Kashmira Tilotamma

Based on the 11th and 12th sarga of Kāśmīrakamahākaviśrījayānakaviracitaṃ Pr̥thvīrājavijayamahākāvyam.

Prithviraja Vijaya Mahakavya was written by Kashmiri poet Jayanaka between 1193-1200 A.D in Ajmer at the royal court of Prithviraj Chauhan III. It was an epic eulogy to the Chauhan, and along with Rajput history, it gives the description of early battles between forces of Prithviraj and Muhammad Ghori.

The only known manuscript  of the poem (missing some sections) was found in around 1875 in Kashmir in Sarda script by Georg Bühler. It was a commentary on the work by Jonaraja, who is famous for having written Dvitiya Rajatarangini (second Rajatarangini), covering  the period from 1150 A.D. to 1459 A.D.

In 11th sarga, Prithviraj is told the story of destruction of asuras Sunda and Upasunda. He hears about defeat of Ghori’s forces in Gujarat. He retires to his picture gallery, browses through his illustrated books and is aroused by image of apsara Tilotamma, the one made from the ‘finest bits’, the cause of destruction of Sunda and Upasunda. He over hears someone recite a verse, ‘…everything comes to him who strives to get it.’

In 12 sarga, the reciter is introduced:  Jayanaka, from the fine land of Sharda – Kashmira Mandala. A man knowing six languages, great-grandson of a brother of Sivaratha, a minister of King Uchchala of Kashmir (1101-1111 A.D.).

Then the epic abruptly ends.

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“Even the gods must die”~Kalhana~Gautier

Martand

One the exercises I indulge in at this blog is looking at the “meta-information” and usage of information. What happens to information over the years?

Exercise

Problem: Why do some books (starting from 1950s, ending in 2013!) attribute the following beautiful lines to Kalhana when even a basic Google search says that the lines belong to a Frenchman, Théophile Gautier?:
“Even the gods must die; But sovereign poetry remains, Stronger than death”

Solution:
The lines do indeed represent thoughts of Gautier. These line were used by Ranjit S. Pandit in 1933 to end his invitation (introduction) to his translation of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini (1935). He wrote: “Kalhana knew that everything withered with age and decayed in time; only the artist could seize the passing form and stamp it in a mould that resists mortality”. And then to put emphasis on the thought, he quoted a poem by Gautier.

The complete poem goes like this:

All things pass; strong art alone
Can know eternity;
The marble bust
Outlives the state:
And the austere medallion
Which some toiler finds
Under the earth
Preserves the emperor
Even the Gods must die;
But sovereign poetry
Remains,
Stronger than death.

That much is fine and clear even if quoting Frenchman Gautier’s poetry to explain greatness of Kashmiri Kalhana’s poetry now appears to be a ludicrous. Over the years what happened was even more ludicrous as it became a victim to a curious phenomena observed by Aldous Huxley during his visit to India and Kashmir in mid 1920s. He laughed at Indian fascination for starting passages with ‘apophthegms, quotations’ and ending it with ‘cracker mottoes’, and for saying things like ‘ As the Persian poet so beautifully puts it ‘.

“Even gods must die” is a powerful thought, occurring in Nordic and Greek myths, Buddhist and Hindu works and even used in Superman comic). The first instance of that poem’s wrongful attribution appears in “Mārg̲: A Magazine of the Arts” (1954). Then this wrongful attribution kept getting replicated over the decades in other books and publications. It seems as if people, given the beauty of the lines, and the context it was used, wished and then believed that the lines were actually written by Kalhana. Most recent case: a pandit book on history.
This seems like a good time to remember Jonaraja’s explanation of Rajatarangini. As Jonaraja, the Sanskrit poet so beautifully put it, Rajatarangini is “a tree of poetry in whose shades those travelers who are kings can cool the heat of the prideful ways of their forebears”*
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Shakyashri – the Great Kashmiri Pandit of Tibetans





An undertaking accomplished without analysis, 
But who would regard it as wise? 
After worms have eaten, 

Although a letter may appear, they are not skilled writers.


