Shri-harsha (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Śrīharṣa) was a 12th century CE

Indian philosopher Indian philosophy, the systems of thought and reflection that were developed by the civilizations of the Indian subcontinent. They include both orthodox ('' astika'') systems, namely, the Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva-Mimamsa (or Mimams ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. Śrīharṣa works discuss various themes in

Indian Philosophy Indian philosophy consists of philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. The philosophies are often called darśana meaning, "to see" or "looking at." Ānvīkṣikī means “critical inquiry” or “investigation." Unlike darśan ...

, such as

pramana ''Pramana'' (; IAST: Pramāṇa) literally means " proof" and "means of knowledge".

. He has been often interpreted as promoting Advaita Vedānta in his ''Sweets of Refutation'' (''Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍanakhādya''), however, this interpretation remains controversial among modern scholars. Śrīharṣa's thought was influential for both

Nyāya Nyāya (Sanskrit: न्यायः, IAST: nyāyaḥ), literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment", is one of the six orthodox ( Āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy. Nyāya's most significant contributions to Indian philosoph ...

Vaiśeṣika Vaisheshika (IAST: Vaiśeṣika; ; ) is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy from ancient India. In its early stages, Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and soteriology. Over t ...

thinkers and also for the Advaita Vedānta tradition.

Life

Śrīharṣa was born to a Kanyakubja Brahmin Śrīhira and Mamalladevī. His father, Śrīhira, was a poet in the court of the Gahadavala king Vijayachandra. His father was also a guide of common people towards god with vedas, Bhagavad Gita's thoughts etc. His father asked Harsha at the time of his death to study well and become a pandit. He told him to use his shiksha (education) towards making life of common people divinity oriented and better. Also, he told Śrīharṣa to take thoughts of Bhagavad Gita to every one. Śrīharṣa had a classic Indian education at a

gurukula A () is a traditional system of religious education in India with ('students' or 'disciples') living near or with the guru in the same house for a period of time where they learn and get educated by their guruji. Etymology The word is a com ...

, studying and living under guru's guidance. He mastered all scriptures and all schools of thoughts prevailing at that time. He famously wrote the ''Sweets of Refutation'' ('' Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍanakhādya''), which critiques the epistemology of the Nyaya school and the rational inquiry in general. Śrīharṣa spent his later life in ascetic serenity on the banks of River Ganga. He composed several works. These include ''Naiṣadhacarita,'' '' Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya,'' ''Vijayaprasasti'', ''Chindaprasasti'', ''Gaudorvisakulaprasasti'', ''Sahasankacarita'', ''Arnavavarnana'' and ''Amarakhandana''.

Philosophy

Śrīharṣa's most well known philosophical text is the '' Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya'' ("Sugar-candy Pieces of Refutations" or just ''Sweets of Refutation''). Śrīharṣa thinks that any philosophical argument or view is subject to ''refutation-arguments'' (''khaṇḍana-yukti'') and thus all philosophical arguments are defeasible and are not sufficient evidence to believe in any philosophical view. The work focuses on skeptical critiques of rational philosophical proofs, especially the epistemological system of the

philosophical school. His main critique is the inadequacy of the Nyaya definitions of the six philosophical categories they defend: substance (''dravya''), quality (''

guṇa () is a concept in Hinduism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property". Śrīharṣa also critiques the Nyaya definition of knowledge, and argues that there may no single satisfactory definition. Śrīharṣa thinks that his critiques also provide evidence for the non-duality of consciousness, the view that only consciousness truly exists. Indeed, while Śrīharṣa critiques almost all philosophical categories and views, including causality and the external world (apart from consciousness), he affirms the reality of consciousness. According to Śrīharṣa, all consciousness events are self-aware or self-revealing. Thus, consciousness knows itself, and this reflexive self-knowing is the only thing we need to know that consciousness is real. This view was commonly defended by the

Yogācāra Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...

school of Buddhism, which defended the theory of self-reflexive awareness ( svasamvedana). Śrīharṣa also seeks to show through his many critiques of rational Nyaya thought that using

rationality Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reason. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do, or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an ab ...

to attempt to understand ultimate reality is a futile act. Thus, he thinks that rational argumentation cannot prove the dualistic system of Nyaya nor can it prove non-dualism either. Instead, he says that the method of knowing non-duality is a subtle awareness of non-duality which arises from contemplation based on hearing the words and great sentences ( mahavakyas) of the Upaniṣads. One reading of the main idea of this text is that it seeks to show the instability of

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

, and how any rational argument can be undermined by further reasoning. Thus, reasoning is always inconclusive. Because of this, Śrīharṣa argues that Nyaya logicians should stop doing philosophy and have faith in the liberating power of the Upaniṣads. Śrīharṣa is thus radically different from the Advaita philosopher Saṃkara, who held that reason can help us better understand ultimate truth. For Śrīharṣa, reason is useless, only faith and the Upaniṣads will lead us to the truth of non-duality.

Poetry

Śrīharṣa composed the ''

kāvya Kāvya (Devanagari: :wikt:काव्य#Devanagari, काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá'') refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Kingdoms of Ancient India, Indian court poets flourishing between c. 200 BCE and 1200 CE. This literary styl ...

'' poem '' Naishadha Charita'' (

: ''Naiṣadhacarita'') in 1174, during the reign of the Vijayachandra's son Jayachandra. According to Rājaśekhara's '' Prabandhakośa'', upon the wide acceptance of ''Naishadha Charita'', Śrīharṣa was dignified with the title ''Narabharati''. The ''Naishadha Charita'' contains erotic themes, but according to the 15th-century Jain scholar Nayachandra Suri, Śrīharṣa was actually a celibate, who had "conquered his sense organs" (''jitendriya''). The ''Naishadha Charita'' was brought into

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

by Harihara during the reign of Vīradhavala to which Chandu Pandita in his ''Dipika'', composed in 1296, 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 Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviv ...

References

Bibliography

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