A Cosmopolitan Lode of Secular Literature

The indefatigable A.N.D. Haksar pulls out another gem from the Sanskrit texts that were composed in Kashmir around the turn of the last millenium. He returns to the irreverent and wickedly transgressive Kshemendra and this time, gives us a translation of Samaya Matrika or ‘The Courtesan’s Keeper’. We owe a debt of gratitude to Haksar for repeatedly reminding us that there is a rich lode of secular literature in Sanskrit and that most of it is funny, cosmpolitan, realistic and centred around the very earthly attractions of wealth and sex. Almost all of these secular Sanskrit texts were produced in and around the 11th century court of King Ananta and his queen Suryamati. Just a little earlier, the great Sanskrit aestheticians and literary theorists of Kashmir, Anandavardhana and Abhinava-gupta, were at work, creating and developing the exquisite theory of dhvani.