Bāla-rāmāyaṇa, Bāla-bhārata, Karpūra-mañjarī, Viddha-śāla-bhañjikā, and Kāvya-mīmāṃsā are the works of Rājaśekhara that are available to us today. We learn that he had also authored works such as Haravijaya – an epic poem, and Bhuvanakośa, a work on geography. Among the works listed here, the first four are plays; Kāvya-mīmāṃsā is a treatise he has penned in Kauṭilya’s style – it resembles the Arthaśāstra in some features and deals with literary aesthetics.
Bāla-rāmāyaṇa is probably the first work he authored. In the prastāvana to the play, he provides us with some autobiographical information in response to questions posed by the pāripārśvaka. The following verse appears there –
ब्रूते कोऽपि यः दोषं महदिति सुमतिर्बालरामायणेऽस्मिन्
प्रष्टव्योऽसौ पटीयानिह भणितिगुणो विद्यते वा न वेति।
यद्यस्ति स्वस्ति तुभ्यं भव पठनरुचिर्विद्धि नः षट्प्रबन्धान्
नैवं चेद्धीर्घमास्तां नटवटुवदने जर्जरा काव्यकन्था ॥
From the verse, we gather that Rājaśekhara must have penned six prabandhas. It is hard to say if he had written five other works before he wrote the Bāla-rāmāyaṇa, or if the verse is referring to the six works that are available to us today. It is also likely that he added the current verse to the beginning of the Bāla-rāmāyaṇa after having authored all six treatises – he might have added it when people ridiculed the play by calling it a jungle of word play. We come across a few verses attributed to Rājaśekhara in works such as the Sūkti-muktāvali; however, they do not appear in any of his works that are available to us today; thus, it is possible that he had authored other works as well; it is also probable that the later-day manuscript editors have erred in putting together details connected with him.
Rājaśekhara mentions that he was the guru of Mahendrapāla (or Nirbhayarāja) in all his four lays. Mahendrapāla was a king who ruled in about 907 CE from the city of Kānjyakubja (Kannauj). Rājaśekhara also reiterates the opinions of Ānanda-vardhana in his Kāvya-mīmāṃsā (about 860 CE). Somadeva, who lived around 950 CE, mentions Rājaśekhara in his Yaśastilaka-campū. Thus, we may say that Rājaśekhara lived around 900 CE. In the prastāvana of Bāla-bhārata, we find a mention of Nirbhayarāja’s son Śrīmahīpāla; and thus, we can safely presume that Rājaśekhara lived in Śrīmahīpāla’s times as well (around 917 CE). Bāla-bhārata was probably his last work. He must have passed away before he finished writing it; it is also likely that he penned two other works in parallel – he must have composed the Kāvya-mīmāṃsā after he wrote the other three plays, for the treatise cites from them.
Rājaśekhara was born in the yāyāvara-vaṃśa; Akāla-jalada, Surānanda, Tarala, Kavi-rāja, and others were his ancestors; Akāla-jalada was his great-grandfather. Durduka (Duhika?) and Śrīlavatī were his parents; it appears that his father was the mahā-mantri – the prime minister of the king. Avanti-sundarī was Rājaśekhara’s wife; she was probably well educated as well. It is likely that Rājaśekhara was a śaiva-brāhmaṇa. There is sufficient evidence to deduce that he was born in Maharashtra and then migrated to Kannauj to be patronised by the king there. He calls himself ‘Bāla-kavi’ and ‘Kavi-rāja.’ As he wrote the Bāla-rāmāyaṇa, he must have earned the title ‘Bāla-kavi.’ The definition of Kavi-rāja in his own words is as follows –
यस्तु तत्र तत्र भाषाविशेषे तेषु तेषु तस्मिंस्तस्मिंश्च रसे स्वतन्त्रः स कविराजः
Accordingly, it seems like Rājaśekhara was a polyglot – he had mastered several languages. He calls himself sarva-bhāṣā-vicakṣaṇa and sarva-rīti-nibandha-kartā; he has also spoken about himself in divyā (saṃskṛta), prākṛta, apabhraṃśa, and bhūta-bhāṣās (Bāla-rāmāyaṇa 1.11). He has written the Karpūra-mañjarī completely in prākṛta.
From Rājaśekhara’s works, it is evident that he had gone through the literary works of many Sanskrit poets and playwrights who existed before him. Out of them all, he seems to have held the plays penned by Harṣa and Bhavabhūti closest to his heart. He has emulated them in his plays in several ways. The Bāla-rāmāyaṇa is like another avatāra of Mahāvīra-carita. It is perhaps for this reason that daivajñas, i.e., foreseers of the future ‘argued as follows–
बभूव वल्मीकभवः पुरा कविस्ततः प्रपेदे भुवि भर्तृमेण्ठताम्।
स्थितः पुनर्यो भवभूतिरेखया स प्रवर्तते संप्रति राजशेखरः॥ (Bāla-rāmāyaṇa 1.16, Bāla-bhārata 1.12)
Rājaśekhara boasts –
यद्वा किं विनयोक्तिभिः गिरां यद्यस्ति सूक्तामृतम्।
माद्यन्ति स्वयमेव तत्सुमनसो याज्ञा परं दैन्यभूः॥ (Bāla-rāmāyaṇa 1.10, Bāla-bhārata 1.5)
….. काव्यवशात् तदिदमपरा काप्यहो कामधेनुः। (Bāla-rāmāyaṇa 1.6)
अहो शिखरिणीपादः। अहो सूक्तियुक्ता वाचः। अहो हृद्या वैदर्भी रीतिः। अहो माधुर्यमपर्याप्तम्। अहो निष्प्रमादः प्रासादः। (Viddha-śāla-bhañjikā, 1)
To be continued ...
The current series of articles is an enlarged adaption of Prof. A. R. Krishnasastri's Kannada treatise Saṃskṛta-nāṭaka. They are presented along with additional information and footnotes by Arjun Bharadwaj.
