topics: |  history | india | ancient

sometimes a strident marxist, sometimes the ardent archaelogist, at others the scholarly poetry critic, kosambi is one voice that every indian needs to be familiar with.

Excerpts

on the authorship of the shatakatrayI p.555

considers six possibilities for the original author of the shatakatrayI:

A. the grammarian? [argues that bhartrihari the poet was not the author of vAkyapadiya: ] the argument is based largely on I-Tsing's comment that "he became seven times a priest only to return to the laity". This evidence is today thought to be suspect (e.g. ingalls, 1968)]. in addition, kosambi cites internal evidence:

   in all the smoothest mansuscript versions known, there
   occur solecisms like shikShatu which no strict grammarian
   could possibly tolerate. p. 557

after disposing of the possibility that the grammarian is also
the poet, Kosambi mentions several legends mentioned in various
sources:

B. king of mAlava?
a king of mAlava, named bharthAri (a name also found in a rajpasthana
manuscript), is mentioned in the history of tArAnAtha, and can be dated to
about the end of the 7th c.  but there is nothing to relate him to the poet.

C. the nAtha bhartr.hari?
one of the nine leaders of the nAtha sect, is mentioned in the
navanAthabhaktisAra, a marathi version of the goraksha kimiyAgara.  The
name bhartr.hari supposedly means a begging bowl bharatari mhaNatI bhikShApAtrAsI.
He was born when the deathless sage maitrA vAruNI ejected sperm into his
almsbowl, which conceived thereby.  he helped vikrama of ujjain to get his
kingdom, and was given a kingdom as a token of friendship and brotherhood.
He lost his consort piMgala and remained inconsolable, until he met
gorakShanAtha who resored not one but 25 piMgalas.  This converted the king
to ascetism, and he became one of the nine leaders of the sect. (p.558-559)

perhaps because the navanAthabhaktisAra text was his own discovery.
kosambi seems somewhat more favourably inclined to this version.  however, he
finds no connections to the poet.

D. author of a fourth shataka on vijn~Ana?
There are references to a fourth shataka by bhartrihari, the
vijn~Anashataka published by Gujerati Press Bombay 1905.  The only ms
version of vijn~Anashataka, from the ghule family of nagpur, is dismissed
by kosambi as a "late and not particularly able forgery". 561

E. poet bhartr.hari in the literature

the earliest reference to bhartrihari as a poet appears in somadeva's
yashastilakachampU [AD959], where bhartr.hari is mentioned among a long
list of mahAkavis.

jaina AchArya merutuMga mentions bhartr.hari, whose father is a grammarian
who worships ganesha.  He becomes a famous grammarian at Ujjain, marries four
wives from the four castes - the kshatriya wife's son becomes vikrama the
king, while bhartr.hari is the son of the shudra woman.  This legend ends
by mentioning this bhartr.hari as the poet of vairAgyashatakAdi. 562

bhIShmAchArya, in his mahAnubhAva (old marathi grammar, 13th c.) mentions
bhartr.harichAvairAgya which may refer to the shataka, or to a king's
renunciation.

Other references mention bhartr.hari and vikrama as sons of the king
chandragupta.  but kosambi feels that this bhartr.hari is most likely the
grammarian.  563

After discussing some other legends, kosambi considers the texts themselves.
	It seems reasonable to assume that the earliest genuine stanzas pf
	the nItishataka date from the opening centuries of the christian
	era. 565

one stanza, bhavanti naMrAs taravaH occurs both in shakuntala V and also
in all versions of the nItishataka, and kosambi suggests that kAlidAsa must
have taken it from the proverbs current in his day, i.e. the gupta period.
Such an early chronology would eliminate the vAkyapadiya bhartr.hari and also
the nAtha leader. 565

was bhartr.hari a shaivite?  though the man.galAcharANa to shiva is genuine,
kosambi feels it is a prefunctory statement, more customary than heartfelt.
he may also have been a vaiShNava, given that his name was hari, (arguments
on p.556 - the name is given abs Harikavi, e.g. in marathi, and the prefix
bhartr. may be an honorific).

however, the phraseology and figures of speech in the text are unquestionably
brahamanical.  The verse na kaccic caNDakopAnAm refers to a priest being
burned by the sacrificial fire, which is also mentioned as blackening the
doors of the rich (puNye grAme vane vA]. 566

