Review: Varna‑ratnākara of Jyotirīśvara‑Kāviśekhara

Summary

This review presents Jyotirīśvara Kāviśekhara’s Varna‑ratnākara, edited with introductions and an index by Suniti Kumar Chatterji and Babu Misra. It begins by lamenting that Maithili, despite its rich literary heritage and great poet Vidyapati, is neglected in its homeland and that Hindustani is promoted as the vernacularfile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=%28Bibliotheca%20Indica%20no,%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%9F%20vernacular%20of%20the%20land. Thanks to the efforts of Sir Asutosh Mukerji, Maithili was included in Calcutta University’s syllabus, which eventually led to this edition of the Varna‑ratnākarafile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=of%20people%20in%20Bihar%2C%20with,%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%9F%20vernacular%20of%20the%20land. The unique manuscript of the work is housed in the Royal Asiatic Society; scholars searched unsuccessfully for another copy, so this edition is based on the sole manuscriptfile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=then%20this%20work%20has%20several,%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%9F%20Royal%20Asiatic%20Society%20was. Jyotirīśvara Thakkura, a high official at the court of King Harisimhadeva in the early fourteenth century, also wrote Sanskrit works on erotics and dialoguesfile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=The%20author%20of%20the%20Varnaratnakara%2C,literature. The Varna‑ratnākara appears to have been composed as a handbook for kathakas (public reciters) who embellished Puranic and epic stories with elaborate descriptions and similesfile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=composed%20probably%20for%20the%20Kathakas,reciters%20of%20Puranic%20and%20Epic. The text lists objects to be mentioned in descriptions—such as city bazaars, gates, temples and inhabitants—and provides appropriate metaphors to glorify themfile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=gorgeous%20dcscrx,enumerated%2010%20vatious%27%20descriptions%20as. It is divided into eight sections covering descriptions of cities, heroines, seasons and other topicsfile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=The%20V,va%C2%AE%20and%20%288%29%20title%20missing. Because it catalogues aspects of court life, material culture and games, the work is invaluable for reconstructing medieval Indian societyfile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=%281%29%20nag%27ara%E2%80%94uar_nana%2C%20%282%29%20nayiki,va%C2%AE%20and%20%288%29%20title%20missing. The reviewer notes that although written a little over a century after the Turki conquest of northern India, the Varna‑ratnākara retains a purely Hindu atmosphere and provides longer lists of court officials than earlier copper‑plate grantsfile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=Reviews. It even mentions a four‑handed dice‑chess game that has become obsoletefile:///home/oai/share/whole.txt#:~:text=cultural%20life%20of%20the%20period,chess%20or%20caturanga%20which%20has. By comparing it to other encyclopaedic works such as the Maināsollīsa and the Ain‑i‑Akbarī, the reviewer underscores its importance as a compendium of cultural information.