Regarding the Eighth <i>taraṅga</i> of Kalhaṇa’s <i>Rājataraṅgiṇī</i>

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  • <i>Rājataraṅgiṇī</i>の第8章について

Abstract

<p>The Rājataraṅgiṇī, a Kashmiri royal chronicle written by Kalhaṇa in the 12th century, consists of eight taraṅgas （“waves,” i.e., chapters）. In the beginning of the 20th century, it was revealed by an incomplete manuscript that the eighth taraṅga had a partly different text from that contained in the edition published by A. Stein in the 19th century. Scholars thought that the text of the incomplete manuscript was a preliminary version, assuming that Kalhaṇa later deleted some of its verses out of political consideration for the contemporary dynasty. This has become a de facto conclusion without sufficient examination. New light will be shed on the matter, however, if we carefully examine the incomplete manuscript in question. The text of this manuscript also shows a trace of alteration, meaning that it too had a preceding version. Moreover, Kalhaṇa’s said political consideration is baseless, because the secret alliance between the prince Jayasiṃha and a rebel, which Kalhaṇa is alleged to have wiped out from his work, was most probably a strategy to disunite the rebels rather than treason against the king. Giving up the past theory, therefore, the possibility should be explored that, sometime in the latter half of the 12th century, a chronicle of the contemporary dynasty was shared among poets, and a number of versions were generated from it. Whether or not the original version of this chronicle was written by Kalhaṇa as the eighth taraṅga of the Rājataraṅgiṇī is an open question.</p>

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