Bāṇabhaṭṭa

Bāṇabhaṭṭa (Sanskrit: बाणभट्ट) was a 7th-century Sanskrit prose writer and poet of India. He was the Asthana Kavi in the court of King Harsha Vardhana, who reigned c. 606–647 CE in north India first from Sthanvishvara (Thanesar), and later Kannauj. Bāna's principal works include a biography of Harsha, the Harshacharita (Deeds of Harsha),[1] and one of the world's earliest novels, Kadambari. Bāṇa died before finishing the novel and it was completed by his son Bhūṣaṇabhaţţa. Both these works are noted texts of Sanskrit literature.[2] The other works attributed to him are the Caṇḍikāśataka and a drama, the Pārvatīpariṇaya. Banabhatta gets an applause as " banochhistam jagatsarvam" meaning Bana has described everything in this world and nothing is left.

Bāṇabhaṭṭa
OccupationPoet, writer, author

Life

A detailed account regarding his ancestry and early life can be reconstructed from the introductory verses attached to the कादम्बरी and the first two ucchāvasas of the Harṣhacharita, while the circumstances behind the composition of the Harṣhacharita are described in the third ucchāvasa of the text. Harsacarita is considered as the first Indian Work which may be regarded as historical. It gives a graphic picture of the life in the country side.[3]

Bāna was born to Chitrabhānu and Rājadevi in the village of Pritikuta on the banks of the Hiraṇyavāhu in a Bhojaka family of Vātsyāyana gotra in the current district of Chhapra in modern-day Bihar. After the death of his father, Bāṇa led a wandering life for a period but later came back to his native village. Here, on a summer day, on receiving a letter from Krishna, a cousin of King Harsha, he met the king while he was camping near the town of Manitara. After receiving Bāna with mock signs of anger, the king showed him much favour.

Works
  • Bana (1898). The Parvati Parinaya of Banabhatta, with Sanskrit Commentary, English Notes and Tr., by T.R. Ratnam Aiyar. Madras.

References
  1. "Sthanvishvara (historical region, India)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  2. Amaresh Datta (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: devraj to jyoti. Sahitya Akademi. pp. 1339–. ISBN 978-81-260-1194-0.
  3. Sreedharan, E, "A Manual of Historical Research Methodology." Trivandrum, Centre for South Indian Studies, 2007, ISBN 978-81-905928-0-2
  • The Harsa-Carita of Bana. Translated by E. B. Cowell and F. W. Thomas. London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1897, 4-34.

Bibliography
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