A note on the genesis and character of Srivara's so-called "Jaina-Rajatarangini".

• Author: Slaje, Walter

Of the Kashmiri Sanskrit chroniclers, four are available in published form (1) at present: Kalhana, Jonaraja, Srivara, and Suka. (2) With the exception of Kalhana, the received texts each display a peculiar feature. In the case of Jonaraja ([dagger] A.D. 1459), one recension in the textual transmission of his work incorporates historical accounts of a considerably later period ("Pseudo-Jonaraja"), in some 350 verses, interpolated in the second half of the sixteenth century. (3) As regards Suka, he starts his own account (4) with Prajyabhatta's (now lost) chronicle (A.D. 1486-1513), consulted and adapted by him for the purpose of continuing the preceding chronicles.

The present paper will be concerned with Srivara's account, which, too, shows peculiarities of composition. Srivara's ([dagger] A.D. 1486) chronicle is reckoned as the third (trtiya) after Kalhana and Jonaraja. There is reason to assume its shape as edited does not reflect the structure of the composition as originally arranged and intended by its author. So far, his chronicle (SRT) has seen three independent publications (editio princeps Calcutta 1835 [C], editio se-cunda Bombay 1896 [B], editio critica Hoshiarpur 1966 [H]) and a fourth, dependent one, reedited by Raghunath Singh (Varanasi 1972 [V]) from the previous editions. Kashi Nath Dhar reproduced Kaul's critical text (H), though distorted by quite a number of printing errors, together with his own English translation based on it. Dhar's publication may be taken as a fifth edition (New Delhi 1994). Unfortunately, it is clear that such editorial zeal, which found expression in a remarkable number of editions, is in inverse proportion to the standards of the textual criticism applied to them. By this uncritical attitude of the editors essential facts relating to the genesis and character of Srivara's Rajatarangini have been concealed.

Srivara's work deals with four Sultans of Kashmir: with the last eleven years of the reign (A.D. 1459-1470) of Zayn al-'Abidin (r. A.D. 1418/1420-1470) (5) with Haydar Sah (r. A.D. 1470-1472) and Hasan Sah (r. A.D. 1472-1484), and with the first two years (until A.D. 1486) of Muhammad Sah's rule (r. A.D. 1484-1537).

On the title page of his edition of the Kashmirian historiographers who followed Kalhana (SRT-B), P. Peterson did not indicate the original titles of the works he edited. Instead, he spoke of "supplements" to the Rajatarangini of Kalhana, whose chronicle is called the first (prathama) in this sequence. Peterson arranged the subsequent treatises chronologically by sections, numbering them dvitiya, trtiya, and caturthi. Accordingly, the beginning of Srivara's work is announced on page 117 as trtiya rajatarangini, and the same designation is maintained throughout in the headers of this section, modelled after the editio princeps.

Srikanth Kaul's edition [H] prints "Jaina-Rajatarangini" as the title (pp. [1; 3]), and it is in this very form that reference is made to Srivara's work elsewhere (see pp. [VI]f.). Not surprisingly, the same usage prevails also in Raghunath Singh's (V) and Kashi Nath Dhar's subsequent editions. Dhar, however, clarified the actual meaning of the word 'jaina[o]' as it appears in Devanagari printing, by spelling it 'Zaina' and separating it from 'Rajatarangini' by a space ("Zaina Rajatarangini"). 'Jaina' refers of course to Zayn (al-'Abidin), Sultan of Kashmir. (6)

It is difficult to determine from where exactly the editors might have culled the book title of "Jaina-Rajatarangini," for Srivara himself nowhere uses it in exactly this form. The most likely assumption would be that they had taken it from manuscript colophons. However, the colophons of the printed editions appear to be merely convenient editorial conventions for concluding their text. In the absence of a critical apparatus it is practically impossible to distinguish between actually transmitted colophons evidenced by manuscripts and possible editorial additions or modifications. The nucleus of the colophon as printed in the three uncritical editions, Calcutta [C], Bombay [B], and Varanasi [V], runs as follows: srijaina-rajataranginyam panditasrivaraviracitayam ... tarangah. The gist of the colophon given in the critical edition, Hoshiarpur [H], does not differ from the one just cited. However, H alone presents variant readings in its apparatus. (7) As the editors were obviously all convinced that the title Jainarajatarangini was original, one might have expected the members of the compound to be separated accordingly, namely as Jainaraja-Tarangini--Jaina-Raja no doubt standing for Sultan Zayn. The title given as "Jaina-Rajatarangini" is then somewhat misleading. (8)

Two English translations of Srivara's chronicle have also contributed to the widespread usage of "Jaina-Rajatarangini" as the alleged title of his work, more so than the text editions: one by Dutt (1898) and the other by Dhar (1994). Dutt expressly claimed that Srivara "gave his chronicle the title Jainarajatarangini" (p. 2). This is in conflict with the evidence. Yet he kept using it in this very form throughout his introduction and translation, even in places (p. 90) where Srivara speaks differently about the title he had himself given to his work (jaina-tarangini, I 1, 18d). The same applies to Dhar's book (pp. 7f., 413). Consider, e.g., N. K. Gunrtoo's introduction to Dhar's translation. On pages VII-VIII, Gunrtoo emphasizes that the chronicles "retained the name [Rajatarangini] at all cost, with a little modification as Zaina Raja Tarangini by Srivara...." It appears that such matter-of-course usage of this fabricated title found its way into secondary literature and literary histories through "sources" of that sort. Furthermore, the continuous structure of Srivara's text, arranged in (four) successive parts, adds to the false impression of a single comprehensive composition.

To uncover the original title necessitates an examination of the internal evidence. To begin with, in its present shape Srivara's work contains two introductions, each with individual benedictions and title references. Therefore, there is reason to assume that the chronicle is in fact made up of two independently composed works, the original titles of which differ from the single one we have been made familiar with by the editors and translators cited above. A closer look at Srivara's introductions and the possible historical background thereof will be revealing. In both his remarks, introductory to Chapters One (H I 1, 1-18) and Three (H III 1-6) respectively, Srivara is absolutely clear about the title and subject matter of his chronicles, and about his intention in writing them. Let us first turn to the relevant parts of his introduction to Chapter One.

Introduction to Chapter One (H I 1, 1-18): Srivara opens his work with two benedictions (1-2: Siva-Ardhanarisvara (9)), after which (3-4) he sings the praise of the poet laureate (rajakavi), as only such a one was believed capable of throwing light on affairs of the past (bhutavastuprakasaka), by using the literary form of poetry (kavya). (10) Thereupon Srivara turns to the history of the chronicle to be undertaken by him (5-6): still working on his royal chronicle (kurvan rajataranginim), the poet Jonaraja was snatched away by death in A.D. 1459, during Zayn's rule. (11) At this time, Jonaraja had already closed the gap of some three hundred regnal years that had elapsed since the termination of Kalhana's work (A.D. 1149/1150) and had successfully continued his account right into the rule of Zayn, his and Srivara's patron.

Given that background, Srivara's aim must be recognized as considerably different from that of his predecessor Jonaraja. As his disciple, Srivara set himself to complete what had been left uncompleted by Jonaraja's unfinished chronicle of rulers (rajavaligranthasesapurana). (12) At this point, however, nothing but Zayn's rule from A.D. 1459 onwards was actually "left incomplete," as the Sultan was still alive when this court chronicler died. Apart from occasional supplements to Jonaraja's account through the adding of historical information his teacher had deliberately omitted, (13) Srivara's task was no longer the retrospective updating of...