Sriharsha

Sriharsha (Sanskrit: श्रीहर्ष / Śrīharṣa) was the son of Śrīhira and Mamalladevī. His father, Srihira, was a poet in the court of the Gahadavala king Vijayachandra. According to Rājaśekhara's Prabandhakośa, upon the wide acceptance of his poem (kāvya), Naishadha Charita (Skt Naiṣadhacarita), Śrīharṣa was dignified with the title Narabharati; he spent his later life in ascetic serenity on the banks of River Ganga. Rājaśekhara tells us that Jayantcandra, son of Vijayacandra, ruled over Kanauj in the latter half of the 12th century A.D., and that a copy of Naishadha Charita, composed in 1174 A.D., was brought into Gujarat by Harihara during the reign of Vīradhavala to which Chandu Pandita in his Dipika, composed in 1296 A.D., refers to as a new poem and also to the commentary of Vidyādhara. Naishadha Charita was composed earlier than Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya in which text Sriharsha alludes to the works of Kalidasa. None of his other works, such as Vijayaprasasti, Chindaprasasti, Gaudorvisakulaprasasti, Sahasankacarita, Arnavavarnana and Amarakhandana are now available. His Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya is a critique of the Śivabhaktisiddhi by Udayana, the Nyāya philosopher.^[1] Besides being a great poet, Śrīharṣa was also a great philosopher; Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya or "Sugar-candy pieces of refutations," is a refutation of the doctrines of the Nyāya system of philosophy.^[2]

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