Kshemendra

Kshemendra (c. 990 – c. 1070 CE) was a Kashmirian poet of the 11th century, writing in Sanskrit.

Born into an old, cultured, and affluent family,[1] both his education and literary output were broad and varied. He studied literature under "the foremost teacher of his time, the celebrated Shaiva philosopher and literary exponent Abhinavagupta".[1] He also studied — and wrote about — both Vaishnavism and Buddhism.[2] His literary career extended from at least 1037 (his earliest dated work, Brihatkathāmanjari, a verse summary of the lost "Northwestern" Bṛhatkathā; itself a recension of Gunadhya's lost Bṛhatkathā — "Great Story") to 1066 (his latest dated work, Daśavataracharita, "an account of the ten incarnations of the god Visnu").[3] In addition to the genres listed below, Kshemendra also composed plays, descriptive poems, a satirical novel, a history, and possibly a commentary on the Kāma Sūtra (all now known only through references in other works).[4]

Extant works[5]

Abridgements

Poetics

Satires

Didactic works

Devotional works

Notes

  1. 1 2 Kshemendra 2011, p xv.
  2. Kshemendra 2011, pp xv-xvi.
  3. Kshemendra 2011, pp xvii-xviii.
  4. Kshemendra 2011, p xvii.
  5. Kshemendra 2011, pp 153-154.

References


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