36. some extant versions of bhartrhari's satakas p.568

kosambi identifies a northern and a southern recension, with archetypes alpha
and beta for the Northern, (MS A,B,E; H,J), and archetypes gamma and delta for
the southern (W; X; Y).  the principal characteristic is a tendency in the
southern recension for organizing the verses into into finer thematic
clusters (paddhatis). 577

from the surprising places in which bhartr.hari MSS have turned up, i
estimate their total number in the world as 3000 or more.
most of these manuscripts will not be accessible for study, unless they
reach some public collection; the action of time, air, rain, white ants,
and all other vermin except scholars will surely destroy the greater number
that still survive the neglect and laziness of their possessors. p.574

p.580-593 is a table listing 280 rows of epigrams and the MSs along the
columns (5 northern and three Southertn) and the position where hey occur, if
at all.




the broadest possible termini for vidyAkara are AD 1055 (the last year of
Bhoja's reign) and AD 1205, when S was written.  but the most probable time
for version N can hardly be later than the reign of rAmapAla, say AD 1100,
and hence not later than about 1130 for TK.
	- Introducing Vidyakara's Subhasitaratnakosa, ch.43, p.721


the ludicrous 'Indian history' that (was) still being written, with the
Puranas as gospel, dating the Vedas back several million years, crediting our
mythical sages with every modern scientific discovery down to the electron
and the bacteriophage.  - What Constitutes Indian History, p.793

Contents

Editorial Preface and Acknowledgements
New Introduction
Introduction

Section I: Concerning method

1. Combined Methods in Indology 3
2. Living Prehistory in India 30
3. On a Marxist Approach to Indian Chronology 49
4. Stages of Indian History 57

Section II: Themes in history

5. The Vedic 'Five Tribes' 75
6. Early Brahmins and Brahminism 87
7. On the Origin of Brahmin Gotras 98
8. Development of the Gotra System 167
9. Brahmin Clans 178
10. Early Stages of the Caste System in Northern India 189
11. The Beginning of the Iron Age in India 212
12. Ancient Kosala and Magadha 221
13. The Line of Arthasastra Teachers 260
14. Kaniska and the Sake Era 279
15. The Working Class in the Amarakosa 283
16. Origins of Feudalism in Kashmir 295
17. The Basis of Ancient Indian History (I) 308
18. The Basis of Ancient Indian History (II) 327
19. The Autochthonous Element in the Mahabharata 348
20. The Avatara Syncretism and Possible Sources of the Bhagvad-Gita 373
21. The Historical Krishna 390
22. The Study of Ancient Indian Tradition 407

Section III: Archaeology, Epigraphy, Numismatics and Ethnography

23. Pierced Microliths from the Deccan Plateau 433
24. Megaliths in the Poona District 438
25. Prehistoric Rock Engravings Near Poona 444
26. Staple 'Grains' in the Western Deccan 447
27. Dhenukakata 450
28. The Buddhist Caves of Western India 476
29. Notes on the Kandahar Edict of Asoka 482
30. Indian Feudal Trade Charters 486
31. An Inscription at Palasdev of Saka 1079 498
32. Asokan Pillar: Banaras Mystery 504
33. Scientific Numismatics 508
34. 'Indo-Aryan' Nose Index 524

Section IV: Texts, words and literary criticism

35. On the Authorship of Satakatrayi 555
36. Some Extant Versions of Bhartrhari's Satakas 568
37. The Parvasamgraha of the Mahabharata 595
38. Parvasamgraha Figures for the Bhismaparvan of the Mahabharata 661
39. The Sanskrit Equivalents of Two Pali Words 670
40. The Text of the Arthasastra 677
41. The Cintamanisaranika of Dasabala 685
42. The Quality of Renunciation in Bhartrhari's Poetry 703
43. Introducing Vidyakara's Subhasitaratnakosa 721

Section V: Reviews and rejoinders

44. The Emergence of National Characteristics Among Three Indo-European
    Peoples 753
45. Race and Immunity in India 764
46. Caste and Class in India 773
47. Geldner's Rgveda 780
48. Marxism and Ancient Indian Culture 784
49. What Constitutes Indian History 790
50. The Basis of Despotism 797
51. On the Development of Feudalism in India 802
52. Primitive Communism 812
53. On Valid Tests of Linguistic Hypotheses 825
    Archaeological Review 1 830
    Archaeological Review 2 834