Sakya Pandita, student of Shakyashri 

http://nicbommarito.com/translation/sakyalegshe/sakyalegshe.pdf

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“Jagadhala, name of a place in Orissa where Sakya Sri Bhadra of Kasmir had taken refuge, after his flight from Odantapuri vihara when that place was sacked bv Bakhtyar Khilji in 1202 A.D.35”

The Indian Historical Quarterly – Volumes 30-31 – Page 144, 1954

books.google.co.in/books?id=A98BAAAAMAAJ

According to Taranatha, at Odantapuri the vihar was turned into a Tajik fort and pandits fled to other countries.9 Sakyasri went to Jagar- dala (Jagaddala) of Odivisa, i.e. in Orissa, and from there, three years after, to Tibet. Ratnaraksita went to 


Studies in Asian history: proceedings – Page 46 


books.google.co.in/books?id=2lrRAAAAMAAJ 


Indian Council for Cultural Relations 1969

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taranatha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikrama%C5%9B%C4%ABla_University

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakhtiyar_Khilji

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Shakyashri Bhadra (1127­1225), whose immense learning was incomparable even in
India, who was head of the famed dharma universities of Vikramashila and Nalanda, and  who was continually blessed with visions of the mother of the buddhas, Arya Tara, was
the last of the great Indian panditas to visit Tibet. He is somehow less well­known to  Westerners than his two predecessors, perhaps because, unlike them, he did not compose
a major text of his own; yet his impact was immense. In Tibet, the name Shakyashri Bhadra, or Kha­che Panchen (‘the Mahapandita of Kashmir’), was known in the gompas of every tradition across the entire Himalayan plateau.

At Nyang, northeast of Sakya in Tsang, he was visited by the 23 year­old Khon lama and
future ‘Sakya Pandita’, Kunga Gyaltsen, whose knowledge of Sanskrit greatly impressed
the mahapandita. The descendants of Sachen had already inherited a vast ocean of
dharma, unrivalled by other institutions, of which the foremost were the tantric teachings
of the great lotsawas Bari, Drokmi and Mal.Through his studies with the mahapandita
and the junior panditas, the young Khon’s learning was increased yet more with works of
sutra, tantra and, importantly, classical secular subjects which were previously unknown3
in Tibet, brought from the now destroyed universities of India. Sapan returned to Sakya
to continue his studies with Sugatasri, one of the learned assistant panditas.

In 1214, after ten years in Tibet, he set out on the road back through Gungtang and Ngari
in the west of Tibet. Before departing Tibet, he donated his considerable remaining gold
to the astounded Trophu Lotsawa who had accompanied him that far. After a long but unmolested journey across the Himalayas by the now very aged mahapandita, he arrived  back in the luscious valley of his Kashmiri homeland, not seen since his youth. There, he
restored many viharas and greatly increased the teachings, as the sun of dharma was
setting on the country of the Aryas. Shakyashri Bhadra passed into nirvana in 1225. His
life was one of remarkable accomplishments, and great historical significance. For the
fortunate followers of Shri Sakya, the blessings of Shakyshri Bhadra endure in the precious jenangs and sadhanas held by contemporary Sakya masters.

