Question

Who was Kalhana? Why was he famous for?

Answer 1

Hint:Kalhana was born in the 12th century in Kashmir. He is well known to be the first historian from India. He was popular as a great Sanskrit poet.

Complete answer:
Kalhana was a Hindu Brahmin born in Kashmir as the son of Chanpaka who served the Lohara dynasty. In 1148 CE, Kalhana began writing about the history of the rulers of Kashmir of the 12th century. He took 2 years to complete the Rajatarangini which means the River of Kings. It is described as a poetic composition of 7,826 verses which was divided in eight books known as Tarangas, i.e. waves. In this composition he talked about fairness which means to be free from love or hatred, then he cited ancient authors so that they are remembered by everyone, etc. The eight books included –
Book 1 was about the Gonanditya dynasty who ruled Kashmir for 1002 years.
Book 2 was about king Pratapaditya and others who ruled Kashmir for 192 years.
Book 3 mentions the restoration of the Gonanda dynasty.
Book 4 was about the Karkota dynasty.
Book 5 mentioned Avantivarman and other rulers in 8855 CE.
Book 6 was about ruler Yashaskaradeva who was elected by a council of Brahmins in 939 CE.
Book 7 mentioned about the Lohara dynasty.
Book 8 was about the second Lohara dynasty.

Note:-Kalhana was also familiar with the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bilhana and included them in his writings.
-He was mainly born in Parihaspora which is at present known as Paraspore in the Baramulla district of J&K.
-Kalhana was mainly famous for his writings in Sanskrit which were unique in every sense which explained the importance of rulers and historians.