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6-887: According to Kalhana 's Rajatarangini (c. 12th century CE), the Pancha Gauda group includes the following five Brahmin communities, which according to the text, reside to the north of the Vindhyas : The Sahyadri-khanda , considered a part of the Skanda Purana , also mentions the same classification as the Rajatarangini . For example, fragments of the Sahyadri-khanda , featured in Hemadri 's Chatur-varga-chintamani (13th century), quote Shiva to provide this classification. The text identifies its heroes,

12-483: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kalhana Kalhana ( Sanskrit : कल्हण , romanized :  kalhaṇa ) was the author of Rajatarangini ( River of Kings ), an account of the history of Kashmir . He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be deduced from his own writing, a major scholar of which is Mark Aurel Stein . Kalhana

18-470: The Mahabharata , to all of which he alludes in his own writings. However, his own writings did not employ what Stein has described as "the very redundant praise and flattery which by custom and literary tradition Indian authors feel obliged to bestow on their patrons". From this comes Stein's deduction that Kalhana was not a part of the circle surrounding Jayasimha, the ruling monarch at the time when he

24-648: The Shenvis , as Sarasvatas. In the text, Shiva also provides an alternative classification of Pancha Gaudas, stating that the ancient sages made these divisions: The Maratha -era kaifiyats (bureaucratic records) of Deccan , which give an account of the society in the southern Maratha country, mention the following Brahmin communities as Pancha-Gaudas According to the kaifiyat s, the Pancha Gaudas could be either Smarta , Vaishnavas or Bhagavats . This article about an Indian ethnicity or social group

30-531: Was also sympathetic to Buddhism, and Buddhists tended to reciprocate this feeling towards Hindus. Even in relatively modern times, Buddha's birthday has been a notable event for Kashmiri Brahmins and well before Kalhana's time Buddha had been accepted by Hindus as an avatar of Vishnu . Kalhana was familiar with earlier epics such as the Vikramankadevacharita of Bilhana , the Ramayana and

36-534: Was born in a Hindu Brahmin family to a Kashmiri minister, Chanpaka, who probably served king Harsha of the Lohara dynasty . It is possible that his birthplace was Parihaspore and his birth would have been very early in the 12th century. The introductory verses to each of the eight Books in his Rajatarangini are prefaced with prayers to Shiva , a Hindu deity. In common with many Hindus in Kashmir at that time, he

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