http://www.dechen.org/resources/pdfs/shakyashri.pdf

Śākyaśrībhadra was born in Daśobharā, in Kashmir, in 1127 (some sources have or 1145). He had a brother named Buddhacandra. At the age of ten he studied grammar under the brahman Lakṣmīdhara. At the age of twenty-three, in 1149, he was ordained by Sukhaśrībhadradeva who gave him the name Subhadra.
At the age of thirty he went to Magadha where he received initiations from Ṥāntākaragupta, Daśabala, and Dhavaraka.
When Śākyaśrī was seventy-seven he was invited to Tibet by Tropu Lotsāwa Rinchen Sengge (khro phu lo tsA ba rin chen seng+ge, b. 1173) who went to the Chumbi Valley in search of him; they met in a town called Vaneśvara. Śākyaśrī was initially disinclined to accept the offer, as Tropu Lotsāwa was, at the time, quite young. Tropu Lotsāwa was able to ask questions on doctrine to each of the paṇḍitas in his retinue, and the following discussion impressed Śākyaśrī sufficiently to convince him to go to Tibet, arriving in 1204.
He was accompanied by several Indian paṇḍitas: Sugataśrī, an expert in Madhyamaka and Prajñāpāramitā; Jayadatta, in Vinaya; Vibhūticandra, in grammar and Abhidharma; Dānaśīla, in logic; Saṅghaśrī, in Candavyākaraṇa; Jīvagupta, in the books of Maitreya; Mahābodhi, in the Bodhicaryāvatāra; and Kālacandra in the Kālacakra.

http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/sakyasribhadra/2810

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Kha che pan chen (‘The Great Kashmiri Pandit“; Kha che, which literally means ‘big mouth‘, being the appellation by which the Tibetans refer to Kashmiris and Moslems). Kha che pan chen spent the years between 1204 and 1214 preaching
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 The Royal Chapel (Chogyel Lakhang) depicts clay images of the ancient kings. Images of AtishaKamalashilaPadmasambhavaShantarakshitaManjushri, eleven-faced Avalokiteshwara,Vajrapani and Shakyashri of Kashmir are also seen in this chapel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palcho_Monastery

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kha che – 1) Moslem. 2) Kashmir. 3) person from Kashmir, Kashmiri. 4) saffron
kha che skyes – saffron [lit. the produce of Kashmir]
kha che gur gum – Kashmiri saffron
kha che mchog – saffron [lit. the chief article of Kashmir]
kha che ‘dus bzang – Hinayana proponent
kha che pan chen – the great scholar of Kashmir, Shakya Shri
kha che paN chen – the great scholar of Kashmir, Shakya Shri
kha che pan chen zla ba mngon dga’ – Kachey Panchen Dawa Ngön-Ga. Same as {kha che pan chen}
kha che pan chen lugs – the tradition / system of {kha che pan chen}
kha che paN chen lugs – the tradition / system of {kha che pan chen}
kha che ba – syn {kha che bye brag smra ba}
kha che bye brag smra ba – the Kashmiri sub-school of Vaibhasheka
kha che bye smra – {kha che bye brag smra ba}
kha che dbang thang – wealth, possessions, property
kha che yul – syn {kha che lung pa} Mohammedan country, Kashmir
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‘grel pa zla zer – by the Kashmiri pandita {zla ba mngon pa dga’ ba} a commentary on {slob dpon dpa’ bo’i yan lag brgyad pa}
tsong kha brgyad bcu pa – Eighty Tsongkhas, eighty verses in praise of Tsongkhapa by the Kashmiri Pandita Punya Shri

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He: Sakya Pandita


A Treasury of Aphoristic Jewels: The Subhāṣitaratnanidhi of Sa Skya Paṇḍita in Tibetan and Mongolian

Sa-skya Paṇḍi-ta Kun-dgaʼ-rgyal-mtshanJames E. Bosson, 1969
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Jugnu T’choor

15th May, 2013. Kochi.

Kashmir had Khar, T’char, Wattil and Kan’hapin, it was in Jammu that I first saw a Jugnu. But the only Jugnu story I know comes from Kashmir and has been told once too often to me by mother. Kashmiris have been telling venerative stories of thieves for ages but this one is more recent.

There once was a thief in Kashmir who took his name from Dharmendra’s film titled Jugnu (1973). Inspired by the film he took to leaving letters at crime scenes, all of them marked ‘Jugnu’. It is said, one night he climbed into a house and not finding anything else worthwhile, served himself dinner, eat and left. Next morning the victims found a letter in the kitchen. It went something like this:

Jugnu aya 
Gad’e Khaya
Bahut Maza aya

Jugnu came
Had fish
Relished

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