 Folio of a manuscript of the Harshacharita by Banabhatta, written in Sharada script | |
| Author | Banabhatta |
|---|---|
TheHarshacharita (Sanskrit:हर्षचरित,Harṣacarita; English:The deeds of Harsha) is thebiography ofIndian emperorHarsha byBanabhatta, also known as Bana, who was aSanskrit writer of seventh-century CE India. He was theAsthana Kavi, meaningCourt Poet, of Harsha. TheHarshacharita was the first composition of Bana and is considered to be the beginning of writing of historical poetic works in the Sanskrit language.
TheHarshacharita ranks as the first historical biography in Sanskrit although it is written in a florid and fanciful style. Bana's detailed and vivid descriptions of rural India's natural environment as well as the extraordinary industry of the Indian people exudes the vitality of life at that time. Since he received the patronage of the emperor Harsha, his descriptions of his patron are not an unbiased appraisal and presents the emperor's actions in an overly favourable light.[1]
TheHarṣacharita, written in ornate poetic prose,[2] narrates the biography of the emperor Harsha in eightucchvāsas (chapters). In the first twoucchvāsas, Bana gives an account of his ancestry and his early life. He was the great emperor.
The earliest clear reference forchaturanga (the common ancestor of the board gameschess, chatrang (Persian chess),xiangqi (Chinese chess),janggi (Korean chess), shogi (Japanese),sittuyin (Burmese chess),makruk (Thai chess) and modernIndian chess) comes fromHarshacharitha:[3][4]
Under this monarch [...], only the bees quarrelled to collect the dew; the only feet cut off were those of measurements, and only fromAshtâpada one could learn how to draw up a chaturanga, there was no cutting-off of the four limbs of condemned criminals...
The only commentary available is theSanketa written by Shankara, a scholar fromKashmir. It seems that Ruyyaka also wrote a commentary known as theHarsacaritavartika, which has not yet been found.[citation needed]
The work was translated into English byEdward Byles Cowell andFrederick William Thomas in 1897.[5] The military historian Kaushik Roy describesHarshacharita as "historical fiction" but with a factually correct foundation.[6]
This work was translated intoTelugu prose by M. V. Ramanachari (Medepalli Venkata Ramanacharyulu) of Maharajah's College, Vizianagaram in 1929.[7]
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