Kavi Bilhana was an 11th-century Kashmiri

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. He is known for his love poem, the '' Caurapañcāśikā''. According to legend, Bilhana fell in love with the daughter of King Madanabhirama, Princess Yaminipurnatilaka, and had a secretive love affair. Bilhana kavi came to rajya for to learn Chandassu . They were discovered, and Bilhana was thrown into prison. While awaiting judgement, he wrote the ''Caurapâñcâśikâ'', a fifty-

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...

love poem, not knowing whether he would be sent into exile or die on the gallows. It is unknown what fate Bilhana encountered. Nevertheless, his poem was transmitted orally around

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. There are several versions, including ones from

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

which had a happy ending; the Kashmiri version does not specify what the outcome was. The ''Caurapâñcâśikâ'' was first translated into a European language, French, in 1848. Subsequently, it was translated several other times. Notable translations are those of Sir

Edwin Arnold Sir Edwin Arnold (10 June 1832 – 24 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist. He is best known for his 1879 work, '' The Light of Asia''. Born in Gravesend, Kent, Arnold's early education at King's School, Rochester, and later at Kin ...

(London 1896) and Edward Powys Mathers (Oxford, 1919) titled ''Black Marigolds''. This latter version was quoted extensively by

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

in '' Cannery Row''. Bilhana left his homeland in search of fame and fortune. He wandered through Mathura, Kanuj, Prayaga, Varanasi, Somnath, Kalyan and Rameswaram but luck eluded him.Sreedharan, E, "A Textbook of Historiography: 500 BC to AD 2000". New Delhi, Oreient Black Swan, 2004,p. 326

/ref> But while trekking back through Kalyan,

Western Chalukya Empire The Western Chalukya Empire ( ) ruled most of the Deccan Plateau, western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannada dynasty is sometimes called the ''Kalyani Chalukya'' after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's ...

King Vikramaditya VI appointed him as Vidyapathi. Bilhana rewarded his patron by composing in his honor an epic ''Vikramankadevacharita''. Bilhana is from the period of time when

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

continued to be the language of literature, and is a very important poet of Kashmir from the Medieval period of Indian literature. Chaurapanchasika stands out to become the marker of age.

References

External links

Black Marigolds, at sacred-texts.comThe Caurapâñcâśikâ, at The Internet ArchiveThe Caurapâñcâśikâ (The Love-Thief)
Poesy rendering into English 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilhana Kashmiri writers Kashmiri literature Hindu poets Kashmiri poets History of Kashmir 11th-century Indian poets Indian male poets

See also

References

Further reading

External links