholars of the so-called lower castes will be found in the future, but only if we are ready search for them.
(Hindu schoolmaster overseeing four boy pupils. Hand-coloured engraving published Rudolph Ackermann, London, 1822.)
Awareness
Now I ask the readers a simple question: out of all the scholars and personalities mentioned above, how many did you know about or hear about at any point in your life till now? I would be glad if you have heard about at least a few. If you have not, I can understand, because even I did not get to hear about them.
This is why I had to spend a lot of time on this project. I have been studying Sanskrit since the year 2010 and recently got my doctoral degree in 2023 from the department of Sanskrit, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Let me tell you with complete honesty, I never heard the name of any of these personalities at any point of time as a student and as a research scholar at the said department. I do understand the pressures of completing the already decided and rigid syllabi, which does not include the works or mentions of these scholars. Similar could be the story of other higher educational institutions.
From the widespread belief that those on the margins of the Indian caste system were not allowed to receive education, let alone become Sanskrit scholars, I can infer that the ignorance about these scholars too could be widespread. During my time at the said department as a guest-faculty, I did give a presentation-cum-lecture on this issue.
Change
This current scenario can be changed. At least in the academic courses of Sanskrit in various Indian universities, a paper or a unit could be added, which provides information about these and such other scholars along with their works and contributions. Other than that, some of their works could be added in the syllabi, at least in parts. The books taught to children at schools under the CBSE, ICSE or even state boards, could carry the names and contributions of such personalities, so that children get to know about them at a young age. On the occasion of this world Sanskrit day, let us remember and honour these personalities who were situated at the bottom of caste hierarchy and nevertheless contributed to Sanskrit.
This article is not an attempt to reduce these personalities to their caste identities, nor an attempt to deny any disadvantages they may have faced during their lifetimes. Instead this is an attempt to recognise what they contributed despite the odds. Let us not ignore their contributions just because we think that they were not allowed to study Sanskrit. How would you feel if your contribution is ignored just because of some mainstream belief about your community? You would feel insulted and disheartened. How would these personalities feel if they get to know about their contributions being ignored? Let us not do injustice to them any more.